Englander Summers Heat 49-SHCPM not heating properly

[SmokeyTheBear]

I believe your stove is the same under the hood as my 49-SHC22, just a styling change and auto ignite. I left mine in corn mode and it seems to crank out the heat. I only run it at level 5 or 6 when temps are below freezing and then drop as needed during the day as temps outside rise. I always leave the fan speed on level 9. If you want to compare the heat output between stoves let me know. Also, what size vent pipe are you using and how long of a run to the end cap?

Controllers are different.

 

[funflyer]

I use a pocket HVAC thermometer to check the convection air directly in front of the louvers. They read to 220 degrees. I also use an IR temp gun to check the surface temp between the louvers. How high does your digital thermostat read to? You could even use a meat thermometer to check the air temp.

 

[barger44]

also use an IR temp gun to check the surface temp between the louvers. How high does your digital thermostat read to? You could even use a meat thermometer to check the air temp

I use a pocket HVAC thermometer to check the convection air directly in front of the louvers. They read to 220 degrees. I also use an IR temp gun to check the surface temp between the louvers. How high does your digital thermostat read to? You could even use a meat thermometer to check the air temp.

i just checked with a meat thermometer and a oven thermometer and both are reading around 175 on setting 7...what temps do you usually get and on what setting??

 

[funflyer]

I was reaching 175 on level 3. The thermometer was just in front of the louvers about an inch away. I'll crank it up to 7 for a bit and check it again.

 

[barger44]

pocket HVAC thermometer to check the convection

I was reaching 175 on level 3. The thermometer was just in front of the louvers about an inch away. I'll crank it up to 7 for a bit and check it again.

awesome and thanks...i was about an inch from the vent also but i think i may have been getting a lot of heat off the door also because mine vents directly over the door area

 

[barger44]

here is a picture of what i am trying to do...heat from this mud room to the area behind the picture that is about 2200 sq ft...my biggest obstacle has been keeping my convection loop from recycling the same air which i have solved with a vornado fan which shoots air a lot further than a box fan sucks it. the only problem is my wife hates everything about the "fan situation"

 

[funflyer]

Correcton to my last post, I checked my notes and it was on level 5 when it was at 175. I just checked level 7 and it was 180 at the coolest point and 185 at the warmest so you are not far off. I think you found the answer, just need to move the heat. I turn the furnace fan on for about an hour before bed and that pulls the heat from the main part of the house and warms the bedrooms nicely.

Here's the flame on level 7

 

[barger44]

Correcton to my last post, I checked my notes and it was on level 5 when it was at 175. I just checked level 7 and it was 180 at the coolest point and 185 at the warmest so you are not far off. I think you found the answer, just need to move the heat. I turn the furnace fan on for about an hour before bed and that pulls the heat from the main part of the house and warms the bedrooms nicely.

Here's the flame on level 7

thank you so much for your help...i think that i have found that it really isn't my stove...it is my ability to move the air effectively! i am not sure what we all did before the internet but i know i probably would be paying propane prices if it wasn't for the amazing support network that i saw on here when i was researching! now to go jump in on some of the air movement debates i see in here! thanks again!

 

[funflyer]

I just did a search for moving air and found some interesting reading. Seems like a better idea is to blow air from a cold room toward the stove room at floor level. I'm going to have to try this.

 

[barger44]

I just did a search for moving air and found some interesting reading. Seems like a better idea is to blow air from a cold room toward the stove room at floor level. I'm going to have to try this.

that has worked best for me until I found that the hallway leading to the room was just looping the air...that is why I added a fan up high too but if you don't have a long hallway that seems to be the main idea on here, something about it is easier to move cold air because it is denser...makes sense from a science end!

 

[OhioBurner©]

nope no thermostat...just running from the digital settings on the side. today I went out and the room was 86 but the stove was super dirty from a few days of burning. the new pellets I bought make a lot of build up in the pot and had the holes in the bottom of the pot were mostly covered in build up. I cleaned the stove and now I cant get the room up to 80! I am thinking I am maybe getting too much air through the system but these isn't an adjustment for air like some of the older stoves. I talked to service and they advised me to try corn mode but with the bottom 3 buttons set to pellet settings of 1-4-1. I have since moved them to 2-2-1 which seems to give me a little more heat but I still am not cooking turkey!

86... and thats with several fans trying to evacuate the heat from the room... sounds like the stove is throwing out some decent heat. I wonder if your heat exchanger starts to become less effective when your room temp gets that hot. It is odd though that the heat output seems to be less with a clean stove. Sounds like maybe some extra heat might be going up the flu. 1-4-1 is the default on my stove but I'm pretty sure ours are very different designs. My stove seems to plug up quick and I've had to increase my air. But if yours is burning clean and you suspect too much air loss out the flu then I'd try just what you did, or maybe leaving the feed alone and just backing down the air 1 or two notches.

That hallway looks tough to heat a house through. I don't see that happening well no matter how hot the stove room gets, but that’s just my gut feeling. How big is the rest of the house?

My stove room's open area is oh about half of the 24x32 side of the house (~350-400 sqft) with one bedroom, bathroom, closet and laundry room taking the remainder of the space all closed off with a doorway on each. Right inline with the front of the stove, is a doorway to the new side of the house (22x36 2-story addition, 1st floor large great room and kitchen, second floor bath and bedroom). The doorway goes into the middle, with the 2 story great room to the left and kitchen to the right. I put a fan at the base of the doorway but I can't really tell if it makes any effect. The stove room typically runs 74-80, usually try to target around 76. However at that temperature, the rest of the house is usually much below comfort. Even technically just 1 room away, I have to run electric heater in the kitchen most of the time if its much below 40. For example right now its 25F out, pellet stove has run 7/9 all night (highest I like to run it), stove room about 76, the great room is at 64 (as measured on the surface of the card table in center, the couches along the outside and the floor is all around 61) and kitchen is at 66 avg with an electric space heater running on high since got up about 4 hrs ago. The bedrooms upstairs are too cool not to run space heaters for us too. Its enough for us to get by but not ideal. I'll fire up the woodstove in the great room if we were to use that for any length of time. But with just the pellet stove that’s about the best I can hope for with this old house. I think you said yours was well insulated, if so that’s a big advantage. But also having the stove situated where its ideal to spread the heat more ideally I think is just as effective as good insulation. No matter how hot I've got my stove room I'm pretty much unable to heat the other side of the house into the comfort range and we're not even close to the worst of winter yet. I think if your trying to heat your home through a doorway its just never going to ideal.