Englander NC30 deal .....ordered

Yep, the only two choices are better sealing/insulation or bigger/more stoves. The stove was struggling when it got nasty early this winter, until I had had enough of 64 degrees and took care of some of the blasted air leaks around here. Now the place stays tolerable later in the burn, when the heat output is dropping off.

Yeah, other stoves may offer more flexibility, but also cost more. The Buck has a boost air slider and well as the airwash, so you can easily select what blend you want. I usually get up to temp and establish the load with mostly boost air, since that keeps the fire mainly in the middle and keeps too much wood from getting involved too early. Then when I've got the bypass closed and cat burning nicely, I cut the boost totally and just feed a little airwash to cruise it. You're learning a new stove, and what you like and don't like about it. The great thing is, you got in at the right price, you can experiment to your heart's content, then make a change later if you want while getting most of your money back out.

I do that quite a bit. Stove temp will go from 250 to 350 and maintain room temp until the coals are low enough for a re-load.

Big ashpan fan here, even the Buck ash hole is better than shoveling, to me. All the smaller coals that go out with Buck pan are getting recycled into biochar. Not much but powder ends up getting through the grate in the floor of the Keystone.
I think Woodstock has a wrought iron rake that was pretty reasonable, if I remember....twenty bucks or so.

 

Nice reply Woody.
I'll go take a look at WS site for that rake, but I'll go ahead and use the new one for a while.
Had an E/W fire today with 6 small-med. splits, and it got sluggish after the first 2 hours.
I'm still messing with it and learning little bits every day.

 

I have never, not once, used the ash pan on the 30. It really isn't well designed. I think the BK stoves use the same basic design.

I'm not a huge fan of ash pans. For the most part, I like ash as it keeps coals hot longer.

 

Never used one before this.
I like that ash, even a little, isn't being spewed in to the room.
You should have seen the air purifier pre-filter after a few days when I emptied the Ashley.
Anyway, that's the only comparison I have.

 

I guess that when to coals are down in the ash, less air gets to 'em and it slows down their burn. The Buck has a hinged lid over the opening, which is 3.5 x 5.5", so it's big enough so that it's fairly easy to use, and easy to open and close. A plug would be more of a hassle I would think.

 

Chvyman99, it's a double edge sword. Open the air more and it burns faster, or close the air and it still burns fast because of the doghouse and 2ndary.
Maybe I'm missing something (aside from the blower).
Got up this morning and the stove was down to plenty of coals and 300°. Last nights load was n/s.....10 splits. The air was slightly open all night.
I had also covered about 25% of the 2ndary air, but the doghouse is not covered.
Experimenting.
Aside from better control over the burn, and an obviously cleaner burn, this stove isn't behaving a whole lot different than the old one re: burn times.
Those are 2 big pluses for me, but I was hoping for a bit more longevity from the burn.
Just ordered the AC30......

 

Need to add some info. re: the "burn".
I added one Spruce split about 6:45 a.m., and let it burn with full air.
Didn't pay attention what temp. the stove got up to, but the house temp got to about 68.5 (was 68 when I got up at 6:30). Probably burned about an hour, and it's now 9:30. The living room temp is down to 68.2, with an outside temp of close to 30°.
Very easy to warm the house in these temps., and keep it there with just coals. I might throw another split or 2 on remaining coals, since I certainly don't need a stove full of wood.
That'll be my "batch" burning for the day.

 

Yep, as soon as it gets here, I'll be screwing it on and testing, testing.
When I have some info, I'll post.
It'll be "butt dyno" stuff.

 

From my personal experiences , I find that using the blower heats the room I am in alot more. If I shut the blower off the room I am in, is less hot and the other ends of the house is warmer. I am thinking and its just my thoughts that if I am not stirring the air in the main room that natural flows of the airs and the heat radiating out thru the house does so more naturally. As I think the heat in the house as it builds balances its self out eventually. Moving more air also creates drafts and extra flows and if your house is more drafty that may add to your draftyness of the house adding more air flow.

I dont use any fans to move air around my house I let it all even out on its own. I like to look at the house as a mass , If I keep that mass upto temp it will help me keep the air in my rooms warm. Its when I let the temps in the house and the mass of my house to cool down that it gets hardto heat it back up especially when its really cold out side.

One thing I like about my Myriad is its so good at radiating heat that even when I am down to coals its radiating a surprisingly alot of heat at that coal stage. This helps fill in those valleys in my heat cycle when the mass of my house could be cooling down. We all know in the winter its important to keep the fire going all the time to maintain heat in the house.

 

I was hoping he could get the hair dryer hooked up so I could learn the difference between the two. That blower is loud. I will be using the AC30 for the kitchen and I am hoping it is a lot quieter at lower settings.

 

The hairdryer won't fit unless I pull the stove out almost 3", which would put the pipe at an angle and probably cause leaks.
If I didn't pull the stove out, I'd need a piece of pipe with flanges or some other method to hook up the blower away from the stove.
I think I'll just wait for the AC30.

 

God, I hope that is true.

 

Probably. Didn't yours come with the 16?
Ray, I'm thinking the doghouse is a big culprit in my burn times, then I hear these times aren't that bad.
I can close the primary completely and have a little blast furnace boring a hole right through the wood in it's path. Literally.
Bye bye firewood. Quickly.

 

???
What're ya' waitin' for HDR?