Englander Blue Ridge 500-I Wood Stove 2,700 sq. ft. With Blower New

The wood stove looks great. Delivery was set back due to product availability and now I the weather has warmed up for the season so I haven't been able to really see what the stove will do. Otherwise, I did receive it, the blower fan has a speed setting and is very quiet. Excited to put it to use. The initial burn did let off a smell of paint as to be expected. Im hoping that doesn't last long when the heating season comes back this upcoming fall and winter. Great price for the quality of the unit. Recommend this system so far.

Love this wood insert, looks great in my new house and heats very well.

I recently replaced a small wood stove insert with the Englander Blue Ridge 500i. This stove is absolutely awesome! Heats my 1500 sqft house with no problem whatsoever!

Englander Blue Ridge 500-I Wood Stove 2,700 sq. ft. With Blower New

I searched high and low for a large area wood stove insert at a reasonable price and this hit the nail on the head. It was difficult to find inserts to heat over 2000 sq/ft and I needed more than that. Our house is large and has tons of windows so it’s not very efficient in the winter and the cost of propane to run the furnaces was getting out of hand. Last winter we constantly ran 2 fireplaces and propane was still needed and countless cords of wood were burned. I was tired of this so began my wood stove insert search, ultimately landing on this. My biggest fear with an insert was heat getting trapped behind the faceplate, making it less efficient. Although I’m sure a free standing stove would be more efficient, the design of this works flawlessly. The easiest way to describe it is the stove having the main shell and then an air gap surrounded by another shell. All of the heat from the fire gets trapped in between. The fan then turns on automatically and pushes out that trapped heat into the room. My mind was blown how much heat it was putting out.
Full disclosure: the first fire I had was weak and I thought there was something wrong with the damper system. At wide open, the flame kept dying when I closed the door. I read the instruction manual a bunch of times and couldn’t find a solution. Eventually, I loaded it up with about 5 more pieces of wood and let the wood catch with the door cracked, when I closed the door the flame kept going and the heat started pumping out. I quickly learned this isn’t a stove for little mini fires. It likes to work and crank out heat.
Currently, with temperatures in the mid 20’s, it has completely kept the propane furnaces from kicking on and I’m using a fraction of the wood I used to use with an open fireplace. Again, mind blown.
Tips and tricks I learned for a quick startup:
1. Build the fire upside down… big logs with paper between. Then medium and small logs with paper between. Light the paper and let the fire get going until it is a legit fire with the door barely crack open. This will warm the flue and firebox. Don’t worry if the big logs haven’t lit. Open fire doesn’t like to work down quickly.
2. Once you have that good fire roaring, make sure the damper is all the way open and slowly close and latch the door the rest of the way. You’ll see the flame slow way down (way slower than I’m used to on a wood stove- this adds to the efficiency and burn time). You’ll begin to see the fire burning downward. All the flames will be on the top of the box “pushing” the fire down towards the bigger logs.
3. Once the fire is roaring with damper fully open and the fan kicks on, you can go half damper to closed damper to make that wood last all night. This cuts a majority of the flame but the wood is burning red hot and for a long time.
Long story short, I would definitely buy this insert again. Although I was hesitant because I thought heat would get trapped behind the faceplate, the fan distributes that trapped air behind the house extremely well. Currently I’m heating a 6,500 sq/ft house with this stove alone at 24 degrees outside (I do have the furnace fans set to cycle for 15 min every hour to help distribute the heat to far away areas which helps a lot). You won’t regret this purchase. It’s a steal at this price point. One last thing… this thing weights A LOT. Its quality built but difficult to lift into the fireplace and get properly situated. Once in the fireplace, there isn’t a lot of room to work so make sure you’re set for the install before maneuvering this thing.