Englander 25-PDVC...any feedback?

[Ashamatash]

Does anyone have any experience with this stove? It is sold at Home Depot and it retails for $1,200. I have a 1,300 SF colonial that I'm looking to heat and was wondering if anyone has this model and/or knows anything about it.

Thanks,
Scott

(broken link removed)

 

[GVA]

Thread bump
You've been here 2 months and you don't know about Mike and Corie........

Try a search... type in the model and you should get many hits... it's a popular stove.. %-P

 

[kutch2001]

I have it and it helps immensely. Have owned it for 7 years, used about 2-3 years myself, loaned out for 1 year, and sat in my basement for the remainder. Even with all this jostling around it still runs like a champ. That is, until messing with mother nature recently.

Overall, quite happy with the stove and it has no problems keeping my 1150'ish sf home nice and cozy. Upwards of 80 downstairs on the coldest of days if I really push it.

Left the furnace off entirely last year.. ) Furnace is natural gas so don't see quite as much savings, but I like the fact of burning with wood is good and gas is bad.

Depending on where you are in CT I could recommend a place to get pellets (I have no affiliation with them at all). I wouldn't really trust the home depot ones as they put off a little smell last time I used them and didn't seem to burn quite as hot (tho we're inside and smell is outside when burning, but still).

 

[stoveguy2esw]

am currently running one in my home , heating the whole house with it.matter of fact i just turned it on a few minutes ago, just lit. by the way , i build them for a living so if you have any questions about it or other ESW units feel free to ask away.

 

[Ashamatash]

Thanks for your feedback guys. After reading these posts I went to Home Depot and picked it up. I feel like the kid who just bought the shiny red bike he kept viewing in the store window, and finally one day he went for it. I also purchased the Dura-Vent 3000 Pellet Stove Chimney kit (as recommended on the stove instructions) and I'm going to get started on the installation this weekend. I looked into the Durorod and some tiles and will likely build my own base as I had seen suggested here.

I'll check back and let you guys know how I'm making out and thanks again for your feedback and offers of support...I may need it. I can't wait to fire it up for the first time, sit next to it with a good stiff drink and truly enjoy it.

And Kutch, I'm in Middletown, CT and could use the name of a good pellet source if it's close enough.

 

[baskinglizards]

am currently running one in my home , heating the whole house with it.matter of fact i just turned it on a few minutes ago, just lit. by the way , i build them for a living so if you have any questions about it or other ESW units feel free to ask away.

I'd be happy to take you up on that. We're shopping around for a wood-burning furnace and considering the Englander we saw at Home Depot:

(broken link removed to http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId;=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100185844&N=10000003+90401+501422&marketID=401&locStoreNum=8125)

It is marketed as an add-on furnace but we wonder if we could use it as a stand-alone. We currently have a Big E pellet stove with an extended hopper, wired to a thermostat. The wood furnace would mainly be used on cold days when the Big E can't heat the whole house on its own. Also, the furnace would be located in our basement and connected to our existing air ducts. Can this furnace be installed on its own? We saw that it does come with its own blower.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

am currently running one in my home , heating the whole house with it.matter of fact i just turned it on a few minutes ago, just lit. by the way , i build them for a living so if you have any questions about it or other ESW units feel free to ask away.

I'd be happy to take you up on that. We're shopping around for a wood-burning furnace and considering the Englander we saw at Home Depot:

(broken link removed to http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId;=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100185844&N=10000003+90401+501422&marketID=401&locStoreNum=8125)

It is marketed as an add-on furnace but we wonder if we could use it as a stand-alone. We currently have a Big E pellet stove with an extended hopper, wired to a thermostat. The wood furnace would mainly be used on cold days when the Big E can't heat the whole house on its own. Also, the furnace would be located in our basement and connected to our existing air ducts. Can this furnace be installed on its own? We saw that it does come with its own blower.

it could be , but the rated 3K heating capacity was figured using the existing "whole house"central furnace's larger blower. the unit would likely suppliment the big e pretty well, but if the house is over 2K sq ft or has complex ducting (lots of elbows and such) it may not heat it completely on its own due to the 850cfm blower just not able to force the heat all the way through the ducts by itself.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Thanks for your feedback guys. After reading these posts I went to Home Depot and picked it up. I feel like the kid who just bought the shiny red bike he kept viewing in the store window, and finally one day he went for it. I also purchased the Dura-Vent 3000 Pellet Stove Chimney kit (as recommended on the stove instructions) and I'm going to get started on the installation this weekend. I looked into the Durorod and some tiles and will likely build my own base as I had seen suggested here.

I'll check back and let you guys know how I'm making out and thanks again for your feedback and offers of support...I may need it. I can't wait to fire it up for the first time, sit next to it with a good stiff drink and truly enjoy it.

And Kutch, I'm in Middletown, CT and could use the name of a good pellet source if it's close enough.

kool beans scott, let me know if you have any install or operations questions , be happy to help.

 

[Ashamatash]

Thanks again Mike!

 

[kutch2001]

Congrats on picking up the stove.. You will be quite pleased with it.

Ordered pellets from these people last year, but not this year.. Got a really good deal on the ones this year which couldn't pass up. They can deliver to you, and I think it is a reasonable charge.
http://www.cjspellets.com/

Some people like the pellets at home depot, and they do burn, but there are better out there for the same price.

They have store hours once a week and think am going there to pick up some test bags sometime tomorrow.

 

[baskinglizards]

it could be , but the rated 3K heating capacity was figured using the existing "whole house"central furnace's larger blower. the unit would likely suppliment the big e pretty well, but if the house is over 2K sq ft or has complex ducting (lots of elbows and such) it may not heat it completely on its own due to the 850cfm blower just not able to force the heat all the way through the ducts by itself.

There are only 5 heat registers and they are all on the first floor (except for one that goes up to the 2nd floor bath); the 2nd floor is mainly heated through gravity-fed floor registers - warm air rising through them from the first floor. So, although the entire house is a little over 2000 sq. ft., in reality the furnace would only heat about 1000 sq. ft. worth of ducts. Would the blower be powerful enough for that, you think?

 

[Gooserider]

Just as a thought Mike, could the stock blower be replaced with a larger one, or have the furnace hooked to a hunk of ductwork with a bigger blower in it to "pretend" that it was a main furnace? That would seem like something worth trying if there are many folks wanting to use it as a standalone unit...

Gooserider

 

[stoveguy2esw]

it could be , but the rated 3K heating capacity was figured using the existing "whole house"central furnace's larger blower. the unit would likely suppliment the big e pretty well, but if the house is over 2K sq ft or has complex ducting (lots of elbows and such) it may not heat it completely on its own due to the 850cfm blower just not able to force the heat all the way through the ducts by itself.

There are only 5 heat registers and they are all on the first floor (except for one that goes up to the 2nd floor bath); the 2nd floor is mainly heated through gravity-fed floor registers - warm air rising through them from the first floor. So, although the entire house is a little over 2000 sq. ft., in reality the furnace would only heat about 1000 sq. ft. worth of ducts. Would the blower be powerful enough for that, you think?

yeah , probably so for that. ideally a straight main trunk line with drops off it , just harder to push air around corners and such, but a simple system would probably do ok as a standalone. by the way , what is connected to the ducting anyway??

 

[baskinglizards]

yeah , probably so for that. ideally a straight main trunk line with drops off it , just harder to push air around corners and such, but a simple system would probably do ok as a standalone. by the way , what is connected to the ducting anyway??

Right now, we have a wood/oil combination furnace. It is 30+ years old and needs to be replaced. We no longer use the oil side of it, just use it to burn wood. It is currently rated at 140,000 BTUs (the wood-burning side anyway) and we find that is too much for our house. It's great on very cold winter nights, though, but still gets the temps inside the house up into the mid 70s - a little much for our taste. LOL We prefer the temps to be in the high 60s.

Thanks for your help!

 

[stoveguy2esw]

ok, any idea what size (cfm) the blower for that unit is?

 

[baskinglizards]

ok, any idea what size (cfm) the blower for that unit is?

It's a twin 10" blower, 1500 cfm. Again, probably more than what is really needed. The hot air ducts feel like giant hairdryers when they are in operation. LOL It probably was needed when the unit was installed, but the house has been remodeled since then and we suspect some of the ducts were removed also. When comes time to install a new furnace, we'll probably have to redo all the ducts also because the current configuration doesn't work well (again because of the remodel), also because the ducts are about as old as the furnace itself. Dirty, warped, nasty-looking things. LOL

 

[Ashamatash]

Mike,

I just popped in my DVD for the installation of my Englander and they're you were giving me the step-by-step...good stuff. I'm going to check out the rest of it.

Scott

 

[stoveguy2esw]

glad you liked it , was one of the best ideas i ever had. we did one just as a "if requested" back in 2003, and the boss liked the idea, now we do dvd's for all pellet , and multifuel units , if i can find the time i'd love to do a wood one (would be a coverall for all the wood stoves, but i think it would be a hit!) by the way , i have yet to recieve my first royalty check, do you think i should talk to the boss about that <chuckle>

 

[stoveguy2esw]

as for the furnace, i think that if it was a single trunk , and you had 1500 cfm before , you are taking about simplifying the ducting im thinking that it would work well. i was a bit cautious before as i try to "stay real" and not overinflate capabilities ESPECIALLY IN HERE! but knowing more now i think it should do fine , i was thinking we were looking at a more complicated system.

 

[Ashamatash]

Mike,

That DVD has everything you need to know about the stoves presented in a clear, concise way...you deserve a raise. ;-)

On another note, I'm planning out the install of my stove and as I read the install instructions for the Duravent 3000, it showed an option for a horizontal install of the pipe. Is the vertical rise once I get the pipe outside the house necessary, or could I simply come out of the house horizontally and cap it with the rain vent?

Thanks,
Scott

 

[stoveguy2esw]

yes you need that vertical rise, that little bit of draw can vent the stove in case of a power outage. without it you will have smoke in the house in that circumstance

 

[BrotherBart]

Mike,

I just popped in my DVD for the installation of my Englander and they're you were giving me the step-by-step...good stuff. I'm going to check out the rest of it.

Scott

Born movie star ain't he?

 

[mkmh]

Hi Scott,

Congrats on the purchase! Does this mean you did not buy the old PelletMaster you were looking at a while back? I imagine you'll be happy with the Englander, knowing all parts are at the start of their useful life. I spent about 7 hours getting my used Harman P61 all set to go this season. Big PITA..replacing the igniter and pulling out the distribution blower. There are some good deals out there on used stoves but you definitely have to be willing to put your time in and/or really know what you are doing.

Good luck with the stove!

 

[baskinglizards]

as for the furnace, i think that if it was a single trunk , and you had 1500 cfm before , you are taking about simplifying the ducting im thinking that it would work well. i was a bit cautious before as i try to "stay real" and not overinflate capabilities ESPECIALLY IN HERE! but knowing more now i think it should do fine , i was thinking we were looking at a more complicated system.

Thanks, Mike, for all your help. We are still looking at a few woodburning furnaces and don't plan on making a purchase until this spring or next fall. We've also been looking at the Clayton made by US Stoves, though that model has the same capacity as our current furnace. Their Hotblast model is equivalent to the Englander in capacity, but I've read some bad reviews on the Hotblast. The Englander also seems to have better-quality construction than the US Stoves models.

Only thing that does worry me about the Englander is that we would end up using it at its maximum capacity. Also, this is our first season using wood as our main source of heat and I think we still have a lot to learn about woodburning in general. I'll probably be submitting a new post on that, because we need help. LOL

Thanks again!

 

[stoveguy2esw]

no prob, and you know where to find me if ya need me