Encore 2550 Rebuild Thread

And here are some photos of the final reassembly.

 

And some before and after shots:

New and old refractory


Warped throat and new throat



Before and after inside shot

 

Jeremy do you have a pic of the condor probe installed like with the front of the refractory off and from the rear also? When I was replacing the secondary probe I did not see a spot to put the add on Condar probe. Even when I had the back plate removed I didn't see anything on that side either....

 

I can take a photo of the back later.

About an inch above the cover plate for the secondary on the back there is a little metal button you pop off. Use a 1/4" twist drill turned by hand to bore through the refractory and press the probe in.

 

So no need to remove the fireback or the front of the refractor if I want to install one?

 

Neither. You can work completely from the outside back of stove. 5 minute job. I'll get a picture tonight to clarify.

 

K thanks, do you need to seal it from the rear? Im guessing not. Also I found it on amazon for a little cheaper than direct, seems to be about $100?

 

Tried to reach back there and snap a tablet pic, see if this works.

See where my probe is? There should be a metal button there, just pry it off with a flat screwdriver. Then use a drill bit held by hand to make a hole through the refractory and slide in the probe. It will be right under the cat.

I was told no sealing is needed.

I used a piece of wire to strap the cable to a secondary cover plate screw, so it won't move if I bump the cable.

The price sounds close, I think I paid $80 four years ago.

 

I found it thanks! So now the question is do I want to spend another $100 on a stove I may be replacing....... FML of course I do

 

Oh and heres how I got past without having to redo the gaskets on my doors. Question on the airwash, how do you truly know its adjusted right? I just set it till it looked like it would match up inside.

 

I'm home sick from work, wife is out with the kids and its 50f out.

Time for first break in fire! Just a half SC and some kindling. Widow fan on high.

 

Interesting gasket method there...

For the air wash, sounds about right. For the screws on the outside edge of the door manifold I adjusted them so that by eye the manifold was parallel to the door - i.e. had a consistent width gap. One of the guides also talks about adjusting them up and down as close to the stove manifold as you can get but I don't see how they would adjust. I had to grind the left side manifold a bit to clear the door frame so I'd bet its pretty darn close!

 

Yea I did the gasket that way so I wouldn't have to redo that door.... but I had a huge back puff (air turned down to low) and a little smoke came out the front so I guess I will redo it now. And I also read that they were adjustable, but that just isn't possible. Maybe the older non cat version was? Idk

Oh and I need to redo the ash pan gasket... with air all the way down there was still a decent fire until I pushed on the ash door and it immediately got smaller. I might get away with tightening it but I will need to replace by next year anyway.

 

That Rutland brush on isn't too smoky right? The spray I used didn't smoke\smell at all.

 

I only got the griddle temp up to ~ 300 and the pipe to about 200. So far nothing but I bet when I get the stove over 500 it will stink.

 

Just replace the ash gasket. That's the most critical one and if its leaking at all now, you will be in real trouble come January when the draft is strong.

 

What an awesome post. I look forward to a report on how the 2550 performs after those replacements. This year, our Encore is getting a new cat (ceramic) and new gaskets. We have plugged the "EPA holes" for better control. Regardless of how many times our hood and fire backs have glowed, nothing looks warped and the hood still fits on and off normally. Go figure.

 

I'll let you know. Ive heard of others plugigng the EPA holes behind the legs, but Ive been able to get the door and ashpan tight enough that the flames dissapear completely with the main air shut (low draft/short stack) and have not needed to.

 

Done in 10min. Backed off the lock screw all the way and its still a nice tight lock (almost too tight) We will see what happens now

Ive never heard of this but I did see the holes when doing the ash pan door by chance. What is this do to the performance of the stove? And what do you seal them with? Steal wool would be my first guess.

 

good.

The EPA test requirements mandate that no modern stove can have the air shut 100% closed so that the fire cannot go out completely or smoulder
A lot of non-cats satisfy this requirement by having unregulated secondary air through the burn tubes. On our Encore what they did is to allow the primary air shutter to close completely when the control is closed, and provide the minimum air flow via two 1/4" diameter holes in the ash pan housing that are located behind the front legs (facing down where you cant see them). From what Ive read the did this to satisfy the minimum air rule and also to provide a small amount of air coming up through the ash grate to help burn down the coal bed.

People have different opinions on these holes. Some folks with tall stacks and strong draft close them up to help improve low burn control. Some just never open the ash door and let the entire bottom plug up with ash and just shovel out the front, achieving the same effect in a roundabout way. My stack is short enough that once I got my door gaskets good and tight control wasnt a problem, so I prefer to leave them open and operate the stove as deisgned. I like using he ash pan, and this winter I even got a second one so I can swap them quick every day only needing to open the door once with less mess.