# Englander 28-3500 modifications



## ronoz (Jan 28, 2010)

So far, I've owner this stove for 1.5 winters and must say that it does an excellent job heating my house.  My house is a 2200 sq. ft. colonial which was just built 3.5 years ago so it is well insulated.  My Englander is located in the basement and is connected directly to the main trunk of my Hydro-Air system.  I only use the small 850 cfm blower to move the air through the ductwork and it does a fine job.  Temps on my first floor are usually between 75-80 degrees while my second floor is usually between 70-75 degrees since it is just gravity fed from the first floor.  Some nights I have actually had to open windows and the rear sliding door to cool the house off as the temps reached above 80 degrees.  

In an attempt to improve burn times, I placed a small piece of stainless steel screen on the floor inside the unit in order to prevent some of the larger ashes from falling through the large open grates in the floor and into the ash pan.  This allows them to burn down resulting in only fine ash to enter the pan below.  This has helped keep hot ashes in the firebox longer thus creating longer burning times than before.  

My next modification will include attaching a universal cold air return filter box made by US Stove Company to the rear of the unit around the blower.  This will hopefully help with my allergies since it is basically drawing the dusty basement air into the unit and through my duct work.  I am also contemplating repositioning the warm air supply duct to the top of the plenum in my Hydro-Air unit in order to take advantage of this unit's blower and return system.  Of course, I would have to put an elbow inside the plenum facing away from the hot air/ac coil so that it does not overheat the coil.  

I would say that I probably burned about 5-6 cords at the most last year while burning from November through March which I don't think is too bad.  I damper it down almost all the way at night before bed and wake up to first floor temps between 70-75 degrees and second floor temps between 68-73 degrees and some hot coals left over.  So I don't have much to complain about regarding this furnace other than the dirty air being forced through unit and into the main living area right now driving my allergies CRAZY.  Hopefully that filter box will cure that.  I also run a whole house humidifier and usually leave it set to 40-45% because the house does get really dry from the warm air.  Any other suggestions on how I can get the most out of this furnace?


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## lexybird (Jan 28, 2010)

i added a second blower (Dayton 463cfm)directly above the factory one and 6 more firebricks also a 6inch flue damper for the occasional windy days or when im burning super hot i also added a 1/4 inch stainless steel plate that sits on top the baffle for more thermal mass and less chance of warping anything ,i then adjusted my thermodisc to stay on much longer all that made a sizeable difference in my case ..mine burns 8-9 hours on low setting no problem and pushes plenty of hot air through my registers now.


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## freeburn (Jan 29, 2010)

I'm still not convinced that the extra firebrick is necessary, nor is it even beneficial. It seems to keep the heat away from the sidewalls thus insulating them from the heat that could penetrate through into the furnace jacket. Do you have measured noticeable difference with the extra 6 firebrick installed or is it in theory?

I have a cold air return, a must for dust reduction, and filter too (which I assume you have). I turned my fan limit settings down to just below 90 deg on the off setting and left the ON at 125 ish. Seems to keep the fan on longer. I only have @ 18 ft +/- a few masonry chimney, so my draft stays between 1/3 to 1/2 open for cleanest burn. Otherwise, my glass gets too sooted up, thus the chimney would too. I've gone through less than 2 cords this winter, so I'm thrilled with it. I'm heating 2400 Sq Ft ranch with block and walk out. I have new windows and R50 in the attic too. Keep posting on this furnace. I'm still waiting for someone to attempt to add secondary air when their furnace is out of warranty.


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## kieth4548 (Jan 29, 2010)

ronoz

You said you have a humidifier. I am needing to get one. I also have an englander 28-3500. Can you give me some information on what brand of humidifier you have and how to you have it hooked up. What trips the unit to come on. Any info would be great.

Thanks
Kieth


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## ronoz (Jan 29, 2010)

Keith, my humidifier is not hooked up directly to the furnace.  It's a 12 gallon whole house humidifier made by Kenmore, model #758.154120.  It is programmable so you can set it at the humidity level and fan speed that you want.  Once it reaches the set humidity level, it will shut off.  When the level drops, it kicks back on again in order to maintain that preset level.  Hope this helps!


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## lexybird (Jan 29, 2010)

freeburn said:
			
		

> I'm still not convinced that the extra firebrick is necessary, nor is it even beneficial. It seems to keep the heat away from the sidewalls thus insulating them from the heat that could penetrate through into the furnace jacket. Do you have measured noticeable difference with the extra 6 firebrick installed or is it in theory?



sorry no scientific clinical trial and testing for the firebrick ,thermal mass works well in many other wood heat applications so i see no reason why this wouldnt apply here(look at any soapstone stove or masonry Russian stove) .im thinking it can take away outer temps of the steel firebox as it absorbs the heat *but it stores the heat and  retains the inner firebox temps longer than to dissapate it through the steel box ,longer heat storage means the blower stays on longer and is therefor pushing heat through the ducting longer


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## freeburn (Jan 29, 2010)

lexybird said:
			
		

> freeburn said:
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I'm trying it again, not giving up on this theory just yet. Did you put one on the back wall? Just one fits perfectly in between the two welded brackets on either side. I also split one firebrick in two and made up the difference after the third one tipped up on end toward the door. Ever thought about putting a layer of firebrick on top of the removable baffle plate?? Or do you think the extra weight would cause it to warp under extreme temps?


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## ronoz (Jan 29, 2010)

lexybird, can you tell me what you changed your thermodisc temperature settings to?  Also, you're not afraid that the extra weight on top of the two side brackets holding the baffle will begin to bend down over time with the extra steel plate on it?


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## lexybird (Jan 30, 2010)

ronoz said:
			
		

> lexybird, can you tell me what you changed your thermodisc temperature settings to?  Also, you're not afraid that the extra weight on top of the two side brackets holding the baffle will begin to bend down over time with the extra steel plate on it?



no the stainless plate doesnt  really add a whole lot of weight like you might think adding firebrick above over the baffle would  weigh more  and reduce the clearance to the top alot which i think would be bad for the total smoke volume of a full load trying to exit ..stainless can take the heat much better than low carbon steel and  it resists buildup ..plus its a critical area being directly over the fire with the blue flames so it made sense to me to add extra mass there .the factory bracket welds for the baffle appear to be good ones and heavy duty so i dont foresee any sag or weld issues down the road  .i have 4 bricks laying sideways (2 per side)on the shelf lip and then one on each side vertical near the door none i nthe back i didnt want to lose the length,its too important of a feature to give up for me  ,surprisingly the bricks  dont get misplaced or fall out but im sure some stove cement on the backside could help secure them if you had a stubborn one .ill have to look but i want to say my blower kicks off at around 80 degrees and on at 130 ,i wanted more force from the vents and i didnt want to run my oil forced furnace blower all the time as its overkill and being at 1/3 or a 1/4 horsepower it uses more energy that wasnt needed ..im trying to save money and* add efficiency so ultimatley i got the idea to  add the extra squirrel cage dayton blower tothe air jacket its rated at 463cfm i think its like 1/12 of a horsepower so the electric bill wont be much of any change .it really helps add some push for those long duct runs and equalizes things out better than just heat laying around in the plenum trunk.im no hvac guy but i do know enough to realize a single 8 inch duct can only move so much air and has a limit ,and i must admit i was worried that i would surpass this for its diameter and it wouldnt do much ..but to my surprise it really does seem to have nearly twice the air output in the real world  through my registers .this spring i think i may open the size up to 10inch though ,might as wel l get the most out of it .the blower is only 83 dollars on ebay and looks like it was made for the furnace plenty of space and design for it .it is ran in unison to the thermostat  so they both come on and off at same time in unison .


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## ronoz (Feb 12, 2010)

Okay, I attached the US Sove Universal Filter box a couple of weeks ago and put a 16 x 20 filter in.  This move was huge as far as curing all of my allergy problems that I was having prior.  I also have 6 extra fire brick sitting on the lip above the other bricks and now am looking to add another steel plate on top of my baffle which I have already had to hammer down because it was bowed.  My next question is whether or not I would be able to connect the 8" warm air supply line to the cold air return plenum on my LP furnace in order to take advantage of the 4 cold air returns connected to this unit.  I currently have my warm air supply from the wood furnace piped directly into the main trunk in the basement but it is located on one side of the basement therefore, there is a long duct run to the far side of the house.  If I were to connect the warm air supply to the cold air return on my LP furnace, I could utilize the fan on the LP furnace to push the air through the rest of the duct work.  I would also be utilizing the return vents since I am currently just using basement air as a cold air return right now.  Basically, it would be like I was sucking the warm air out of the wood stove instead of blowing it out with the blower.  My main concern is that the fan on my LP furnace is very strong and would probably heat me out of the house if kept on all the time.  I would probably need to have some sort of fan control connected to the LP furnace fan so that I could adjust the fan speed to a lower setting when needed.  Will this work and would it make heating with my wood furnace more efficient and give me more of an even heat?


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## lexybird (Feb 12, 2010)

ronoz said:
			
		

> Okay, I attached the US Sove Universal Filter box a couple of weeks ago and put a 16 x 20 filter in.  This move was huge as far as curing all of my allergy problems that I was having prior.  I also have 6 extra fire brick sitting on the lip above the other bricks and now am looking to add another steel plate on top of my baffle which I have already had to hammer down because it was bowed.  My next question is whether or not I would be able to connect the 8" warm air supply line to the cold air return plenum on my LP furnace in order to take advantage of the 4 cold air returns connected to this unit.  I currently have my warm air supply from the wood furnace piped directly into the main trunk in the basement but it is located on one side of the basement therefore, there is a long duct run to the far side of the house.  If I were to connect the warm air supply to the cold air return on my LP furnace, I could utilize the fan on the LP furnace to push the air through the rest of the duct work.  I would also be utilizing the return vents since I am currently just using basement air as a cold air return right now.  Basically, it would be like I was sucking the warm air out of the wood stove instead of blowing it out with the blower.  My main concern is that the fan on my LP furnace is very strong and would probably heat me out of the house if kept on all the time.  I would probably need to have some sort of fan control connected to the LP furnace fan so that I could adjust the fan speed to a lower setting when needed.  Will this work and would it make heating with my wood furnace more efficient and give me more of an even heat?



having a system setup like that sounds alot more efficient than just a squirrel blower on the back but my thinking is it will work great for the first few hours but once the wood hits the coaling stage the btu output wont keep up with the big forced blower of your lp furnace and as a result will cool off the firebox ultimately blowing cool air through your ducts and maybe even making creosote ,heat tapers off halfway through the charge ,this is one of the downfalls of a wood furnace  over a steady rate of btu output of fossil fuel burner


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