Englander PAH (55-TRPAH) w/ OAK

[OhioBurner©]

So I recently got this Timber Ridge stove, which I assume is the same thing as the Englander PAH / Summer Heat, etc. All made by ESW yes? I'm also brand new to pellets in general so still learning the ropes. [edit: also got the name wrong in the title but don't know how to edit that. 55-TRPAH. Nice names. Why can't they come up with something that sounds a little more 'stovey'? Might as well be binary code or something lol. {edited again... figured out how to update title}]

Was looking for a tips/tricks thread about this stove but didn't seem to find any, though it is talked about somewhat frequently. But anyhow I do have a few questions.

A couple things to note... Was really fast getting this stove from amfmenergy.com placed my order and it showed up in my driveway about a week later. This is one of the refurb/2nds. It didn't come with any decorative brick fireback or anything, no biggie. It also didn't come with the gold trim around the door like in the picture - that’s a relief imo!

Some may recall my previous threads about it being temporary. For many reasons. It may stay, it may go to the basement, it may go to a new house, or end up on craigslist depending on many things. The big thing was that I didn't have any wood for this winter, and thought it would be cheaper than propane (the polar vortex and $4 propane fresh in my memory). However with pellet prices climbing, and propane dropping, I'm not so sure any more. I also got a big score on ash, though most of it won't be seasoned this winter. Anyhow I replaced my Hearthstone Shelburne with the PAH. Venting wasn't standard but I eventually figured it out. OAK would have to be custom and still working on that. Should be done this week. But I did a test burn a week ago and everything seemed to work fine so I just let it run for most of last week. Its been warm this week so its been off now for a few days. Hope to have the OAK done before I fire it back up.

I've read many reports that Englanders need cleaned daily. So I've been shutting it down and cleaning daily for the most part. But I was surprised how little ash there was in a day, basically just a light coating around the burn pot and not much to speak of in the ash pan. So far I've just been using Somersets. I wanted to get some before they were all gone so didn't have time to try a bunch. Just went with what had good reviews here which happened to be available at the closest possible store to me. So that worked out. After a few days of daily cleaning I went to 2 day cleaning, still about the same. What kind of cleaning interval does anyone else use?

In all I've burned 10 bags of Somersets, with the stove set to 1-1 (about a week), before emptying any ash. This is what I had:

Ash pan maybe half full. Is that about right? Does it produce more ash when maxed out I assume?

Any other tips or tricks for regular cleaning? I'm using a paintbrush to sweep stuff into the ash pan, and a screwdriver to scrap the burnpot. There is a small amount under the burn pot, not sure how I am going to get it out if its starts building up more, maybe an old spoon?

Mine seems to burn more than the 1.6hr rating. I've run it on '1' for many days and I have to refill it more often than 24 hrs. Seems I'm around the 2# per hr. Is this adjustable somehow or I am just stuck at this faster burn rate? I have not run it above a 1 setting for more than a couple hours so not sure yet how it does at a higher value. For the shoulder season, even running this at a 1 is a bit pricey IMO, though it keeps the house a bit warmer than I would if I was using space heaters or probably propane too.

My blower does not respond like the manual indicates either. As I adjust my heat setting up, the blower automatically increases to match, but it never comes back down on its own and the manual says it will. No biggie, just requires some extra button pushing I guess.

When stopping/starting do you have to wait for the full cycle? I mean like if I accidentally hit the shut down button, and it goes into SU, can I turn around and press start right away without hurting anything?

Is it ok to run it a min or max for extended period of time? I know some other cheap units I was reading about said to never run them at max setting more than a few hours. But I have never heard that yet about Englander so I hope once winter is in full force I can let this thing rip (I am doubting even at full output it will heat my entire home, so I'll definitely need everything its got).

Any particular brands this particular stove doesn't like? So far I've only tried the Sets and they seem good. I also have a few bags of others but haven’t tried yet - Cheat River since they were about the only thing around that was cheaper than Sets, and AWF White Pine because its the only softwood pellets around I've found so far. Hope to try them soon plus whatever others I might come across.

I know I've asked a lot of questions, but any other advice would be great too. Any tricks to keep it in top shape or techniques for cleaning, etc.

 

[Mt Bob]

Not going to waste my time looking up your manual/model for some of your questions,and see by your profile you must be a wood burner,but will try to help.Ashes in pan look normal/good.As far as cleaning every day,read your manual,england makes top and bottom feeder stoves(very different) in different models,and every installation requires different things.Since the late 1980's almost all stove mfg's reccomend never run your (any) stove continously on low or high.Low creates too much buildup of ash/carbon,and on high can damage the mechanical(steel,etc) and electronic parts.Nothing new here,same as a wood stove.Most pellet stoves(that I am familiar with) are happy running at 1/4 to 3/4,3/4 being the norm in cold weather.Think of it same as your car,if you ran it wide open everywher you went,how long do you think it would last.As far as quality,you have a good product.As far as adjustments,you can pm mike helton here,and he will call you to help with adjustments and other questions.(PS mike,hope you do not mind).As far as ash,just remember the les ash in your tray/pan the more wasted heat is going up the chimney,BUT not all stoves are the same,not all installations are the same.Hope this helps,Bob.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Thanks Bob, but I can assure you I have read the manual front to back many times (though quite possible I've still missed some things). There is no mention of running on 1 vs 9 for extended periods. This is why I ask here, and other questions that were not answered in the manual. The manual does however state to clean out the ashes daily, but that seems almost overkill too me so trying to see what others with this stove have experienced.

 

[Polar Bear]

I dump and scrape my burn pot 3X weekly and every Saturday take 10 mins to shop vac what is visible and clean glass. Monthly, I take out baffle and plates and vaccum the hidden parts which takes about 20 minutes. I clean chimney 2X season; and my annual maintenance... you guessed it, annually.

My stove runs 24/7 and I've never had a problem... maybe I am just lucky.

 

[Bioburner]

You started out right with good pellets. If you had started out with some poor ones your post would probably be different. Get some more info on why the stove is not changing fan speed or maybe it is so slight that you can't hear it.
Good luck

 

[OhioBurner©]

Have any of you all with Englanders have any problems running for extended times at low or high settings? That is one thing I'm still curious about. It's been colder the last few days so I've bumped it up to 3 or 4 but for the most part had been burning on a 1 setting.

So I finished up my OAK install finally. Was a bit of a pain, and possibly a little bit self inflicted because of using an interior wall location for the stove, as well as not wanting to cut any holes through the wall yet. Had to fabricate up a few things. But it was a fun project.

I was annoyed that my stove came with an OAK but I couldn’t use it. And they didn’t seem to sell anything that I could use since my longer run would require going up to 3". I found some 3" semi rigid duct from the local store but was unable to locate a 2"-3" adapter, and tried 3 different auto stores too for exhaust parts. Decided just to make something myself from some scrap sheetmetal I had.





To make this install temporary and without cutting additional holes through the wall I decided to go through a window by opening one half and sealing it up.


I used some spare insulation I had, was way to thick but I crammed it in there.


I screwed together and siliconed up all the joints and used metal tape at a few of them.




I just rolled some sheet metal into a tube and riveted and sealed it to pass through the window. Cut a square of old screen door that I trashed.


Made a sheet metal cover for it. Its under an 8' porch. Painted the OSB white.


I wrapped it with insulation, and then wrapped most of it in plastic. I cut open some of my used pellet bags for the wrap. Cheat River pellets were a nice beige color that matched the best with the carpet and bricks so I used a few of those bags.



Just going to leave the interior OSB bare, I don't mind the look.

 

[SKOAL MAN]

For my OAK I just stuck the 2" inside the 3" a couple inches and filled the gap with high temp silacone!