Ok, got my new stove late last winter. Now its getting cold again. Having a bigger stove going from a 2.1 cu ft stove to a 3.3 cu ft stove means a little more tricky using the stove to produce less heat. I load less wood and with the stove less full secondaries are harder to get. My house was 77 this morning. Last year I would keep it around 70-72. But having more heat is a little different for me. I have my stove in the basement family room and have french doors leading to my garage part of my basement so I can open the doors to vent some heat. As if its 77 upstairs its even warmer down stairs by the stove. My problem is I am used to loading a full load of wood as these stoves burn better in cycles of full loads of splits. I guess this is a nice problem to have. My Drolet Myriad best feature is it radiates heat like crazy. As its less of an insulated firebox and a Stainless steel baffle with no insulation in the baffle which explains the great heat coming off it.
Interesting, I frequently burn half loads and don't have issues getting the secondaries going and still get 8-10 hours out of the stove. Remember with a half load your secondaries won't look anywhere near the same as with a full load of wood. A lot of times my secondaries will only fire in bursts with a half load or will look like a floating flame in the top for a bit before disappearing for a bit. Even when I have fires like that I still have no smoke at all out of the chimney. It may just be that you are trying to make the fire look the same but it doesn't need to?
How do you load your wood, packed tight or loosely? I find even in my little stove if I pack it tight with a half load it doesn't do as well as a loosely stacked half load. With your large fire box you should be able to stagger the load NS/EW.
I totally agree with a half load I leave air gaps and will even lincoln log stack it sometimes. It makes a huge difference!
All I know is my Drolet is putting out about twice the heat and with less wood then the Summit, runs easily and very predictable.
Yea, shoulder season are another animal with that bigger stove. I went from 1.8 to a 3.... But wouldnt change it. Like right now it's just Cadillac'in and I get great enough burns time till I get home to refill it or for nice overnight burns... I just use small cuts of wood and usually only use 5-8 pieces. Once that stove warms up it'll radiate quite well.
I have a 2.2cu ft fire box, but I do add a layer of firebrick to the bottom of the stove in the early spring/late fall. Shrinks my firebox getting cleaner burns with less wood. Is this a huge deal.... Not really, does it help, seems to, cost effective? I use old cracked bricks that were replaced so there is no cost other than storing them in the garage.
I've found with the 30, that I can put in a partial load, still get 2ndaries, and a less intense amount of heat. The stove can run at 400-450 or so for quite a while, and very clean from the stack. Still messing with it, but I put in less than a full load last night of Spruce and mostly Maple. Woke up to a lot of coals and although the house had cooled, I just raked it all forward and put on a big split e/w to burn 'em down before the morning load.
I can get my secondaries but its takes longer with a larger empty space in the stove. For you guys with NC-30's Secondaries are different as you have tubes and my stove has a baffle with holes drilled all over the place. Plus my baffle isnt insulated like a NC-30, I have a uninsulated stainless steel baffle which conducts heat unlike the nc30 that has a ceramic baffle board which is insulative. My previous Vogelzang Performer stove had also a ceramic blanket on top of its ceramic baffle board. Now the emisisons numbers on my Drolet are a little higher but are in compliance but I really like the trade off of the extra heat radiated from the stove as its one radiating monster. Especially during those times when you are in the coal stage the thing is still radiating alot of heat when there is a just a small amount of coals. The stove seems to be a happy medium of new EPA stove and still kind of like the old steel stoves that gave off alot of heat. But during this shoulder season part of the year the extra heat is something I need to adjust and not load my stove so full. Also some stoves that have baffles have "insulated baffles" to keep more heat up in the top close to the baffle where the secondary air comes in. Like Old Spark points out in his post these Drolets are heating machines and I am sure the NC30 is also with all the good reports.
Fan off, in bypass, burning uglies , low inlet air stat setting, is about the lowest heat output I can get. If above 40° thru the night, house gets in the mid 70°s, I open a front & back door now & then. I do smaller loads with good wood & lincoln log it too., Spacing the wood helps, that's where uglies come in, they naturally create more air space. I've also burned small fires & didn't worry about the cat , left it in bypass for the nights when it's above 40°. As you experiment with different burn setting, you'll get to know what setting & techniques to use for the varying outside temperature & weather. Wind is a tough one for me, extra strong draft + a few air leaks in the house. PS: write them down or be like me go thru the learning curve every year. LOL
