Englander NC30 deal .....ordered

I do that more than I should. The stove gloves are great for that.

What type of Jeep?

 

Grand Cherokee. Nothing special.
We've had it almost 5 years....it's an '03.
Had an '06 for a while that was anemic, and an '07 Commander too with the small V8 that didn't have enough guts, but I liked that one.
I replaced the hood lifts last year when the hood kept closing w/o my help.
This time, it's the rear liftgate lifts that are taking a crap.
They should be here next week. I'll pop 'em on asap.

 

BBar, I'm really racking my brain trying to rig up something to use this blower, but I can't quite figure it out.
Maybe a metal dryer flex vent, but I'd need to fab some way to hold it on the stove w/o a flange.
Here's a pic of tonight's fire, all Oak.....

The Droid cam doesn't seem to like the heat or something. Maybe it's the light ...lack of. This has been running for 1.5 hours.
Had the air mostly off until a few minutes ago, when I closed it completely.
2ndaries since about 10 minutes into the burn....maybe a bit longer. I'm going to leave it alone and go to bed soon.

 

I say run with the idea of returning the blower to Home Depot and seeing if you can be the flatter one if it is affordable for you. For me, the blower made a 5-10 degree difference with the 30. And you seem to have the same hurdles that I do with draft and insulation.

What temps are you peaking at with the 30?
What are the house temps?
Are the house temps better or about the same as when you were running the Ashley?

 

Papadave, there is an adapter plate to use the small blower, on the 30, just a flat plate with mounting holes for the bigger blower and then a set for the hair dry version ( ya with a hole for the blower output.) Your spacing does not require side shields, they reduce the radiation off the sides of the box.
I have had mine for about 3 years now,couple things that I have been thinking about trying, one is a tube from the dog house to the back , it will eat a bit of load room depends on how I configure it. second is to make side plates but these will be tubes with blower inputs ( not ment to shields), blowers are a couple computer fans that are thermostatically controlled . last is an extension of the rear shield top edge lip to get a better air flow across the top. As the stove has been going 24/7 it is a little difficult to to do these just yet, couple more weeks when temps start holding above freezing 24/7 I get on it. I know BB has blocked the dog house and air wash intakes for longer burn times, but for me the stock unit has been ok loading full at 5Am and reloading when I get home around 6pm. except for the super sub zero temps and wind chills it has been sufficent by itself, even then just a bit of help from ng to warm the place up from the low 60's to high 60's.

 

Dex, I'm finding that the hotspot on the 30 seems to be straight back from where you have your thermo, right on the riser.
BBar, the highest so far is about 650° STT (last night and this morning).
The Oak load last night got done outgassing before I woke up at 2:30, and the stove was down to 400°.
Not happy, as I had 3 rounds and 8 mostly good sized splits loaded.
Opened the air, and went back to bed. Good coal bed when I got back up at 7, but the stove was @300°.
I'm having a tough time getting these long burns of even 8 hours.
After putting the original brick back in last night, nothing changed.
The handle seems to be quite a bit lower than some I've seen when closed.
House temps are similar, I guess. I'm thinking, and hoping, the blower will help move more air into the house, but I still don't get why the burns seem to be shorter than they should be.
It's not burning a whole lot different than the Ashley, to be honest.
Probably me, and like I said earlier, I just haven't figured out what I'm doing wrong.
Man, I sound like about a thousand other posts from folks getting a new stove.
"In theory, reality is the same as theory.
In reality, it's not." Somethin' like that.
Chris, yep, there's a plate on the back of the shield that already has the screws/bolts, where the 16 goes.
The plate comes off to mount the AC30.

 

I am not that surprised at the fact that their isn't much difference between the 30 and the Ashley, unfortunately. I have suspected your draft/insulation issues were as bad as mine and this kind of proves it.

The blower will improve your your situation as you will be getting more usable heat at the lower temps.

When the stove is at 650 are the house temps better or the same as when you were running the Ashley?

I can not stress enough how you need to get a blower on the 30.

 

8 hours later and the stove was 300? That's seems to be on par with a non cat, it would probably go 10-12 hours and still have enough coals left for a restart with a ST around 200. Was the house cooling with a ST around 300 or was it holding steady?

I'm curious what your expectations are?

 

BBar, this is my concern as well....that this stove won't burn any longer than the Ashley.....just cleaner.
We'll see. 8 hours and keeping the house warm would be fine, but that won't happen if the stove cools to 300 in 3-4 hours.
Looks like it's time for a run to HD.
Dex, I've still got the stove room torn apart and I had thought seriously about doing an OAK for the exact reasons you mention. Would be fairly easy to do.
The house has leaks. I'm sitting at my desk about 15' from the stove (almost a straight shot), and can feel cold from .......somewhere. I'm sure it's the walls. That's where all the leaks were in the stove room.
My legs and the backs of my arms are cool to the touch all the time, even with long sleeves.

 

Full disclosure....outside temp was -1 or 2 this a.m., so not too surprised that the house was chilly.
I'm wondering if I should leave air open a bit more for these temps.
Yep, the house will cool in these temps once the stove gets down below 450°. Going with the idea that the blower will help push air to the house, but I do have the air purifier blowing into the stove room which sets up air flow but also produces cool air flow from other parts of the house.
Expectation was to be able to control the burn for a longer period at lower temps (500-600°). I've been able to do that...to a point.
It's nice to turn the air down and get the stove to cruise there with the ghosties flowing.
I pulled coals forward a few minutes ago, put a single pine gnarly on top to burn down the coals. Heat sig, so I turned it down even with the ash lip, and it's sitting there cruising at 500°.
I have yet to find a pattern to run with. That's probably what has me asking so many questions.
Dex, won't the outside piece need to flow inward? I have a replacement for the dryer that I can take a look at.
Don't know if you guys notice this, but when the stove is cruising, I can hear the air flowing in the intake. Got to be creating quite a current in the house and pulling from any place it can.

 

Dex, I notice your splits are pretty large compared to mine.
The rounds I loaded last night were most of what remained this morning and kind of still had some shape left.
All my stuff is 16", and it would be very easy to fit 17" or even 18" splits.

 

Have you tried a tightly packed e/w load pushed to one side with n/s splits loaded into the open space?

 

You should be getting a LOT more than 3-4 hours above 300 degrees. You should get 2-3 hours of 600+ temps and then another 2-4 hours above 400 with a full load. That should be 4-7 hours of temps above 400.

 

No, not yet.
I did load 4 Maple splits e/w this morning with 2 splits of pine on top diagonal.
That ran for about 3.5- 4 hours to warm the house.

 

That's about a half a load with a lot of air space and smaller splits. I think some of the problem with the shorter burn times is how much wood you are using and how tight you are packing the stove. With smaller splits, you need to pack the load tighter.