fossil said:Flue gas stream temp of 850°F measured with a probe thermometer is nothing to get all puckered up about. Rick
BeGreen said:fossil said:Flue gas stream temp of 850°F measured with a probe thermometer is nothing to get all puckered up about. Rick
Agreed. But if the reading is accurate (and with a new thermometer that may be debatable) it can be a sign that secondary combustion is poor and that the stove is not burning in a balanced fashion. I would be looking for the flue temps to be in the 500-600F range.
GAMMA RAY said:Burnit...I think maybe you should start with less wood...I started a fire in the 30 today with 2 splits, n/s with a super cedar in the middle and just two small splits on top e/w....and it took off really well.
Since we mostly agree on the surface temp to be half of the internal temp (as tested and confirmed by Hearth members) 500-600 is a tad low dont you think?BeGreen said:fossil said:Flue gas stream temp of 850°F measured with a probe thermometer is nothing to get all puckered up about. Rick
Agreed. But if the reading is accurate (and with a new thermometer that may be debatable) it can be a sign that secondary combustion is poor and that the stove is not burning in a balanced fashion. I would be looking for the flue temps to be in the 500-600F range.
leeave96 said:I struggled with my 30-NCH, but things are going very well now. My major probem was a leak in my flue pipe connection to the chimney. Fixed that, set the damper to whatever it takes to maintain a 550ish fire min and life is very good with the Englander.
When I start my fires, I set two splits N/S on either side of the doghouse, fill the gap with some bunched-up newspaper and put some kinding over top of them E/W and let it rip. Once things get rolling, I rake the kindling N/S and load the stove from there. If you read some of my posts, I tried all sorts of ways to burn this stove, but in the end, it's as simple as setting the damper to maintain 550ish min temps and I got a nice no smoke out the chimney burn. As the temperatures have dropped, my draft improves and with that, I can damper down a bit further - but not all the way closed.
Good luck,
Bill
wmarazita said:leeave96 said:I struggled with my 30-NCH, but things are going very well now. My major probem was a leak in my flue pipe connection to the chimney. Fixed that, set the damper to whatever it takes to maintain a 550ish fire min and life is very good with the Englander.
When I start my fires, I set two splits N/S on either side of the doghouse, fill the gap with some bunched-up newspaper and put some kinding over top of them E/W and let it rip. Once things get rolling, I rake the kindling N/S and load the stove from there. If you read some of my posts, I tried all sorts of ways to burn this stove, but in the end, it's as simple as setting the damper to maintain 550ish min temps and I got a nice no smoke out the chimney burn. As the temperatures have dropped, my draft improves and with that, I can damper down a bit further - but not all the way closed.
Good luck,
Bill
Bill,
I am just getting to know my 30. When you say you try to maintain "550ish min temps", where are you taking that temperature? On the stovetop?
Thanks
Another Bill
BurnIt13 said:****UPDATE
Since this thread has come back to life I figured I would provide an update over the past month. The things I've learned.....and what was basically said by other members.
1. The stove does not perform ideal below 40 degrees. Obove 40 it works well enough but you're going to need smaller splits and very dry wood for a real hot fire.
2. This stove likes dry wood. My wood was not ideal at 22-25%. I put about a half of a cord in the basement and pointed 4 fans at it with the dehumidifier blastiing. Over the past month the moisture content has gone down in the middle a few percent and the ends of the splits have small cracks typical to seasoned wood. Its burning better now than it was a month ago even at equal temps.
3. My outside air kit was not a problem. Hooked up or left disconnected the stove works the same.
My only complaint now is burn times. After a full reload I probably have about 6 hours before the coals diminish to the point where starting a new fire with kindling is too difficult. This is probably because my larger pieces of wood are too wet and I haven't been using them. The smaller to medium sized splits just don't last long enough. I'm sure with very dry wood this would only improve.
If money were not an object and I could do things over I would probably go with a catylitic stove or a more "user-friendly" stove but the $600 price tag for the NC-30 was just too good to pass up. The NC-30 is a "better-than-average" stove but isn't very forgiving when it comes to less than ideal conditions. It takes more user intervention also to maintain a good fire than many other high end stoves, but it is definetely a good value for the price.
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