Picked up an Englander NC30 today...

Is the stove just so full of ash that the doghouse is totally buried?

 

I'm kinda thinking I'm cutting the air too much too fast. I must not be letting it settle in after I adjust the air before I'm adjusting it again. I'll keep tinkering...

 

I get up at 5:30 and am usually loading the stove by 5:40. By 6:15 I usually have her dialed down to where she'll stay. Quick shower, get dressed, and check the stove one more time before I'm out the door at 6:40. However, there are always those few occasions when you just get a load that doesn't want to take off.

I had some of the same experiences as you regarding STT. Got quite hot on me twice, 800+. When this was happening I didn't start closing down the air until 400 STT. More recently I started closing down the air around 300 STT or based on what the fire is doing by looking at it in the box and disregarding temp. Just trying to keep a small flame on the wood and some secondaries. She'll catch back up in the next hour with just about full secondaries and some flame on the wood. I can get her to cruise pretty good now (sometimes) around 550 with the occasional creep up in temps to 650 - 700 STT before she'll start to come back down. I think the bottom line is these stoves like to run. Closing down the air sooner definitely helped me. I think you just have to find that sweet spot. However, sometimes I feel like there is a fine line between it blasting heat or falling flat on it's face. Hope that helps some.

 

This is good. I might need to do this more than worrying about temps.

 

Another question...
This morning I loaded the stove with oak and a few sticks of ash. Temp walked up beautifully and I had the air set. It was holding a flue temp of around 700* right where I wanted. Fire looked good, nice secondaries and nothing but steam coming out of the cap. It did this for probably a half hour. I thought it would just cruise there.

Before I left for work I checked again and the temp had.jumped to 900* flue temp. Is that normal for it to jump after cruising? I know you all say these stoves like to run.

Is this a sign my wood isnt as dry as it should be? I think I read one time that questionable wood will do that. I think it said it will be going good and then take off all of a sudden. Is this a possibility or am I just overthinking this?

 

I think it is pretty typical to see peak temps after an hour or two in...

 

This seems to be quite common with many stoves. One of the few things I liked about the old Vermont Castings stove we had was the bimetallic coil controlling the air input shutter door. (when it worked right )

 

Thanks for the responses. I guess I just need to let it do what it was designed to do

 

900 does seem a bit high, but I don't have a 30 or your chimney either.

One disadvantage to a stove in the basement or in any room you're not in constantly is the difficulty to sit there and observe for hours on end . Someone here put a lot of sensors on their stove for data which likely helped a lot to find the best compromise(s) of use.

 

I experience much of the same and was what I was trying to say in my last post. I don't have a flue temp gauge. So going by STT: I usually have the air shut down to where I want by the time STT reaches 500-550. There will be some flame off the wood with some secondaries up front. It will stay like this for about an hour. Then the stove top temp will slowly creep up to 650-700, maybe a hair higher and stay there for about another hour with full secondaries. The STT will gradually fall from there.

I think I'm getting pretty good burn times on full loads. I'm gone 11 hours for work and the stove is still around 200 when I get home with plenty of coals for an easy restart. I don't have the driest wood either. It's been CSS and top covered for 2 yrs but this summer in PA wasn't very good for drying wood as you probably know LOL

Also, my fan runs on low non-stop. I only turn it off to load the stove and then it usually gets turned back on around 400-450 STT and will stay on until I reload again.

 

My wife doesn't like how much time I spend monitoring the stove but I keep telling her I'm trying to learn (most of that time is spent cruising FHC )

 

True statement! Let's hope this year behaves a little better.

 

Marvin - I run my fan pretty much 24/7. I think of the fan as the house thermostat. The higher the fan, the more hot air get's pushed throughout the house. I have the upgraded AC30 blower, and I run it near full blast all night, and most of the day. I generally only turn it down when sitting in the room to keep the room more quiet. It's not terribly loud though. The fan definitely lowers the STT, although doesn't affect the fire. With the fan blowing on high you should be able to run the stove a little harder, since the STT stays down a bit. With the fan off, the stove will still heat, but the heat is more local, heats the room and surrounding area, but not the entire house like with the fan blowing.

 

I believe I will be upgrading the fan in the off season this year. While the noise is not an issue for me (basement install), I dont like that the blower that comes with it only has a high and low setting. I used the blower some this year but plan to use it a lot more next year, hence the reason to upgrade. With the current temps forecasted for the rest of the month, I dont think I'll need the blower much.

Hopefully I'm finally getting this thing figured out after all of the great advice I've gotten here. I'm looking forward to next year as I will have much better wood to burn (2 summers worth of drying).

 

DexterDay when you get a chance (no rush, this is going to be a summer project) could you possibly snap a few pics of your OAK for your nc30 (I will go back and review the pics you provided on the site already). Specifically where it enters your basement, how much of a run it is and if applicable, how you set up a cold air trap for it?

I am planning to install an OAK to the stove as well as a cold air return from one end of the house to the basement. These will both be summer projects. I'm looking to encourage the movement of hot air from the basement to the upper level of the house when the temps really drop.

Any others that have an OAK installed are welcome to post pics as well since we all love pictures here

 

You'll have a spare blower then too...that's always nice to know you have a spare if needed during "polar vortex weather"

 

10-4 on that one!