Satisfied with the englander so far.

I've been heating from my basement for a number of years and it usually takes awhile for the heat to really be getting into the upstairs.

Once you light the stove keep it going. It will be a lot easier to keep the upstairs warm.


I'm using an Allnighter smoke dragon right now heating a 1800sqft basement and 1800sqft first floor. It's 20 outside and 75 upstairs.

Your Englander should put out more heat than my old beast.

wingsfan said:

Been burning the englander 30 for about a month now. Outside temps are just getting in the 20s and 30s, and even with the stove in the basement and just a small fan at the bottom of the stairs we can get the main floor up to 65-66 so far, but we dont burn full time,only when we are home, so we have to reheat the basement every time, just about. We normanlly keep the programmable thermostat at 63 when we are here, so it is nice that on these colder days we have not had the furnace running.. I'm happy and if we sit in the basement i'm very comfortable.

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What are your stove top temps?

I am sure you know, but if you get those basement walls insulated( if not all ready done) you will see a dramatic improvement. Dry wood ( less than 20% internal) should put the 30 into a cruising range of 400-500 degrees on top at the slight step in the middle ( note if you have the blower on the stove running, checking the top for temp will read about 100 degrees lower, mechanical or IR). I routinely am at that point with just 3 small splits. Still shoulder season around here 20'snight , 30-40 days out side. Cool snap next couple days teens at night highs 20'sday light.

Snotrocket said:

I've been heating from my basement for a number of years and it usually takes awhile for the heat to really be getting into the upstairs.

Once you light the stove keep it going. It will be a lot easier to keep the upstairs warm.


I'm using an Allnighter smoke dragon right now heating a 1800sqft basement and 1800sqft first floor. It's 20 outside and 75 upstairs.

Your Englander should put out more heat than my old beast.

Click to expand...

I did the same thing last year with an allnighter. Sold the allnighter this fall to a young man from central Maine, after I cleaned my chimney and got gallons of creosote, could have been the wood as it was not optimal. Put a 30NC in and am very happy with it, I can tell already that I am using less wood, but my wood is much better this year. Does your allnighter have the tubes running through the firebox to hook a blower to, that helped me a lot, although I had to piece together a blower and supply tubes.

DaveGunter said:

I did the same thing last year with an allnighter. Sold the allnighter this fall to a young man from central Maine, after I cleaned my chimney and got gallons of creosote, could have been the wood as it was not optimal. Put a 30NC in and am very happy with it, I can tell already that I am using less wood, but my wood is much better this year. Does your allnighter have the tubes running through the firebox to hook a blower to, that helped me a lot, although I had to piece together a blower and supply tubes.

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That is the same thing I'm doing, and it's also my plan for spring when the 30's usually go on sale. I'm going to stuff the 30 into my fireplace upstairs. I won't have to heat my basement at all. Should cut my wood use way down.

The Allnighter is actually a decent stove being that it's so old. I filled it at 3 this morning and my house was 71 when I got home at noon and had plenty of coals left in it to get it going again. My house is extremely well insulated though.

Here's a pic I just snapped for your memories....





Back to the original question, the NC30 should be more than enough stove to heat your basement and upstairs. At the very least if it's not insulated, insulate around the sill. It shouldn't take more than 2-3 rolls of insulation.

What's stopping you from running it 24/7 now?

It's almost a waste of wood if you're not just going to keep it going. I don't have any vents in my floor at all. My floors are nice and warm and I leave the door open to the basement and some heat finds its way up that way.

I've been running my 30 now for about a month as well. I use it as my overnight stove and to aid in keeping the house at a high enough temp so that my small Morso 1440 can heat the upstairs when it gets real cold. Right now it can heat the whole house (2000 sq ft) from the basement. Stove is in front of the stairwell. Very satisfied with the 30 so far.

wingsfan said:

We only use it while we are home, evenings and weekends... If i get laid off in the winter I will use it more constant. The house is only 5yrs old so it is pretty well insulated, even around the rim joist.. Basement isnt insulated but studded walls and insulation is the next plan.
Stove top temps are getting to 500-650 on just a half load.When we use it all weekend and keep it going the basement gets pretty warm and the upstairs starts to get heated...I want to put a floor vent in the end of our hallway, which is just off to the side of the stove, and that will help with circulation. I have wood mostly ash with some box elder mixed in, that reads 18-15 percent moisture on a fresh split.My oak wont be ready till next year.

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I went with foil faced 2" polyiso insulation in all the joist bays and anchored directly to the concrete instead of a stud wall, my basement is very shiny. It is easier to piece it in around all the pipes and wiring already in place, I also have no plans to ever use the basement as living space.

First year with the 30 and so far I am pleased.

Heating from a mostly insulated basement with an open stairwell which is centralized (ranch style house). One floor vent above the stove and another one on the opposite side of the house which seems to get the air moving and the heat where it needs to be.

As it's getting colder I find myself cutting the air back more and more (air lever is about flush with the edge of the ash lip)...

I was worried that I'd have draft problems as I'm running the 6 inch pipe into a 8" masonary type chimney (24ft tall) but that's not the case at all.

Kaptain said:

First year with the 30 and so far I am pleased.

Heating from a mostly insulated basement with an open stairwell which is centralized (ranch style house). One floor vent above the stove and another one on the opposite side of the house which seems to get the air moving and the heat where it needs to be.

As it's getting colder I find myself cutting the air back more and more (air lever is about flush with the edge of the ash lip)...

I was worried that I'd have draft problems as I'm running the 6 inch pipe into a 8" masonary type chimney (24ft tall) but that's not the case at all.

Click to expand...

Is that air moving just passively or are you moving it with fans...how do you have the fans set?

DaveGunter said:

Is that air moving just passively or are you moving it with fans...how do you have the fans set?

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I'm just using the blower on the stove itself. My living room is directly above the stove (where the floor vent is) where I have a ceiling fan running on low year around. Still need to experiment with the fan direction to determine what works the best - I believe it's set to counter clockwise right now.

Forgot to mention that the house is 2300 sq ft counting the full basement.