Enviro MINI HI/LOW - Thermostat?

[kast]

After reading threw the Owner’s Manual and some of the forum I’m still a little confused on the HI/LOW mode. The Owner’s Manual tells you about the different jumper settings which make sense, then about mounting the thermostat on a wall not closed to the unit, what thermostat? Was the unit supposed to come with one? I have searched around but not sure which thermostat to get for my unit. Any help is appreciated,

Thanks.

 

[gw2kpro]

After reading threw the Owner’s Manual and some of the forum I’m still a little confused on the HI/LOW mode. The Owner’s Manual tells you about the different jumper settings which make sense, then about mounting the thermostat on a wall not closed to the unit, what thermostat? Was the unit supposed to come with one? I have searched around but not sure which thermostat to get for my unit. Any help is appreciated,

Thanks.

You can basically put it on any thermostat they sell at Lowe's or Home Depot or other home improvement stores, the same kind that you would use to control a home furnace. I haven't put my mini on a thermostat yet but my Breckwell's on one and the high/low option is very nice.

Get a programmable one that you can set to kick into high before you get up.

There are two little posts on the control board that you connect to the thermostat wire, then the other end of the wire (of course) goes into the thermostat. You can set the mini to hi/lo or on/off. I only use on/off for a couple weeks on the shoulder seasons, when it is cold in the morning but heats up outside pretty quick, I wouldn't recommend running it on on/off very much, you will heat up and cool off the stove a lot and use your igniter a lot.

 

[kast]

thanks!

 

[kast]

Ok I know I should be getting this, but bare with me here  so if I was to remove my thermostat I have only two wires (just heat no cool, fan etc) what wires are going where? Am I to assume that if I have the thermostat on the wall across the room I would need to do some detailed wiring? Again I’m sorry for the questions but I’m really drawing a blank when you say the “Wires” are these wires I buy with the stat? I didn’t get any wires with the stat, just connected the ones that were in the old mercury switch.

 

[gw2kpro]

I have a Honeywell digital thermostat on the other side of the room I just installed, but how does that communicate with the stove? I know I’m missing some knowledge somewhere so sorry for the stupid questions

You have to buy a thermostat wire (they sell it by the foot at hardware stores like home depot, it is typically 2 connected wires like speaker wire) and pull it in between the t-stat and the stove. Depending on how your home is laid out, it can be quite a pain in the butt, there are a lot of people who have done different creative things to get the wire around in between the stove and t-stat (under floor molding, etc.)

I was fortunate on me breckwell (which is on the first floor in my house) that my basement was unfinished, I ran the thermostat wire from the stove, down through a tiny hole in the floor, across the ceiling in my unfinished basement, then I pulled it back up the same hole that my oil furnace thermostat wire runs through, mounted my pellet thermostat just above the furnace thermostat and connected the wires to the new thermostat.

Another option is to get a wireless thermostat. How it works is that there is a little control box that hooks up to your stove, then it communicates wirelessly with either a remote control or a wall-mounted thermostat (which is also wireless). Typically these are programmable. Advantage is that you don't have to pull any wires. Disadvantage is price ($100-150 depending).

I originally got the "breckwell" wireless thermostat with my stove. It was a remote. My opinion of it was that is was really not built well and I sent it back. I have heard that the skytech remotes are good. Also someone came out with a wall-mounted wireless t-stat, it was on a thread in this forum about a month ago, I heard it works good and am considering one for my mini, (installation of a wired one is going to be a lot more hassle where I have my mini set up) I like the idea that I won't lose the remote, my kids won't lose it, it won't get dropped, etc.

 

[gw2kpro]

Here's that thread on the wall mount wireless:

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/23429/

 

[kast]

First I would like to thank you for your quick and detailed responses, not to take away from anyone on this forum but some of my questions could elicit some questionable answers so thank you for your time! I had one more question off topic. With your mini do you have horizontal venting, or do you go up the recommended 3-5 feet vertical?

I ask because I have a Horizontal venting 18inch from the house with a termination cap, and while I have it burning ok it seems no matter how I use the damper I always have a tornado of sparks and flying pellets. I was thinking because the side of my house is windy that the 3-5 feet vert would help the back pressure due to the air flow around the house.

 

[gw2kpro]

My mini is on the second floor.

My setup is that I have a cleanout T hooked directly off the back of the stove and straight up through the ceiling, attic, and roof. My stove is almost against an outside wall and I was originally going to go straight out through the wall to a double cleanout T (for easy access to clean the horizontal run) then up the outside of the wall, through the eave, terminating above the roof. However, I was really limited where I could place the stove in the room due to windows, etc and the only place I could reasonably put it placed it directly in front of an electric outlet and also my existing baseboard heat, I would have had to go 90 degrees up right off the back of the stove, then 90 out, it would have been clumsy at best.

Anyway, my setup is cleanout t right off the back and then up 12 feet, most of the rise is on the inside of the room.

I also get a ton of sparks / embers hopping around in the burn chamber, mostly when more pellets drop into the pot, that's normal for these, I don't get many bouncing "pellets" though, a few will bounce out each day and get hung up in the grating above the ash pan, but only a few each day, many many less than with my breckwell. I just throw them back into the burn pot whenever I shut down and clean it out.

 

[gw2kpro]

How are you liking your mini so far? I'm very impressed with the one I have, mine is super quiet (a little vibration at startup but almost zero fan noise once it gets warm) and throws great heat. I also like it that the top of the stove only gets lukewarm, not hot to the touch.

 

[kast]

That sounds like mine, with the sparks, few pellets in the grate and the vibration before it fully heats up, so that’s good.

I like the unit a lot I didn’t have much of a choice because I have windows everywhere! And most of the stoves need the 48inch from and opening window, but I’m glad I went with the MINI. I have less then 1100SQF and its working nicely. Adding the 3F Vert to the venting also would help with natural draft in case I lose power (have a UPS also) it’s kind of scary how close it is to some of my hedges and I have read in the forum of some people getting sparks coming out of direct horizontal venting :-(