I can't believe I am writing this.. A 5 year review since I bought the Enviro M55. This post is sort of an add on to the diary of my experiences (found here- https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/new-enviro-m55-fs-stove-owner.61814/ )
I'll summarize this review up-front- the M55 FS steel pellet stove has far exceeded my expectations. It is a workhorse of a heater and has provided relatively trouble free heat for 5 Montana winters.
My goal is to be honest and base the review on what I consider to be the most important aspects to me. A little bit about me, the reviewer. I have heated with wood for over 20 years. I used to live in West Virginia and I always had a Dutchwest Extra Large wood stove (and sometimes a second wood heater in the unfinished basement). I used to cut, split, stack and use up to 5 cords of hardwood a year for many years. I loved my wood stove heat and I loved the old Consolidated Dutchwest cast iron wood stoves. However when I moved to Montana 5.5 years ago, the house I bought had no chimney and there was a propane stand alone steel 'wood stove wanna be' in the basement. The basement area (finished is over 1,300 sq ft). Propane for primary heat is out of the question for me, and also the thought of lugging pine wood to a basement woodstove that was finished didn't set well either, so my wife and I started investigating pellet stoves.
We spent quite a bit of time looking at pellet stoves. We researched Harman, Quadrafire- you name it, we looked at it. One of the local shops had Enviro and we went to look at that one. What caught or eye on the Enviro was pretty obvious- it was a bullet proof design that produced a ton of heat. I didn't like that it was controlled by a mother board, but we bit the bullet anyway (and the tax credit period was soon to expire). The other plus is that local ski hill has a main lodge (huge) with vaulted ceilings. It is heated with one of these, and it is warm in there!
I'll base my scores on a scale of 1-5, one being deficient and 5 being superior.
Build quality- 4
It's not a 'pretty' unit. It is a free standing steel pedestal pellet stove. However it is built very well. All edges are smooth, the main door and glass are heavy and well constructed, the hopper and lid are tight and the burn pot, auger and other parts associated with the 'heat' are top notch fit and finish. Why didn't I give it a 5? The paint could probably be a bit more durable.
Set-up- 5
Our install was straight forward. Remove old propane unit, place in new unit, plumb the new exhaust pipe through the existing hole in the concrete, plug it and go. The unit can accept an OAK but we opted not. Our house is over 2,500 sq ft, tall ceilings- we have plenty of inside air. Dogs go in and out all day and we also leave a window cracked for fresh air year round. We used no gauges to test the unit. We simply fired it up and away she went. I watched the flame spread and adjusted the feed and air trim on the mother board and it produced the proper flame and height. I haven't had to mess with it for 5 years.
Ease of use- 5
It is very simple to use. I can load 2 bags of pellets, press a button and walk away. You can set the temp manually at one desired setting, you can choose a Hi/Lo function on a thermostat (which we use), or you can set it to go on and off on a thermostat, take your pick. I generally only have to empty the ash drawer after each ton burned. Let me say that again- I only have to empty my ash drawer after one ton of burned fuel. To me that is amazing! I used to have to empty my wood stove every other day! Honestly- It doesn't get any easier with this unit! The other great thing? It burns whatever pellet I throw at it. It has a setting for pellet quality- premium, standard and something else. I have run premium pellets, low cost pellets and everything in between through this stove and it will burn it.
(Ssshhhh- I'll tell you a little secret.... I don't know what that setting actually 'does'. I just load different pellets in there while it's set on premium and it all burns the same to me!)
Dependability- 4
The unit is a workhorse. I have had only one issue with it- the original blower fan. The first run of these units had a weak blower fan and it simply could not evacuate the heat fast enough or with enough volume. As a result the unit's over temp limit switch would trip and cause the unit to shut down. That left for a few cold mornings. However I purchased the upgraded fan (the unit was out of warranty for that component, grrrrr....) and have no problems since. The original burn-pot, auger, mother board, drive chain- it's all working fine. If not for the fan- I'd give it a '5'..
Noise- 3
Normally this wouldn't bother me, but I see a lot of comments on this board about noise. Not having been accustomed to pellet 'noise' before I was not aware of this. However after living with it for 5 years here's my opinion. The unit makes noise. You know the blower is on but it's not unbearable. The auger makes noise when it's feeding pellets. You can hear it rotate through the motions. The agitator rod near the burn pot will develop a squeak and I have to apply some hi-temp grease twice a year to calm it down. So yes- it is noisy. Noisier than a fridge or a dishwasher, but I can live with it.
Cleaning- 5+++
Okay purists- you are really going to hate me on this one. I love the cleaning regimen on my unit! Know why? Cause I only do it about three times a year! Twice during burning and one really good one when I am done.
Do I scrape the burn pot every day? Oh heck no!
Do I pull that little rod above the baffles every know and again to clean those off? Umm... NOPE!
I know, I know- you're saying "What a fool".. Well guess what? I cleaned a wood stove every week, a chimney once a month.. Then I swept the dust, bark and everything else out of the shop and home.. When I bought this and noticed how little I had to do and it still kept heating? I tested the boundaries!
Seriously I clean the burn pot twice a year, wipe all the ash out and vacuum the unit, oil the chain and grease the moving parts twice during the season. That's it! This bugger just keeps sucking in pellets and spitting out heat whether it's spotlessly clean on the inside or if it's covered in ash and the burn pot has a heavy layer of carbon. I have a method of cleaning all that caked on carbon that takes less than 5 minutes of my handling time so it's worth it!
5 years of heat- that's 15-18 tons of fuel. That's awesome.. I love this thing just for that. Really.
Heat- 5
Okay the biggie- "Does this thing really heat 3,000 sq. ft like it says? Really??"
Yes. It does. The unit has 5 heat settings. The coldest it has been here has been -28F. It has only seen level '3' once. It will throw some heat! Normally it bounces from 1-2 on the Hi-Lo setting and the basement stays 76-ish and the upstairs stays 65-67 degrees. Perfect for us. Actually when we are in our big open basement family room we turn it off for a while and then set it back to '1'. It runs us out. The house is 20 years old, 2x6 walls, 1" of insulating board then drywall. Standard windows (and lots of them) and only a propane fire place in the upstairs living room. It throws out a lot of heat.
That's about it. In short- I like this ugly duckling unit. It heats, it's easy to maintain, it's durable and dependable. Not much more you can ask for in a heating appliance.
I'll summarize this review up-front- the M55 FS steel pellet stove has far exceeded my expectations. It is a workhorse of a heater and has provided relatively trouble free heat for 5 Montana winters.
My goal is to be honest and base the review on what I consider to be the most important aspects to me. A little bit about me, the reviewer. I have heated with wood for over 20 years. I used to live in West Virginia and I always had a Dutchwest Extra Large wood stove (and sometimes a second wood heater in the unfinished basement). I used to cut, split, stack and use up to 5 cords of hardwood a year for many years. I loved my wood stove heat and I loved the old Consolidated Dutchwest cast iron wood stoves. However when I moved to Montana 5.5 years ago, the house I bought had no chimney and there was a propane stand alone steel 'wood stove wanna be' in the basement. The basement area (finished is over 1,300 sq ft). Propane for primary heat is out of the question for me, and also the thought of lugging pine wood to a basement woodstove that was finished didn't set well either, so my wife and I started investigating pellet stoves.
We spent quite a bit of time looking at pellet stoves. We researched Harman, Quadrafire- you name it, we looked at it. One of the local shops had Enviro and we went to look at that one. What caught or eye on the Enviro was pretty obvious- it was a bullet proof design that produced a ton of heat. I didn't like that it was controlled by a mother board, but we bit the bullet anyway (and the tax credit period was soon to expire). The other plus is that local ski hill has a main lodge (huge) with vaulted ceilings. It is heated with one of these, and it is warm in there!
I'll base my scores on a scale of 1-5, one being deficient and 5 being superior.
Build quality- 4
It's not a 'pretty' unit. It is a free standing steel pedestal pellet stove. However it is built very well. All edges are smooth, the main door and glass are heavy and well constructed, the hopper and lid are tight and the burn pot, auger and other parts associated with the 'heat' are top notch fit and finish. Why didn't I give it a 5? The paint could probably be a bit more durable.
Set-up- 5
Our install was straight forward. Remove old propane unit, place in new unit, plumb the new exhaust pipe through the existing hole in the concrete, plug it and go. The unit can accept an OAK but we opted not. Our house is over 2,500 sq ft, tall ceilings- we have plenty of inside air. Dogs go in and out all day and we also leave a window cracked for fresh air year round. We used no gauges to test the unit. We simply fired it up and away she went. I watched the flame spread and adjusted the feed and air trim on the mother board and it produced the proper flame and height. I haven't had to mess with it for 5 years.
Ease of use- 5
It is very simple to use. I can load 2 bags of pellets, press a button and walk away. You can set the temp manually at one desired setting, you can choose a Hi/Lo function on a thermostat (which we use), or you can set it to go on and off on a thermostat, take your pick. I generally only have to empty the ash drawer after each ton burned. Let me say that again- I only have to empty my ash drawer after one ton of burned fuel. To me that is amazing! I used to have to empty my wood stove every other day! Honestly- It doesn't get any easier with this unit! The other great thing? It burns whatever pellet I throw at it. It has a setting for pellet quality- premium, standard and something else. I have run premium pellets, low cost pellets and everything in between through this stove and it will burn it.
(Ssshhhh- I'll tell you a little secret.... I don't know what that setting actually 'does'. I just load different pellets in there while it's set on premium and it all burns the same to me!)
Dependability- 4
The unit is a workhorse. I have had only one issue with it- the original blower fan. The first run of these units had a weak blower fan and it simply could not evacuate the heat fast enough or with enough volume. As a result the unit's over temp limit switch would trip and cause the unit to shut down. That left for a few cold mornings. However I purchased the upgraded fan (the unit was out of warranty for that component, grrrrr....) and have no problems since. The original burn-pot, auger, mother board, drive chain- it's all working fine. If not for the fan- I'd give it a '5'..
Noise- 3
Normally this wouldn't bother me, but I see a lot of comments on this board about noise. Not having been accustomed to pellet 'noise' before I was not aware of this. However after living with it for 5 years here's my opinion. The unit makes noise. You know the blower is on but it's not unbearable. The auger makes noise when it's feeding pellets. You can hear it rotate through the motions. The agitator rod near the burn pot will develop a squeak and I have to apply some hi-temp grease twice a year to calm it down. So yes- it is noisy. Noisier than a fridge or a dishwasher, but I can live with it.
Cleaning- 5+++
Okay purists- you are really going to hate me on this one. I love the cleaning regimen on my unit! Know why? Cause I only do it about three times a year! Twice during burning and one really good one when I am done.
Do I scrape the burn pot every day? Oh heck no!
Do I pull that little rod above the baffles every know and again to clean those off? Umm... NOPE!
I know, I know- you're saying "What a fool".. Well guess what? I cleaned a wood stove every week, a chimney once a month.. Then I swept the dust, bark and everything else out of the shop and home.. When I bought this and noticed how little I had to do and it still kept heating? I tested the boundaries!
Seriously I clean the burn pot twice a year, wipe all the ash out and vacuum the unit, oil the chain and grease the moving parts twice during the season. That's it! This bugger just keeps sucking in pellets and spitting out heat whether it's spotlessly clean on the inside or if it's covered in ash and the burn pot has a heavy layer of carbon. I have a method of cleaning all that caked on carbon that takes less than 5 minutes of my handling time so it's worth it!
5 years of heat- that's 15-18 tons of fuel. That's awesome.. I love this thing just for that. Really.
Heat- 5
Okay the biggie- "Does this thing really heat 3,000 sq. ft like it says? Really??"
Yes. It does. The unit has 5 heat settings. The coldest it has been here has been -28F. It has only seen level '3' once. It will throw some heat! Normally it bounces from 1-2 on the Hi-Lo setting and the basement stays 76-ish and the upstairs stays 65-67 degrees. Perfect for us. Actually when we are in our big open basement family room we turn it off for a while and then set it back to '1'. It runs us out. The house is 20 years old, 2x6 walls, 1" of insulating board then drywall. Standard windows (and lots of them) and only a propane fire place in the upstairs living room. It throws out a lot of heat.
That's about it. In short- I like this ugly duckling unit. It heats, it's easy to maintain, it's durable and dependable. Not much more you can ask for in a heating appliance.
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I do mine once a week with 3 cold steel chisels....First, after I dump out any ash, I take my "battering ram" chisel and beat the hell out of each side and bottom of the burn pot, then I take my 2nd chisel and chip of any visual build up that remains. Finally I take my supe sharp finishing chisel and kind of shave the entire inside and make sure it's clean and smooth. Like you this takes all of 5 minutes. If possible could you share your cleaning method.....?
