Getting Close with the Englander - A Few Questions

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leeave96

Minister of Fire
Apr 22, 2010
1,113
Western VA
I got my Englander 30-NCH in place and the stove pipe laid-in and ready to be finished-off. I put a stove pipe damper in the vertical section as a safety - hope I never have to use it.

The guys that are doing my addition put a hole in the foundation for the thimble a few inches lower than I had asked - not a problem. Funny thing is - when I set the stove and began fitting the stove pipe, I didn't have to cut ANY of the pipe! 24 inches up off the stove, a 90 degree elbow and horizontally to the thimble with a 1/4 per inch rise/ft rise along the way. That will never happen in my life again!

I have read a TON of posts on the Englander 30, but a lot of them are older posts by folks who had only had their Englander a few months or one season.

Here's my question to you Englander 30 veterans:

What can I expect for stove top temps (and where do you put your thermometer) and surface temps on single wall stove pipe (and how far up the stove pipe do you put the thermometer) over the course of the burn? After several years of using your Englander 30, how has your stove settled out in terms of temperatures day in and day out?

Thanks!!!!!!
Bill
 
Put the thermo on the front center of the step. Hottest spot on the stove since that is where the exhaust slams into the flame impingement plate before going under and around it to the flue collar. As to temps, I don't mess with flue temps just stove top. I run it around six hundred unless it is like the one night last year that went to a thousand. Don't ask.

The sucker will get hot on reloads and then settles back down for the long run.

Pen has posted at length about temps for the 30 both flue and stove body. I am still in the learning stage. Only five seasons with it.
 
Congrats on joining the 30 nc club. I have 2, one home one at the cabin 2 hours north. I also run mine around 600-650 and routinely hit 850 on reloads. this used to scare me a bit until i realised thats the way she likes to run. BB has it right on the temp gauge placement.Get an IR gun, they are not expensive and you can see actual temps at different spots on and around the beast. I have a damper in the one at home because of 27 ft of chimney and i have had to use it a few times when learning.They say it takes a season to learn your new stove,it took me 2. 1st year green wood, always had dirty glass. 2nd year dry wood and much easier to run. DRY WOOD makes all the difference!!!
Good luck and enjoy.

Oh , BB, 1000F!? been there too!!!
 
BrotherBart said:
Put the thermo on the front center of the step. Hottest spot on the stove since that is where the exhaust slams into the flame impingement plate before going under and around it to the flue collar. As to temps, I don't mess with flue temps just stove top. I run it around six hundred unless it is like the one night last year that went to a thousand. Don't ask.

The sucker will get hot on reloads and then settles back down for the long run.

Pen has posted at length about temps for the 30 both flue and stove body. I am still in the learning stage. Only five seasons with it.

I did a search on Pen's posts - good info.

I'm going to try to have this thing hooked-up and ready for a fire this weekend. The temps are supposed to fall off into the low 40's overnight - cold enough to give it a try.

I'll try to post some pics once I get it going.

Thank again,
Bill
 
leeave96 said:
I got my Englander 30-NCH in place and the stove pipe laid-in and ready to be finished-off. I put a stove pipe damper in the vertical section as a safety - hope I never have to use it.

The guys that are doing my addition put a hole in the foundation for the thimble a few inches lower than I had asked - not a problem. Funny thing is - when I set the stove and began fitting the stove pipe, I didn't have to cut ANY of the pipe! 24 inches up off the stove, a 90 degree elbow and horizontally to the thimble with a 1/4 per inch rise/ft rise along the way. That will never happen in my life again!

I have read a TON of posts on the Englander 30, but a lot of them are older posts by folks who had only had their Englander a few months or one season.

Here's my question to you Englander 30 veterans:

What can I expect for stove top temps (and where do you put your thermometer) and surface temps on single wall stove pipe (and how far up the stove pipe do you put the thermometer) over the course of the burn? After several years of using your Englander 30, how has your stove settled out in terms of temperatures day in and day out?

Thanks!!!!!!
Bill

Question/Comment regarding the damper: How many folks think it is a "safety device" ? IMHO, it will only make cleaning more difficult, and create turbulent flow in the stack, which again IMHO, could promote chimney deposits and reduce safety ... Just a thought/opinion, I personally would add the damper only if needed to restrict overdrafting.
 
Here are a few vidsI did of a typical fire. The vids also show my thermometers. The stove top placement is the hottest place I can find using my IR thermometer. The second video was 1.5 hours after the first. On some occasions I do run it hotter.

Do yourself a favor and turn the volume down so you don't hear my breathing and fumbling around :shut:





pen
 
madison said:
Question/Comment regarding the damper: How many folks think it is a "safety device" ? IMHO, it will only make cleaning more difficult, and create turbulent flow in the stack, which again IMHO, could promote chimney deposits and reduce safety ... Just a thought/opinion, I personally would add the damper only if needed to restrict overdrafting.


I have a damper on two of the three stoves. I have noticed no negative issues with it. One stove is a Pre-EPA Vigilant and I get far less creosote than most reports I've seen here.

As far as cleaning is concerned, I sweep once a year. I disconnect the pipe above the damper for cleaning.
 
Very nice vids!

I noticed you have a pipe damper too. Ever use it?

This probably ought to be another topic/post - but...

Reading through some of the archives, a lot of folks go for the secondary burns. I think I read that BB likes to have some flame in the firebox and let the secondaries pick off stray off-gas through the burn.

What I'm wrestling with is max burn time/shoulder burns with a full firebox. With my cat stove, if I want max heat, I open things up a bit and get flames in the firebox (which heat the whole stove) and a nice cat glow (which adds even more heat to the stove top). If I damper down to only glowing embers with no flame (kind of like your video), then the whole stove is not as hot. From this, I get lower heat output and a long fire burn time and a very clean burn as the cat is doing it's job with the gasses coming off the wood.

I would think the same would be true with the secondary burn type stoves too. Minimize the flame to a smoulder, get the secondaries burning and lower the heat output via secondaries driving the stove top - much like a glowing cat, while the rest of the box is cooler as the flames off the wood are diminished and getting a max clean burn time with the stove.

I'm looking forward to figuring out this Englander stove.

Thanks,
Bill
 
For what it's worth ,I dont load over the top level of the fire bricks. Seems to keep me out of the danger zone.
 
madison said:
leeave96 said:
I got my Englander 30-NCH in place and the stove pipe laid-in and ready to be finished-off. I put a stove pipe damper in the vertical section as a safety - hope I never have to use it.

The guys that are doing my addition put a hole in the foundation for the thimble a few inches lower than I had asked - not a problem. Funny thing is - when I set the stove and began fitting the stove pipe, I didn't have to cut ANY of the pipe! 24 inches up off the stove, a 90 degree elbow and horizontally to the thimble with a 1/4 per inch rise/ft rise along the way. That will never happen in my life again!

I have read a TON of posts on the Englander 30, but a lot of them are older posts by folks who had only had their Englander a few months or one season.

Here's my question to you Englander 30 veterans:

What can I expect for stove top temps (and where do you put your thermometer) and surface temps on single wall stove pipe (and how far up the stove pipe do you put the thermometer) over the course of the burn? After several years of using your Englander 30, how has your stove settled out in terms of temperatures day in and day out?

Thanks!!!!!!
Bill

Question/Comment regarding the damper: How many folks think it is a "safety device" ? IMHO, it will only make cleaning more difficult, and create turbulent flow in the stack, which again IMHO, could promote chimney deposits and reduce safety ... Just a thought/opinion, I personally would add the damper only if needed to restrict overdrafting.





Here's my thinking:

Beyond cleaning, I wouldn't do it. I put in a damper with my last stove, but the one time I over-fired it, I didn't close the damper; because I've learned with EPA stoves, when you cut off the air it just gets hotter, and if the stove is already approaching 1000 degrees F., the lasting thing I want to do is cut off its one source of exhaust.
 
Konrad said:
Here's my thinking:

Beyond cleaning, I wouldn't do it. I put in a damper with my last stove, but the one time I over-fired it, I didn't close the damper; because I've learned with EPA stoves, when you cut off the air it just gets hotter, and if the stove is already approaching 1000 degrees F., the lasting thing I want to do is cut off its one source of exhaust.

Yeah. With the 30 if the bad boy takes off on you just slap a sheet of heavy aluminum foil over that rectangular opening on the back of the underside that feeds the secondary air. That will bring it to its knees in short order.
 
BrotherBart said:
Konrad said:
Here's my thinking:

Beyond cleaning, I wouldn't do it. I put in a damper with my last stove, but the one time I over-fired it, I didn't close the damper; because I've learned with EPA stoves, when you cut off the air it just gets hotter, and if the stove is already approaching 1000 degrees F., the lasting thing I want to do is cut off its one source of exhaust.

Yeah. With the 30 if the bad boy takes off on you just slap a sheet of heavy aluminum foil over that rectangular opening on the back of the underside that feeds the secondary air. That will bring it to its knees in short order.


I am going to bug the hell out of you in about 10 months...
 
pen said:
Do yourself a favor and turn the volume down so you don't hear my breathing and fumbling around :sh

pen

Oh nonsense pen...the breathing adds "character".... :lol:

Such a pretty pot btw..

I think my 30 is coming home to momma today.....yee haw..... :ahhh:

Leave96...don't forget..."pics or it didn't happen"... :)
good luck with the new stove...
 
i dont see a rectangle on mine, all i see is a round hold in the bottom back, you talking the legs or pedestal?
 
greythorn3 said:
i dont see a rectangle on mine, all i see is a round hold in the bottom back, you talking the legs or pedestal?

It is in the bottom of the stove. Right behind the round primary intake. Legs, ped or sitting on hay bales. But if you have the ped on yours you can't get to it because it is inside it.
 
mainemaul said:
I also run mine around 600-650 and routinely hit 850 on reloads.

Oh , BB, 1000F!? been there too!!!

This sucker must be the hillbilly cousin to the Isle Royal. Looks different on the outside, but has a lot of the same habits. :lol:

Note: the term "hillbilly" is not intended to be derogatory.
 
Never had an overheat problem with mine and i burn 100 year old dry pine. Just closing down the main air control in front seems to tame it quite nicely. I Also like the fact that after a whole season of burning i can have a 750Deg. Stove top and the UPC sticker is still on the flue pipe about 4 Ft up,would think if the flue got too hot as in losing a lot of heat up the chimney that UPC sticker would have been history long ago.
 
trump said:
Stove top and the UPC sticker is still on the flue pipe about 4 Ft up

Get that sticker off of there. The day it DOES decide to go up in flames and flutter 3 ft away, in flames, may be a very bad day.
 
The small rectangular intake is accessible regardless of base, you just have to get down and look up it is there as stated in earlier post.
 
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