Very confused about Enviro EF3 and thermostat

[RockyMtnHigh]

So I'm kind of kicking around the idea of getting a pellet stove in the house and ditching the wood stove....

Before I get flamed for dumping the wood stove, I haven't done it yet and I'm just weighing my options right now.

So, on Enviro's site they mention nothing about a thermostat for the EF3. The owners manual also mentions nothing about it. The brochure says something about a 3 stage thermostat. The technical manual speaks of removing a jumper wire in the control panel and hooking the thermostat there. I've read stuff here about an interface kit you need to buy to hook up a thermostat and actually found the part online for about $220.

Soooooo, which is it? lol

 

[johneh]

The Ef 3 is not set up for a thermostat very simple dial a fire control panel
Other stoves in the Envro line can use a thermostat
As to an interface I no nothing about

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

How old is yours? It shows the control board as being similar to the one in the mini in the technical manual.... I find it strange that all the literature is so conflicting. Other than that, how do you like yours? It seems like it would be the perfect fit for my house.

 

[johneh]

I Stand corrected
Check page 29
FE 2 3 wiring diagram (thermostat interface )
http://www.hearthtools.com/parts/2004enviroTrouble.pdf

 

[jtakeman]

The EF3 requires a separate interface to use a stat with the dial a fire. IMHO it doesn't work very well and is pretty expensive. For just a wee bit more you could upgrade to a digital controller. There was a thread here on the upgrade if you are interested.

 

[Don2222]

I Stand corrected
Check page 29
FE 2 3 wiring diagram (thermostat interface )
http://www.hearthtools.com/parts/2004enviroTrouble.pdf

Yes, but I heard it does not work very well at all!
I do know that some techies have replaced the dial-a-fire control panel with the digital upgrade board and then it works great on a T-Stat
I have an EF-3 in the garage that I am rebuilding and thinking about a T-Stat

I just found this new board that is the latest Enviro Hudson River Replacement Board that can
be setup for any BTU range. This board has all the bugs worked out on the Low burn settings for the Mini and Maxx units too!
Not cheap but would really do the trick!
Enviro part # 50-1929 - $329.95
Fits the following Enviro pellet stoves:
The Enviro Empress is a 35k BTU stove

• Empress FS

• Meridian

• Mini

• Omega

• Maxx M
  
  Fits the following Hudson River pellet stoves:

• Chatham

• Davenport

• Kinderhook

May Also fit some Regency Greenfire GF55 stoves. Check your thermostat slide switch position.
Wire Harness
Enviro part number 50-332. $91.95

Also need a the Decal and plate for circuit board
Enviro part# 50-2166 $53.95
Total = $475.85

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

Good info guys! At that rate I may as well buy something else. Why wouldn't they make it so you can just hook a thermostat directly to it? Seems strange to me. Even the mini has the option right out of the box to hook up a tstat.

 

[johneh]

A lot of Envro stoves can hook up to a stat right out of the box.
I'm getting of the age too that does not want to learn all this fancy stuff and like the KISS generation
Keep it simple stupid please note I'm the stupid one

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

Tough choice. I think the mini could actually pull it off but I fear it would be a cleaning nightmare and I'd be filling up the hopper more than I'd want as it would certainly run 24/7 in the dead of winter. 900 sq/ft A frame with a 20' or so tall ceiling, poorly insulated. I'm trying to heat the whole house so it's either a Blaze King cat stove or a pellet stove. Honestly, I'm kind of tired of the mess that comes with heating a house solely on wood.

My situation is also pretty rare. I work for a hearth retailer so I can get a good deal on stoves. The kicker is, I can only get the good deal on one stove per house per manufacturer and I already burned up my Quadrafire deal lol. My other choices are Lennox, Enviro/Vistaflame, and SBI when it comes to pellet. We just barely picked up Enviro so I haven't had much experience, in fact the only one I've laid my eyes on in the real world is the Mini. It's a GREAT little stove so I can imagine the rest of the line isn't so bad.

Even with the deal, budget is a concern.... The EF3 is about the right size as far as I can tell but I'd like a t-stat for shoulder season.

 

[johneh]

If you want a thermostat then go up one unit above the FE3 to the
Meridian a little more BTU and has hi-low compatible and on-off compatible
You may be thankful for the extra BTUs on very cold days

 

[stovelark]

Hello Rocky, Not rocket math. The EF3 is a basic, easy to run analog stove. Was born around 1990 and stayed pretty much the same since. The Meridian is the EF3 with a computer board. I'm surprised they still make the EF3, they upped the EF2 (another early 1990 vintage design) to 40,000 Btu. I love my EF3, I'm not into thermostats but if I replace it, it would be with the Meridian. Good luck.

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

Thanks stovelark. I just thought it was strange to see the conflicting information. Also looking at the Vista-Flame vf100. Looks to be pretty similar with a little more BTU output and thermostat capability. I'll be giving our sales rep a call on Thursday to get the true skinny on all of these models.

 

[stovelark]

Hi Rocky, the VF100 is the sister stove of the Meridian. Same burn engine, just diff outer skin designs, but same body. Good luck.

 

[skinanbones]

that circut board that Don2222 mentions is actually now the only replacement circut board from Enviro, our distributor just finished runing through old stock and now are shipping the new board for all replacements.
As for your size you want to heat, them mini would probally do it most of the year. As for the next step up we've always passed over the meridian and gone to the empress. The empress is fairly well thought out stove and slightly under rated in its heat output. When you consider that the pricing for the EF3, Meridian, and Empress are all within a couple hundred dollars, most consumers always go with cast as it looks nicer in most homes

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

Thanks skinanbones. What do you think about the vf100? I think I may be able to get a bit better of a deal on it. I do like the Empress as well but I won't know what my cost will be on all of these until my sales rep gets back to work on Thursday.

 

[skinanbones]

I haven't had much to do with the VF line as it went to a local HVAC distributor and keep our business strickly hearth products only. From speaking with the sales reps from enviro and a couple of the engineirs they seem to be the same. Although i just did a google search on it and it seems to be a EF3 chassis with a circut board controller that would give you a thermostat interface. It would be interesting to see if it worked any better, as the btu ratings are the same. I would check and see what the pricing on the Empress is though as we've run it in allot of differant setup's and it always impresses me on the heat output. Plus regardless of what time of year it is that stove looks great sitting there in my opion

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

Thanks, I appreciate it. The Empress is a very good looking stove. I won't lie, I love the look of the Mini but I have to wonder how it would keep up. I know that once I get all my single pane windows changed over to double pane and get my crawlspace properly insulated I'll be doing a lot better at heat retention. Choices choices haha

 

[skinanbones]

I'm sure that once the windows are changed out the mini would keep up farily well. Our store thats in my avator pic is about 800 sq ft on the main floor right know with single pane window from 20" off the floor to the ceiling right across the front and the mini can just keep up with it right now, in another few weeks its really too much heat loss for it to deal with so we run the m55 on 3 and it just about roasts us out of the store

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

Awesome! It looks like I can get natural gas ran to the house for free as well so if I need to I could always put a little Ascot or something similar in the bedroom to keep the (very small) addition off the side of the A-frame warm which includes a laundry closet, 14x14 bedroom and bathroom. I do have a thruwall fan that goes between the stove room in the A-Frame and the bedroom and with the woodstove rocking it keeps the house relatively even temperature wise. If the woodstove cleaned up after itself and fed itself while I was away it wouldn't be going anywhere lol

 

[skinanbones]

Man i would go for that, that little ascot is an amazing heater. It could allmost heat the whole place and with the Mini there the two of them would have no problem heating the whole house. Also if your shop has access to the promotional pricing on the ascot and mini you could buy both of them for the price of the empress just about

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

Well.... I get a deal on one of them. My employer is happy to do cost + 10% BUT, I can purchase one unit through their employee discount program at 40% below my employers cost so I will be using that for the pellet stove. It's limited to one purchase per house so if I wanted a second one I'd have to move. Either way cost +10% for the second one is a good deal and It would be nice to do that and add a gas range. I have to add 2 gas appliances to get NG ran to the house for free. I can plumb it from the meter so I'm golden there.

Thank you so much for the info on the Enviro's, I haven't played with enough of them yet to really know what they are capable of. We have been selling a LOT of Minis and their freestanding woodstoves though. The Boston is a real hit in our area especially when it comes to wood.

 

[skinanbones]

yeah their employee program is really decent and if your employer will do cost + 10% you've got yourself a good boss. You won't reget the gas range my wife is still bugging me for one, but being in the heating business you might consider doing a hot water heater if you can get one from your boss.
We've been carring Enviro allmost from there first year, but really got heavy into them about 9-10 years ago. We just found out before christmas that we should be top dealer for Enviro in Ontario agian for the 5th year which i always find weird because are family is all diehard pacfic energy folks. The bostons and m55 cast i think were are top sellers agian this year, although we had a good mix of the differant styles sell this year

 

[Stevekng]

Well.... I get a deal on one of them. My employer is happy to do cost + 10% BUT, I can purchase one unit through their employee discount program at 40% below my employers cost so I will be using that for the pellet stove. It's limited to one purchase per house so if I wanted a second one I'd have to move. Either way cost +10% for the second one is a good deal and It would be nice to do that and add a gas range. I have to add 2 gas appliances to get NG ran to the house for free. I can plumb it from the meter so I'm golden there.

Thank you so much for the info on the Enviro's, I haven't played with enough of them yet to really know what they are capable of. We have been selling a LOT of Minis and their freestanding woodstoves though. The Boston is a real hit in our area especially when it comes to wood.

I've been using a VF-100 for 6 1/2 winters. I love it. There are some cleaning tips and summer maintenance pointers I could give you, if you end up getting one.

 

[RockyMtnHigh]

Thank you for the reply Steve, that stove is definitely on my mind. I'll hit you up if I get one.

 

[stovelark]

Hi Rocky, Again good choice on the VF100. It is the digital version of the EF3 like the Meridian. The Empress is definitely a nice heater, but not quite as much a heater as the EF3/Meridian. Any Enviro would be great choices though. Stay warm.