Englander model 28-3500 wood furnace

[flotek]

this thread has invoked me to do some testing to repeatedly get overnight burns so i have something to work with in the morning with hot coals ot easily recharge the fire and heres what i would suggest that seems to do the trick ,granted this may not work for everyone but here it goes :

about 10 or so at night i traditonaly load 3 medium size (for example a 7 inch round x 22-24 inches )in a row on top of a nice thick 2 inch or so bed of coals that accumulated let that burn for 10miuntes so its dry and charred on outside then a get a large bucked in half cherry log approx 15 inches wide 24 inches long (yes i know its big) and place it bark roundish side down ontop of the 3 smaller splits so the flat part of the halved cherry is close up against the baffle now i let that burn with dampers open just a few minutes till its slightly charred and warmed up good ..then i slide the upper damper over to half so its in middle and i then stick a penny against lower screw damper till it screws in and holds the penny against the ash door i then unscrew justa tad to let the penny drop out ,now its ready to rock,..see the splits burn for maybe 2 -2.5 hours slowly drop the cherry down onto the coalbed then the cherry bark underside protects and acts as a insulator for a while too till the fire slowly consumes the cherry dow nto a smallish glowing slab in morning around 7-8 hours later ,this seems to work really well for me and provides just enough air to draw a good steady slow burnrate ,try it and report back

 

[DocDryden]

baffle question

Thanks flotek for the info on the overnight burns I will let you know how it works out.

I have another question for you. After removing the baffle for cleaning the other day l noticed the baffle has a small bent edge on it. Now I clean my stove 3-4 times a year. I may have the baffle installed the wrong way. The baffle could be installed 4 ways the bent edge could go up or down in the front or up or down In the rear. The next time you guys clean your stove look at the bent edge on the baffle and let me know the way its installed.

 

[havenodog]

Doc
Mine's in the front bent down. I didn't know you could put them in anyother way, well maybe bent up. I think think the smoke curls better if its down.

 

[powerstroke73L]

then i slide the upper damper over to half so its in middle and i then stick a penny against lower screw damper till it screws in and holds the penny against the ash door i then unscrew justa tad to let the penny drop out ,now its ready to rock

Sounds like a good technique-just a few questions. When you say you move the overfire air control to the middle and the leave underfire air control open just a crack, do you mean for the rest of the night until you stoke the fire in the morning? Also, you mention that you use large cherry half rounds for overnights-have you experimented with similar size pieces of maple, oak, or locust? I don't tend to see a lot of cherry, but the latter three I usually come across often (I'm a scrounger)-my neighbor even has an ailing apple tree I'm hoping he'll want down soon. :greenchainsaw:

 

[flotek]

Sounds like a good technique-just a few questions. When you say you move the overfire air control to the middle and the leave underfire air control open just a crack, do you mean for the rest of the night until you stoke the fire in the morning? Also, you mention that you use large cherry half rounds for overnights-have you experimented with similar size pieces of maple, oak, or locust? I don't tend to see a lot of cherry, but the latter three I usually come across often (I'm a scrounger)-my neighbor even has an ailing apple tree I'm hoping he'll want down soon. :greenchainsaw:

yep i go to bed and leave it untouched just like that as i described ,concerning the wood species im sure you would have even better results with oak and locust as they are denser and have a higher btu per pound than cherry does ,maple is probably real close to the burn times of cherry ,biggest thing is *be sure its dry* ,cant stress that enough ..it wont do any good to put partialy dried wood in your furnace in an effort to have a long burn only for it to sizzle dro pthe flue temperature and smolder out at 1 in the morning after the big log lowers down and hits the coalbed

 

[DocDryden]

Now I use 10 to 15 % less wood

THANKS for all of the suggestions and helpful information.
Now that I have tied the wood furnace in to my ductwork
avg. temp is 68-73 deg. F in the house & 72 - 78 in the basement near the stove. ( it was 80 to 95 before the ductwork )
Now I use 10 to 15 % less wood.
My overnight burn time went from about 5 hours to about 6 1/2 hours
And my baffle was installed the wrong way so I had flip it around.

I would like thank all of you guys again for your help.

 

[powerstroke73L]

Well I bought the used one I was posting about before-$350.00!!! And it looks virtually brand new. The guy I bought it from only used it two seasons and it was cooking him out of the house. I've got a lot more space to heat so I should be fine.

 

[DocDryden]

great deal…..

Hey if you can deliver it to Michigan I will give you $ 400.00 for it


No,,,,, all kidding aside I think you got a great deal…..

 

[DocDryden]

owner's manual

Don’t forget to download the owner's manual.




http://www.englanderstoves.com/manuals/28-3500.pdf

 

[flotek]

cool ..ill give you 400 for it and drive over and pick it up

 

[powerstroke73L]

cool ..ill give you 400 for it and drive over and pick it up

Ha! Sorry guys, no dice. I'll never get rid of this thing for two reasons: One because it's such a great furnace and two because I never want to move the damn thing again!!! Even with it totally "gutted" (firebrick, doors, grates, baffle, etc...) removed it's still a beast!

 

[DocDryden]

I hear that……I broke the axle and bent a wheel on my dolly, so I had to barrow a heavy duty one, plus I had to do the same thing as you, remove the firebricks, doors, baffle, ash pan….I hope you got the newer type with the glass in the door, Mine does not have the glass door.

One other thing I don’t think you can use coal in the newer type.

 

[powerstroke73L]

I hear that……I broke the axle and bent a wheel on my dolly, so I had to barrow a heavy duty one, plus I had to do the same thing as you, remove the firebricks, doors, baffle, ash pan….I hope you got the newer type with the glass in the door, Mine does not have the glass door.

One other thing I don’t think you can use coal in the newer type.

Mine has the glass which I agree is definitely a nice feature. I was lucky enough to have a heavy duty handtruck with pneumatic tires, etc...that I borrowed from my father. My buddy guided it from behind down the steps and I stood in front holding it as he let it down. We were actually pretty nervous about my steps as they don't have a center stringer and the treads were bowing quite a bit! I'm about 220lbs, he's 180, and the stove with everything removed still weighs every bit of 450lbs so we had nearly 900lbs on those steps!

As far as coal you can use bituminous (soft) coal in any of the add-on furnaces regardless of when they were made. They just stopped recommending it because people thought it meant that they were a wood OR coal unit. They're actually wood AND coal units. I actually got this from an Englander sales rep who posts over on **********. The way he explained it was that having a firebox that large full of coal would simply get too hot, however, you CAN add about 10lbs of coal to the firebox once the wood has passed the char stage in order to lengthen burn times by a couple of hours.

 

[Skier44]

3 years with the Englander Wood Furnace

New to the group; Hello.
I'm on year 3 and it's been a overall good experience. Placement is in the basement (2300 sq ft w/8.5' walls), heating just under 3000 sq. ft above. I have it connected just above the "A-Coil" in the plenum. I run the furnace blower (adjusted to come on when hot enough) to help get the heat to the rest of the house. To conserve wood, I stay around 68. I'm willing to suffer at 62-64 on near zero days. Important details learned: Cut wood to 24 inches, burn seasoned and dry. Oak and Locust are best, but all wood does fine if dry. I also have a 3" PVC line coming in from outside to supply make-up air. It dumps out about 6" from the ash door. I have a plastic bag over the end with holes to regulate air down (low tech for now). Have a flue temp thermometer and run in the white zone (275-550F). Have a Magic Heat unit that adds another 10000-20000 btu from the flue. I do regular inspections of the HT pipe and there has never been any significant build up. First year I burned 5 chords, last year I did 4 chords and 100 gallons of oil. This year, I will make it through with just over 4 chords and not one drop of oil burned in the furnace. It took 2 years to experiment w/ different burn settings. Now when considering the temp outside, I know how to set it up for the best burn. I have been able to go 10-12 hours on warmer days over 32F. Colder days, 0-10F, warrant 4-6 hrs reloads. The glass window is the advantage over the rest. The fire burns completely different once the door is shut so the only way to see if you are burning correctly is to look through the glass and make the proper adjustments. Without the glass, you're guessing. This is a different way to heat... It takes an hour to raise the temp in the house 4 degrees, so there is give and take. As I said, colder days mean 64 in the house. I could go to 75 but I would burn way too much wood. This unit paid for itself halfway through the first year!!! I would otherwise go through 1500 gallons of oil. My next move is to install a Hilkoil to chisel down the bill on the electric water heater. Because of the parts needed to complete a worthwhile setup, i suspect that the payoff will be 2-3 years, maybe more...
Other last thoughts, The flame impingement plate or baffle plate can warp if burning too hot. I have been able to hammer mine back into shape. It should not allow the flame to exit to the sides where the rail hold it in place. The lip needs to be in the down position and on the door side. Also, I store the wood in the basement and watch the humidity. I run a small fan that blows on the wood stack and this has helped to keep the wood extremely dry.

 

[jburner]

SKier - A suggestion for you regarding the PVC cold air intake. Put a 90 on it so it's facing up toward the ceiling and extend it a little off the 90 toward the ceiling. That way the furnace will draw cold air as needed, and it's won't spill into the house when their isn't a draw.

 

[DocDryden]

Thanks for the info..............

 

[flotek]

dont be like i was: i was anal i cleaned the ashes off the firebrick floor religiously each day turns out the ash base act as a wonderful insulator for those coals and really help extend burn times by leaving a good portion there and the spacing slots still allow for plenty of air from underneath . mild cleaning only every few days seems to work best on this unit,this season im much smarter and know the unit better ..this year if i filled her up and set the slide on low I cant count how many times id come home after work to a nice bed of embers and 200 degree stack temps after atleast 10-11 hours of running before the last charge.also i set the thermodisc to keep the blower on a good bit longer than the factory setting,nice thing is the englander blower may be small in cfm (850cfm)compared to alot of other furnace units but this is actually a good thing in a way because it wont have the firebox cooling effect other models do once the fire eventually dies down ,to me a strong fan is nothing special if it only lasts 3-4 hours then ultimately cools the box temps and makes creosote just blasting cold air through the ducts ..in my unit even if you only have a 200 degree stack temp the registers still seems to blow warmer than ambient temperature for many hours well into the coaling stage and that helps level things out

 

[mickeyd]

Sounds like a good technique-just a few questions. When you say you move the overfire air control to the middle and the leave underfire air control open just a crack, do you mean for the rest of the night until you stoke the fire in the morning? Also, you mention that you use large cherry half rounds for overnights-have you experimented with similar size pieces of maple, oak, or locust? I don't tend to see a lot of cherry, but the latter three I usually come across often (I'm a scrounger)-my neighbor even has an ailing apple tree I'm hoping he'll want down soon. :greenchainsaw:

I never use the bottom screw air supply . I open the bottom door for a few minutes to get fresh wood burning then close the door . the upper slide I keep about 25% open during the day and then close that down over night . I keep my house at 70degrees during the day and about 62 over night . I am heating a fairly new well insulated 2000 ft colonial . I have not had to run my furnace in the 3 years I have owned the furnace ! I LOVE IT !
I use about 7 cord per winter
MD

 

[Skier44]

SKier - A suggestion for you regarding the PVC cold air intake. Put a 90 on it so it's facing up toward the ceiling and extend it a little off the 90 toward the ceiling. That way the furnace will draw cold air as needed, and it's won't spill into the house when their isn't a draw.

Happy New Year !!!
Thanks... I could not do as you said because the PVC pipe comes in from outside through the rim joist already at the highest point... You did get me thinking and since I had the pipe and fittings, I made a " Trap" configuration.
The pipe comes in from outside, now drops to the floor in the basement and then takes a 180(w/a small condensation hole at the bottom) back up to the ceiling and then back down again. This seems to have done the trick. I cannot tell for sure as the past three days have been horribly windy and the wind pressure inside that pipe is unreal. If only there was a way to harness that wind. Hmmmmm...

 

[Tedward]

New to the group; Hello.
I'm on year 3 and it's been a overall good experience. Placement is in the basement (2300 sq ft w/8.5' walls), heating just under 3000 sq. ft above. I have it connected just above the "A-Coil" in the plenum. I run the furnace blower (adjusted to come on when hot enough) to help get the heat to the rest of the house. To conserve wood, I stay around 68. I'm willing to suffer at 62-64 on near zero days. Important details learned: Cut wood to 24 inches, burn seasoned and dry. Oak and Locust are best, but all wood does fine if dry. I also have a 3" PVC line coming in from outside to supply make-up air. It dumps out about 6" from the ash door. I have a plastic bag over the end with holes to regulate air down (low tech for now). Have a flue temp thermometer and run in the white zone (275-550F). Have a Magic Heat unit that adds another 10000-20000 btu from the flue. I do regular inspections of the HT pipe and there has never been any significant build up. First year I burned 5 chords, last year I did 4 chords and 100 gallons of oil. This year, I will make it through with just over 4 chords and not one drop of oil burned in the furnace. It took 2 years to experiment w/ different burn settings. Now when considering the temp outside, I know how to set it up for the best burn. I have been able to go 10-12 hours on warmer days over 32F. Colder days, 0-10F, warrant 4-6 hrs reloads. The glass window is the advantage over the rest. The fire burns completely different once the door is shut so the only way to see if you are burning correctly is to look through the glass and make the proper adjustments. Without the glass, you're guessing. This is a different way to heat... It takes an hour to raise the temp in the house 4 degrees, so there is give and take. As I said, colder days mean 64 in the house. I could go to 75 but I would burn way too much wood. This unit paid for itself halfway through the first year!!! I would otherwise go through 1500 gallons of oil. My next move is to install a Hilkoil to chisel down the bill on the electric water heater. Because of the parts needed to complete a worthwhile setup, i suspect that the payoff will be 2-3 years, maybe more...
Other last thoughts, The flame impingement plate or baffle plate can warp if burning too hot. I have been able to hammer mine back into shape. It should not allow the flame to exit to the sides where the rail hold it in place. The lip needs to be in the down position and on the door side. Also, I store the wood in the basement and watch the humidity. I run a small fan that blows on the wood stack and this has helped to keep the wood extremely dry.

Skier, If and when you put that hilcoil where would you mount it? above or below the smoke shelf? been thinking bout putting one on.. have one of these stoves for five years and love it heat a big rancher with it 7 cords a year