Grass Pellets and M55 Cast Sizing and Sound Questions

[NC Burner]

Thanks in advance for input. This is a great and helpful site.

Main Questions: Will an M55 be too loud and hot for my application? And what do you do if local dealer support is nonexistent?

Background: 1800 sq ft old farm house, 1/2 restored. Stove (principal heat) to go in ~800 open sq ft of the 1200 first floor sq ft. Stove will be <5' from back of couch used for TV viewing. We have a native grass nursery and grow Switchgrass, so clearly ability to handle grass pellets is extremely appealing.

Problems:

1. Believe the M55 Cast is the right stove aesthetically and functionally, but concerned that it will be too loud and too hot for the installation area.

2. If we had to abandon multifuel (which we hate to do), the Mini with shutoff convection ability and outside combustion fans sounds great but maybe too small? or the Empress - but it has had a bunch of really bad reviews, this particularly in light of the fact that I cannot find a good dealer (for any brand but particularly Enviro) within many hours, and expect to be on my own or with exceedingly high travel costs for support. (and with Enviro, I believe any self repairs totally violate the warranty?)

3. Great concerns and unavailabiliy of other multi fuel brands/models: Been researching this forever. All the companies marketing potential grass burners are small, questionable, no where near here, and outyear service or parts give me serious pause. Was sold for a while on a St Croix Lancaster despite lots of really bad reviews, especially about company support, then found out no dealers within a gizillion miles (and only dealer could repair under warranty...).

4. Basically, it appears that anything but Quad and Harman are not recognized or dealt in this state. The Mt Vernon has no advantage (and reportedly possibly less grass potential) than the M55. The Harman multi is aesthetically unacceptable to the family. Enviro did give me a lead on an installer a few hours away, but he wants to steal my rebate, charging $5000 just for the stove itself!

Any comments or thoughts would be appreciated.

thank you.

 

[mtalea]

5 feet from the back of couch? so pointed at the couch correct? any other placement for it? I have my breckwell 3' from where I sit on edge of couch to the left of me

noise doesnt bother me.Grass pellets are said to be the future but very ashy I am told,not a big seller here in CT

 

[imacman]

Having the stove that close shouldn't be a problem. I have my stove about 3 1/2 feet from the back of my glider/rocker chair for 3 years....no issues.

As for a stove that puts out less BYU's, there are other stoves that will burn grass pellets, J-Takeman, Schoondog, and myself burned grass pellets last year as a test on the feasibility of converting to them if wood pellet became unavailable or too costly. We have a person close by who makes grass pellets, and we all bought and burned them successfully in our stoves. The only real issue is the high ash content.

J-Takeman has an Enviro Omega, Schoondog has a US Stove model, and I have an Englander 10-cpm. All these are multi-fuel stoves. The
10-cpm I have can be ordered from a Lowes or HD, or bought on eBay sometimes refurbished right from Englander (that's what I did....saved a LOT of $$).

www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores...n.endeca.EndecaDataBean@1d0e0a56&ddkey=Search

 

[flynfrfun]

I have had my Enviro M55 Cast Insert for over a month now. Mine is 3' from my TV and it is so quiet that I don't even have to turn up the TV volume when it is running.
Flynfrfun

 

[jtakeman]

I bought my Omega over the internet. I had warranty issues with my stove. I was allowed to repair it myself and the dealer sent me the repair items. I only was asked to send some of the broken parts back. So this is up to the dealer not Enviro. As the dealer is your warranty claim center. If you find the right dealer its worth checking out.

As imacman was saying the Englander is also another option. So would the US Stove 6041(a bit noisey though). These stoves will have factory support and your the repair person.

If your really set to have the M55 and you want a dealer that will ship to your door.

Check here

 

[schoondog]

Do not give up multi-fuel if grass pellets are on your to do list. I would think they have a better performance in a warmer climate, burning less obviously creates less ash and makes them a little more tolerable. Mixing them with wood pellets is a great way to go. Either way stay with a multi fuel. I bought my US Stove on the internet also and love it. Prolly makes more noise than more expensive units but its the sound of economy to my ears ! Best of luck with whichever unit you go with.

Schoondog

 

[jtakeman]

Either way stay with a multi fuel. I bought my US Stove on the internet also and love it. Prolly makes more noise than more expensive units but its the sound of economy to my ears! Schoondog

I like that one!

With oil and gas on the rise! We may be burning them grass pellets too brother! We all know them pellets will rise with the other fuels. Don't forget anout corn and some of the other fuels. There also options for use multifuelers. Wonder how them bamboo pellets burn? Hmmm!

 

[kimbre]

Hi there i have a Whitfield and a Harmon both were in the house we bought 6 montyhs ago. we are burning two different kinds of pellets and needing to get one going for both stoves..i tried the grass pellets but neither stove likes them to bad cause there is a pellet plant 20 miles away..... any suggestions on how to get them to work i have 25 bags that i cant use.....stuck in canada so your brands arnt sold here.... :blank:

 

[imacman]

Hi there i have a Whitfield and a Harmon both were in the house we bought 6 montyhs ago. we are burning two different kinds of pellets and needing to get one going for both stoves..i tried the grass pellets but neither stove likes them to bad cause there is a pellet plant 20 miles away..... any suggestions on how to get them to work i have 25 bags that i cant use.....stuck in canada so your brands arnt sold here.... :blank:

When Jay, Schoondog, and I were burning the grass pellets, we all found that an increase in combustion air was needed. I had to raise my Englander 10-cpm's low burn air up quite a bit, and there is so much ash, the stove had to be cleaned every 2 days instead of my normal 5-6 days.

 

[NC Burner]

Thanks so much. I knew you folks would have helpful comments.

My only other concern/questions would be about diagnostics, if I get an M55 without onsite dealer support what is the likelihood that I would get a convoluted problem that would require high tech diagnostic tools or something?

I looked through Englanders well presented troubleshooting guides on their website. I looks like good information could walk a mechanically inclined owner through most diagnostics for their stoves. Would this be true for an Enviro also, assuming that phone or online support was available?

thanks again for any insights.



(Just got back from long wasted drive to nearest potential dealer. They are closed for week and half. I appreciate holidays, but wish they could have posted it on their website or answering machine. Of much more concern is that I've been emailing and calling them (never answer phones) for weeks trying to buy a stove. After much prompting, they finally replied one time by email with a quote on one of the 3 specific models I had asked for. But they want $950 to install, where the more distant dealers charge $250, and if it is this incredibly hard to buy something for more than 5 grand from them, I don't anticipate them being very responsive if/when we have no heat in our home and need their support).

 

[jtakeman]

Thanks so much. I knew you folks would have helpful comments.

My only other concern/questions would be about diagnostics, if I get an M55 without onsite dealer support what is the likelihood that I would get a convoluted problem that would require high tech diagnostic tools or something?

I looked through Englanders well presented troubleshooting guides on their website. I looks like good information could walk a mechanically inclined owner through most diagnostics for their stoves. Would this be true for an Enviro also, assuming that phone or online support was available?

thanks again for any insights.

With the Enviro or Englander. You can always come here and ask questions. As long as your able to do the repairs yourself? These things are really not all that complicated and basic tools is all that is need to diagnose issues. As long as you have a multimeter, and know what to look for. We can help.

Yes, Both stoves do have tech support only a phone call away. Both stoves have service manuals that are available online as well. I found Enviro's service manual to be all I needed to diagnose an issue I had.

For the enviro tech manual go to link and scroll down to the tech section. Download the C-12145 service manual. It covers all stoves and has some good info for diagnostics of issues!

http://www.enviro.com/help/manuals.html

 

[libberly]

I've heard good experiences with grass pellets using Quadrafire, Harman, USS and Bixby.

Check out Hudson Valley Grass Energy. They have grass pellets that they're producing with a mobile mill.

www.hvge.org

 

[chris288]

I looked that the M55 cast and wasn't all that impressed with the functionality of the thing, we ended up going with the Harman XXV and have never looked back, aestetically they are very similar. Go to Harmans website punch in your zip code and see where your local dealer is. The XXV should burn grass pellets without issue.