Happy 4th of July everyone! I know not many are thinking about wood stoves during this summer heat of 2019...man...time flies...but I getting close and closer to putting in a new wood stove before winter. I would like to see some comments from England Stove Works fans listing pro's and con's of your stove and how you like them. My home is 1300 sq.ft. with about half of it open design, chimney is clay lined masonry in the middle of the home right through the peak of the roof, with decent insulation, 2 large great room windows. Not sure which model would suit me best. I'm afraid the nc30 is too big except for the coldest part of winter, and I'm afraid the nc 13 would be great in shoulder seasons of spring and fall and not big enough for the coldest days of winter. I would like to burn 24/7 from shoulder season to shoulder season if I can. I also have a fuel oil furnace that I am desperately not wanting to feed if I can help it. Also, my rock and concrete hearth is only 42" deep and I'm concerned that either stove would not sit back far enough on the hearth because of the blower. I likely won't use the blower, but like to have the option available if I can. Of course, I can always add eco-fans on the stove top. Also, I found this link below and wondered what some of you thought about the comparison. I'm pretty sure the other stove the fella had in that video is a Blaze King. I need to watch the rest of the video (only watched part of it so far), but surely he's not saying that stove is better than that BK. That would be something...but I better finish watching.
With the 30, you can always use less wood. My house is slightly smaller (ranch), at about 1240, and when it gets too far below 0, it's almost enough. During shoulders, I use smaller splits and load a bit more often. If you want more control, consider a Woodstock or Blaze King cat stove although I can usually run the 30 around 550 if I pay attention. More questions, ask away......there's a few more ESW owners hangin' around.
There's a picture on this site somewhere of my current old stove, and it did well this past winter with the extreme temps we had for so many days. It's plenty of stove for that weather, but too big in the shoulder season. Of course, I can always build a small hot fire and just let it go out. You have my attention with that (considering your sq.ft.) "almost enough" comment. Care to elaborate a little? What I like of the 30 over the 13 is that I think I've read where some of you can load wood in both directions in your 30. I'm not sure I've read any similar info on the 13. Blaze King is out, at least until 2-4 more years...simply because of cost...and I want to wait and see what happens to other companies, or wait and see what they come up with after 2020. I can buy 3-4 nc 30's though for the entry of the BK...which sort of kills the BK in my book. I tend to like the tube and hybrid stoves better than straight cat stoves...at least for now. Also waiting on Woodstock to build something a little more traditional looking in a steel stove...if they ever do. I'm not too sure that Woodstock IS or AS is that much better of a stove than the NC's for the money though. How much heating difference between the two is a little hard to tell behind this keyboard. A later option would be a Lopi Liberty/Endeavor because of close clearance they offer, but I don't want to drop the money on one just yet. The NC cam get me in a new and more efficient stove for little money for the time being and can always go in the shop. Seems like a great option until I make up my mind on stoves I like more...as far as looks.
I have an older (2001) Englander 24acd catalytic stove. It is very well built, my parents bought it new in 01, heated their 3 bedroom farmhouse with it until last year when they bought a new Lopi endeavor. Then they gave it to me, and I installed in my house. My step dad says they like the endeavor, but sometimes he misses the Englander, the Englander has a bigger fire box and put out a little more heat. The Englander is still in good shape, I did replace the fire bricks. It is only on its 2nd catalytic combustor. I can't speak for their newer models, but I consider them one of the best built lower priced stoves. Sent from my SM-S727VL using Tapatalk
Well, before we had the new windows and siding done, and a new HE FAF put in, the stove struggled to keep the house as warm as I'd like, hence the "almost enough". The 30 will take up to 20" splits, but it can be a bit tight e/w. I've not had good success with e/w fires, but I do load Lincoln log style quite a bit.
We currently have an NC 30 in our 1600 sq ft ranch. Heats the house very nicely even when it’s bitter cold! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I like to keep our house around 68*-70* generally. That's right now and in the shoulder seasons. When it get's real cold...REAL cold...I'm good with 75*...no more than 80* on occasion...AND...only in the main room. We like the bedrooms in the 63*-68*F range. With this old stove, even in 0*F or -10*f...if I want to I can make it 90*F...which means even idling in real cold weather that I am tending all the time. Pain in the patute! However, "almost enough" I could live with considering how we don't typically see the temps we had this past winter. Was super cold for a couple of weeks here around Cinci. and Dayton.
the layout and insulation of a home have so much to do with what works and what dosen't.. 2000sq ft 1960 build ranch 30 was a little lost in it on the coldest days fast forward 2200 sq ft ranch 1990 build 6" walls, -31 degs in garage 75deg. inside and I wasn't pushing the stove. I have no idea what the wind chill factor was at the time. Must have been real mean out because I lost a lot of plantings around the house.
For sure always keep in mind that you do not have to fill the firebox on a stove every time. You can build small fires in a big stove but not a big fire in a small stove. The worst about the Englander small stove is burn time. If it is cold outside, you may have to get up twice per night to add wood unless you have a furnace that will kick on. But isn't that contrary to good wood burning? Get a stove that will keep you warm in the coldest times you have there and one that you won't have to get up during the night to stoke. Besides, building fires in cold stoves is not very efficient and is one of the worst things you can do to your chimney outside of burning green wood. Nothing particularly wrong with Englander. It may not last as long as the better stoves but can serve you well for many years.
I have an NC30. Maybe one day I will actually install it!! I have a cat stove High Valley 2500 as my main stove. This one is going to be my second stove. But with the last couple winter's we have had I am not motivated to install it. I only would of needed it a few nights last year. When I bought it I could of been running it a few weeks a winter. Had the dang thing over 6 years now. Maybe this year will be the year?? My son was born and that took a good bit of my extra income I could of in spent on the install.
Whatever stove you buy needs to be able to burn long enough to fit your schedule. Something to consider if you are planning on 24/7. My 2 cents worth.
I went to look at a stove last night. Walked in and there was a wood cook stove and a new Hearthstone Madison in the living room...in an older drafty 2200sq.ft. home. I was there to look at yet another stove he had for sale...one bigger than his Madison. He told me last winter his Madison wouldn't keep up and he had to light his grandma's old wood cookstove as well to keep the house warm...they had two small children... ...and a giant stove for sale in the kids living room. Go figure. More to come on that in another thread maybe.
I guess the point in the above post is; why be cold when you don't have to be when you have options. To the point someone mentioned earlier...you can build a small fire in a big stove. Not the best situation for starting a cold stove, but it beats having a stove that can't keep up when there's yet plenty of winter left to go. I don't ever want to be in that situation again. I've been cold enough to have my body ache terribly when I was outside. I don't ever want that to happen to me inside...and especially my family.
My 13NC heats my house just South of the cheddar curtain just fine until it starts getting really cold. My dump is 1150sq.ft. and not an open design, and not very well insulated in the walls. The 13 is the perfect size for my house..............just doesn't have the burn time for truly usable overnight heating when it gets bitter cold due to my houses design and insulation. When it gets truly cold like last Winter..........I would bank the stove to go to bed at 10:00pm and then I'd be up at 2:30am to load up, wait until cruising, and then go to bed again.....................about 30 minutes usually.
Everyone should buy the nc30 unless space limitations or you live in a "tiny house". Larger box equals longer burn times and you can always put less in it or junk wood if less heat needed
Well, I live in NE Washington. We get into the negative single digits, and occasionally in the negative teens. We heat about 1600 sq ft, largely open plan, on an uninsulated slab, and somewhat leaky. The 30 keeps the house as warm as we want it, which is 70 degrees. In the dead of winter, it will drop to about 67 by the time we get up in the morning, but we burn mostly softwoods, you Easterners with hardwoods can do better. I am confident that I can make the house 80 degrees if I wanted to, no matter the temperature outside. The stove is easy to operate, and we like it. I cannot compare to the more expensive stoves, such as cat stoves, as I never had one. But the 30 heats well, and is a great stove for the buck. I always start a fire NS, but will sometimes reload EW, if there are a lot of coals. I can get a 20 inch log in NS, it is a little less EW, I never measured, and am too lazy to do it right now. As clemsonfor stated, I wouldn't think of a 13 unless I had a tiny house. The 30 is about the same price (sometimes cheaper), and it can burn a short fire when needed. I say "short" rather than "small" as it really burns better hot. I have had mine 3 years, maybe 4(?). I have done nothing other than clean it so far, as the stove is concerned. I have the upgraded blower (AC-30) and highly recommend it. I did last year have to replace the bearings in that, which was a little quicker than I thought it should be, but we were doing a lot of drywall work, and there was a lot of dust in it. There you go, my thoughts.
Exactly. After off-campus college days of seeing my breath in my bedroom and kitchen, I vowed to never be cold indoors again. Get the bigger stove.
Ooh memories, 1900s farm house bedroom in attic big hole in floor for gravity type heat ( whole place was gravity system ) big old octopus coal furnace converted to oil and then again to NG . There would be frost on the bedroom walls in the morning worse was the mad dash from the bedroom through attic to first floor - talk about a cold shock wake up. My new bride at the time was not particularly pleased with the accommodations, being a city girl an all. Warmest room in the place was the bathroom being located just about right over that old furnace. Had to let the faucet in the kitchen drip or it would freeze up. Good old days?
