Englander Furnace Users (28-3500)

[04HemiRam2500]

I am picking up the furnace tommorow and can't wait. I had a few questions on how to operate this bad boy though.

1. What is the safe operating temp for the furnace what is the max I should run it? I will have a magnetic thermometer on the front of it.

2. When the power goes out it is okay to still use it? Should I take the sides of the air jacket off? If the power goes out and it is on, when I am away and can't turn the generator on, will it overheat without the blower on?

3. Since my setup will be upstairs and not connected to duct. Can I just leave the blower on all the time and bypass the thermostat. In the manual it says to run it with the factory settings on the thermostat for at least 30 days.

I am going to have it in the living area. I am going to put an 8" 90 elbow on the heat outlet to help move the heat down my hall.

 

[Gasifier]

I am picking up the furnace tommorow and can't wait. I had a few questions on how to operate this bad boy though.

1. What is the safe operating temp for the furnace what is the max I should run it? I will have a magnetic thermometer on the front of it.

2. When the power goes out it is okay to still use it? Should I take the sides of the air jacket off? If the power goes out and it is on, when I am away and can't turn the generator on, will it overheat without the blower on?

3. Since my setup will be upstairs and not connected to duct. Can I just leave the blower on all the time and bypass the thermostat. In the manual it says to run it with the factory settings on the thermostat for at least 30 days.

I am going to have it in the living area. I am going to put an 8" 90 elbow on the heat outlet to help move the heat down my hall.

I have a feeling you will be spending more time in your shorts! It's going to be warm in that living area. I don't have any experience with these furnaces, I just had to throw a smart arss comment in. Sorry.

 

[M1sterM]

I think the instruction manual describes how to operate in case of a power outage. Don't recall the details, but I don't think it required taking the jacket off...but doing so might help with heating the room.

Yes, you could leave the blower on all the time, but I think that might cool the firebox a little more than you'd like, so your efficiency would go down, some. I'd recommend not running it that way.

 

[04HemiRam2500]

When you guys load the englander furnace is it okay to load past the firebricks up to the baffle or no? I did not see anything in the manual.

 

[M1sterM]

Load it as high as you want. You'll get the same flame impingement on the sides whether it's 2/3 loaded or fully loaded.

 

[Gasifier]

Is this "Englander" made by the same company as my Pellet stove I use to heat my camp? England Stove Works?

 

[04HemiRam2500]

Yes, they are the same. This is just my opini bu they have the best products on the market now. MADE IN USA!

 

[Gasifier]

I like my Pellet stove made by them. Especially when burning a better pellet! Burned some junk pellets this year due to my inexperience in my first year with pellet stove.

 

[04HemiRam2500]

I do not know about there pellet material because I am not a fan of any pellet stove. This is just my opinion though. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[mustash29]

I have a temp gage with a 6" probe in my flue pipe. 400 deg + and it is burning relatively clean on 2 year oak. About 600 I begin to have flames wrapping around the upper baffle plate and that is hot enough to heat my 1800 sqft. You don't want to be up around 1000 sustained, because that is approaching the limits of triple wall class A pipe.

You are planning on "dumping" the heat and not hooking it up to distribution duct work, so no issues on a power outage. The furnace will draft itself ok enough to prevent a massive overheat. It will just act like a big stove with a heat shield 3" away from the firebox. If you install a filter box on the air inlet (highly recommended for your application) it will limit some of the natural circulation, but you can remove the filter during power outages.

You are going to want a filter box. The US Stove universal kit made for the Hot Blast furnaces that Tractor Supply sells supposedly work pretty decent. You will also want to wire your blower up with an easy access kill switch. 850 CFM blowing out of an elbow in close proximity to the load door will cause a LOT of ash and smoke to get sucked out of the door when it is open for stoking & reloading. Whomever cleans / dusts your home will DEMAND a filter system.

The manual says to use the factory settings on the thermostat for a month.....that is so you learn how the stove operates and fires before messing with the settings. You don't want to run it too hot, and you don't want to overcool the firebox either.

All that being said, I run mine with the heat dumped locally to my rec room. I don't use the factory blower or thermostat. I have two 4" muffin fans from dead pc's. I run the cheap one, the good one, or both. That effectively gives me low, med or hi air flow depending on how much heat the house needs. You can wire it up so that a room T-stat will activate the blower, but the furnace T-stat will kill it if the firebox cools too much. This just prevents wasting power blowing cold air around. I prefer the constant quiet hum of the muffin fans in lew of the noisy, cyclic 850 cfm blower.

Read through my thread for a few more details, but the mods I did work great.
8 extra fire brick, 4.5 x 9"
1.5" angle iron, two 24" long and one about 17.75" long.
Ash plate - 24 x 15.5 to 15.75" Cut 8 slots about 1/4 to 3/8" thick. You are on your own to mark out the slot location but if you make the plate and lay it inside the fire box you can poke a short marker up from below to scribe them out. Drill the tips, slice the slots with a grinder, oxy / acy torch or plasma cutter. My plate is 1/4" thick and has experienced some warping. I'd go 3/8 mild steel or 1/4 or 3/8 SS if I had to make another one.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/englander-28-3500-furnace-install-mods.102100/

 

[04HemiRam2500]

Thanks Mustash29 I appreciate the advice. The only thing I am not going to do though is the filter box. That one by USS stove is too big and it will look really bad sitting in my game room. Maybe won't have an issue with dust not sure yet I will have to wait and see how it goes. I know that when I was using the englander 30 dust was an issue and there would be a layer on the stove that I would blow off by turning the blower on.

Is there some way to maybe just put a small air filter on the inlet side of the blower? I am just thinking that that big box will not look right? Also, I would like to avoid the filter box to prevevnt overheating this beast when the power goes out and I am not home for hours to remove the filter box.

Is dust stuck inside the air jacket bad or a hazard? Maybe I will have to take the sides off of it and vacuum in there if I do not go with a filter system?

 

[mustash29]

With no filter, you will wind up blowing some dust around. I doubt it will build up inside the air jacket, especially with the 850 cfm factory blower. That think moves some good air.

My point was to make sure you have a convient way to kill the blower when stoking and loading the fuel. That way you won't have and strange air currents swirrling around that may (will) suck ash / smoke out of the firebox, particularly since you are dumping the heat locally with an elbow.

Get it hooked up yet? Pics?

Mine seems to burn best (relatively clean and decent burn times with good heat output) with the primary air control open 3/8" out of it's 1 & 7/8" of travel.

Occasionally I crack the underfire knob 1/4 turn as well. 1/2 turn or more and I loose my coal bed way too fast for the long burn times.

 

[04HemiRam2500]

I have just started burning with mine occasionally as it is getting warmer where I live. Do you have a magnet thermometer on the front and what temps do you run. To burn the paint off I threw in scrap pallet pieces and two pieces of cherry and the front thermometer read 500 but with regular wood it has not got past 300 and is heat home exceptionally well!!

Was it okay to use the pine to burn the paint off this isn't an over fire is it? Also, because it gets warmer I have not run this thing with alot of coals in it since I turn it off during the day.

 

[04HemiRam2500]

I wanted to ask you how you do startup for the englander furnace. I have a weaker draft. So, I imagine that I will not be able to turn down the air control alot. I think one of my current issues with the stove is knowing when to start to turn the air down on startup. How hot do you let this thing get? Then you close the bottom draft and close the top draft and open it to your choosing correct? Lastly, Are you suppose to run this furnace with a large coal bed or not that is not necessary?

I am not sure if what I see is secondary combustion but I do have the blue flames above the logs and just under the baffle. I am just not getting great burn times that way though?

 

[mustash29]

Cold start - empty fire box or with some ash & cold coals - half of a Fire Starter "cheater brick" covered by 4 to 6 oak kindling sticks (about 1 x 1 to 1.5 x 1.5") + 4 regular splits on top of that. Light cheater, shut load door, pri air is almost always left on my favorite 3/8" open setting, crack ash door. Wait 10 min, shut ash door but open under fire knob one turn. Wait 5 - 10 min and the under fire knob is shut. My kindling rack is near the furnace, all the wood stays outside. During the 2 waiting periods I bring in another 4 to 6 splits or enough to fill her up, sweep up, consume wobbly pop, etc.

It takes a while to get a cold fire box & refractory fully hot. Probably a good hour or when there is a good 1 - 2" and growing coal bed, then it's time to load her up.

With a 3" + coal bed it is in cruise control mode.

One a fully cold start - If you have weak draft you can light a propane torch and set it on the ash lip with the flame pointing up the slot in front of the baffle. Let it like that for a few minutes while you stage your kindling, cheater brick, a few splits, etc. Then light the mess off. That torch flame will be enough to start warming the flue and it will draft a little better for you.

 

[M1sterM]

Propane torches are a very helpful in getting the flue going. I cringe at going hands-free, though, but that's just me.

I also used the opened ash door for extra air in getting the stove going from a cold start. But, I have forgotten about it a little longer than is recommended. I strongly suggest getting a loud timer, and setting it whenever the ash door is used. 99% of the time, you'll have no problem remembering to close it, but it's that one time out of a thousand that will come back to bite you. Or you'll just get tired of going back to check on the furnace to make sure you closed the ash door...which you already had, but just didn't remember.

 

[OAKLEY]

okay, thanks to those who helped me install a new thermostat for my englander 28-3500! as soon as I got it wired correctly, the fan started right up!
by day 2, when I got home, the wood and fire still hot, but blower had shut itself off. when I stuck a stick in it and helped it turn, it started turning/spinning, but then stopped. now, no matter what, it just humms loud but fan wont spin. So, Im thinking I need a new fan. Anyone know a cross reference number for the fan from the manual so I can find a cheaper off brand fan? part number in manual is bm-1376 its a 850 cfm blower.
thanks for any help you can offer!

 

[OAKLEY]

Im very sorry, I meant to start a new thread