Englander 30 - TOO BIG for My House?!?!?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

BurnIt13

Minister of Fire
Jun 10, 2010
636
Central MA
Hello everyone! I'm just about to pull the trigger on an Englander 30 but a thought just dawned on me... Will it be too big for my house? I live in central MA in a 2-story colonial. The house is about 1600sq.ft. and has a somewhat open floorplan. I plan to install the stove in the middle of the first floor. The house is 110 years old but has been insulated.

I'm looking for advice from the guys who have a large wood stove in a reletively smaller house. I like the Englander 30 because it has a large firebox and should give long burn times. I'd like to burn 24/7 and only use the existing heating system as a supplement. Will the Englander 30 constantly be cooking me out of the house?

I'd rather not have a large stove that I have to run nearly choked off all the time to avoid this. I imagine it would be a creosote nightmare. Or is the solution to burn hot, small fires more often? What do you guys think???
 
Good luck with the 30. We have the 13 and do well...we have about 1800 square feet. Our floor plan is great for circulating the air with a box fan pushing into the stove room. Our house is insulated well and newer windows. We also utilize the ceiling fans circulating clockwise. Our stairway to the 2nd floor has a door on it and we keep it open. Overall, in the zero degree temps we were averaging 66-68 degrees temps in the main living area away from the stove room. The upstairs would average at 60-63 degrees. Upstairs are the bedrooms, we like it a little cooler for sleeping. I was wondering if we should upgrade to the 30 next year but since it ain't broken we won't try to fix it. But like I read here on the forum, you can also just build smaller fires.....Happy burning, and pics or it didn't happen....
 
I agree. You can always put a small fire in a big stove.

Also, if you find it is too much stove then there are other tricks you can do.

1. Scrounge for pine and burn that in the shoulder season or for quick burns to take the chill off in the spring and fall or mix it with hardwoods.
2. Split your pieces of wood bigger. 3 big splits on a bed of coals doesn't make the stove go nuclear like 6 or 7 smaller ones would and still gives you long times between loads.
3. Leave a good thick ash bed in the stove and wait longer in between "feedings." The large ash bed helps you to keep hot coals for long times. W/ a good ash bed I went 24 hours between loads last week when it warmed up to 50+. I had to work at getting the next load going a bit w/ some kindling and some air, but I was stubborn and didn't want to waste a match.

And the ultimate reason to do it: If you just found it cheap somewhere buy it NOW or it will be gone. If you don't like it after your first year you can sell it for everything you put into it and get a smaller one.

Go! Leave now! Buy it! Then keep us posted.

pen
 
I think it sounds like a good fit. Sure, you'll be able to crank the stove up and sweat even when it's below freezing outside, but I wouldn't want to go any smaller, otherwise you'd be into a stove that you'd have to reload often when it's really cold.
 
That's why I think I want the 30.....it's the reloads....
 
I just purchased the 30 last weekend and we have had a few very cold days since then and the stove works nicely. Like Pen said, you can always burn smaller fires if you feel that its is getting too hot. Better to have a bigger stove than what you need than it be the other way around.
 
Alright then.....I'm gonna buy it tonight :) Hopefully I can get it installed before the season ends....
 
Oh heck,,,, I think we should get the 30.....the 13 will be on ebay by midnite tonite....or on a dolly goin to a neighbor's house.........
 
GAMMA RAY said:
or on a dolly goin to a neighbor's house.........
You know thats whats gonna happen. Wheres that 12 you had?
 
I've got the 13 heating about 1000 SF of the lower level of my "splanch" house. We "go to" that stove first due to the fact that the heat can rise to the second level easily. It does an awesome job. But the burn times aren't great. It heats better loaded N/S with 8 - 10" splits. That's when we can reload from coals 7 hours later on good dry wood. 8 hours is a problem, but right now we are on less than optimum wood.

The 30 would have been to big for my space, but I think it will suit yours quite well.

Good luck !!
 
The other option you have if you find that it's to big (doubtful) is to just place more firebricks inside the firebox to make it smaller.

Or load the firebox East/West

IMHO you will do just fine with your square footage.

Good Luck.
 
I think you'll be fine. I have 1150 sq ft (including basement) and can't get the stove to even come close to heating upstairs. Been burning for 3 days with a 600 degree stovetop and can't get the year upstairs. Kinda frustrating. All hardwood seasoned 1 year+. Let me tell ya... the basement is WARM and the secondaries and reload times are righteous! Gotta be something I'm doing wrong. I say buy it.
 
Okay everyone, it's official....I'm a wood stove owner finally! Went to HD last night and purchased the Englander 30 for $669! Too good of a deal to pass up and I'll be picking it up this afternoon. It should be interesting getting it from the truck up the front stairs, through a mudroom, and in the house but I look forward to it. I'm about to start contructing some ramps and pulleys to get the job done. I'll be sure to take a pic or two once its sitting in my dining room.

I'm hoping I'll have it installed by the end of the season, as there is quite alot of work to do. I want to build a raised hearth and the chimney is going to go straight up through the upstairs bedroom and then out the roof.....so I'll be building a chase and all that fun stuff. Overall about 22 feet of double wall chimney and stove pipe, straight up and out....should be plenty of draft. On the sidewall I will be installing closer than the manufacturer's minimums so I will have to construct a heat shield per the NFPA211 codes.

In addition to the install I have to pull a permit, submit a proposal, and then get it inspected by the building inspector and I believe the fire chief also. Hopefully they won't make me jump through any unnecessary hoops. Thanks for all the help you guys have provided!
 
BurnIt13 said:
Okay everyone, it's official....I'm a wood stove owner finally! Went to HD last night and purchased the Englander 30 for $669! Too good of a deal to pass up and I'll be picking it up this afternoon. It should be interesting getting it from the truck up the front stairs, through a mudroom, and in the house but I look forward to it. I'm about to start contructing some ramps and pulleys to get the job done. I'll be sure to take a pic or two once its sitting in my dining room.

I'm hoping I'll have it installed by the end of the season, as there is quite alot of work to do. I want to build a raised hearth and the chimney is going to go straight up through the upstairs bedroom and then out the roof.....so I'll be building a chase and all that fun stuff. Overall about 22 feet of double wall chimney and stove pipe, straight up and out....should be plenty of draft.

In addition to the install I have to pull a permit, submit a proposal, and then get it inspected by the building inspector and I believe the fire chief also. Hopefully they won't make me jump through any unnecessary hoops. Thanks for all the help you guys have provided!

Great Price!
Congrats...... :)
 
lethal dose said:
I think you'll be fine. I have 1150 sq ft (including basement) and can't get the stove to even come close to heating upstairs. Been burning for 3 days with a 600 degree stovetop and can't get the year upstairs. Kinda frustrating. All hardwood seasoned 1 year+. Let me tell ya... the basement is WARM and the secondaries and reload times are righteous! Gotta be something I'm doing wrong. I say buy it.

Get a small 8" clip on fan and clip it on the front of the tread on the top step. Aim it down the stairs right along the treads. I use low speed. Really helps to get the air circulating to the upstairs.
 
BurnIt13 said:
It should be interesting getting it from the truck up the front stairs, through a mudroom, and in the house but I look forward to it. I'm about to start contructing some ramps and pulleys to get the job done.

Get some friends to help. No point in hurting yourself trying to do it alone.

-SF
 
believe it or not the stove "walks" much better than one may think. I had a big refrigerator mover, and all sorts of guys around but w/ heavy boards and a few guys we just walked the stove edge to other edge and make the move. When I got to flat ground I used my floor jack under it.

pen
 
Furniture gliders help too. I've slid several stoves on the plastic gliders.
 
wkpoor said:
Furniture gliders help too. I've slid several stoves on the plastic gliders.

Good idea. Now that I think of it, the last one we moved we put it on an old piece of carpet (carpet side down) then put chunks of 2x4 under the legs to increase the surface area and slid it that way.

pen
 
Yeah I used the furniture gliders with the 30. Those things are wonderful. And cheap.
 
Got the stove in place. It was actually very easy and uneventful getting the stove in the house. I made a wooden dolly with casters at each corner and set the stove on it while it was still in the bed of the truck. I then used some ramps with one end on the bed of the truck and the other on the mudroom floor. My brother in law put some pressure on the stove to make sure it didn't slide down the ramps and I did the steering. Took about 5 minutes once we got the stove on the dolly.

Another thing that surprised me was that the stove came with a blower....I was pretty sure that was sold seperately. Not that I'm complaining :)

Now I'm going to hunt for some deals on doube wall stove/chimney pipe. Pictures to follow soon.....
 
Yep. That is a $180 add on ya got there with that blower.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.