This is a review of the Englander model 17-vl wood stove and the adventure of installation and use. Before I get started, I want to give a big thank you to Hearth.com and its users for the help they provided with their own discussions and assessments.
My location is central Kentucky. Not as cold as other places, but winter is winter, just not as long.
I completed work on a 240 sq foot addition, deciding that there would be no central heat or air, other than what may flow through the entranceway. Not really worried about cooling down the room as the addition is on the northeast side of the house. Heating was my only concern and so I started my research on the internet. I read a lot, and the photos of other installations were immensely helpful. Many of the simple statements like “wouldn’t want anyone to trip and fall onto it” truly are helpful when making a decision as to how and where. I found that making a “decision” based solely on safety was the best decision. Everything else aside, it is in fact a roaring fire inside your home! And, you are most likely going to have to make sure your homeowners insurance is ok with all this. Wouldn’t want to find out after………….
I like the look of a hearth. Lots of ideas and designs come to mind. However, the only real guide I had to go with was the one size fits all nfpa211. The information is good and fairly direct.
The guide says: 12.5.1.3 Residential-type solid fuel-burning appliances shall be permitted to be placed without floor protection in any of the following manners: (1) on concrete bases adequately supported on compacted soil, crushed rock, or gravel.
This is exactly what I have already, so I guess I can stop right there. Keep it simple for both me and the insurance company. I added a small stove board, but this is mainly for ember protection.
The nfpa guide suggests a clearance reduction system that has examples of minimum distances. However it also says you can use the manufacture data for minimum distances. I decided to go for a combination of the two just for safeties sake. Not as much as the guide says but more than the manufacture says. I used hardiebacker board and the same ceramic/porcelain tiles as the floor. The boards are positioned off the wall with open top, bottom, and sides as suggested by the guide.
I decided on DVL double wall pipe for even more safety. Nice stuff to work with. Good instructions once you familiarize yourself with all the material. Through the ceiling and roof according to the instructions and there you have it. I did hire a professional to make sure the roof wasn’t going to leak. Best of all the insurance company was happy with my thorough explanation of all the steps I took and my reasons for them. Now that everything is setup and ready to go, it was time for a test run.
I remember reading about the burn in period where there may be some stink and some burn off as the stove is heated for the first time. This is true (at least for this stove). I think someone here suggested doing this outside. A good suggestion! Or just keep the windows and doors open. Only seems to happen once.
The first few fires were a learning curve. After filling the room with smoke a couple of times I started to get the hang of it. Creating a draw is something you eventually learn how to do. I have tested a variety of different woods that I can get my hands on locally and for the most part they are pretty close to burning about the same. But every now and then I would burn something that seemed to really burn well and last longer than usual. I can definitely recommend NOT using anything kiln dried. The stuff from the big box store is a waste of money. It will burn, and in a pinch it will do, but you are not going to get the heat you are expecting to get. It doesn’t last as long either. You are better served to go to a tree cutting service. They may cost a little more but you will appreciate it. I use my stove to help heat the house. I use it as an appliance and it does its job best when burning wood worth burning. And this stove really does a good job! I bought this stove because it was the smallest one I could find. Other people have this stove and I like what I read so I got it. It is an easy to work with size, and my use of the double wall pipe allowed me to move it out of harm’s way. Even with its close proximity the walls stay perfectly cool. Though it is small, it will drive you out of the room if you let it. I can actually heat 3 rooms comfortably. Control of how hot or long lasting the burn is was something I had to get the hang of, but once you get used to the way it wants to work it really is amazing. Using some well placed kindling, I have gotten to the point where I can get the stove from cold to 400 degrees in about 45 minutes. The ability to finely tune the draft is really nice. Not something I expected. I used to just leave the air control either opened or closed, but have learned how to work with the unit to get a fire quickly roaring and then keep it going for a long time. It has been mentioned here before, I believe, that this heat is “different.” There is something about the heat that is generated by a wood stove that just seems to warm you up better than anything else. (except for a good bourbon) Plus this heat seems to penetrate the surroundings. The room is still warm in the morning even after a cold night. I did not expect to be able to save on gas bills, but I actually did last year during a colder than usual winter. Closing off the rest of the house and turning the gas heat way down is doable. You want to hang out near the stove anyway. It’s very social.
The stove came with a blower which is good to have, but noisy. I want to upgrade to a quieter one if I ever get around to it and there is something available.
I have used this stove for a few seasons now, and am very satisfied with how everything came out. The stove does exactly what I had hoped, and then some!
My location is central Kentucky. Not as cold as other places, but winter is winter, just not as long.
I completed work on a 240 sq foot addition, deciding that there would be no central heat or air, other than what may flow through the entranceway. Not really worried about cooling down the room as the addition is on the northeast side of the house. Heating was my only concern and so I started my research on the internet. I read a lot, and the photos of other installations were immensely helpful. Many of the simple statements like “wouldn’t want anyone to trip and fall onto it” truly are helpful when making a decision as to how and where. I found that making a “decision” based solely on safety was the best decision. Everything else aside, it is in fact a roaring fire inside your home! And, you are most likely going to have to make sure your homeowners insurance is ok with all this. Wouldn’t want to find out after………….
I like the look of a hearth. Lots of ideas and designs come to mind. However, the only real guide I had to go with was the one size fits all nfpa211. The information is good and fairly direct.
The guide says: 12.5.1.3 Residential-type solid fuel-burning appliances shall be permitted to be placed without floor protection in any of the following manners: (1) on concrete bases adequately supported on compacted soil, crushed rock, or gravel.
This is exactly what I have already, so I guess I can stop right there. Keep it simple for both me and the insurance company. I added a small stove board, but this is mainly for ember protection.
The nfpa guide suggests a clearance reduction system that has examples of minimum distances. However it also says you can use the manufacture data for minimum distances. I decided to go for a combination of the two just for safeties sake. Not as much as the guide says but more than the manufacture says. I used hardiebacker board and the same ceramic/porcelain tiles as the floor. The boards are positioned off the wall with open top, bottom, and sides as suggested by the guide.
I decided on DVL double wall pipe for even more safety. Nice stuff to work with. Good instructions once you familiarize yourself with all the material. Through the ceiling and roof according to the instructions and there you have it. I did hire a professional to make sure the roof wasn’t going to leak. Best of all the insurance company was happy with my thorough explanation of all the steps I took and my reasons for them. Now that everything is setup and ready to go, it was time for a test run.
I remember reading about the burn in period where there may be some stink and some burn off as the stove is heated for the first time. This is true (at least for this stove). I think someone here suggested doing this outside. A good suggestion! Or just keep the windows and doors open. Only seems to happen once.
The first few fires were a learning curve. After filling the room with smoke a couple of times I started to get the hang of it. Creating a draw is something you eventually learn how to do. I have tested a variety of different woods that I can get my hands on locally and for the most part they are pretty close to burning about the same. But every now and then I would burn something that seemed to really burn well and last longer than usual. I can definitely recommend NOT using anything kiln dried. The stuff from the big box store is a waste of money. It will burn, and in a pinch it will do, but you are not going to get the heat you are expecting to get. It doesn’t last as long either. You are better served to go to a tree cutting service. They may cost a little more but you will appreciate it. I use my stove to help heat the house. I use it as an appliance and it does its job best when burning wood worth burning. And this stove really does a good job! I bought this stove because it was the smallest one I could find. Other people have this stove and I like what I read so I got it. It is an easy to work with size, and my use of the double wall pipe allowed me to move it out of harm’s way. Even with its close proximity the walls stay perfectly cool. Though it is small, it will drive you out of the room if you let it. I can actually heat 3 rooms comfortably. Control of how hot or long lasting the burn is was something I had to get the hang of, but once you get used to the way it wants to work it really is amazing. Using some well placed kindling, I have gotten to the point where I can get the stove from cold to 400 degrees in about 45 minutes. The ability to finely tune the draft is really nice. Not something I expected. I used to just leave the air control either opened or closed, but have learned how to work with the unit to get a fire quickly roaring and then keep it going for a long time. It has been mentioned here before, I believe, that this heat is “different.” There is something about the heat that is generated by a wood stove that just seems to warm you up better than anything else. (except for a good bourbon) Plus this heat seems to penetrate the surroundings. The room is still warm in the morning even after a cold night. I did not expect to be able to save on gas bills, but I actually did last year during a colder than usual winter. Closing off the rest of the house and turning the gas heat way down is doable. You want to hang out near the stove anyway. It’s very social.
The stove came with a blower which is good to have, but noisy. I want to upgrade to a quieter one if I ever get around to it and there is something available.
I have used this stove for a few seasons now, and am very satisfied with how everything came out. The stove does exactly what I had hoped, and then some!
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