Any owners of the Buck Model 21 stove???

I have a Buck 18. I would have used a Buck 21 as an insert but I would have only had 1/2 inch clearance above the stove. Too tight. The 18 is my first stove. I have no complaints. Expectedly, a 1.3 sq ft stove doesn't support an overnight burn.

I've had a Model 21 insert for about a year. I think it's great. It is on the ground floor which is about 1000 sq ft. Granted it's a small firebox but it really puts out. I burn really dry black locust and silver maple. I have a 5.5" ss liner 30 ft up a terra cotta lined chimney. It draws great and fires start up fast and hot with very little kindling. Have learned how to cut back the damper and get decent burn times with temps usually settling down at about 550 deg. It will linger at that temp for quite a while as the coals burn down. No real overnight burns but if I load it late usually have enough coals to start up in the morning with little or no kindling. The living room is large and heats it well and warms into the dining room as well. The thermostat on my furnace is just close enough to cut off when set at 68 deg as stove gets going. The fan works good but never really use it since we usually settle into the living room in the evening. On the -9 night we had recently I ran the fan for a short time at the start. When stove top temp gets a little high turning the fan on cools it off quickly. It looks like a bigger stove than it actually is. It's the only insert that would fit in my existing fireplace and I couldn't be more pleased with it.

Yeah, there is a lot of meat on the Bucks. They're sorta like mini bomb shelters.....for cats

They're built like tanks and simple...I think the stove is 1/4" or 5/16" thick all over but definitely the top plate is 5/16" so it's built to handle some abuse. The tubes from what I've seen from the NC30(only other experience is with 30) are much thicker, like 1/8" or better. I have mine red hot, not purposely, several times and they have not sagged in almost 3 years. They don't mind at all to run hot but knowing how hot your running accurately is important. If you don't have a thermo get one but be aware the magnetic types are not that accurate! So buy a laser thermo to calibrate and put magnetic in the hottest spot you find. I found on mine that the front close to the top left and right of the doors is the hottest and it closely follows the the true stove top temp. The true stove top temp where the air comes out is sometimes cooler than the front. So I find this pretty comforting, however, its been said that the sides are much hotter. I have no experience as mine is almost flush insert.

I think the worst thing you can do is let it run full open until you reach your desired temp, mine it about 650. The stack temps as some has stated, makes sense, can be like 1200 degrees or hotter when letting it run full open, not good! So always keep an eye on it and close down in increments! Fast flames, close til lazy, fast again, close til lazey, until completely closed or close.

If you are not smoldering smoking

This is how I learned how my stove works, it has a great draft and use only bone dry wood. Starting from cold, after firebox is lit up hard, guessing 5-10 min (more or less depends on load/split size), pull back the air slowly till fire looks like it's cutting back then stop, if it looks like it's gong too low give it a bit of air...after another 5-10 min (more or less)...do the same, you may see secondary burning...repeat till the air is out and you have a constant burn...even if it's low, if it's constant it will build and level off, if it doesn't, open the air to half and work your way down again....after coals get hot and you reload you may be able to go from catching hard to all the way out in two or even one step depending on what you load...I have a really good draft and the time can vary depending on your and wood moisture.. I learned why the necessity of dry wood is mentioned so often...when loading or poking it's easy to hit that soft baffle board on top, I put a hole in mine and replaced it...$30 from Buck Stoves...

Good little stove! I got mine used about 3 years ago. Mine is a older version so I don't have the baffle board, mine has the fire bricks on top. Heats the house up pretty good for the size of the firebox Being in Northern California/ Bay Area it doesn't get as cold as it does in the mid-west/east coast so this baby Buck is great for our house. Pretty much bullet proof. Congrats on a good stove

Wormyone said:

I recently purchased my first wood stove and noticed what looked like a fiberglass board above the re burn tubes..Part of me thought that this was for packing purposes and threw it out. Comes to find out that it is actually a baffle..SO how important is this baffle? Is it ok to run the stove with out it? Will my stove run better and produce more heat with it?

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Better order another one. BG is spot on .

Yes....big difference.

Didn't read the manual first, eh?
Yep, you need that.
begreen is on track....call your dealer first. Maybe tell him you trashed the one that came with the stove.Wouldn't be a lie.

Wormyone said:

Thanks! When you say baffle board what are you referring to?

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I don't have a 21, but this refers to the heat-resistant board above the burn tubes that directs the smoke past the tubes so that it can be burned.

I almost tossed mine too but when I called my deAler /buddy cause I thought he sold me the wrong pipe couplers, another story, he said take the baffle out... Then he explained what it was and that it is a bit pricey, I thought my ignorance caused me to save money this time.
Then I found hearth.com and all my prayers were answered!