Picked up an Englander NC30 today...

I am gonna have to start tinkering some more to try to get to this point. I will see if I can get there without using my pipe damper at first. 500-700* flue temps almost sounds impossible with the way it has been running but I'm sure I'm going higher due to something I am doing. Most of the time my flue temps are peaking around 850-900* with a STT of 750*

I am perfectly fine with not hitting 700* STT if I can hold 600* for a while.

 

From my experience and what I've read from other owners of this stove 600* is very normal. These nc30's like to run hot!

 

Because your splits are small, you are exposing more burn area in the firebox - as an experiment, try loading up 1/8 - 1/4 less wood, see if that helps.

 

Will do. I can do small loads on the weekends. The problem is during the week and overnight.

I'll keep experimenting.

 

I have mine set up on a timer now. I usually set it for about 2 hours cause in that amount of time it will go from 750*STT to 450* STT and I feel it is cooling it too fast after that.

 

Your fan isn’t doing much of anything except making noise. Not even a fan three times as big will be able to cool the stove. The furnace version of the nc30 has an 850 cfm fan compared to your 50 cfm hair dryer.

What’s happening is your fire is slowing down after two hours of max output. It takes about two hours for the bloom of gasses from a new load to dissipate. If you can slow down that bloom then your stove will stay hot for a much longer time.

 

and that is why I, personally, would like a control on the 2nd intake like my older stoves had- primary and secondary controls. for the 30 i know some have played with that . sure would be nice to slow down the rocket jets up top independantly for a longer second burn . can't seem to find a setting that leaves just a bit of the dog house jetting so the secondaries do not die out. if i close the control to where the dog house is not jetting then everything becomes just a glowing mass after just a bit, no 2nd detectable.

 

With a curious mind such as you have, you'll no doubt get your system figured out. There's a limited amount of fuel, so it stands to reason you can have a hot fire, or a long fire, but not really both. While you obviously have a different stove than me, I believe a lot of what I've experienced with my stove applies. The quicker you turn down the air (within reason) the quicker your stove will heat up. It's going to smoke no matter what off the starting line, but you're going to be flowing much less air, and assuming you don't char every single piece of wood surface in your stove, it shouldn't be worse and in fact better with more hang time for the heat in the stove. If top down fires are a legitimate thing, why would one need to blast/char all the wood off the line??

That's why on a hot reload (excessive coals), you should be able to put wood, shut air down immediately, and like magic it lights up the secondaries and nothing besides the wood touching coals is burning. It will catch itself up eventually sitting in a 500-1000 degree firebox anyways. Or you can hot reload, char everything, and watch your fire and temps try to run away like a monster. Just keep your thinking cap on, and ignore the naysayers on your quest to have a better fire. Ultimately your chimney will tell you all you need to know, it may even confuse you.

 

True...if you are only running the fan 2 hours, you are giving up heat...I let mine run to the end. When it shuts off there is nothing but a few embers left. Even with the optional larger blower on the NC30, running it has virtually zero effect on the fire itself.
And using that convection deck will help you capture a bit more of that heat that is going up the stack without it.
As was mentioned, using small splits has a lot to do with what you are seeing too...I think you will find that running a combo load, a few small splits on top, and all the rest large stuff, will give you a much longer and more controllable burn.
Another somewhat controversial thing you could do is to put 1 or two large pieces in that maybe are not as dry as would be preferred, that will cool and slow the fire a bit...and the large pieces last a lot longer in the coal stage too.
If you are having these issues, your wood must be dryer than you think.

 

When you're home to watch, and the fire is choochin, try shutting the air all the way. If the flames die, open it back up. Sometimes takes a couple three tries for me, but once it's dialed in, the secondaries will just keep rolling along for quite a while.....maybe a couple hours. Play around with it.
As I've mentioned before, once the air is shut more than about 50%, it only takes a VERY small air adjustment to make the fire change. Don't know if you've noticed that yet.
At some point, you'll find the optimal burn and learn to live with it. I used to keep a log of things just like you posted, but it's too time consuming after a while. Load the stove, get it to temp, turn on the fan to what works for you and walk away for a while. You'll be happy.
I'm still jonesing for a longer burn (BK, cough.....cough). Lots of variables......lots.
Smaller splits will go bye bye quicker, as you seem to have deduced. I might use a couple smaller splits to make "the tunnel", but the rest are large. Fill the stove in these temps....I'm sometimes sliding splits along the underside of the tubes, carefully.
I like Highbeam 's suggestion to turn the air down sooner. I can sometimes do that in 5 minutes, but it takes longer to shut down the primary completely. Give it a few minutes between adjustments. This stove likes to run. I can turn the air down to almost closed, and after awhile, the secondaries start gaining steam and want to blast off to the moon. When you see that, shut down the air. You can always open it up.
I'm rambling.

 

Turn it on a lower setting. Lose the timer. You're limiting the warm air flow by shutting off the blower after 2 hours. As soon as my ST gets hot-ish, the blower goes on and stays on.
You could keep the blower off, and use a fan blowing toward the stove to get the desired flow.

 

I have the smaller blower. I didn't upgrade yet

This is all great info gentlemen! I'm trying to soak in as much as I can.

 

Nothing wrong with having a timer on there at all, but 2 hours is too short. Even if the stove was sitting at 200 degrees, the blower will still be stealing some heat out of it, and possibly contributing to the convection loop. But it's stupid to not see how a timer could be handy, as there's going to be some point when the blower isn't doing much as the stove went cold.

 

The doghouse is not controllable on the 30, or did you modify yours?

 

That’s why I added a thermostatic control for my blower. I don’t want it running when the stove is cold.

 

Are you talking about the secondary flames or the blow torch from the doghouse flames here? I have been setting the air where I have just a little bit of flame left on the wood for the doghouse tunnel. Maybe that is why I'm going through wood so fast??

 

Doghouse air is not controllable (unless you stick some magnets or tape over them, same with the secondary). Only primary. Yep, if the secondaries die, just open up the air a bit and give it a few minutes. If you don't have time for that, open it all the way or open the door for a few seconds. Flame will come back.
I think the wood I'm using this year was supposed to be for next year, as I'm finding quite a bit that sizzles a little and I sometimes have a problem when turning down the air.
The stacks got a bit jumbled when I moved everything from the field.....or maybe it's just my brain that's jumbled. I know Eric would agree with the latter.
Like chvymn99 said, when it's this cold, the stove likes to burn wood. I put in 6 splits about 10:30 and had high hopes it would last until 1-1:30. It didn't. I raked the coals forward and stuck another split on top, which is maintaining IAT.

 

I think I'm finally getting a feel for this thing now. I understand the doghouse air and secondary air is not controlled. What I was trying to explain was that I was leaving the primary open just enough to keep an active flame in the "tunnel" from the doghouse. The last 2 loads I have focused only on secondary flames. I have been turning down the air as far as possible while keeping secondary flames. This seems to work much much gooder I will find out in the morning how well it holds the temps in the house.

Here is the overnight load about 1 1/2 hours in to it...oak and ash



Stove Top Temp holding around 620* with the blower running on low


Flue temp staying well under control, only thing coming out of the cap looked like steam when I checked


I hope this is finally starting to click for me. I cannot thank every one of you enough for your patience with me. I know I've asked a lot of questions and you have all been so gracious with your knowledge.

We'll see what it looks like in the morning