Picked up an Englander NC30 today...

Thanks DexterDay! Great pics and explanation

I think I will be adding that to the summer project list!

 

For a longish run like that I would be tempted to run 4" pipe, adapting to 3" before the flex. But apparently the 3" works fine.

 

Quick update....

I backed off the air control knob so that it is only on the rod at the 'tight' coil section. This has allowed me to set the air control where the end of the knob is about even with the ash lip as a lot of you have said you like to run your nc30 there. This seems to have given me longer heat cycles with the fan running. It is also burning the coals down much better. I must have been closing the air too far before. I wondered why the STT would drop so rapidly when the wood was done gassing the way I was running it. I can only guess it did not have enough air to keep the coals really hot.

Another thing I've noticed with this is the temps dont skyrocket so fast after setting the air. I still get pretty high flue temps but it seems to settle in quicker and stay there longer. I thought more air would make for a hotter fire and was afraid to keep the air opened too much. It actually seems the opposite is occurring. Less air was making my temps really jump but they wouldn't stay there long after the wood was done off gassing. Does that make sense?

Now for a quick wood question...
Some of the ash I brought in is spalted a bit. It seems with the wet summer we had it may have actually picked up some moisture. When I checked a few spalted splits tonight they read way high on the MM. This was after the splits were inside for 48 hours and freshly split before testing. My question is can these readings be trusted? They were reading around 43%. I wasn't sure if spalted wood would give a false reading or if I should avoid those splits like the plague until next year.

Ok I'm done rambling...

 

Try a couple...if they burn like snowballs, you have your answer

 

I guess I already got it then. I loaded up a load after work that was mostly those type of splits and it took a long time to get them to catch. According to the load burning now I can throw one or two with better stuff and it doesnt seem to be an issue. I set a fan to blow across the wood box in the garage. Not sure it will make a difference but I am telling myself it will

 

If you have a package scale - weigh them before and after you've let them sit inside in the nice and dry for a week.

 

Hey Marvin, I been meaning to bring this into the thread, but forgot until now. One of my favorite overnight burn techniques in the 30 is what I call a Backwards burn.

Give it a try.

 

Very interesting thread! I would have never thought to try that. I'm gonna give it a go tomorrow to see how it works for me. Thanks for the tip bushpilot!

 

I am trying the 'backward' fire as the first fire of the day. When I got to the stove this morning the STT was around 200* with the fan on. There was a decent amount of coals but to be sure it would light well i threw some kindling on top of them before loading. I did just as bushpilot said, I pushed the coals to the back, tossed on some kindling, loaded up and closed the door.



These pics were taken within 15 minutes of loading. I had secondary flames within 3 minutes. I couldn't believe how quickly this lit off and the stove came up to temp. Keep in mind this is with less than ideal wood (some in the 18% range, some in the 22-25% range). I did leave a pretty good sized tunnel for doghouse air flow to the back of the stove. Now it is a waiting game to see how long this load lasts. Initially I am impressed

 

If you keep the doghouse tunnel smaller, you can slow the speed of the primary flames propagation towards the front, and extend the burn. If you get it all right, it will give you about the longest clean burn you can get from this stove.

 

Do you still use this technique regularly?

 

Well, to be honest, I sort of forgot about it earlier this season. Old age or something. A couple of weeks ago we started hitting some low temps at night, and I remembered it, and have used it on a few colder nights since.

It seems mostly useful when wanting extended burn, from a stove that is already warm, like overnight. During the day, my stove often goes out, as well as on not so cold nights, and I don't mind that. I rarely really load this thing up with wood, like others seem to do.

So, it is not my go-to method, I usually just chuck more wood in as needed. But it is cool on those cold nights to see how it will do.

 

Just checked to see how it was going. It has been about an hour and a half since loading this morning.


After initially spiking to about 625* STT after light up, the temp settled and hung around 575* STT for about an hour. It apparently has kicked in to another gear in the last 20 minutes or so. I'll check again in an hour or 2.

 

I'm finding I can substitute a layer of kindling on top of the coals with sitting there trying to coach the burn transition along by adjusting the air. Especially loading oak on coals and not too many coals. I don't have the same big stove so I rake the coals out flat or more towards the front where the air comes in, put three or four 1 to 3 inch sticks of dry eastern white pine on top of the coals and then the load of oak on top. Set the air where it needs to be to burn the oak at a decent rate and walk away. No need to sit there playing with it trying to get the oak going. The pine does it for me. Too many times loading just the oak on the coals I'd think I had them going good and leave only to be outside or sitting by the window on a leeward side and notice the smoke coming out of the chimney an hour later, go down and sure enough the oak is just smoldering. I dislike making smoke . I want heat not smoke.

 

I'm gonna have to try and c/s/s some pine this year for doing exactly what you're saying. There have been many times when I have an okay coal bed, not a good one, but there are enough that I cant justify starting from scratch with paper and kindling. Usually in these situations I will sit there watching the fire take it's time with the door cracked until it finally lights.

 

Final check on the 'backward' fire...
3 1/2 hrs after loading



I thought the STT would hold higher than that by this point. However, I do have the air set lower than I normally do because of the sunshine outside (house currently at 77*). The other thing I noticed was some coals that had fallen in front of the doghouse. All in all I kinda like this method of burning. Now we will just have to see how long it goes. I will put it to a real test tonight for the overnight burn.

 

Last night I had a eureka moment. I've been trying to delay ordering a new door gasket until after the burning season ends. I remembered last night I still had a bunch of pieces of gasket leftover from the osburn.

I had been 'fluffing' the door gasket on the 30nc for a few weeks now. Last night I smeared some cement on the gasket and stuck pieces from the osburn gaskets on top of the 30 gasket. Worked like a charm. This should get me through until spring shows.