Summers Heat (Englander) Model 28-3500

[RLLD]

I called Englander and spoke to the technical rep about the stove (furnance) I am interested in. He stated that they have been selling this model for about 20 years, and everyone loves it for its power to heat. Its 65% efficient and thus not EPA "rated", so instead of burning a cord per season I might burn 1 1/2 cords - not a big deal AT ALL to me.

Uhh, you were just throwing number out at random right? You do expect to burn more than 1-1/2 cords per season don't you? I'm guessing you could feed a cord per month to that unit. Sounds like your supply is in good shape for the remainder of this year + a good start on next. You may want to ask around here about wood consumption, could be a little higher than you expect.

Yes the number was thrown out at random, but the ratio should be close; I am interested in keeping notes on my consumption to arrive at an accurate number. I am one of those people who loves to track and analyze data.

So I plan to track the type of wood, its seasoning level, rate of consumption relative to average external and internal temperature. My end game is to eventually arrive at a stockpile of varying types of wood that I will then know when to use given the environmental conditionals; and also to arrive at known vent configurations as well.

In this way I hope to arrive at pre-determined "configurations" to maximize the efficiency of the operation.

 

[jreed]

RLLD, Im excited to hear about how this thing works as well as see pics of the install. Im thinking of an englander as well.

 

[RLLD]

Here are some photo's of the "finished" product.

I plan to give her a test run tonight.

 

[RLLD]

It's been two weeks now, I wanted to see what this thing would do without being connected to the ducts.

It located in the basement, approx 1500 sq ft, and keeps the temp at 83 degrees. The first floor is about 1500 sq ft as well, and stays between 73 and 77, and the second floor is about 1400 sq ft, and stays in the 71 - 73 range.

Color me impressed.

This weekend, i will install it into the ducts to see what happens. Since I have an HVAC for each of the two upper floors, the heat will only be pushing out the first floor vents, but i dont think that will be an issue.

 

[BrotherBart]

I have wanted one of those things since I first saw one at the stove shop here in 1985 (yes the stove shops used to sell Englanders, lots of them). Bought a big ole insert for the fireplace upstairs instead. Still always wanted the wood furnace. If they would just finally make a clean burning version of it I would put it on that flue in the basement in a heartbeat. Well, I would if they didn't price it out of reach.

TALK TO ME ESW

 

[lexybird]

i have one too (englander 28-3500 ) i added a second dayton blower to mine and 6 more firebricks for more thermal mass , fully loaded i get 8-9 hour burns and the house stays toasty on approx 7 cords of hardwood per year.for the money they are a good unit IMHO,took me a while to figure how to get the long burns and adjust for conditions but after almost 2 seasons i think i got her pegged now

 

[begreen]

Sorry to be critical here, but am I seeing wrong or are the flue pipes installed backward, with the crimps toward the chimney? Also, is that silicone on the single wall pipe? If so, scrape it off or prepare for a lot of smoke as the pipe heats up.

 

[Hogwildz]

OOps, yeap that black single wall is def. run backwards. Hope the rest of the piping ain't run backwards also.

 

[RLLD]

All "crimped" pipe ends were pointed back toward the stove, the manual for the stove suggested this. The silicone is the brand and version suggested by the manual, and so far no issues there. No smoke issues at all, so we are all set.

I noticed that when my blower stopped working briefly the silicone around the connection to the top of the stove dried and cracked, clearly without the blower running the stove can get pretty hot, so the blower really NEEDS to be running when the stove is on.....not running constant, but at least on so that the thermostat is managing things.

It seems that over time the stove operation has become a bit more predictable, or perhaps I am just getting used to it. Lately I seem to get longer burns out of a load, maybe i am just getting better with damper management....

 

[RLLD]

i have one too (englander 28-3500 ) i added a second dayton blower to mine and 6 more firebricks for more thermal mass , fully loaded i get 8-9 hour burns and the house stays toasty on approx 7 cords of hardwood per year.for the money they are a good unit IMHO,took me a while to figure how to get the long burns and adjust for conditions but after almost 2 seasons i think i got her pegged now

Got any pictures?

 

[RLLD]

Just wanted to bring this up to date.

The stove performed well, heating the nearly 4100 sq ft home between 72 and even 80 degrees. I find it less "forgiving" than other wood stoves I have had a chance to work with.

I tried Oak, poplar, and even Birch woods in it, in varying states of seasoning. Long story short, anything less than 8 months and you have to burn it pretty hard to keep the temperature up, anything over 12 months and it eats it up fast.....I seem to get the best results with Oak, seasoned between 8 and 12 months......this is where I get the less forgiving notion from.

That being said, so far I have accumulated 4 cords of mostly Oak, that should be seasoned perfectly for when I plan to start burning.

I also invested in a Stihl Farm Boss, which is SWEET....the thing tears through Oak and makes my old Homelite seem rather silly. Its heavy and you really need to restrict it to cutting the big stuff.

 

[RLLD]

Getting ready for the new winter season i have accumulated two cords of Beach, four cords of Oak, and four cord of Maple.

The main plan is to burn the Maple during the cool periods in October and November, then start in on the Oak when it gets colder, and use the Beach if it really dips low.

One thing I found was that it is possible for this thing to cook us a bit and make it too hot for comfort, and I think I simply burned Oak too hot for the temperature at the time. So for the coming year my plan is to align the wood to the temperature.....see how it turns out....

 

[mellow]

Hopefully this winter will be more forgiving than last year and you will be able to save some wood for next year.