Stove upgrade? Its

[Flying14]

Good Morning All,

I’ve been cruising these forums for quite a while getting some sound advice on pellet stoves. Myself being a rookie to the pellet stoves, my back ground being in traditional wood stoves I’m relatively clueless when it comes to pellet stoves.

We bought a house last summer that came equipped with a Countryside Magnum 3500p unit. And I had installed a PelPro pp130 in my garage. I’ve been pretty pleased with the PelPro in the garage but kind of disappointed in my magnum. The magnum is fairly old I think it’s about 5 years old to be exact and it’s done it’s job this winter but I’m wondering if it’s leaving something on the table. And figure maybe this summer would be an ideal time to buy a new stove.

I’m heating an 1800 square foot home that’s 2 levels. The stove is in my living room and pretty much centrally located. I run the fan on my furnace to help circulate the heat throughout the house. Currently my stove runs primarily on heat setting 2 of 5 and goes through about 50 pounds of hardwood pellets per day. And this winter(November-current) we used just over 5 tons of only wood pellets.

I like the multi fuel capability of this stove and would like to try mixing corn in this next year since corn is relatively inexpensive around me as are cherry pits so in a new stove I’d like to retain that ability. I also like the 75 pound capacity. Although bigger is better. Mainly I just feel as though something missed the mark on this stove overall, it won’t run on high without the exhaust blower turning off due to being overheated and feel like using just over 5 tons was a little excessive for the heat setting. We still ran our propane this year to keep the house temp up.

Are there any stoves that might suit my needs better? I’ve been looking at the Harman stoves and some others but really can’t tell a lot, anything can look good on paper.

Things I’m looking for would be
Multi Fuel
Hopper capacity
Efficiency
Less Noise, my current stove makes a lot of noise.

Also should I buy a bigger stove than I think I need. example being a stove that says it will heat 2,500 sq/ft for my 1800 sq/ft house?

Thank you much

 

[ohbix]

Look at the enviro M55 (steel freestanding least expensive M55 model), or if you want the option to duct the stove, the enviro maxx.

 

[Don2222]

Hello
The M55 is a good stove for sure but the blowers and parts are much more costly.
Have you considered replacing your blower or it may something simple as an old F110 Snap Disc went bad?
I put German Engineered High Temp Mirror Glass in my smaller Magnum Baby Countryside so I now have a “Mirror Baby” How does it look?

 

[Watcher1]

Good Morning All,

I’ve been cruising these forums for quite a while getting some sound advice on pellet stoves. Myself being a rookie to the pellet stoves, my back ground being in traditional wood stoves I’m relatively clueless when it comes to pellet stoves.

We bought a house last summer that came equipped with a Countryside Magnum 3500p unit. And I had installed a PelPro pp130 in my garage. I’ve been pretty pleased with the PelPro in the garage but kind of disappointed in my magnum. The magnum is fairly old I think it’s about 5 years old to be exact and it’s done it’s job this winter but I’m wondering if it’s leaving something on the table. And figure maybe this summer would be an ideal time to buy a new stove.

I’m heating an 1800 square foot home that’s 2 levels. The stove is in my living room and pretty much centrally located. I run the fan on my furnace to help circulate the heat throughout the house. Currently my stove runs primarily on heat setting 2 of 5 and goes through about 50 pounds of hardwood pellets per day. And this winter(November-current) we used just over 5 tons of only wood pellets.

I like the multi fuel capability of this stove and would like to try mixing corn in this next year since corn is relatively inexpensive around me as are cherry pits so in a new stove I’d like to retain that ability. I also like the 75 pound capacity. Although bigger is better. Mainly I just feel as though something missed the mark on this stove overall, it won’t run on high without the exhaust blower turning off due to being overheated and feel like using just over 5 tons was a little excessive for the heat setting. We still ran our propane this year to keep the house temp up.

Are there any stoves that might suit my needs better? I’ve been looking at the Harman stoves and some others but really can’t tell a lot, anything can look good on paper.

Things I’m looking for would be
Multi Fuel
Hopper capacity
Efficiency
Less Noise, my current stove makes a lot of noise.

Also should I buy a bigger stove than I think I need. example being a stove that says it will heat 2,500 sq/ft for my 1800 sq/ft house?

Thank you much

I had sent you a request to call me to much typing./ OK so American energy has a great parts site online. part# CF 3842 will get you a better exhaust fan. they have a cast iron clinker pot that is better than the stirrer and less noise of course.
Cleaning: Ash pan door open ash pan out left and right slides out, way in where the slides close there is a round hole you can run a brush up use a good ash vac while you are doing this. Next fire pot out then real carefully remove the brick board/ behind that are 2 round metal plugs, pop then out and get your brush up and around there.
Heat: 2 is pretty low sweater weather 3 not quite enough when it's colder that 0 yes 4 seems to hot. the cure is a thermostat. This way the stove will ram up and down as is needed. These are no frills units but they will just keep running.
I just bought a harmon pc 45 to redo, but I will most likely keep my 3500. Good luck.

 

[corkman]

Hey don. Don’t forget to get your screw gun out of there before you fire that puppy up

 

[Don2222]

Hey don. Don’t forget to get your screw gun out of there before you fire that puppy up

LOL - It is on the floor! The mirror glass looks good?

 

[Flying14]

I had sent you a request to call me to much typing./ OK so American energy has a great parts site online. part# CF 3842 will get you a better exhaust fan. they have a cast iron clinker pot that is better than the stirrer and less noise of course.
Cleaning: Ash pan door open ash pan out left and right slides out, way in where the slides close there is a round hole you can run a brush up use a good ash vac while you are doing this. Next fire pot out then real carefully remove the brick board/ behind that are 2 round metal plugs, pop then out and get your brush up and around there.
Heat: 2 is pretty low sweater weather 3 not quite enough when it's colder that 0 yes 4 seems to hot. the cure is a thermostat. This way the stove will ram up and down as is needed. These are no frills units but they will just keep running.
I just bought a harmon pc 45 to redo, but I will most likely keep my 3500. Good luck.

Sorry i didn’t get done working in time to call you today. I have been talking with magnum and they seem to be great help. I have replaced the fire pot with the cast iron version and also replaced the door to eliminate leaks. I have pulled all of the plugs out and doors to clean it. I sent magnum pictures of all the blowers to identify if they were the new style of which they were. I haven’t tried the new snap disk i should give that a shot. The cast iron pot vs my steel one without a stirrer seems to clean out the same. Still builds up a fair bit of ash that needs cleaning daily. Compared to your 3500 is my pellet consumption on par? As for a blower for the heat exchanger is there any benefit to increasing the CFM?

 

[corkman]

LOL - It is on the floor! The mirror glass looks good?

Looks good don. I have it in the xxv But not in the advance. I like it but my wife not so much

 

[Don2222]

Looks good don. I have it in the xxv But not in the advance. I like it but my wife not so much

How is the newer Advance working? The older one is working good now, it just needed a few parts.

 

[Watcher1]

Sorry i didn’t get done working in time to call you today. I have been talking with magnum and they seem to be great help. I have replaced the fire pot with the cast iron version and also replaced the door to eliminate leaks. I have pulled all of the plugs out and doors to clean it. I sent magnum pictures of all the blowers to identify if they were the new style of which they were. I haven’t tried the new snap disk i should give that a shot. The cast iron pot vs my steel one without a stirrer seems to clean out the same. Still builds up a fair bit of ash that needs cleaning daily. Compared to your 3500 is my pellet consumption on par? As for a blower for the heat exchanger is there any benefit to increasing the CFM?

Flying 14: hey that's ok sounds like you are getting a handle on it. Yes the pot needs cleaning 1 or 2 times a day depending on heat setting. Once I upgraded to the HO fan and motor my stove ran a lot better. New snap disk? I had not heard anything about that/ do you mean replace 1 ?

 

[Watcher1]

Flying 14: hey that's ok sounds like you are getting a handle on it. Yes the pot needs cleaning 1 or 2 times a day depending on heat setting. Once I upgraded to the HO fan and motor my stove ran a lot better. New snap disk? I had not heard anything about that/ do you mean replace 1 ?

Also 5 tons not really that bad. My house log cabin 28x40 unit is in the basement, big load of corn and close to 2 tons of pellets. (logs leak air LOL) I wish I could get by on 5 tons. Mostly I keep it going a little longer on low in the spring till the basement warms up again, sometimes that adds a couple of weeks or more.

 

[corkman]

How is the newer Advance working? The older one is working good now, it just needed a few parts.

The advance is great. Heats the basement without breaking a sweat. I almost wish I had put the xxv in the basement and the advance upstairs. Not sure what the difference is in cfms when it comes to the convection blower but the xxv seems much weaker to me.

 

[Don2222]

The advance is great. Heats the basement without breaking a sweat. I almost wish I had put the xxv in the basement and the advance upstairs. Not sure what the difference is in cfms when it comes to the convection blower but the xxv seems much weaker to me.

The Tangetial Convection Blower on the cast iron XXV is enormous, the length of the stove! The steel Advance has a 135 CFM squirrel cage blower. That maybe the reason, I like a steel pellet stove better than a cast iron?

 

[rona]

Sorry i didn’t get done working in time to call you today. I have been talking with magnum and they seem to be great help. I have replaced the fire pot with the cast iron version and also replaced the door to eliminate leaks. I have pulled all of the plugs out and doors to clean it. I sent magnum pictures of all the blowers to identify if they were the new style of which they were. I haven’t tried the new snap disk i should give that a shot. The cast iron pot vs my steel one without a stirrer seems to clean out the same. Still builds up a fair bit of ash that needs cleaning daily. Compared to your 3500 is my pellet consumption on par? As for a blower for the heat exchanger is there any benefit to increasing the CFM?

 

[rona]

Concerning increasing the CFM There is two thoughts. with a lower CFM the stove itself will be hotter and the air being pushed away from the stove will also be hotter but it may not circulate as well.
Increasing the CFM will lower the feel of the air coming off the stove and spread the heat over the house further. I can see this in my shop where I have a Harman PC45 and a Bixby. Both will heat the shop but the Bixby circulates the air faster because the fan pushes twice the amount of air as the Harman. Both stoves gets the job done but standing besides the Harman you get a lot of convection heat versus very little with the Bixby.
Think of a hot summer day with a breeze the air feels cooler as in having a fan in front of you versus nothing.
A snap disc is cheap to replace Maybe it needs replacing?

 

[KateRose]

I had sent you a request to call me to much typing./ OK so American energy has a great parts site online. part# CF 3842 will get you a better exhaust fan. they have a cast iron clinker pot that is better than the stirrer and less noise of course.
Cleaning: Ash pan door open ash pan out left and right slides out, way in where the slides close there is a round hole you can run a brush up use a good ash vac while you are doing this. Next fire pot out then real carefully remove the brick board/ behind that are 2 round metal plugs, pop then out and get your brush up and around there.
Heat: 2 is pretty low sweater weather 3 not quite enough when it's colder that 0 yes 4 seems to hot. the cure is a thermostat. This way the stove will ram up and down as is needed. These are no frills units but they will just keep running.
I just bought a harmon pc 45 to redo, but I will most likely keep my 3500. Good luck.

Do you have more info on the cast iron clinker pot? I've had an issue with my stirrer and would like to look into this option.

 

[Watcher1]

Do you have more info on the cast iron clinker pot? I've had an issue with my stirrer and would like to look into this option.

I have had great luck with them! I burn mostly corn with some pellets mixed in and 3 years no issues. I bought one for my baby magnum when that died one night. I replaced it with the 3500 that I am using now and then I ordered the cast pot for it also.