Picked up an Englander NC30 today...

Is there a header at the top of the stairs (where a door would be if you had one)?That's more what I was getting at. If you look way back in my posts, I put a piece of cardboard at a 45 degree angle up top between the kitchen and hall, and instead of air hitting the header, it flows down the hall much easier. It's worth about a 4 degree difference in my shack. Works better than a fan at the back blowing towards the stove room. I just thought you could do a temp test if you had a header just to see how much easier air moves along when it doesn't hit a header (such as above a door).

 

This is what it looks like at the top of the steps. Not too bad. Eventually I would like to put some vents above the doorway and entryway on each side of the room.

Don't mind the mess....

 

That sounds like a good idea. I bet there's a ton of heat just hanging out up near the ceiling not able to move around. I think stratification is the word, but I just call it hot air stuck up there.

 

Mess! What mess? I see toys...and toys mean youngsters...and youngsters means lots of love and fun...and that means living! Nothing wrong with living either, by the way...ling well. LOL!

 

You got it! Our first. We're still figuring out how to manage all of the extra laundry

 

Hoytman this load weighed in at approximately 42 pounds. It was a mix of ash and elm. The long one on the very bottom just to the left of the doghouse was probably 20 inches long if I had to guess.

 

I found it to be a nice, easy, pleasant read.
No freakin' idea what Dutchy means though.
Another way to control the heat is to use small 2-3" splits in a log house setup. Takes out the chill and stays hot/warm for a while to boot.

 

Works good

 

Got a question for the minds here...
What makes the higher btu woods better? I mean I understand the higher btu woods are more dense. I'm just curious about them as I've not burned any loads that were all oak, locust, etc. Do they burn hotter or do they just produce heat longer due to higher density?

I ask because I have been burning elm almost exclusively and I get plenty of initial heat from it (well in to the 700* range) but after about 2 hours I'm down below 600*. After 3 hours I'm below 500*. However, as far as burn length, the elm does well enough I have no problem relighting.

Yesterday I had a long work day. I reloaded the stove with all elm at 6 a.m. as usual and had it set for the day and cruising by 7 a.m. I was quite surprised when I got home and went to relight the fire at 8 p.m. that I had plenty of coals to relight. The stove was only about 150* though and wasn't heating the house but I didn't have a totally cold restart. It actually relit quite quickly.

Basically I'm wondering, if I get those STT from burning elm, what's gonna happen with a full load of oak? Do you have to close the air more/faster or does it just cruise at usual STT for a longer period? I am already closing the air down pretty far.

 

Elm is known for lots of flame at first then they die down and leave a pile of screaming hot coals...some people don't like it for that reason...oak will give you longer active flame and still get great coaling too.

 

Longer, but all wood is going to have a peak curve cycle like you've experienced.

 

That is what I figured. It makes sense due to the higher density.

 

So it has been...I dont remember how many...weeks since I bought the nc30. It seems winter has finally arrived (other than the 40* and rain they're predicting for Wednesday ) and has opened the season with a vengeance. After 6-8" of snow and 1/2" of ice Saturday the temps dropped off sharply Sunday night. The wind came in like it had something to prove with gusts up to 35 mph. This morning was -5* with strong winds. Today's high was 12* with gusting winds.

I have to say I'm very pleased with the performance of the nc30. It is currently 71* inside and 3* outside. Thankfully the wind has stopped. I fed it about half a load of ash when I got home from work around 430ish and haven't touched it since. It has actually cooled a few degrees inside while I wait to load it up for the overnight burn.

The most impressive thing was how well it heated the house with howling winds. The windows on my house are overdue for being swapped out for new, better insulated ones. I sit on top of a hill completely exposed and it kept up just fine.

I would certainly buy another if I was looking to get a very functional, budget concious, heating monster for a second stove.

I feel as though it is much easier to run when it's cold out. I also feel I'm finally starting to learn how it likes to act. I have you all to thank for all of the advice and tips

 

Couple of questions for you nc30 owners...what kind of STT do you run at and for how long? How do you run your blower (what temps do you turn it on/how long do you run it)?

Mine has been doing a pretty good job so far but I'm trying to really dial it in (if possible) for the frigid days coming at the end of this week.

Here's a breakdown of how it went this morning which I think is similar to how it normally goes when I have to go to work/for the overnight burn.

- Loaded up with a full load of ash at 7:30 this morning, within 15-20 minutes it's up to 600*STT and the primary air is all but closed (about 1/4" open), good secondaries, no smoke out of the stack
- By 8:00 we are at about 675* STT and slowly climbing, fan turned on at this point on low (hair dryer fan style)
- 8:15 its cruising along at 725* STT 875-900* flue temp, flue temp up to this point stays about 100* warmer than STT, once STT goes above 700* flue temp goes higher
- 8:40 STT has settled in around 680*, flue temp back down to around 775-800*, holds this temp until around 9:30ish
- 9:45 STT dropping, it's down to about 550* STT fan still running on low
- 10:00 STT 430* fan on low
- 10:15 STT 390* finally shut fan off, small flame in center coals with little wispy secondaries every so often, center of wood has collapsed in to coal pile, still charred pieces on sides

Does this seem like normal operation? I know the fan will cool the stove top quicker but I would expect it to stay above 600* for longer than an hour and a half. Secondaries were rolling and I had a very small flame where the doghouse air shoots through to the back. If I shut down the air anymore it would have died. If I opened the air anymore I'm thinking my flue temp would go sky high. What am I missing here?

 

Disclaimer: it's been years since the wood stove .. Pellet stove now.

How much wood are you loading up in the stove? 1/4? 1/2? full to the top? More wood mass = higher temps. Wood fiber type = density / burn time @ a given air rate.

Reading above, it sounds like the ash wood your burning is 'torching' in the stove quickly.

If available, try (mixing) in some pieces of hard wood (oak, maple), after the coal bed establishes. Even though you have air dialed down - you may need to dial it down even more, load less wood @ startup / and load more often, during the burn, to find the "sweet spot" for your stove & the wood type you are burning.

re: is 600F normal - that sounds high, at least to me. When we burned here, target temp. was 425F consistent to balance heat / wood burn. Anything over 500F was going to require more frequent wood loading. But this was years ago, with a different stove, that didn't have a blower to throw heat.

Hope at least some of the above is useful to you - good luck, I'm sure you'll get there w/ your stove. Stay warm!

 

So you blew through a load in three hours. That’s what I do when I’m trying for maximum output. A lot of heat goes up the stack and efficiency is pretty low. You need to burn it like this if you’re freezing your balls off and just keep reloading.

In your home I think you need to slow it down. The way to do this is by closing the air sooner in the burn cycle. When internal flue temps first hit 600 you should be closing the air down to the lowest clean burning setting. Don’t worry, you can’t keep this stove cold it will climb. Don’t worry about the blower, it isn’t really effecting the stove. Instead focus on keeping flue temps between 500 and 700 You might not hit 700 stt but your stove will stay at 600 for a long time and not just puke the energy up the stack.

Of course fill every load to the tubes. Stack all pieces like hot dogs. No half assing the fuel charge!

Give it a try and report back. After several years of running my nc30 hard, hot, and inefficiently I am starting to see the benefit of lowering the temperature to gain efficiency.

 

Thanks gentlemen for the info. I feel like I can always glean some knowledge from every comment. I will try cutting the air sooner. I have noticed that even when I cut it just enough that the "blow torch" from the doghouse goes out, it will eventually come back. It seems no matter what I do the temp wants to climb. I will try packing loads tighter as well.

One part of the problem I may be having is due to the fact that most of my wood is split fairly small. I was splitting small last spring to try to ensure my wood was dry enough this season. Going forward I will be splitting bugger.