Is the Englander 30 a Wood-Eater?

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kjayhawk

Member
Dec 6, 2008
46
North of St. Louis
We are looking to upgrade our Napoleon 1400 to either the Heatilator Eco-Choice 22 or the Englander 30. Both are comparable in price ... and I've read HERE that the Eco-Choice 22 is soft on wood and has considerable burn times. I also seem to remember that several members have commented that the Englander 30 is a bit of a wood-eater.

For you Englander 30 owners, is that true? How many cords do you burn a winter? And what might I expect in regards to burn times with the 30?
 
Burn times will depend on what you call burn times, the wood you have and how you operate the stove. Here in the tropics of Virginia I keep the place in the mid seventies all winter long, including the three foot snow storms of the last two years, with three cord of well dried oak.

YMMV.

But it beats the heck out of the five to six a year I was burning in the old pre-EPA stove.

Edit to add: 2,500 center hall colonial with mid-eighties builder insulation and really crappy windows.
 
The old fisher would go through 5.5 to 6 cord keeping my house warm. Upgraded to a 30 and I go through about 4.5 cord and simply can't see doing much better than that heating 24/7 w/ wood from a basement installation.

pen
 
I would say that most any stove is a wood eater, except in the summer. All the mentioned stoves are pretty efficient. But that doesn't include the variables like the wood, flue, house, weather or the person loading the stove.
 
I think it depends on why you are getting a new stove. If you want to make it warmer than it has been, then you are going to burn more wood. All three stoves (current and two proposed) burn probably pretty equally efficiently. The 30 has the biggest firebox, so it has the potential to eat a lot more, but if you don't need the extra heat, then just throttle it back and equate that firebox into longer burn times.

I plan on running it fairly hard and am guessing (first year with this stove) that I can hit 5 cords.
 
Danno77 said:
I think it depends on why you are getting a new stove. If you want to make it warmer than it has been, then you are going to burn more wood. All three stoves (current and two proposed) burn probably pretty equally efficiently. The 30 has the biggest firebox, so it has the potential to eat a lot more, but if you don't need the extra heat, then just throttle it back and equate that firebox into longer burn times.

I plan on running it fairly hard and am guessing (first year with this stove) that I can hit 5 cords.

We are considering a bigger stove because the 1400 just can't heat the entire house (2400 sq. ft.) in January or February (the furnace kicks on about 3 or 4 AM). We've had to feed the 1400 very regularly in the winter to keep the upstairs relatively warm. We are hoping the 30 or the Eco-Choice 22 would sustain higher temps for longer without having to be fed so often. I'm not sure if that will translate into more wood usage ... or if the bigger stove would actually lower our wood usage.
 
If the 1400 isn't doing the job and you go to a bigger stove that will, of course you will burn more wood. You're getting more heat.
 
Yeah, I would most definitely be looking at the 30 harder than the Heatilator. The firebox is substantially bigger, and it sounds like you are at the upper limits of what it would be able to do.

You will most definitely be using more wood, I'd expect you to be in line with the 4.5-5 cords range that you are hearing from some of us...

If you get the heatilator, you might use less wood, but you will be less comfortable. I am expecting at least 8 hour burn times from the 30 in the harshest of colds, because I've been getting an easy 9-12 without packing to the gills and using pine instead of denser woods like oak and hickory. I did choke it back at first when I was learning it, and I could get it to run at 300-350 for 16+ hours, but my window would get black and l hate thinking about the creosote I was putting in the chimney. We aren't talking super bad buildup, it would burn off pretty easily on the next startup, but still enough to make me think twice about stretching the burns out that far.
 
Sure it is gonna burn more wood. More heat, more wood. But what is this getting up at night to feed the stove stuff. Ain't done it since I bought that sucker. Make sure the house is warmed up before you go to bed, load it and go to bed.

BB - Who loves sleeping under a sheet.
 
BTW, how much wood did you use last year? I'm guessing about 3.5-4...
 
Danno77 said:
BTW, how much wood did you use last year? I'm guessing about 3.5-4...

Right at 4 cord last year ... but last year was unusually cold. We've only burned about 1/4 of a cord so far this year due to the warmer fall.

I think we've actually been wasting wood due to the amount of wood we keep feeding the 1400 to keep the temps up in the house. We also have to deal with the coal build-up that comes with over-feeding. With that in mind, I'm not sure that I actually will be using more wood with the bigger stove.
 
I have seen the Heatilaor up close. Literally touched and rubbed on it 2 weeks ago at a dealer (member here). The Firebox seems much larger than the size stated. Seems pretty comparable to the 30's. I could be wrong, as I didnt measure anything. But opening the door, it seemed just as Big. The air control is notched at 25%-50%-75%, so its obvious where 0% and 100%.

I love my 30... But after seeing that unit, I have found another stove that is very affordable and pretty good size. Would be a Good option.

As for wood consumption. Like stated above. The warmer you want it, the more your gonna burn. More BTU's = More Wood... Dont matter what stove you have, more heat, is more wood.
 
It would help to have house layout to determine if it's even possible to heat the whole thing with 1 stove. What temp is the heater kicking on at?
 
DexterDay said:
As for wood consumption. Like stated above. The warmer you want it, the more your gonna burn. More BTU's = More Wood... Dont matter what stove you have, more heat, is more wood.

I agree and disagree with this statement because efficiency varies between stoves. The more efficient a stove is at extracting heat from the wood and the smoke and sending it into your home and not sending up the chimney the less wood you will need.. For instance I find the T-5 quite efficient as its' LHV is over 82% and on an overnight burn it really is capable of steady heat throughout the night and I have been getting 8+ hour burns with a 2 cu. ft. firebox and plenty of heat too.. Other good examples are the Blazekings and the Woodstocks and there quite a few others.. I realize it's good to keep the stack warm to prevent creosote but I think some stoves will be less efficient in this regard. I am not slamming anyone's stove just stating what I consider are factors that reduce wood consumption while still maintaining adequate heat capacity and at the same time keeping the flue warm enough to keep the works running properly..

Ray
 
Seems the Englander 30 is pretty efficient as my stack (single wall) pipe does not get very hot although the stove top may be 700 Deg.
 
Seasoned Oak said:
Seems the Englander 30 is pretty efficient as my stack (single wall) pipe does not get very hot although the stove top may be 700 Deg.

I didn't single out any stove just stating that efficiency varies among stoves.. They are not all the same.. Some Euro stoves are even more efficient with some claiming over 90%..

Ray
 
DexterDay said:
As for wood consumption. Like stated above. The warmer you want it, the more your gonna burn. More BTU's = More Wood... Dont matter what stove you have, more heat, is more wood.



From comments I have read on Hearth.com I think Blaze King owners would strongly disagree with this statement.
 
wood4free said:
DexterDay said:
As for wood consumption. Like stated above. The warmer you want it, the more your gonna burn. More BTU's = More Wood... Dont matter what stove you have, more heat, is more wood.



From comments I have read on Hearth.com I think Blaze King owners would strongly disagree with this statement.
Yes they have magical stoves that make more heat with less wood.

We are talking about someone who owns a secondary burn stove moving to one of two larger secondary burn stoves. Maybe not exactly apples to apples, but as close as it's going to get. I'm going to assume that Blaze King isn't on the menu given the price range of the two stoves she did mention.
 
BK stoves aren't magic. You will notice that those 24 hour shoulder season burns in them turn into twelve hour reloads when the temps get down there in Jan. and Feb. More heat, more wood.

And the fact that they hold a hell of a lot of wood to start with.
 
On the burn time question, I put around 40 pounds of dry oak in the 30 at nine o'clock last night. Slept late and at nine thirty this morning the stove was at 300 and plenty of coals to reload. It was cruising at 550 when I went to bed at eleven. Got down to twenty eight last night and upstairs was 70 and downstairs 73 when I finally got out of the sack.

You mileage is guaranteed to vary.
 
BrotherBart said:
On the burn time question, I put around 40 pounds of dry oak in the 30 at nine o'clock last night. Slept late and at nine thirty this morning the stove was at 300 and plenty of coals to reload. It was cruising at 550 when I went to bed at eleven. Got down to twenty eight last night and upstairs was 70 and downstairs 73 when I finally got out of the sack.

You mileage is guaranteed to vary.

BrotherBart ... 40 pounds equals how many of what sized splits ... or logs?

Last night at 11 PM, I loaded the Napoleon 1400 with 6 medium (4" x 5" x 16") and 1 small (2" x 4" x 16") splits ... awoke this morning at 7:30 with the stove at 250 and ample coals to reload and go. The low here last night was only 43 ... and upstairs was 73 at 7:30. And that was a load of black walnut and black cherry. Will I do much better with the Englander 30?
 
Probably not. You burned about the same size load I did. I just burn bigger splits therefore fewer of them The difference comes on a ten degree night when I load more in it than you can get in that Nap, level it out at 650 and have the same results the next morning.

The same amount of wood, with the same operator is gonna burn the same amount of time in pretty much any EPA cert non-cat stove.
 
I packed my 30 full of walnut last nite at 10:30. Forgot about it being left wide open. In 30 minutes (maybe a little less) I shut the primary air completely down and it soared to about 700-750. By then the room it was in was 80. I checked on it frequently to make sure it wasn't climbing and by midnight I wasn't so concerned anymore, so I went to bed. Woke up at 2 and thought I'd check just because I wanted to be sure that it had dropped back down to where it likes to cruise at around 550-600. It was just fine and cruising away, room was 82. Slept like a baby until 7:30, strolled down to the room which was 80 and opened the primary wide open again and peered inside. Walnut tends to coal up quite a bit, so I knew I'd have to rake stuff around in there. By volume I was probably around 1/3 of the amount of wood I put in there (but remember volume of coals has a lot more air space than a packed bunch of splits). Raked that all into a big n/s row in the middle and tossed the one last split that wouldn't fit from last night on the pile. 5 minutes later stove was up to 450 with secondaries. It's 12:20 now and the room is at 75 and I'm thinking about putting another split or two on it. Wife's eliptical machine is down there, so she hates that it is so hot. I'll try to just use a split at a time and maybe get it down to 70 or so by early evening so she can work out.

I'm finding that, even though the firebox is large, it really does well with a nice coal bed and one or two splits on it. I know people here say it all the time, but it really is true that you CAN build a small fire in a big firebox.
 
I would say with my limited experience with the Englander 30-NCH that I installed this year the following:

You will get significant heat out of the stove. I've been burning mine at 550ish and from time to time run it over 600 and can go higher. At 500-550 makes things nice and warm. 600 begins to show the potential of this stove as the house starts approaching 80 degrees. This is at temperatures outside in the low 30's. There is plenty of headroom to crank out the heat when the temps plunge.

The stove has a big mouth. I can load a pile of wood in it if I want. Most of my wood is old dead stuff and is somewhat porous, vs something cut green and dried for a few years. When I do load up with solid splits, the stove will easily go all night with coals for a relight next morning and house temps still in the upper 60's as the stove dies down.

I think it comes down to how much heat you want = how much wood you are going to burn. Any EPA stove will get better mileage than an old non-EPA stove.

I think you'd like the Englander. It is certainly one of the best bangs for the buck and a quality/reliable stove.

Good luck,
Bill
 
BrotherBart said:
On the burn time question, I put around 40 pounds of dry oak in the 30 at nine o'clock last night. Slept late and at nine thirty this morning the stove was at 300 and plenty of coals to reload. It was cruising at 550 when I went to bed at eleven. Got down to twenty eight last night and upstairs was 70 and downstairs 73 when I finally got out of the sack.

You mileage is guaranteed to vary.

A big factor from house to house is the insulation factor as well, 40Lbs of wood would cook you out of a really tight well insulated house,were a poorly insulated house would still be struggling to get warm.
Your insulation factor will surely vary.
 
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