Englanger 28-4000 furnace

[Roadranger]

There's lots of threads on these, but I can't find anything to answer my question, so here it goes.

I currently have a lopi endeavor in the finished walk out basement of our home. It's about 1600 square feet of total living space between both floors. It heats ok, but due to the ceiling down stairs, it struggles to get heat up stairs. We installed ducts in two locations and one with a fan. It helps a lot. But I have been eyeing the 28-4000 furnace as a replacement. BUT, I would like to run it as a stand alone from the other furnace. I would like to simply run the duct work off the unit to two large vents in the floor up stairs and run the fan on a thermostat up stairs. But what I cannot seem to find answers to, does the unit itself put off enough radiant heat to continue to heat the down stairs as well without having a duct vent down there?

The upstairs space is not huge, and the ducts I would use are strategically placed for optimum heat movement. So plumbing it into the existing duct is a not a consideration for me. So lets avoid this topic because that is not how I want to connect this unit.

I understand this is far less than automated, that is completely fine with me. I enjoy sitting by the stove and fiddling with it. So that is not an issue to me personally. My main concern is if there's enough radiant heat coming off the unit to heat the downstairs. And if it would work well as a stand alone with no help from the main furnaces blower.

Thanks

 

[brenndatomu]

You should be fine...those cheaper furnaces put off a lot of radiant heat...no insulation on the air jacket

 

[Roadranger]

You should be fine...those cheaper furnaces put off a lot of radiant heat...no insulation on the air jacket

That was my thought as well. But wanted a second opinion. How do you like the drolet?

 

[brenndatomu]

How do you like the drolet?

Well, that's not a simple answer. I bought it used (cracked) just to try out an EPA firebox after not being satisfied with my Yukon. At first I was really disappointed and almost took it back out...fortunately I persevered and was able to get some things straightened out, then installed a temp controller on it followed by a speed controller on the blower, the two things together transformed that machine into a nice little furnace. Never have fixed the cracks yet.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

I have a somewhat similar setup as you are outlining. I have a 1500 sqft house and a 1000 sqft basement. I have the older 28-3500 connected directly to the main house trunk, not the plenum, with a damper stopping heat from back flowing into the propane furnace. Other than using the duct work, it's not connected to the thermostat or furnace in any way. The main house can be as hot as I want it and the basement stays 68-70 via ambient heat and the small amount of pressure seepage around the jacket and duct fittings I didn't tape intentionally. Your stove is more efficient, but should work much the same as brenndatomu stated. Our basement is also walkout and has several areas that let in a small cold draft. Good luck. We love our stove.

 

[Roadranger]

I have a somewhat similar setup as you are outlining. I have a 1500 sqft house and a 1000 sqft basement. I have the older 28-3500 connected directly to the main house trunk, not the plenum, with a damper stopping heat from back flowing into the propane furnace. Other than using the duct work, it's not connected to the thermostat or furnace in any way. The main house can be as hot as I want it and the basement stays 68-70 via ambient heat and the small amount of pressure seepage around the jacket and duct fittings I didn't tape intentionally. Your stove is more efficient, but should work much the same as brenndatomu stated. Our basement is also walkout and has several areas that let in a small cold draft. Good luck. We love our stove.

Thank you for that. That's how I'm hoping to run it, kind of, if we do get one. I would prefer running separate ducting for the wood furnace should we do it. I like the englander model because of it not being automated and operating like a standard wood stove.

 

[mustash29]

I went through a very similar situation a few years ago.

1800 sqft tri-level in SE CT. Bedrooms on the upper left above the 2 car garage. Right side is an unfinished walk out rec room in the back, with the kitchen & dining room above it. Right front is the LR with a 12' ceiling with the smallish sunken basement below it. I should note that the rec room with the wood stove is unfinished (Poured concrete floor, walls insulated to R-19 with vapor barrier, but it is not sheet rocked, so the ceiling joist cavities are still open to the upstairs sub floor & oak flooring). Warm floors in the kitchen & dining room are awesome. I know if I finish it off it will impede the heat flow from rising up into the upstairs somewhat.

The 2100 sqft stove did a decent job, but the oil still ran a lot to heat the bedrooms. I installed an 8" "duct booster" blower and 6 foot run of 6" duct to blow hot air from the rec room ceiling into the master bath. This pushes into the MBR so the cold air rolls down the hallway & foyer & sinks into the rec room below. It worked decent, but the ash / coal management during long cold snaps became an issue.

When oil hit > $4 a gallon I wanted more. I replaced the stove with a 28-3500 and dumped the heat into the rec room and continued to run the redneck blower. It still cooked me out.

I replaced the cheap & noisy (motor bushings failing) 8" duct booster with a high quality 10" muffin fan (vent fan from a huge server cabinet at work). This blows more air, keeps both ends of the house at a more even temperature and actually works pretty good. However, the 28-3500 still cooked me out. It ran great during the extreme cold snaps (no oil use) and ran great during the extended cold spells. The problem was that for me here in SE CT, those cold snaps are far and few between. For the majority of the winter (15-35 deg) I was choking the 28-3500 up so much (so as to not overheat the house) that it ran dirty. I wound up using more oil because rather than to burn dirty at 30-40 deg outside, I ran oil instead of wood.

After only 2.5 seasons of using the 28-3500, I hooked the old stove back up. With the larger 10" blower it works pretty damn good for shoulder season & the majority of the winter. The oil rarely runs as backup. The stove does not have an ash pan so ash / coal management is still an issue during extended burn periods but I have just learned to deal with it.

The front bedrooms overhang the garage by 3' so whenever it gets into the low teens or below I get nervous about those pipes freezing up so I just run the stove like normal and let the BR oil T-stat provide the supplemental heat as needed. During the recent cold snap (windy, 0-10 deg) we were still 80+ in the rec room, 70 + in the LR, Kit & DR and 68 in the BR.

 

[mustash29]

You could always duct it to your floor vents as stated. If the radiant heat from it is not enough you could always install a small (2 or 3") vent with damper into the main ducting that would bleed some heat into the walk out area. Sort of like the dashboard vents on a car, shut off one vent and the other 3 get a little more pressure.

The 28-3500 was not EPA certified because it did not have dedicated secondary burn. My understanding is that rather than re-engineering the 28-3500 and going through the certification process, Englander took the already certified NC-30 stove and turned it into a furnace by installing a tin jacket around it like the 28-3500 had.

Are you dead set on the 28-4000 idea?

Are you possibly interested in a slightly used (2.5 seasons) 28-3500 that is in excellent condition? I have one sitting here taking up space. If so pm me and we can talk.