Actual burn time on Englander NC-30

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You won't need to feed the 30NC every 3 hours. In fact, you will probably not touch it for about 8 hours. As a rough guideline, you can expect a fire for about 4 hours, reasonable heat for another 4 hours, and coals for an easy relight for 4 hours more. Wood quality/species, draft, operating procedure may shorten or lengthen those times. I would think it is possible that the 30NC can provide all the heat you will need. However, you will need to work on your heat distribution. How far is the stairwell from the stove? Did you try placing a fan at the top of the stairs blowing cold air down into the stove room?

Thanks. It's almost hard to believe, since we don't get anywhere near that kind of mileage from the dragon. Just to clarify, the dragon will stay in the lower level, and we hope to only need about 2 good fires a day down there. I'm still trying to figure this all out in terms of heat retention and distribution, but the lower level stays warm long after the fire is out. My current theory is that it has something to do with the two exposed brick walls; the bricks are hot to the touch when the fire is burning and stay warm for hours afterwards. I suspect that the brick walls are retaining/releasing heat and keeping the lower level super cozy with very little work. However, when we push the dragon to heat the entire house, then we roast ourselves out of the lower level and start going through wood like crazy. My office and my son's bedroom are on that level, and it's not uncommon to have sliders and windows open when it's 22 degrees outside (90 in the lower level). Therefore, we want to put the 30NC upstairs in the masonry fireplace and use it to heat the upper level only (roughly 1450 square feet, with cathedral and vaulted ceilings). I know some heat from the dragon will rise from the lower level, but in a perfect world, I won't be running up and down the stairs all day and night reloading the dragon (and we won't go through so much wood). And the truth is, I want a fire upstairs that we can actually see. What fun is heating with wood if you can't watch the fire?

Oh, and we did try the fan. Our German Wirehaired Pointer is obsessed with the stupid thing and knocked it down the stairs 4 times before we gave up. We do have a small fan on the floor down the hall to the bedrooms. When that is running on low, it sends cold air along the floor in the direction of the stairs to the stove room, and the warm air travels above into the bedrooms. Seems to work pretty well. And the dog, for whatever reason, leaves that fan alone!
 
Are you saying you melted your stove at 700 degrees F? As I have run stoves hotter then that and had no problems.

SST = Stove Top Temp

Yes. The weakness of this stove is the super thin air wash plate at the top of the loading door. High STT didn't melt it down, high flue temps didn't melt it down, but a healthy load of wood and a high throttle setting turned that piece into junk. It's really thin, like a 0.125" piece of sheet in a very hot place.

Mine drooped down about a half inch. I bent it back with big leverage tools, not hitting it, and the plate is only sagged about 1/8" now. Pop a straight edge on yours and see how it's holding up. I spoke with Englander about it and agreed to keep an eye on it. The rest of the stove is in great shape with like new paint and it really does work well. They just got cheap on the thickness of material there.
 
I realize mileage may vary, but is there an average we can expect with regard to burn times and heat output with an NC-30?

2. We have tried BioBricks and HomeFires all-nighter logs for longer burn times. Our optimal burn on the dragon is 550-650. We need at least 10 BioBricks or 5 all-nighters to even hit 550. In either case, we can hold that for about an hour only. The fire is out and the stove is cold within 4 hours. Can we get an overnight (6-8 hours) on the NC-30? And if so, is that actual burn time and how much of that is a rapidly cooling stove?

3. We typically have to babysit the dragon, as it eats through wood and we are reloading every 2 hours. What can we expect with the NC-30? Can I leave the house for 4 hours and not come home to a cold stove?

Hoping to hear from NC-30 owners or those in the know. Thanks!!!

I made the same decision- dragon to NC-30, and had the same problems.

>Can we get an overnight (6-8 hours) on the NC-30?

I do. Regularly. WITH DRY WOOD. Let me say it again: THE NC-30 WANTS DRY WOOD.

>Can I leave the house for 4 hours and not come home to a cold stove?

Again, I do. Let me say it again: THE NC-30 WANTS DRY WOOD.

>Can we get an overnight (6-8 hours) on the NC-30?

I do. As mentioned above, get up in the AM, go straight to the stove, and light off the coals. Occasionally I use a little decorative bellows that Mrs. Blue got someplace to poof the coals to life, and whammo, fire.
Let me say it again... Ah, nevermind. You get the idea.
 
Thanks.... Just to clarify, the dragon will stay in the lower level, and we hope to only need about 2 good fires a day down there. I'm still trying to figure this all out in terms of heat retention and distribution, but the lower level stays warm long after the fire is out. My current theory is that it has something to do with the two exposed brick walls; the bricks are hot to the touch when the fire is burning and stay warm for hours afterwards. I suspect that the brick walls are retaining/releasing heat and keeping the lower level super cozy with very little work. However, when we push the dragon to heat the entire house, then we roast ourselves out of the lower level and start going through wood like crazy. My office and my son's bedroom are on that level, and it's not uncommon to have sliders and windows open when it's 22 degrees outside (90 in the lower level). Therefore, we want to put the 30NC upstairs in the masonry fireplace and use it to heat the upper level only (roughly 1450 square feet, with cathedral and vaulted ceilings). I know some heat from the dragon will rise from the lower level, but in a perfect world, I won't be running up and down the stairs all day and night reloading the dragon (and we won't go through so much wood). And the truth is, I want a fire upstairs that we can actually see. What fun is heating with wood if you can't watch the fire?
!.....
Just a thought,,,, if you're not on a strict budget, it might be worth considering getting TWO 30NC's. (or a 13NC downstairs) Ditch the dragon all together.

*Save lots of wood.
*Have more spare time away from the stove.
*Less air pollutants.


Also: Are you prepped/planning for the new flue upstairs?;?





.
 
I made the same decision- dragon to NC-30, and had the same problems.

>Can we get an overnight (6-8 hours) on the NC-30?

I do. Regularly. WITH DRY WOOD. Let me say it again: THE NC-30 WANTS DRY WOOD.

>Can I leave the house for 4 hours and not come home to a cold stove?

Again, I do. Let me say it again: THE NC-30 WANTS DRY WOOD.

>Can we get an overnight (6-8 hours) on the NC-30?

I do. As mentioned above, get up in the AM, go straight to the stove, and light off the coals. Occasionally I use a little decorative bellows that Mrs. Blue got someplace to poof the coals to life, and whammo, fire.
Let me say it again... Ah, nevermind. You get the idea.

Thanks! Just one more question. Does the wood need to be dry? :)
 
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Just a thought,,,, if you're not on a strict budget, it might be worth considering getting TWO 30NC's. (or a 13NC downstairs) Ditch the dragon all together.

*Save lots of wood.
*Have more spare time away from the stove.
*Less air pollutants.


Also: Are you prepped/planning for the new flue upstairs?;?





.

We hope to replace the dragon in the spring, so we're stuck with it for this season. We want to see how well the new stove does upstairs, as we might be able to go with a smaller stove downstairs. And yes we are absolutely planning for the new flue upstairs. Although I am married to Joe Home Depot, aka Mr. Weekend Warrior, this is one job he agrees we leave to the pros (who have already provided the quote on the liner, install, etc.). That costs more than the stove!
 
You will be even more impressed with the 30 with even better wood! I had one of the best overnight burns last night I've ever had. Burning the same wood as last year, obviously just more seasoned. Moisture is high teens with some oddballs in the low 20's.

At 9:30PM I added 7 medium sized splits to a large coal bed. The stove temp at the time was about 300. This morning at 5:30, 8 hours later I had a 300 degree stove and plenty of coals, almost too many. If I didn't have to work and I raked the coals around and opened the air I probably could have got another 2 hours out of it.

And this was on a medium load of wood. I'm overdue for emptying the ashes....the ash pile is almost as high as the bottom of the door! Had I been able to make it a full load this would have been a full 12 hour burn!
 
You will be even more impressed with the 30 with even better wood! I had one of the best overnight burns last night I've ever had. Burning the same wood as last year, obviously just more seasoned. Moisture is high teens with some oddballs in the low 20's.

At 9:30PM I added 7 medium sized splits to a large coal bed. The stove temp at the time was about 300. This morning at 5:30, 8 hours later I had a 300 degree stove and plenty of coals, almost too many. If I didn't have to work and I raked the coals around and opened the air I probably could have got another 2 hours out of it.

And this was on a medium load of wood. I'm overdue for emptying the ashes....the ash pile is almost as high as the bottom of the door! Had I been able to make it a full load this would have been a full 12 hour burn!

That sounds awesome! Congrats on a nice warm stove and house. I, on the other hand, loaded the dragon last night at midnight. Was cruising at 600 when I went to bed. At 7 AM, the stove was cold and the master bathroom was down to 57 degrees. Good morning!

Scheduling the new stove install today!
 
Thanks! Just one more question. Does the wood need to be dry? :)

I &#$! you not... put subpar wood in that thing and you will be cursing the Englander name.
You are likely to post here many times asking why your NC-30 doesn't heat the house.
The answer will repeatedly be "it's your wood."
Joe Home Depot will likely argue the point.
Eventually, the debate will end, at which time your wood will be dry.
 
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