New Install - Enviro Empress (Replacing Propane Insert)

[Tyranid]

I'm very pleased with my new purchase so I thought I would share.

(I also told someone I would post pictures of replacing a propane insert with a pellet stove)

Before

Propane Insert Removed

Pellet Stove inserted with exhaust piping (using existing exhaust hole)

Finished!

BURNING!

Looking good!


I'm thrilled with the install. The guys did quite a bit of work to get my old gas insert out without removing the granite (which had apparently been built around the insert after it was installed). I was very glad they also put extra work in to use the existing vent hole. They had told me they were going to run straight out, but the installer decided to do it because it would look better not having the extra big hole.

Of course it was 70 degrees here in Maryland today, but I will be very glad to have this when it gets cold.

 

[Xena]

Beautiful setup!

 

[imacman]

Thanks for the pics of the install....that stove looks SO good with the green granite hearth. Good luck, and enjoy some REAL heat now!

 

[terps02]

That looks great. Thanks for posting.

The sheet metal frame/box in the second picture - was that left over from the gas insert? If so, did they leave that in? Or replace with something else non-combustible?

Did they have a tough time getting the old insert out? I'm thinking about trying to remove mine tomorrow. I'm worried about cracking my marble hearth.

Thanks.

 

[Tyranid]

Yes, they definately left the metal surround in.

All I can say about removing the gas insert is go slow. They literally took the thing apart piece by piece until it was small enough to come out.

I think if you take your time, you shouldn't have any problems keeping your hearth in tact.

Good luck with your install! I'll be watching for updates.



And yes, the green hearth looks fabulous with the black stove! I'm really pleased with out it turned out.

 

[THE ROOSTER]

This pic is breathtaking...

 

[mike56]

Awesome looking stove and install, your going to love the heat, much better then propane.

 

[jtakeman]

Looks great! Crongrats on the new stove. Thanks for sharing.

 

[defield]

Tyranid,

Congratulations on a beautiful stove and install!

Thanks for the pictures.

Enjoy.

Ranger

 

[NPCoot]

Hey Tyranid.......

Congrats on the new stove, looks great.

By the way, in your 5th picture down, there is a brush and a "rod" on the hearth. I got one of those brushes and rods with my new M55. What is that rod for and where does it go? There is nothing in my directions for this.

Thanks, NPCoot

 

[flynfrfun]

That looks great. Thanks for posting.

The sheet metal frame/box in the second picture - was that left over from the gas insert? If so, did they leave that in? Or replace with something else non-combustible?

Did they have a tough time getting the old insert out? I'm thinking about trying to remove mine tomorrow. I'm worried about cracking my marble hearth.

Thanks.

Tyranid, very nice looking!

I just removed my gas insert the same way. I was able to save my tile, it just takes time and diligence. I used tin snips and I basically cut mine out from the inside. In my case, I had to add concrete board for protection for the surrounding combustibles.
Flynfrfun

 

[The Radiator]

What a nice install. Looks great! I have the same stove, I think you will like it. I have had good luck with mine so far, it's on its third season. The only drawback is the narrow opening for filling the hopper. I think the tool somebody else asked about is the scraper for the burn pot. Looks a bit different than the one my stove came with. Mine had a wooden handle. Good luck with your Empress!

 

[Tyranid]

Thanks for all the compliments!

Yeah, the narrow opening for the hopper is a pain. But my wife likes that the stove doesn't stick out so far, so its probably a good compromise...

I haven't needed this during the day for the past couple days, but I was interested in how it would run so I let it run at night and set the heat pump thermostat down. It was a bit cool last night and it was able to keep my first floor at 70 degrees on a setting of two. Not bad considering I have quite a bit of space to heat.

However, it does tell me I'm going to have to crank this thing up when it gets cold.

I was only going to purchase two tons, but I have a feeling this thing is going to eat some pellets this winter. I think I may be growing a snout soon. *SNORT*

 

[flynfrfun]

Tyranid,
Looking closely at your pics, I see that they got your thimble on backwards. The shiny side goes on the exterior of the house. The black side goes inside the house as it has the seal on it. Then you silicone around the pipe on the outside of the house. Just an FYI...
Flynfrfun

 

[Tyranid]

Yep, its black on the outside and silver on the inside.

Is this going to cause me a problem? Short term? Long term?

The other question my wife had was, even though this was professionally installed, should we contact the local fire department and see about getting the installation inspected?

 

[flynfrfun]

I'm no expert, but I doubt it makes much difference. The black part has a foam rubber type of seal that seals the pipe. For some reason they want this on the inside of the house and then silicone the outside part to keep water out. At the very least, if I were you I'd silicone the outside because I doubt the foam rubber is going to be watertight.

When I'm done my insurance company is going to come out and take pictures and sign off on the installation. After that I'm covered. Before I started I visited them in person and asked for their spec sheet to make sure I build it so it will pass their requirements. Hopefully, they don't find anything that will require reworking what I did :bug: Attached is a pic of where I'm at so far...
Flynfrfun

 

[The Radiator]

When I had our stove installed I pulled a permit and had a Town inspector sign off. That was what my insurance rep had recommended.

 

[Tyranid]

Thats really nice. I like the rails! I actually asked about how to get behind the stove if I needed to (to which he replied "Why would you need to?"). He said that if I pulled the stove out, I could accidentally pull it off the vent pipe. I assume your vent pipe moves (or is flexible?)

I'd actually like to get to the motherboard and install a thermostat/timer sometime in the future. (I'm an Engineer... I can't leave things alone... my wife almost bought me a t-shirt that said "I void warranties" but they didn't have it in my size...)

I'm assuming the back filler plate lifts up, but I can't find any info in the documentation.



BTW - They did seal the outside with silicone. He showed me where. Thats why I know the outside was definately black!

 

[flynfrfun]

Tyranid,
You will need to get in the back for the yearly cleaning. That installation tech doesn't sound too sharp if you ask me. Also you will need to get back there if any blowers/parts fail and need replacement. My setup is like a docking station...the stove slides in and has a gasket that seals the exhaust pipe automatically. This is one of the reasons why I chose this insert. The only thing I will have to disconnect manually is the OAK. With that I will remove the pipe at the exterior of the house and then let it go thru the wall when I slide the stove forward. I will tie a string onto the end of the pipe and use it to pull the pipe back thru the wall when I re-insert the stove. I have an engineer's mind although I'm not an engineer. I've planned all this out to be as easy as possible for maintenance.
Flynfrfun

 

[Tyranid]

Well, its not that he didn't know how to get back there. Its that he didn't want me going back there and mucking around, then calling him complaining about a broken stove...

With that said, I found the small paragraph in the tech manual that says to open the hopper, then lift the surround off. I managed to get behind it this evening. Its actually a good thing I did because there was no surge protector back there. The sales guy was adamant that there should be one, but I guess the installer didn't care.

 

[Tyranid]

So, its been cool the past few nights and I've left the stove on. I'm curious what other Empress owners set their heat to?

I've been running at a 2. I've got quite a bit of open space in my house, so at a 2, it seems to keep up with what my heat pump will do (we will see what happens as it gets colder).

I have a feeling its going to be 3 (even 4) during the colder months, which means this thing is going to chomp down pellets. Considering what my heat bills were last winter with the heat pump, I guess I shouldn't be totally suprised. I will still be saving quite a bit of cash.

 

[The Radiator]

My Empress is idling along on 1 right now and its about 73 inside and 45 out. With a fairly good pellet you can run at a lower setting and get something out of the stove. When it gets colder I run the stove at 2 or 3. Crappy pellets have to have higher settings to get any heat. Last years Inferno pellets were the worst. I had the stove running on 4-5 most of the time. You can go thru pellets quick and clean your stove alot. Glad to be done with those. Look for pellets with good heat and low ash. Check Jay's testing. Pellets I 've had luck with are Okies, Hamers, Juniata. Currently I am burning some NEWP that I won back in June. They are't too bad either. The ashpan on the Empress is real shallow. I only pull it out at the end of the season. During a regular vacuuming I leave it in place and just vacuum it out. I usually clean the stove about every 7 days. The burnpot sometimes gets a lite scrape during the week but not too much usually. Our house is ranch, probably 1450sqft. The stove heats it well and gives me something to fiddle around with. One item I can tell you to watch out for is the horizontal vent pipe to the tee. Ash will fill the tee/cleanout and the horizontal pipe. I make sure I check and clean it between 1.5 + 2 tons burnt. The flame will get lazy and your air adjustment won't seem to make much difference. You might be able to use the leaf blower mounted outside to clean yours out. Do a forum search for this operation, I think there was a video too.

 

[flynfrfun]

Well, its not that he didn't know how to get back there. Its that he didn't want me going back there and mucking around, then calling him complaining about a broken stove...

With that said, I found the small paragraph in the tech manual that says to open the hopper, then lift the surround off. I managed to get behind it this evening. Its actually a good thing I did because there was no surge protector back there. The sales guy was adamant that there should be one, but I guess the installer didn't care.

Tyranid,
No offense meant by my comment. It sounded like the installer was leading you down the wrong path by insinuating that you would never need to get back behind the stove. I felt like that would be irresponsible of him since the stove will need periodic maintenance/cleaning...that is unless you plan on having him do it for you ;-) Your stove is beautiful though!

FYI, I have my M55 cast insert up and running and like you I'm pretty sure I'll be burning a lot of pellets when it gets really cold. I'm amazed at how little ash is in the ashpan. I've burned about 2 bags so far, and there is just a little dusting of ash in the pan....amazing! I'm burning "Clean Burn" pellets which are Douglas Fir. The cool thing is that my furnace doesn't even need to come on at all while I have the pellet stove going. I've got 1900sf to heat, so I'm impressed. Of course the rest of the house is cooler than the living room where the stove is, but that's to be expected. If I want to even it out, I can fire up the furnace here and there to bring the rest of the house up to whatever temp I want. One of these days, I plan on moving my furnace thermostat upstairs so that it actually comes on when I've got the pellet stove going.
Flynfrfun

 

[Tyranid]

Radiator: Thanks for the info. Its nice to get feedback from another Empress owner. I probably have a bit more open spaces because it got colder last night, I ran it at a 2 all night and when I got up it was about 67. I will probably running this at a 3 when it gets colder. No problem, I'll just need more pellets. I will probably get a ton of Hamers for the colder days.

flynfrfun: No offense taken. I will be using this guy for maintenance so he probably did believe I didn't need to get back there. I do want to at least be able to get to the plug in case the power goes out long term. During the huge snow storm last year we lost power for several days. The little propane stove didn't cut it and we had to leave the house after a day. That actually started me looking at pellet stoves. At least with a gas powered generator, I can keep the stove running and keep my family warm. But, that means I need to be able to get to the plug.

You have a very nice setup! I'm glad to see another new owner up and running!

 

[terps02]

Tyranid,
Is that an approx 3/4" piece of marble in front of your insert? Did you put the metal studs under that?

I've got a piece of marble just like yours. The M55 manual says to put metal studs, then cement board, then tile. I'd like to just use the existing marble hearth.