I never would have thought this morning when I got up I would have a new woodstove installed in the wifes boarding kennel. We were at Home Depot and they had a NC 30 and NC 13 on clearance. Both stoves were marked $498, and the NC 30 had a century blower fan included in a brand new never opened box. I've never seen the 30 or 13 in action before, but I know of their reputation. We currently have a electric boiler with in floor heat to heat the kennel. It works fine in normal temps, but when it gets sub zero, the boiler has its hands full. One reason is we are on off peak with the power company, so when they shut us off in the cold, the boiler works overtime to catch up. And that comes at a price, even with 1/2 price power.
So I asked the mgr, at home depot what he needed for the 13 since the 30 was a more expensive stove, plus a $100 dollar blower for the same price as the 13. He said he would take a hundred off making it $398. sold. We had the car so it was put on will call for us to pick up tomorrow, or I thought. The wife mentioned to me that she would like the stove up and running by tonite????? Since its going to be -15F. It was already 3pm. I told her I was thinking more like next winter since we are leaving for Hawaii in a few days and when we get back there really isnt too much really cold weather left.
So as soon as I got home I pulled out my tape measure and scratched my head a dozen times or so and headed back for my pickup and back to town I went. It was 4pm when I left and almost 6pm when I got home with almost as many dollars in chimney as the stove cost.
Luckily, we have 2 exhaust fans in the kennel, because now we only have one. The holes already framed thru the wall for the fans
worked perfect for a thru wall set up for the chimney. Once the SS pipe was mounted through the wall, I went up and fastened the remainder of outside pipe. The rest was inside work. I again started on the SS pipe and worked my way down to the stove. It was about then when I realized I only bought 2 sections of black stove pipe, when I earlier measured out around 6 feet. For some reason I was thinking the sections were 3 feet not two. I had just bought a few sections of 3' SS pipe so three feet was on my mind. But when I was done running the 4 feet of black pipe I was only 6" shy, so I gathered up some cement blocks and just for I eleveted the stove high enough to make the chimney pipe reach. That was around 9:30
Initial fire up was very slow, I crumpled up some newspaper and put a piece of fire started in with some smaller splits. The fire hardly did anything for at least a 1/2 hr. I let it be and went in the house for supper. I came back out to the kennel with a couple pieced of 3/4" tongue and groove pine about 5"x5". The fire was still just sitting there not doing much. I added the pine and another smaller split and holy chit, she took off. I actually opened the stove and pulled one of the smaller pieces of tongue and groove out and threw it outside in the snow. I had the little lever pushed in all of the way, but it didnt seem to do much at that point. The new pipe started to smoke with that great new pipe smell. I had to open the door and turn on the exhaust fan for about 10 minutes, ( at -10F). The stove top was almost 700, and the secondary's were a dancin'. The tubes started to glow a dull orange and I was thinking, O'great, its running wild. I finally stuffed a wad of fiberglass insulation in the air intake hole on the back of the wood stove, and covered about 2/3's of the hole. That slowed the fire down some and made me feel better. I never installed a manual butterfly dameper in the black pipe, but maybe I better. I havent researched that aspect of the stove yet. I also took a house fan and blew that accross the stove to cool it down some. After all of that, it seemed tame down and run a bit slower. I took that wad of insulation out and it started to creep up again. So I put it back in and left it there for the night. I didnt want the chimney or stove to start smoking again. I guess a little trial and error is in my future. I need to find the way to regulate the stove from getting too hot, 700 seems a bit much, even 600 is getting plenty hot. The wood I used was at least 5 year old oak from the back of my wood shed. I wanted to make sure it was good and dry, and maybe it was just a bit too good. I know one thing, this stove will hardly take any wood compared to my wood furnace I use to heat my house with. I like my furnace for the nice, even heat and the ability to also heat my basement. Well, Im getting tired, its been a long, interesting day. Good night.
So I asked the mgr, at home depot what he needed for the 13 since the 30 was a more expensive stove, plus a $100 dollar blower for the same price as the 13. He said he would take a hundred off making it $398. sold. We had the car so it was put on will call for us to pick up tomorrow, or I thought. The wife mentioned to me that she would like the stove up and running by tonite????? Since its going to be -15F. It was already 3pm. I told her I was thinking more like next winter since we are leaving for Hawaii in a few days and when we get back there really isnt too much really cold weather left.
So as soon as I got home I pulled out my tape measure and scratched my head a dozen times or so and headed back for my pickup and back to town I went. It was 4pm when I left and almost 6pm when I got home with almost as many dollars in chimney as the stove cost.
Luckily, we have 2 exhaust fans in the kennel, because now we only have one. The holes already framed thru the wall for the fans
worked perfect for a thru wall set up for the chimney. Once the SS pipe was mounted through the wall, I went up and fastened the remainder of outside pipe. The rest was inside work. I again started on the SS pipe and worked my way down to the stove. It was about then when I realized I only bought 2 sections of black stove pipe, when I earlier measured out around 6 feet. For some reason I was thinking the sections were 3 feet not two. I had just bought a few sections of 3' SS pipe so three feet was on my mind. But when I was done running the 4 feet of black pipe I was only 6" shy, so I gathered up some cement blocks and just for I eleveted the stove high enough to make the chimney pipe reach. That was around 9:30
Initial fire up was very slow, I crumpled up some newspaper and put a piece of fire started in with some smaller splits. The fire hardly did anything for at least a 1/2 hr. I let it be and went in the house for supper. I came back out to the kennel with a couple pieced of 3/4" tongue and groove pine about 5"x5". The fire was still just sitting there not doing much. I added the pine and another smaller split and holy chit, she took off. I actually opened the stove and pulled one of the smaller pieces of tongue and groove out and threw it outside in the snow. I had the little lever pushed in all of the way, but it didnt seem to do much at that point. The new pipe started to smoke with that great new pipe smell. I had to open the door and turn on the exhaust fan for about 10 minutes, ( at -10F). The stove top was almost 700, and the secondary's were a dancin'. The tubes started to glow a dull orange and I was thinking, O'great, its running wild. I finally stuffed a wad of fiberglass insulation in the air intake hole on the back of the wood stove, and covered about 2/3's of the hole. That slowed the fire down some and made me feel better. I never installed a manual butterfly dameper in the black pipe, but maybe I better. I havent researched that aspect of the stove yet. I also took a house fan and blew that accross the stove to cool it down some. After all of that, it seemed tame down and run a bit slower. I took that wad of insulation out and it started to creep up again. So I put it back in and left it there for the night. I didnt want the chimney or stove to start smoking again. I guess a little trial and error is in my future. I need to find the way to regulate the stove from getting too hot, 700 seems a bit much, even 600 is getting plenty hot. The wood I used was at least 5 year old oak from the back of my wood shed. I wanted to make sure it was good and dry, and maybe it was just a bit too good. I know one thing, this stove will hardly take any wood compared to my wood furnace I use to heat my house with. I like my furnace for the nice, even heat and the ability to also heat my basement. Well, Im getting tired, its been a long, interesting day. Good night.
