englander nc 30 blowing cool air?

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Hunker Down

Hunker Down

New Member
Sep 4, 2014
74
Long Island
I turned on the blower this evening for the first time and after 10 minutes cool Air was coming out. The stove top temp was 600 after a reload. How could that be? Some days I feel I am really getting the hang of this wood burning lifestyle.and other days like today, well...not so much. Any info on any of my threads is greatly appreciated. I really don't know if I would of done one thing right without this great site.
 
Are you talking about the air blown out four or five feet in front of the stove or right where it comes out of the heat shield?

The air is heated by blowing over the top of the hot stove. Not in the back before it comes out of the heat shield.
 
BrotherBart said:
Are you talking about the air blown out four or five feet in front of the stove or right where it comes out of the heat shield?

The air is heated by blowing over the top of the hot stove. Not in the back before it comes out of the heat shield.
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That's exactly where I was checking. Right at the heat shield. I did not understand the concept. Thank you

If I may ask you another question relating to my air control? from the full open position to the half way point and the stove top temp at 650, I do not see much of a change. Just passed the half way point I notice a fair amount of change in the flames aggressiveness to a slow dance. But at that point I could drop 300 degrees in an hour to hour and a half. Is that par for the course with the englander?

Also Because of your writings here is why I purchased the englander, I would like to thank you. My home and family have never been so warm!
 
Glad ya like the stove. Takes a bunch of practice with loads and firing methods to get to the sweet spot. Different wood, different loads, different chimneys and on and on.

Any movement of the primary air control shifts the air balance between primary, secondary and the air coming out of the little "doghouse" in the front. Mostly with good draft it increases the air coming out of the doghouse and the secondary tubes as you decrease the primary.

But that temp drop isn't normal. For a point of reference I loaded for the night at 8:45. It is now 10:35 and it has cruised down from around 700 to 600. It will settle to around 450 for hours after I hit the sack.
 
How dry is your wood? Basically as you close the air off it shuts the boost air from the little bump down at the front bottom then the main air and leaves the majority of the air coming from the secondary tubes. If your wood isn't dry enough you won't get a good secondary burn. If your wood is good and dry you should see a bit of a climb in temps from the secondary burn and it should cruise there for quite a while.
 
BrotherBart said:
Glad ya like the stove. Takes a bunch of practice with loads and firing methods to get to the sweet spot. Different wood, different loads, different chimneys and on and on.

Any movement of the primary air control shifts the air balance between primary, secondary and the air coming out of the little "doghouse" in the front. Mostly with good draft it increases the air coming out of the doghouse and the secondary tubes as you decrease the primary.

But that temp drop isn't normal. For a point of reference I loaded for the night at 8:45. It is now 10:35 and it has cruised down from around 700 to 600. It will settle to around 450 for hours after I hit the sack.
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I believe my draft is good, only because it roars when I just turn the handle. I know my wood stinks, I hear it hissing ever time I open the door. Mm readings have been 22-25. Is that most likely the cause?
 
Yep. That is it right there. I can tell every time there is one too wet split in that night load after it starts burning. And know that I am going to have to stay up and wait for it to finally dry out and all hell breaks loose.

In fact in the thousands of loads I have put in wood stoves I cannot remember one where, after it started burning, I didn't look at the fire and say "Dang. I want to change something and start over.".

Too late. ;lol
 
Papa-Yankee-Romeo-Oscar said:
How dry is your wood? Basically as you close the air off it shuts the boost air from the little bump down at the front bottom then the main air and leaves the majority of the air coming from the secondary tubes. If your wood isn't dry enough you won't get a good secondary burn. If your wood is good and dry you should see a bit of a climb in temps from the secondary burn and it should cruise there for quite a while.
Click to expand...
I have not the greatest wood. I kind of figured that was the cause. I have been supplementing with dimensional wood. It seems to help. I get about 5 hour burns right now. I also am still learning.

When you burn 24 hours how many splits will you generally go through. My stove is a hungry beast and its devouring up my wood. Just trying to get an idea of what it will be like in the future with seasoned wood
 
How much wood you go through will really depend on how warm you like it, how cold/windy it is outside, area you're heating, how well insulated/sealed the building is, how low you let it go before you start your new load...etc, etc, etc. It's really one o those mileage will vary things. I will tell you that I spent $3k on a stove last year that didn't hold a candle to this stove that I spent $700 on. Once you get some dry wood I bet you will be happy with the stove.
 
Nothing shuts down the "boost air" in the front. It is unrestricted.
 
I can't believe how well my stove works, even with poorly seasoned wood. I'm amazed that it is going to get better.

If everything is status quo, would 18 splits be considered on target for 24 hr burn? I am trying to gauge how much wood I am going to need. I have very limited space
 
18 seems like a lot of wood but without knowing how large your splits are it could all be relative as well. My system runs perfect with the air shut completely down(primary air rod in front bottomed out) but others need to leave it out a little and like BB said, "it's all about finding YOUR sweet spot" I can load on a hot bed of coals w stove at 2-250, leave air wide open for 15-20 min and then shove it all the way in and go to bed. Stove will steadily climb in temp to 700ish then hold for a couple hours until it begins its descend through the night. Wet wood is your biggest issue and your sweet spot will change with better(drier) fuel.

The 30 is big with lots of space for BIG splits so as you get ahead start splitting larger and you can prolong burn cycles with an EW load but I would not monkey with that until you have wood at or below 20% consistently. Just too much off a PIA with wet wood. NS burns faster do to air flow front to back and allows a little more liberty with less than optimal wood.

Try loading with a gap from front to back between two bottom splits in the center in front of the dog house. Just a tiny crack will do. This allows full length air flow and should improve you burning with wet wood.
 
I always assumed the boost air was mainly just to help get a new load burning and that it closed down first. Thanks for the link BB.
 
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