Englander Model 28-3500

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philluvt

New Member
Feb 8, 2007
2
Buchanan Virginia
I am considering purchasing the Englander Model 28-3500. I would love to hear from people who have or have had this stove. I have searched for reviews but I have found very little independent information. Can somone please respond?
 
http://www.englanderstoves.com/28-3500.html

Englander Model 28-3500 add on furnace

Approx. 3,000 square feet heating capacity when fed into your existing ductwork.
Accepts up to 25" logs.
Extra-Large ash pan.
Beefy 850 CFM blower aids in whole-house heat circulation.
Reliable design provides for longer life and more efficiency.
The first whole-house heater with a standard viewing glass (9" x 9") - check on your fire from
across the room or the top of your stairs!
Firebrick lined.

Dimensions: 24 1/2" W x 36" H x 30 1/4" D
Weight: 570 lbs.
Door opening: 12 1/2" x 11"
Window opening: 8 1/2" x 8 1/2"
Type of fuel: Wood
Flue size ID: 6"
Flue height to top exhaust: 36 1/2"
Hot air outlet: 8"
AC-G9 glass: 9" x 9"
Blower Capacity: 850 cfm
 

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Phil
I installed the 28-3500 in my house in October 2005. I have a 2 story colonial, about 2400 sf with a Carrier Infinity natural gas forced air central heating system. Our home does not have an open floorplan, so a traditional woodstove was not an option. The 28-3500 works exactly as advertised. Outside temp has been in the single digits here in western PA and we are still just burning wood to keep warm. It is now our primary source of heat. Last winter our natural gas furnace only came on when we were away for the weekend. This winter I am not quite as zealous with burning, but the gas furnace still rarely comes on. We set it to come on when the house drops to 60*.
We have done a couple of things in addition to what Englander sets out in there install instructions.
1. Our Carrier furnace fan can be turned on low to run all the time. We keep this fan running 24h / day. It is so quiet you can barely hear it. This also allows us to circulate the air through the air cleaner and humidifier. I also think this allows us to get better circulation through the house. The Englander fan is triggered by the stove air temp. I think if you relied on that alone you would end up with a lot of warm air stranded in ductwork
2. I installed a butterfly type one way gate that theoretically keeps the air flowing from the Englander to the central ductwork. I am not sure it works like I hoped. I suspect it gets stuck in the open position. Therefore I added a simple gate in the ductwork to close off the Englander completely (for summer when we run the AC)
3. If you really want to warm up the house quickly, the thermostat allows you to turn on the wood stove fan and just let it run.

Finally, don't underestimate the differance that good quality firewood makes. My wood this year is not nearly as good (dry) as last year. I can tell the differance.

I would buy one again. We paid about $1,000 for stove, ductwork, etc. It has paid for itself already.

Finally, get a couple buddies to help you get it in the house. Even with removing the brick, doors, etc it was very heavy.
Good luck
Sean
 
I can back up everything Sean says. Installed one a while back (3 years) and it is great. Keeps the whole house warm, and despite the lack of secondary burn tubes etc., still gets secondary burn with good burning practices - seasoned wood, hot burning, routine maintenance- pays for itself quickly when the furnace doesn't run at all. I burn about 5 full cords a season, my wood is free and the house is in the low to mid 70's all winter (and that is without working the unit hard). It will burn for 8-9 hours on a full load with a good bed of coals already going and plenty of glowing coals to rekindle when waking up or getting home from work. Mine vents through Class A pipe, about 30' high. I live just south of Buffalo NY, so while not as cold as some here on the board, we do get Real winter weather here. Support from the Englander folks is great as well. I really like the glass window on this unit for checking the fire wihtout having to open the door like many of the other add-on units. No problems with the glass sooting up with seasoned wood - I don't think I've had to clean it since the mild low - temp burns back in early Nov. I really can't say enough good things about it - would only be better if it was EPA. We do have a small Lopi Patriot in the living room that gets fired up when the temps are below 10 and the wind is kicking. We have a park that borders our back yard so its wide open for the wind in the winter. Also, our house is a late 1800's work in progress that I only have about 1/2 - 2/3's isulated.
 
That's a great endorsement WaterBoss. Care to post a bigger shot of your installation. Looking good.
 
Be Green - I'd be happy to! I'll put something up tomorrow after taking some pics with my wife's cameraphone. She's out with some friends right now. I am really pleased with my set-up and proud to have done the install myself. Did a lot of research and planning, so I'm happy to share it.
 
Here are the shots of the 28-3500 install. Thimble shot shows detail of penetration to outside. I have a black metal plate that covers the wood framework and fiberglass as a "surround" that I removed for the shot. The thimble itself has no insulation in it. In this area it is double wall pipe connecting to the Class A before exiting the basement. The shot doesn't give much depth perception but it comes in through the thimble and mates up with a double wall 45.

Second shot shows the two pipes coming out of the stovetop. 8 inch in the front is the hot air that connects to the natural gas furnace. I started out with a T for two reasons - first, in the event of a power failure (didn't own a generator at time I installed it, but I do now) I could "dump" the heat to the basement only and not overheat the Nat. gas furnace ductwork, which I lowered to have a 2" air gap from the overhead joists, and secondly so that if it got too warm on the first and second floors (My wife doesn't like it as warm as I do, about 74 - 75 degrees is plenty for her) I could "dump" the heat before it went through the ductwork. I made the cover for the T and also made the damper that is inside the T and is operated by the little spring handle. 6 inch is the flue. Flue take off from the wood furnace is a 12" long piece of single wall going up to a double wall 90.

Third shot shows the 8 inch where it connects to the plenum on top of the Nat. gas furnace. After it goes in there is a 90 that turns it up so that if the Nat.gas furnace ever kicked on, (it hasn't kicked on except for when I cycle it to make sure it still works) it won't be forcing air back to the stove. I chose not to install a butterfly because of the way I have the 90 inside the plenum skewed towards the ductwork that goes the the back end of my house which is the windward side. My ductwork also has dampers so that I can control the heat output into individual rooms as well.

Fourth shot shows a nice frontview full of warmth. I drilled a small hole to mount the temp gauge on the front of the stove. Since the stove has an "air jacket" surrounding it, putting it on top could be done with a probe type gauge, but for me this is sufficient. The temps read lower than they would if it was on top but when I compare them to the stovetop temps on our Lopi upstairs in the living room, they are lower by about 150 degrees. I don't "burn by the gauge", but it is nice to have as a reference and for the initial learning curve of using the furnace.

Last shot shows the two Class A chimneys on the outside of the house. Front chimney is Lopi upstairs, and back one is the Englander. I ran the chimney down towards the ground on the front (Lopi) chimney in case I ever decide to build a chase to enclose them. That way I can easily pull the plugs at ground level for cleaning. On the back (Englander) chimney, I ran the pipe up 18" higher since it is the windward side. I primarily burn the Englander 24/7, but when it's below 10 and the wind is whipping through the wide open area of the park behind my house I'll fire up the Lopi as well. I have no problems with any smoke smell downdrafting into the livingroom when the Lopi isn't burning.

Wow, I didn't mean to ramble on so much, but I hope this helped. Happy to answer any other questions you might have!

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I am putting in one of these right now and was wondering .
1. Englands manual suggests putting a elbow inside the furnace pointing up.... I don't think I have room in mine to do that because of the central air coils.... but have to take it apart to see exactly how the coils are in there. Is this ebow necessary?? or not
2. If I do install this elbow is it any special elbow and do I still install the peice that (can't think of the name) that is like a starter piece where you cut the hole in the furnace and put the collar in the hole and then bent the tabs over?? Would a elbow fit inside with these tabs bent over??
Thanks
 
I did not put the elbow in. By running my gas furnace fan constantly I am sure the airflow is going in the right direction.
 
Not really - my electric consumption barely changes. I have a Carrier Infinity furnace that is very energy efficient. I have the option to turn the fan on at a very low speed. You can't even hear it running unless you are standing near it. This has the additional benefit of letting me clean the air with the Carrier electronic air cleaner and run the central humidifier that is on the gas furnace. Clean air, 45% relative humidity and no gas bill.
 
I am also considering buy one of the 28-3500. Right now I have a Osburn 2400 in my basement trying to heat 2700 feet above it between 2 more floors.The first floor stays warm but the heat just doesnt get to the 2nd floor.

I was wondering if you have ever checked the air temp coming out of the floor grates on your top floor?
 
Ibjamn, welcome. Is there any possibility of installing a stove on your first floor? A basement stove installation is unlikely to heat the whole house. Woodstoves are designed primarily to be space (room) heaters.
 
The air coming out of the second floor registers is warm. Don't know the exact temperature, but it is definately warmer than the air in the room.
 
My second floor register temp is warm also, but I've never checked it's temp. Stays pretty consistent too. Sorry for the slow reply - been working a lot lately.
 
What does the limit connection do? What should it be hooked up to? How do you have yours hooked up?

Is the bottom knob and top slide bar damper controls? What are they used for and how do you use yours? I know what a damper is...why is there one on top and the bottom. I understand that the bottom one is feeding oxygen from the bottom but what is the top one used for?

Just got one today on sale :) Is there anything I should know or do when installing? Thanks guys!

Rusty
 
Not sure what you mean by limit connection. The two controls are both draft controls. The slide damper above the door should be your primary air control, with the bottom knob only really used when starting the stove or if you have a weak draft. I believe at one time they said you could burn soft coal in it. In that case the bottom knob would be your primary air, as coal needs underfire air.
 
water boss there are a few code vilations and safety issues you should address single wall pipr requires 18" clearance to combustiables including your floor joist above.
I also noticed wood pieces holding in you metal makeshift there w te wall flange again well within 18"
common fiberglass insulating has no business in contact with single wall vent pipe? Lot of BTUs an heat in that pipe and clearances no where nere the required distances?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v464/laluna07/woodstove/1ebc9501.jpg
 
elkimmeg said:
water boss there are a few code vilations and safety issues you should address single wall pipr requires 18" clearance to combustiables including your floor joist above.
I also noticed wood pieces holding in you metal makeshift there w te wall flange again well within 18"
common fiberglass insulating has no business in contact with single wall vent pipe? Lot of BTUs an heat in that pipe and clearances no where nere the required distances?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v464/laluna07/woodstove/1ebc9501.jpg

So were talking what to correct your posted pic Elk ? drywall thimble ? concrete thimble ?
 
Elk - The section you are looking at that Roo highlighted is double wall black pipe. At that thimble (but before it passes through it) it connects to tripple wall class A and is passing through the thimble as triple wall to the "T" outside and then on up the house. In that shot there is a small piece of pipe strapping that I put on just to make extra sure that joint doesn't come apart. That shot doesn't give much depth perception, (I only have a digital camera phone so I guess a little is lost in the clarity) but if you look at the other pic where the stove pipe comes off the top the back one (6") starts as single wall only up to the 90 and is double and triple after that.
 
Elk - forgot to add in the last post that the fiberglass is only on the outside of those framing members that hold the thimble in place. There is no fiberglass in the thimble itself. The thimble is from Duravent (as well as the rest of the pipe) and is designed to have triple wall Class A pass through it.
 
pictures do not always tell the entire story and I made an assumption the pipe was single wall, Glad to here my assumption is wrong and to here the way it is installed
is correct.
 
Thanks Elk. Glad to know you're out there keeping everyone safe. If no one questioned what they saw in pics, something potentially dangerous could slip right on through.
 
Well I would like to know what the code is for plenum distance from ceiling is??? What do insurance companies like to see?? I have seen 2" but heard 3 or more also??
 
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