Englander add-on fired up for first time !

[lexybird]

heres my review so far :well after a long tedious install process and browsing on here i finally got my new Englander 28-3500 addon furnace broke in and running .first i must say previously i used forced air 110,000 BTU oil heat for my 2,000 sq ft split level .it has not been good to me i nthe past and the price to operate it was ridiculaous on cold blustery days there was noticable cool areas and my lower basement level was always still very cool around 60 degrees at best .Now that im getting used to this whole wood thing im realizing i have been missing out all these years on the tremendous heating and cost savings of hard wood,i will never heat with oil again .i have been burning large ash splits and this englander addon model is the big utility version (home depot 1389$-10% was 1250$ ) that handles nearly 26 inch big fat lunkers with the 850cfm blower theres really no need for using the existing forced blower unit ,long story short im sweating !,it puts out ignorant blowing inferno with ease,I imagine it could easily heat a 3,000 sq ft house im sure , im talking every molecule of my house upper level and lower is currently 90 degrees and out side temps are only high 20's with high wind and snow flurries ,so warm in fact we are wearing summer clothes around the house , i have to open the windows/doors just to get it down in the lower 80's to stand it ,this is a strong dry heat that i have never felt .the stove is rated at 80k btus i think and is definitly doing double what my 110,000 oil furnace couldnt dream of on its best day .Im very happy with my purchase ...the englander isnt the prettiest ,its not the fanciest i n design but its economical ,completely practical for its intention cake to use and will bring your house on very cold nights up to blistering tempertaures of warmth with even a small load (Im a total newbie getting long all night burns already! ) .seems i have really taken to this woodburning bug now ,funny thing is i notice things i never did like other peoples wood piles ,fallen unclaimed trees and if house chimneys are smoking alot .love the smell too .I want to thank the members of this forum for all the handy tips i have seen on here and hopefully ill be able to contribute more in the future .

 

[begreen]

Good to hear it's working well for you, though it sounds too warm. Back off on the air and try smaller loads of wood until it gets in the single digits.

PS: This is why you want good clearances on the supply plenum.

 

[lexybird]

well im new to this but theres really not much to back off on, i pretty much close the slide damper off and everythings
closed up pretty well ,house is well insulated for its age and i think this Ash i have just puts out a bunch of heat, it burns with blue flames and gleaming hot orange coals underneath ,actually im not using much wood and i dont even put many splits in the furnace and the nice thing is im in amish country around here loads of saw mills ,hard wood has little value here it seems ,40 bucks a pickup load split hardwood (oak maple )or have 2 full chords Ash /Oak *delivered seasoned cut and slpit for 200 bucks to my house from a dump trailer

 

[begreen]

Is the screw damper on the ash bin all the way closed (turned clockwise) too?

When the furnace is cool you might want to check the door and ash gaskets to confirm they are sealing well. Do the dollar bill test all the way around the doors.

Then again it could be a case of too strong draft. What is the chimney system on the furnace?

 

[lexybird]

well the bottom intake is screwed in al l the way for sure ,doesnt appear ot be getting alot of extra air ,high flames or anything and i use stainless duravent/duraplus simpson exterior triple pipe up back side of my house ,braced strong approx.20 feet high and correctly installed all according to current codeso far opening up windows and running the ceiling fans on high seem to drop it down pretty good so its atleast bearable

 

[Shipper50]

You must have one insulated house to get 90's. I have the same furnace in a 1800 sf. log home and it keeps me in the low to middle 70's on days its 30ish out. One thing you might keep in mind is, you will have to empty the ash pan about every 2-3 days if your burning full loads.

I keep a pair of welding gloves near my furnace and pull the ash drawer even when its going full heat. I also have a small coal shovel to clean out the drawer.

Shipper

 

[lexybird]

well i got fans going now small load in the box and bedroom windows open its down ot low 80's i expect it will be around 70 when i wake at 6:30,maybe ill experiment and try just unplugging the blower and running small loads,just a guess but id imagine im using a wheelbarrow of wood per 24 hour heating period

 

[Shipper50]

well i got fans going now small load in the box and bedroom windows open its down ot low 80's i expect it will be around 70 when i wake at 6:30,maybe ill experiment and try just unplugging the blower and running small loads,just a guess but id imagine im using a wheelbarrow of wood per 24 hour heating period

I woke to 66 in my house this morning, its 34 outside. My furnace didn't burn the black cherry like it does the white oak I use.

I had to clean out the ash pan to give it some air and I hate having the ashes get behind the pan in the back where you have to have arms like a basketball player to reach. It will be interesting to see how your temps are in your house when it gets COLD. ;-P

Shipper

 

[Hanko]

well i got fans going now small load in the box and bedroom windows open its down ot low 80's i expect it will be around 70 when i wake at 6:30,maybe ill experiment and try just unplugging the blower and running small loads,just a guess but id imagine im using a wheelbarrow of wood per 24 hour heating period

Id make sure you know what your doing when you unplug the blower. Most add on furnaces depend on the blower so as not to overfire the heat exchanger. I know the Charmaster i had came with a emergency heat dump system that would open in case of a power outage.

 

[Badfish740]

heres my review so far :well after a long tedious install process and browsing on here i finally got my new Englander 28-3500 addon furnace broke in and running .first i must say previously i used forced air 110,000 BTU oil heat for my 2,000 sq ft split level .it has not been good to me i nthe past and the price to operate it was ridiculaous on cold blustery days there was noticable cool areas and my lower basement level was always still very cool around 60 degrees at best .Now that im getting used to this whole wood thing im realizing i have been missing out all these years on the tremendous heating and cost savings of hard wood,i will never heat with oil again .i have been burning large ash splits and this englander addon model is the big utility version (home depot 1389$-10% was 1250$ ) that handles nearly 26 inch big fat lunkers with the 850cfm blower theres really no need for using the existing forced blower unit ,long story short im sweating !,it puts out ignorant blowing inferno with ease,I imagine it could easily heat a 3,000 sq ft house im sure , im talking every molecule of my house upper level and lower is currently 90 degrees and out side temps are only high 20's with high wind and snow flurries ,so warm in fact we are wearing summer clothes around the house , i have to open the windows/doors just to get it down in the lower 80's to stand it ,this is a strong dry heat that i have never felt .the stove is rated at 80k btus i think and is definitly doing double what my 110,000 oil furnace couldnt dream of on its best day .Im very happy with my purchase ...the englander isnt the prettiest ,its not the fanciest i n design but its economical ,completely practical for its intention cake to use and will bring your house on very cold nights up to blistering tempertaures of warmth with even a small load (Im a total newbie getting long all night burns already! ) .seems i have really taken to this woodburning bug now ,funny thing is i notice things i never did like other peoples wood piles ,fallen unclaimed trees and if house chimneys are smoking alot .love the smell too .I want to thank the members of this forum for all the handy tips i have seen on here and hopefully ill be able to contribute more in the future .

I'm looking at the same stove and I see that you're in NW PA-are you going to try bituminous coal to lengthen burn times? If so let me know how it goes.

 

[JustWood]

heres my review so far :well after a long tedious install process and browsing on here i finally got my new Englander 28-3500 addon furnace broke in and running .first i must say previously i used forced air 110,000 BTU oil heat for my 2,000 sq ft split level .it has not been good to me i nthe past and the price to operate it was ridiculaous on cold blustery days there was noticable cool areas and my lower basement level was always still very cool around 60 degrees at best .Now that im getting used to this whole wood thing im realizing i have been missing out all these years on the tremendous heating and cost savings of hard wood,i will never heat with oil again .i have been burning large ash splits and this englander addon model is the big utility version (home depot 1389$-10% was 1250$ ) that handles nearly 26 inch big fat lunkers with the 850cfm blower theres really no need for using the existing forced blower unit ,long story short im sweating !,it puts out ignorant blowing inferno with ease,I imagine it could easily heat a 3,000 sq ft house im sure , im talking every molecule of my house upper level and lower is currently 90 degrees and out side temps are only high 20's with high wind and snow flurries ,so warm in fact we are wearing summer clothes around the house , i have to open the windows/doors just to get it down in the lower 80's to stand it ,this is a strong dry heat that i have never felt .the stove is rated at 80k btus i think and is definitly doing double what my 110,000 oil furnace couldnt dream of on its best day .Im very happy with my purchase ...the englander isnt the prettiest ,its not the fanciest i n design but its economical ,completely practical for its intention cake to use and will bring your house on very cold nights up to blistering tempertaures of warmth with even a small load (Im a total newbie getting long all night burns already! ) .seems i have really taken to this woodburning bug now ,funny thing is i notice things i never did like other peoples wood piles ,fallen unclaimed trees and if house chimneys are smoking alot .love the smell too .I want to thank the members of this forum for all the handy tips i have seen on here and hopefully ill be able to contribute more in the future .

I'm looking at the same stove and I see that you're in NW PA-are you going to try bituminous coal to lengthen burn times? If so let me know how it goes.

I had that model 12 years years ago and I mixed Bit. coal with wood on really cold nights. It didn't take much coal to make a BIG difference in heat output. I now have a woodchuck furnace and also mix coal/wood in it.

 

[lexybird]

the room it is setup in ,is approx 10x14 and drywalled top and sides very wel l insulated between studs with R13 blanket pink panther als othe ducting runs directly over the stove and plenium is fairly close too ,jsut one of those things where i have the ideal application area for it i guess ,ill find out about that blower
and as far as coal i have no interest in burning any ,wood is real cheap around these parts and my burn times are plenty long for me ,once it really gets cold in the teens ill have a better idea of what to expect temperature wise

 

[kieth4548]

I was just reading this post.. Lexbird I have the same model stove and love it. I also to can burn my family out of a house. I have a 1530 sqft house with a full basement (3100sgft total) and heat both. Last week we were in the mid thirtys for the high and my house was at 83. All this week my house has been 82 at bedtime (way to hot to sleep) and when I get up in the moning it drops maybe two degrees. Lately I have been letting stove burn out and relight it at 8:00 at night just to let the heat lower in the house. Enjoy your stove I know I have.

 

[lexybird]

yep its nice to know you can basicly hit 90 degrees the moment of your choosing regardless of external frigid temps outside. my house is almost exactly 2,000 sq/ft,due to my setup and draft i have to give it a little lower screw damper to get burning consistent and strong so the best way i can regulate the output is to simply open my windows up stairs ,sometimes i let the stove burnout to drop temps as well ,this last week it has gotten down in the mid 20's here ,in an effort to sleep comfortably i leave the bedroom windows half open (gotta use the window screens still in to keep snow flurries form coming in making bed wet lol)and use the ceiling fan on high setting with no covers on the bed ,seems to work pretty well ,the stove is well made and i figure it has already saved me about 600 dollars*sorry mr.oil supplier * so far this year which really helps for the Christmas crunch.in the coming next few years i plan to do an additon of probably another 1,000 sq/ft or os and im sure i wont need to upgrade the stove which is a nice thought too