smoke output on a non-cat stove?

I run an non cat EPA stove... Hearthstone Mansfield.... After say 15-20 mins on full reload with good wood, basically zero smoke.... Maybe a whisp of smoke. That is when I begin cutting back air in stages to fully closed. No smoke except for early on reload.

I paid "extra" for my stove for 2 reasons... First and foremost, to keep wifey happy. She had to have a stove that was georgous 12 months a year... 2. I wanted soapstone, for the beauty and for the thermal mass.

Shawn

Zero smoke on mine when up to temp.

iceisasolid said:

I am wondering about smoke output on an EPA non-cat stove with secondary burning tubes. Is the smoke output the same/equal/or less than a cat stove when "purring" at a steady optimal heat output temp? All this talk about inexpensive NC stoves at HD has me thinking I may consider something such as this for the guest home and possibly for me so I can watch cave man TV in the main house.

When my Englander 24 (20 year old stove) is running steady at 400-550 degrees, there is little smoke output and mostly I see the heat waves coming off the pipe. When I look at the Hearthstone II (non-epa) running at the same temps, it varies from minimal smoke to pre-Krakatoa smoke eruptions (it is difficult to control the air intake on it and have a consistent fire).

Is the difference between the Englander 30 NC and say... some of the more elegant looking NC stoves at 3 times the price primarily aesthetics or is there engineering making the stoves more expensive, other than the soap stones. For example, I wear a Timex Iron Man watch from Walmart I bought on sale for $19.00 about 2.5 years ago. My collegue wears a much nicer looking watch of which he paid much > $19.00. They both show time, are shock resistant/water resistant to 100 m/and have a back light (mine has more features than his). Of course, I don't think mine looks as good with a suit and tie as his, but it works and keeps working.

thanks for humoring the questions.

-Ray

Click to expand...

Not much of a difference in terms of smoke between a Cat and Non-Cat. Both smoke a bit on start up. Pricing varies due to several reasons. Sometimes you are paying for materials (steel vs. iron vs. soapstone) some times you are paying for the technology (Burn tubes vs. cat vs. everburn vs. whatever) sometimes you are paying for the availability, or lack of (Woodstock stoves would probably decrease in price if their volume was much greater).

Bottom line is, the Englander stoves are great stoves. They are a simple, no thrills design which some like, and that probably plays a little into their pricing (volume would be the other, most likely).

I own three stoves. All bought used. My "pricey" soapstone stove was bought for about the price of a new Englander 30NC ($1,000). The other two stoves were about $400 a piece. So, you can get the Rolex for the price of a Timex if you shop around.

(And to be clear; the Vigilant isn't a Rolex. A better example for the Vigilant would be; buying a Nuclear Power Plant for the price of... um... er.... something a lot cheaper than a Nuclear Power Plant. Damnit, I had something for that...)

BrowningBAR said:

A better example for the Vigilant would be; buying a Nuclear Power Plant for the price of... um... er.... something a lot cheaper than a Nuclear Power Plant.

Click to expand...

Had my Nuclear Power Plant up to 926ºF on the face today. I thought my pants were gonna catch on fire. %-P

And of course... not a trace of smoke.

Battenkiller said:

BrowningBAR said:

A better example for the Vigilant would be; buying a Nuclear Power Plant for the price of... um... er.... something a lot cheaper than a Nuclear Power Plant.

Click to expand...

Had my Nuclear Power Plant up to 926ºF on the face today. I thought my pants were gonna catch on fire. %-P

And of course... not a trace of smoke.

Click to expand...

I had the front left door at 940° this afternoon.

we have one of each and i have used a few in the past. never a smoke problem. the newer stoves may help but its still up to the operator.

BrotherBart said:

With the dry wood I burn, the 30-NC when the charring flames begin the smoke ends. I'll race any cat stove on the planet to smoke free.

Click to expand...

???

What does dry wood have to do with it? If anything, wet wood will burn with less smoke.... once you get it burning well. I can burn fresh cut trees almost smoke free all day long. Plenty of heat, too. In fact, I did that all day long yesterday, just to prove to myself I still know how. See any smoke in the box? Me, neither. No smoke from the chimney until I filled it with fresh cut wood, ran it up to 650º on the flue (926º on the face as measured with my IR gun) and shut the bypass damper. When I ran outside to take a video there was no smoke at first, then a thin veil started coming out. By the time I actually started to take the video, the smoke had cleared completely (less than two minutes) and the flue breathed nothing but pure, clear heat waves against a bright blue sky for several hours.

Wood was black birch that was cut down last Friday... bucked, split, and delivered on Saturday. Musta been at least 60% MC. Even the start up kindling was wet. No firestarter, just a tiny coal bed from the night before and the mighty BK lungs blowing it to life. Now, it did take a fair amount of time, and more TLC than I'd care to live with every day. Like I said, just wanted to make sure I still knew how to do it.

BTW yesterday's high temp was 15ºF, one of the coldest days of the winter. House went from 64º to 69º, and I kept it there all day burning sopping wet black birch in a "smoke dragon" in the basement. If I left any creosote in the flue, it must be "stealth" creosote, because I'm getting a lot more smoke with the same type of wood that is down to <10% water after sitting in the Battenkiln for 6 weeks.