The Defiant, the 30, new blower, air flow, and the new front door

Weather: We have been having colder than usually temps here. We are experiencing what we normally get in January and February. Highs of 28-30 and lows of 15-20, with wind. So, the results I am getting is a good simulation of actual winter weather.

The Defiant connected to the Den chimney: performing a lot better on the new chimney. No smoke spillage. Doesn't random run away. More controllable.

The 30 connected to the Living Room chimney: Once the door is closed, it pulls much harder than in it did in the Den. Gets up to temp a lot quicker. Oddly enough, though, I am getting smoke spillage on reload. Not as much of a problem as the Defiant was giving me, but it is happening. Not sure why. From stove to chimney, I have two 45s and then a 90 in the chimney. From that point it is straight up, about 25'.

The AC30 blower: It is awesome when compared to the AC13. Quieter is an understatement. It moves a lot more air. Totally worth the money for my situation.

The Den - Heat output stove comparison: The Defiant moves more heat than the 30 does without the blower. It's not even close. It also maintains a higher stove top temp longer than the 30 (due to the Defiant being a cat stove. A chitty cat stove, but, still a cat stove). In the Den, the Defiant easily gets the room up to 80 without a fan. The 30 takes longer to bring the same room up to temp without a blower, and when the temps went below 20, it would struggle to keep the room at 80. I know 80 degrees isn't needed, but it is a example of heating capacity in the same room and same chimney.

The Den - Heating output - 30 with blower vs. Defiant without a blower: the 30 beats the hell out of the Defiant when the blower is in use. Whether it is the AC13 or the larger AC30, the 30 in the den could get the room past 80 degrees easily. And the 30 could maintain that temp with a much lower stove top temperature than the Defiant can. But, even without the blower, the Defiant can still move heat out from the Den and into the rest of the house pretty well. Much better than the Vigilant could (and the Vigilant was a damm heat bomb without a blower).

The Living Room - Heating output - 30 with blower vs. Defiant without a blower: HUGE difference. With the blower, the 30 is getting the Living Room up to temp more quickly than the Defiant ever could, and a lot quicker than the Heritage could that used to be there. Also, with the blower, the 30 can maintain warmer temps for a lot longer than any other stove that has been in there. The 30 at a lower temp (250-350) can still provide usable heat where as the Defiant could not during winter temps. The heat transfer is also more effective at moving warm air to the Dining Room, which is, seemingly, one of the draftier rooms in the house (exterior wall under the floor seems to be the biggest issue).

Air Flow: Due to house projects taking up a lot of time, we ended up only having the Encore hooked up when we got hit with a cold blast. Out of necessity of trying to keep a smaller area of the house warm we tried closing off areas of the house to see where we could trap heat. We ended up closing off the door in the master bedroom that connected to the rest of the second floor. This allowed the the heat from the kitchen to move up the pie staircase in the kitchen that lead directly to the master bedroom. We could easily keep the room 72-76 degrees. When we hooked up the other two stoves and got them going, was tried keeping the bedroom closed off to see what would happen. The results surprised us and we are keeping the master bedroom 72-74 even with the colder winter temps we are now getting. And the heat retention is greater as we wake up to a warmer room even if the kitchen stove died out. When the bedroom door is open to the rest of the second floor, it seems the heat from the kitchen stove and living room stove get pushed back and trapped in the far back bedroom at the other end of the house. With the door closed, the air flow is blocked and it cuts down on everything being funneled into the third bedroom.

New Front Door: I knew the front door was really bad. But, it is still surprising how much of a difference it is making. The foyer area no longer has a cold draft coming from the front door that was easily felt when you stood several feet away from the door. The new door has a lot less glass, but, you can tell, the issues weren't from the glass.

 

When comparing the stoves in different locations, do the results account for all the new insulating and air sealing?

 

Excellent observations BBar.
Just turned up the blower as the house was cooling. House temp came up in fairly short order and is still rising.
Love this thing.

 

Yes.

The insulation to the attic that would most effect the performance of the Living Room and Kitchen stoves was completed before last winter. There is no attic in the Den.

The front door was completed yesterday, so we had a hand full of days of cold temps before the new door was installed. Also, the Defiant was in the Den in the winter of '11-'12, then the 30 was in there the previous two winters, now the Defiant is back in the Den. So, we have a before insulation and after insulation comparison for the Den and Living Room areas.

The insulation for the Spring Room (across from the Den on the other side of the Foyer) isn't completed yet.

The spray in expansion insulation under the flooring will not happen until this Spring/Summer, at the earliest.

 

Which blower do you have?

 

Sounds good, BBar; Sounds like the door will be a big help. This weather is telling me that before winter I'd better get some more weatherizing done, or have the Keystone ready to go back in. The blower works great on the 2460, but I'm wondering if having it on there will slow the convection of the stove when the blower isn't on. Blower was loud when the stove was back in the fireplace, but I'm hoping the sound will disperse more with the stove out on the hearth. Better have the Keystone ready in case we can't abide the blower noise...

 

I was really concerned about buying the bigger blower with the rheostat. The AC13 was really loud and would get some massive vibrations at times. The bigger AC30 really is a lot different and better in every way.

I plan on moving the 30 into the Kitchen when I locate a Princess. I feel confident that the 30 with the new fan will work really well in the kitchen.

I hope your situation works out. Having to move and install stoves during the winter is not fun at all.

 

I got the 30 after the 16 wouldn't work for me (not enough room behind the stove).

 

Great write up. Sounds like it should be better for you this winter.

 

Browning Bar,

I wonder if a person would replace those ceramic baffle boards in the NC-30 with heavy steel baffles (No Warping) if the stove would still get secondaries and then radiate more heat out the top of the stove.

Just a thought........

 

Interesting, but, that would be an experiment for someone else.

I don't need more heat from the 30. I need longer burns. I guess, in theory, a steel baffle would add some time to the burn cycle as it would store heat a lot better than the existing baffle board. But, the additional heat would be measured in minutes rather than hours.

On a non-cat stove the wood breaks down more quickly than it does on cat stoves even when run at the same stove top temps... for some reason. If the 30 were a cat stove, I would probably get 3-4 more hours of heat from the stove. Super long burns aren't important to everyone, but they are to me. This is why I think the Princess would work well.

I also haven't given up on buying an Ideal Steel. If I have problems locating one or two used Princess stoves, an Ideal Steel with a modified rear heat shield that would allow for a blower, might be a solution.

 

Amen.

 

Save up for that Princess.

 

Or an IS.

 

Quite the detailed report BB. You know your own home better than anyone, to include your heaters. Looks like you have made some substantial improvements to trouble spots and a few stove upgrades.

 

You will need to add a blower to make it work for you. Not a knock against the IS. But your home will need the help moving the heat around for your situation.

 

Getting there. Slowly. Waiting to see what happens when we go from winter-like temps, to bitter cold.

 

Agree. Yep, the blower is helping quite a bit on the 30.

 

How Long is your burn cycle times?

Try raking your coals forward technique and get big splits loaded EAST/WEST in the back of the stove so they are not laying on any hot coals. I like to rake everything forward and lay splits right on the bottom of the stove.

I have had good luck with my other stove I had loading east west and leaving the last row by the door east west for a nice pile of kindling with some sort of fire starter on top. So you got hot coals in the front , a nice pile of kindling, then a fire starter like a super cedar. This front row of stuff up front by the input air and dog house air jumps starts the stove really fast and temps get up in the stove and gets the front of the stove burning and the big stuff inn the back is just sitting there doing nothing for the longer burn time. This gets you a faster shut down of the primary air to your over night burn setting.

One thing I have noticed with my Drolet Myriad is during the coal stage I get much more heat out of that stove at that time.
So its like my cycle times are extended as I am getting more usable heat towards the end of the cycle.

 

Have you tried cracking a window before loading to see if it helps with the 30 smoke out the door problem? Could be some negative pressure in that room. Anyway to run an OAK?