Englander Blue Ridge 500i.

[JA600L]

Hi all, I haven't been around for a while. I had a very successful 10 years running an Ideal Steel at my old rancher.

I have since sold that house and moved to a 1900 farm house in south east PA. It's a house that has been in the family since it was built. My kids are the 7th generation to own or live in it.

I managed to take the Ideal Steel with me, but as you can imagine it was no match for an old stone farm house basement this last winter.

The house does have a very old coal/wood stove insert in the living room. I ran that over the winter and it did ok. It showed me the potential of what heating from that area of the house would be like.

We opened up the whole down stairs with an LDL beam so the heat can move throughout that level. There is a stair case on either end of the house that will let heat go up to the bedrooms. It's a big house.

The house had cellulose blown into the walls and has mostly replacement windows. We installed a new hyper heat mini split with dual air handlers. So we don't need to rely on wood.

As it goes with fixing up an old house, money is a little tight. I recognize the potential of the high end insert stoves like Blaze King. It's just not going to happen. My wife is also very much against a free standing stove. I've tried to go down that road already. To be honest a wood furnace or outdoor wood boiler may be an option in the future.

In the short term, we would like to get a better insert. I am used to filling up the belly of the Ideal Steel so I want something big. Naturally, coming across the big Englander 500i got me all excited. I'm petty sure I can make it fit too.

I know the stove is new and there is limited info on it , but is anyone ready to share their experiences from the winter with it?

It seems like a no brainer for me at that price point and it qualifies for the tax credit. I will of course get the chimney looked at and probably lined. I may need to make some adjustments to the fireplace, floor, mantle to meet all the clearances.

I included some pictures of the house and fireplace. You may notice that we had a garage built onto the house!

 

[cdcarter82]

As discussed in our conversations, I have been running the 500i for the last two seasons. It is a beast of a stove. I am 100% satisfied with its performance, and ease of operation. When looking for a stove, I was looking for something that could keep up with an open floor plan, and high ceilings heating approximately 1200 sf on our 1st floor. Although the last 2 winters have been relatively minor, it has had no issue keeping up with heating my space. The firebox is large, can load N/S (which was important to me) and has a large glass window to view the fire.

I do run a liner in my chimney, and would definitely recommend doing so with any modern stove.

 

[JA600L]

I'm assuming the stove was able to burn atleast 10 hours as they advertise? Is it capable of holding coals and heat well beyond that

 

[cdcarter82]

Ive gotten 12+ hours out of it with enough coals to start a new fire.

 

[JA600L]

How do you like the blower? Is it effective and quiet?

 

[cdcarter82]

Blower is more than effective. I bypassed the thermal coupling in it when I installed it, so I can control the fan speed with the knob only. It does have a rattle to it occasionally, a common problem with these types of blowers. It certainly isnt too loud to the point where it is distracting or anything.