Enviro M55 Multi Fuel Cast Iron - Reviews?

[Brianm58]

Flynfrfun,
My dealer here in So. Mass was @ $3899, then add sales tax, install, & I had to have a plate made for behind the surround because ny fireplace openning was larger than the biggest surround they made. Total was $5800. Alot of money, so it better heat my house.

 

[bicusick]

I paid $4,000.00 in San Jose, Ca

 

[tbags]

I also am trying to decide between the M55 insert and the Mt Vernon insert.
Seems the Mt Vernon is more automated, which is great however that may mean more things to go wrong.
I also noticed that most of the Enviro stoves are rated around 83% efficient, then I scroll down to the M55, and it's only rated around 76%. Big purchase and I'm having a hard time deciding which one to go with. The dealer I'm going with sells both stoves.
Both seem to be great stoves. I am moving from an old Jotul 118 B, that I've had for about 3 seasons. It has served me well.

 

[Vid Lopez]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this post. I've gotten really great information from all of you in regards to pellet stoves. Just ordered my M55 Cast insert and should be here next week sometime. I paid $3,680 it. The installation will be $1,200 as they will have to take out my existing non efficent fire place insert (not masonry), then do all necessary fire proofing etc. What do you guys think of the price I paid? I also did a lot of research (read and read and read some more about pellet stoves etc.) and came to the conclusion that the M55 was the machine for me. I have a large 3,400 sq ft ranch and although I don't expect it to heat the whole house I sure hope it will make a huge dent in my oil bill. What do you guys think?
Thanks,

Vid
Enviro M55
Old Whitfiel which is being rebuilt for $800 for the basement, not part of the 3,400 sq ft.

Thanks again!

 

[ARGlock]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this post. I've gotten really great information from all of you in regards to pellet stoves. Just ordered my M55 Cast insert and should be here next week sometime. I paid $3,680 it. The installation will be $1,200 as they will have to take out my existing non efficent fire place insert (not masonry), then do all necessary fire proofing etc. What do you guys think of the price I paid? I also did a lot of research (read and read and read some more about pellet stoves etc.) and came to the conclusion that the M55 was the machine for me. I have a large 3,400 sq ft ranch and although I don't expect it to heat the whole house I sure hope it will make a huge dent in my oil bill. What do you guys think?
Thanks,

Vid
Enviro M55
Old Whitfiel which is being rebuilt for $800 for the basement, not part of the 3,400 sq ft.

Thanks again!

Welcome to the forum Vid! Glad to see you are getting a M55 insert. Keep us informed how you like it and if you have any issues with it.

Thanks,

AR

 

[Vid Lopez]

I will keep you posted including pics. once it is all done.

Vid

 

[ARGlock]

I'm curious how the M55 throws ash about the house. My Quad CB1200i I believe has a tendency to throw more ash via the convection fan since it's located on the bottom rear of the stove. In addition I've had issues with loose heat exchanger tubes which I feel allow ash to get out of the combustion chamber into the line of convection air flow. Just curious where the air intake for the convection fan is on the M55 insert?

What type of heat exchanger tubes does it have? Or is it a baffle. I should probably review the videos of the M55.


Thanks,

AR

PS: I wish all stoves had an air intake filter to help keep dust from being thrown about the house. The St. Croix Lincoln has one but they don't make an insert version yet.

 

[flynfrfun]

ARGlock,
My M55 cast insert doesn't seem to be throwing any ash. The heat exchanger tubes are welded to the frame essentially sealing them from the combustion chamber. The welds look pretty heavy duty. Don't think this is ever going to be a problem on this unit. The convection fan is located about midway up the height of the unit. I don't believe it sucks air from anywhere in particular as the squirrel cage blower is not covered. So apparently it sucks air from the room that is pulled thru openings in the stove and surround.

Also, the convection fan doesn't move as much air as some other stoves. I guess this is to keep it quiet. But, even on heat level 5, you can barely hear the fan running although it is putting out a decent amount of heat. That is one thing I would think they could improve. I wouldn't mind a little more air movement. However, in my particular case, it doesn't matter much because I have a ceiling fan in the same room and it helps move the air around. I turn it on low and run it in reverse. Mixes the air quite well yet doesn't create enough air movement to feel "drafty".
Flynfrfun

 

[flynfrfun]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this post. I've gotten really great information from all of you in regards to pellet stoves. Just ordered my M55 Cast insert and should be here next week sometime. I paid $3,680 it. The installation will be $1,200 as they will have to take out my existing non efficent fire place insert (not masonry), then do all necessary fire proofing etc. What do you guys think of the price I paid? I also did a lot of research (read and read and read some more about pellet stoves etc.) and came to the conclusion that the M55 was the machine for me. I have a large 3,400 sq ft ranch and although I don't expect it to heat the whole house I sure hope it will make a huge dent in my oil bill. What do you guys think?
Thanks,

Vid
Enviro M55
Old Whitfiel which is being rebuilt for $800 for the basement, not part of the 3,400 sq ft.

Thanks again!

Vid,
Sounds like a good price. I got mine for $4050 including the 4" exhaust pipe, cleanout T, 3' vertical run of pipe, elbow and exhaust termination.

I am able to heat my 1900sq ft house with no problems on heat level 3. This is with temps in the low 30's. Of course it all depends on your floorplan as to how well the heat will move around. When I say heat my house, I mean at heat level 3, my living room (where the stove is) is about 78F and the rest of the house is of course cooler. We like it WARM. If I turned it up to 5 and left it there, we would be HOT. Of course, I'd need a lot more than the 2 tons of pellets I current have though.
Flynfrfun

 

[Vid Lopez]

Hey Flynfrfun,

Thanks for the reply. Yes it seems I got a decent price on it which includes the vent piping... although I am calling today to find out exactly if it is the 4" exhaust pipe, cleanout T, 3" vertical run and elbow exhaust... I don't know about this stuff but have tried to educated myself before deciding on which one and the M55 seems the best value in the larger insert stoves. Our temps do get in the low to mid 30's and sometimes colder so we will see. The machine will be in a large fam room (25x30) and above it is my office loft of the same size. Then is the rest of the house towards the other end, a dining room, kitchen, living room and then making a left turn towards the bedrooms and another family room. We will see.... will keep you posted and place pics once it is done. Can't wait, sick of filling two 500 gallon tanks of oil... that is a killer so I am hoping this will easy the pocket book although the initial investment is not exactly cheap either.

Thanks!
Vid

 

[cwarner20]

My Wife and I bought the M55 Cast free standing around 11/4/2010. right out of the box the ignitor was bad, it took three days for the part to come from Enviro to the local dealer. After that the stove started up it burned fine for about a week, then it started making a constant clinking sound. at first it was kinda quiet now its been over 2 months and the sound is so loud it will keep you awake at night. It sounds like steel marbles clanking together really fast, its rather a horrible sound. The dealer came to check it out and said it was venting or exhaust blower bearings where bad. over all I am happy with its looks, but I am disappointed with its parts going bad so fast. I also have a enviro Mini I bought in December of 2010 for the breeze-way this model was a 07 left over. I had no problems with the mini at all. after having the two stoves I can say the mini does a great job no complaints it heats the breeze-way and the 23 X 21 garge with 10 foot ceilings to a nice 79 degrees on setting 4. the mini is very simple and fast to clean and has to be done about once a week no complaints with it. Now the M55 cast on the other hand is a pain to clean. The burn pot has to be cleaned every other day or the stirring arm grinds on the clinkers that form from the pellets. I did try three different brands of pellets even the armstong, and I get the same thing hard build up that needs to be cleaned daily or every two days. I tried the adjustment of air trim and it does very little. so at this point Im wishing I went with a harman because of the monthly cleaning and less noise. The M55 is quiet, but remember the pellets dropping in counts as noise to me. So check out the harmans also. no clinking sounds of the pellets dropping and no daily cleaning. Maybe my M55 cast was just put together with bad parts we'll see in a few weeks if the parts are in yet the dealer said they are having a hard time getting parts for these stove. hope this helps with your research

 

[mdavis]

We narrowed our choices to the M55 and Harman XXV and decided on the M55C. We installed our M55 cast on 12/23 and it has been running everyday since. My first floor heat pump hasnt turned on once since we've fired this thing up! We are pellet noobs, but very pleased with the quality and performance. I do clean the stove weekly...I'm not sure it is required it just feels right. I keep hearing the mantra - most stove problems are related to a dirty stove.

One item of note - the M55 cast hopper only holds 60lbs of pellets while the M55 FS holds 80 lbs. This thing will consume some pellets...its rated for buku BTU's.

stove pics
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/66890/

 

[chris288]

We narrowed our choices to the M55 and Harman XXV and decided on the M55C. We installed our M55 cast on 12/23 and it has been running everyday since. My first floor heat pump hasnt turned on once since we've fired this thing up! We are pellet noobs, but very pleased with the quality and performance. I do clean the stove weekly...I'm not sure it is required it just feels right. I keep hearing the mantra - most stove problems are related to a dirty stove.

One item of note - the M55 cast hopper only holds 60lbs of pellets while the M55 FS holds 80 lbs. This thing will consume some pellets...its rated for buku BTU's.

stove pics
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/66890/

Curious, why did you choose the Enviro over the Harman ?

 

[mdavis]

We narrowed our choices to the M55 and Harman XXV and decided on the M55C. We installed our M55 cast on 12/23 and it has been running everyday since. My first floor heat pump hasnt turned on once since we've fired this thing up! We are pellet noobs, but very pleased with the quality and performance. I do clean the stove weekly...I'm not sure it is required it just feels right. I keep hearing the mantra - most stove problems are related to a dirty stove.

One item of note - the M55 cast hopper only holds 60lbs of pellets while the M55 FS holds 80 lbs. This thing will consume some pellets...its rated for buku BTU's.

stove pics
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/66890/

Curious, why did you choose the Enviro over the Harman ?

From quality/feature perspective the M55C and XXV seemed comparable. At the end of the day my wife prefered the looks of M55.

 

[chris288]

We narrowed our choices to the M55 and Harman XXV and decided on the M55C. We installed our M55 cast on 12/23 and it has been running everyday since. My first floor heat pump hasnt turned on once since we've fired this thing up! We are pellet noobs, but very pleased with the quality and performance. I do clean the stove weekly...I'm not sure it is required it just feels right. I keep hearing the mantra - most stove problems are related to a dirty stove.

One item of note - the M55 cast hopper only holds 60lbs of pellets while the M55 FS holds 80 lbs. This thing will consume some pellets...its rated for buku BTU's.

stove pics
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/66890/

Curious, why did you choose the Enviro over the Harman ?

From quality/feature perspective the M55C and XXV seemed comparable. At the end of the day my wife prefered the looks of M55.

My wife actually liked the look of the Enviro better also, but being a mechanical engineer I appreciated the simplicity of the Harman over the M55. IMO there are more things to go wrong on the Enviro than the harman. good luck with yours

 

[mdavis]

We narrowed our choices to the M55 and Harman XXV and decided on the M55C. We installed our M55 cast on 12/23 and it has been running everyday since. My first floor heat pump hasnt turned on once since we've fired this thing up! We are pellet noobs, but very pleased with the quality and performance. I do clean the stove weekly...I'm not sure it is required it just feels right. I keep hearing the mantra - most stove problems are related to a dirty stove.

One item of note - the M55 cast hopper only holds 60lbs of pellets while the M55 FS holds 80 lbs. This thing will consume some pellets...its rated for buku BTU's.

stove pics
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/66890/

Curious, why did you choose the Enviro over the Harman ?

From quality/feature perspective the M55C and XXV seemed comparable. At the end of the day my wife prefered the looks of M55.

My wife actually liked the look of the Enviro better also, but being a mechanical engineer I appreciated the simplicity of the Harman over the M55. IMO there are more things to go wrong on the Enviro than the harman. good luck with yours

Thanks Chris - I wish you many years of great heat with your Harman.

Its funny - I'm finding pellet stove owners are like many of the folks involved with many of the hobbies I enjoy - fishing, boating, skiing, hiking, etc. They all have very strong opinions about their gear - whats the best, etc. Just a gerneral observation...not a slight towards you, your product choice or that your opinion of overly strong. Harman is a reputable company that makes a great product.

At the end of the day...machines break.

 

[chris288]

being a boat and jet ski owner myself, I totally understand. Why people continue to buy some products is beyond me. I haven't heard anyting too bad about the M55, but I did read that one person would rather eat poision than own their Empress and that was on our list also. Didn't help that the dealer showing us the M55 couldn't get it started, had to plug and unplug it several times, when he finally got it started it was burning pellets inside and outside the burn pot and didn't know anyting about the products he was trying to sell, a real turn off. I make it my business to know as much as possible about the products I intend to buy and on the way out of that store my wife said you know more about the stoves than he does and hes does it for a living. I did like the fact that the M55 would burn a variety of bio-fuels compared to the Harman. I never got the opportunity to see the XXV run before purchase, only the Accentra, but it does seem that the M55 burns hotter than the XXV, it may have a better heat exchanger than the Harman.

 

[NPCoot]

My Wife and I bought the M55 Cast free standing around 11/4/2010. right out of the box the ignitor was bad, it took three days for the part to come from Enviro to the local dealer. After that the stove started up it burned fine for about a week, then it started making a constant clinking sound. at first it was kinda quiet now its been over 2 months and the sound is so loud it will keep you awake at night. It sounds like steel marbles clanking together really fast, its rather a horrible sound. The dealer came to check it out and said it was venting or exhaust blower bearings where bad. over all I am happy with its looks, but I am disappointed with its parts going bad so fast. I also have a enviro Mini I bought in December of 2010 for the breeze-way this model was a 07 left over. I had no problems with the mini at all. after having the two stoves I can say the mini does a great job no complaints it heats the breeze-way and the 23 X 21 garge with 10 foot ceilings to a nice 79 degrees on setting 4. the mini is very simple and fast to clean and has to be done about once a week no complaints with it. Now the M55 cast on the other hand is a pain to clean. The burn pot has to be cleaned every other day or the stirring arm grinds on the clinkers that form from the pellets. I did try three different brands of pellets even the armstong, and I get the same thing hard build up that needs to be cleaned daily or every two days. I tried the adjustment of air trim and it does very little. so at this point Im wishing I went with a harman because of the monthly cleaning and less noise. The M55 is quiet, but remember the pellets dropping in counts as noise to me. So check out the harmans also. no clinking sounds of the pellets dropping and no daily cleaning. Maybe my M55 cast was just put together with bad parts we'll see in a few weeks if the parts are in yet the dealer said they are having a hard time getting parts for these stove. hope this helps with your research

Sorry to hear about the issues with your M55. I've had mine (insert) for two months now and couldn't be happier. The stove rarely shuts off. I've shut it down to clean it and the T-stat had shut it down when it was set to auto/off mode a few times. I had been experimenting a bit as far as the cleaning schedule. I let it go for almost 3 weeks before I cleaned it this week. The ashes were piled so high you couldn't even see the agitator rod on the ends. I know that's not the best thing to do, but I wanted to put it to the test. The only reason I decided to clean it was because I started to get a grinding sound (bad) when the agitator came on. I discovered that the burn pot liner had a pretty heavy build up of carbon on it, so the "teeth" on the agitator where scraping the liner. After some pretty heavy scraping with an old chisel and a good vacuuming, she's running like a champ again.

Like someone else said, these are machines and there are bound to be some issues, but so far so good with mine. Hopefully your dealer, along with Enviro will take care of you. As for me, I'd certainly recommend the M55 Cast Insert to my family and friends!

 

[flynfrfun]

Don't forget to lube the agitator rod bushing (on the left side of the stove) with either dry graphite powder or the anti-seize they provide with the stove. My agitator was making some noise and I fixed it by lubing it during my weekly cleaning. Right now I'm going on 1.5weeks without opening up the door or doing any cleaning. But, I don't burn 24/7. I probably average 8-10hrs a day during the week, more on weekends when we are in the house all day.
Flynfrfun

 

[jtakeman]

Now the M55 cast on the other hand is a pain to clean. The burn pot has to be cleaned every other day or the stirring arm grinds on the clinkers that form from the pellets. I did try three different brands of pellets even the armstong, and I get the same thing hard build up that needs to be cleaned daily or every two days. I tried the adjustment of air trim and it does very little.

Your blaming the stove for a quality issue with the pellets? Don't blame the stove, Blame the fuel. Try reducing the auger feed trim if the air has little effect. Drop it down until the flame fluctuates(fuel is burned up before next auger dump). Then bump it up one level to even the flame some. If your fire is not fluctuating a tad, Your not burning the fuel completely.

 

[mdavis]

Don't forget to lube the agitator rod bushing (on the left side of the stove) with either dry graphite powder or the anti-seize they provide with the stove. My agitator was making some noise and I fixed it by lubing it during my weekly cleaning. Right now I'm going on 1.5weeks without opening up the door or doing any cleaning. But, I don't burn 24/7. I probably average 8-10hrs a day during the week, more on weekends when we are in the house all day.
Flynfrfun

I wans wondering what that goop was for!! Is the application pretty self evident?? Any pointers/suggestions? I will investigate it when I clean the stove this weekend.

 

[Brianm58]

I've had my M55 insert since mid-november & love it. Haven't any issues(knock on wood), excpet for the high heat alert which shut down the stove. Dealer came & adjusted the plate over the auger down so less pellets get dropped & starting running the stove on Regular pellets instead of Premium. Seems to have done the trick. I have a big house(3000sq ft) which it has a hard time bringing the temp up from 65 (at night, when not home) to 70 by itself, so I'll run the oil heat for 15/20 min to ge the house to 70, shut down the oil & the stove has no problem maintaining the 70 after that & that's running the heat on # 3, auger trim on #1. I am on my 2nd ton of pellets, using Spruce Pointes now, but my 1st ton was Bare Foots. I am up in the air on which I like better. No clickers with either, ash seems to be very fine with the Spruces but more of it & they seem to burn hotter. My opinion no temp gauge to double check. I do a weekly cleaning with both. I would highly recommend this stove to anyone.

 

[flynfrfun]

Don't forget to lube the agitator rod bushing (on the left side of the stove) with either dry graphite powder or the anti-seize they provide with the stove. My agitator was making some noise and I fixed it by lubing it during my weekly cleaning. Right now I'm going on 1.5weeks without opening up the door or doing any cleaning. But, I don't burn 24/7. I probably average 8-10hrs a day during the week, more on weekends when we are in the house all day.
Flynfrfun

I wans wondering what that goop was for!! Is the application pretty self evident?? Any pointers/suggestions? I will investigate it when I clean the stove this weekend.

I find it is easiest to put it on after I do the cleaning and the rod is installed. I "inject" it into the bushing by squeezing it between the rod and the bushing. Pretty straightforward. Since you haven't put any on to this point, it might be a good idea to use some steel wool and clean any carbon buildup on the rod in the spot where it rotates in the bushing prior to lubing it.
Flynfrfun

 

[Vid Lopez]

Great to hear from all of you. I purchased my Enviro M55 Cast Iron insert and it was installed the day after Thanksgiving. Let me tell you this is a great machine. We have ran it 24/7 since we purchased it and I have had not one problem. I clean it (thoroughly) every 7 to 10 days and I've had great luck with it. I did tons of research before purchasing it (as I do whenever I am going to buy something major) and in my opinion this was the best machine for the money. I did look a the top of the line Harman and all the other brands and settled on my Enviro M55. In fact I work out of my home and it is toasty warm and I can see the beutiful flame. I run it on 2 or 3 depending on temps and this thing is great. Happy Heating, gents!

 

[Joe789]

Any more recent comments? Read about overheating issues when they first came out, dealer assures me the one I've put a deposit on will have the turbo blower which shouldn't trip the high temp switch. How you liking it if you have one? I'm going with the FS cast, should be lots to heat <1500 sq ft. Hoping it won't eat to many pellets if I can let it idle along.

Anyone on here from the Maritimes in Canada? Comes with a free ton of pellets but after that i'll be looking for advice on what's decent.

Buddy says 95% of the stoves he installes have no OAK, that sound right?

Got to talk to a tech for a second, said he knows of a local guy with one that loves it so that sounds positive.