Englander 30-NC up and running!!!

[Rowski]

Finally...

So every thing went well. The old stove Defiant 1610 had to get moved about 15 ft for now. The new stove was picked up at the local Ace Hardware store, 1.5 miles from my house. The loaded it onto a small utility trailer with ramp. We decided to keep the stove on the pallet. Strapped the stove to the pallet. Strapped the dolly to the stove. Brought stove on the dolly around the house. Had to snow blow a path through 16" of snow pack. Got stove inside through door opening on the pallet with no problem. Get stove of from pallet. Switching out the pedestal was a little difficult. I thought I could support the stove at the corners with cribbing and remove pedestal and install the legs. Well my plan was working, BUT the bolts holding the pedestal on (carriage bolts) were jamed in the "square " of the carriage bolt. So we took out the fire brick and flopped the stove on its side and removed the bolts with hammer and screw driver. Installed legs and installed fire brick. The fire brick actually was very easy to remove and put back in. One stone was split so we put it in a place that would not give any trouble. Hooked the flue to masonry. Finally lit a few break in fires.

The only issue is my wood is a bit less than perfect. Its not green. Its not dry. Its seasoned just not enough. I think smaller splits are in order to help get coals and then it should be fine. Really the VC was burning the same wood. I have a clean out that I check weekly. And sweep my chimney every 4 to 6 weeks.

I'm very happy with the stove so far. It hasn't been cold enough to crank it up. But it will.

I am very comfortable knowing that this stove has been talked about on this site a lot. There are very few people that have or have had problems. It also very nice knowing that help from very knowledgeable people is very close by 24/7!


Thanks to all!

 

[Rowski]

BTW...

That's what used to be...

 

[albertj03]

Very nice! How does the primary air control lever work? I was checking them out at Lowes and noticed that the lever is pulled out or pushed in. With this design it seems like it would be hard to tell exactly how open or closed it is. What has your experience been like with this so far?

 

[Rowski]

In is primary air closed. Not sure if its 100% primary closed or not. All the way out is primary open. There are no markings on the primary air control lever. I have read in past posts that Englander experts find that the lever is even with the ash lip. Basically I think that around 3/4 closed?? I really think that the position of the lever is relative to the situation, ie draft, wood dryness, weather pressure, etc.

My Defiant draft lever changed the fire half as much as the 30. It doesn't have have marking on it either.

I haven't had to fire my 30 24/7 yet, to warm here.

Derek

 

[albertj03]

Seems strange that you can't see how far open or closed the air is besides fully closed and fully open. Must just have to find the right setting for your setup and get used to it.

 

[MikeP]

Looks good. Your chimney/stairs/setup looks almost identical to mine, except my basement, (assume its a basement install) isn't finished. Next winters project, hopefully.

Albert, although not as easy as a horizontal slide type air control on the face of the stove. Its still pretty easy to tell your air setting, not just whether its "fully open or fully closed". The rod has a fixed length of travel about 4.5", and quick look, from above or from the side, you can easily tell where its at.

 

[SlyFerret]

As you run the stove, you get used to where the air lever tends to sit when the stove is cruising.

Mine, for instance, usually cruises with the tip of the spring handle even with the front edge of the ash lip.

-SF

 

[Rowski]

Update:

The first 6 day it was unusually warm. I had to start a fire every night and let it go out during the day. I got good at getting the routine down for cold start fires. Top down starts work very well. Found that 4 newspaper knots work well along with cribbed kindling, small on top and larger as you go down. I usually built it directly in front of the "dog house".

The last couple of day its been near 0*F at night and the stove has worked wonderful. Unfortunately I'm not home during the day and sleep thru the night so I can see whats going on during the burn cycle. I do know that my glass has stayed clean. There is a very very slight bronze haze to the glass, you can only tell when the door is open and looking at it. Again my wood is only seasoned and not dry. I do have a large build up of coals but they can be burnt off with in an hour or less with draft open.

I was so happy the other night! There was no fire in the AM. Came home from work. House was 60*F main floor, core of the down stairs was around 60*F as well. Outside temp was in the low teens and dropping. Started fire at 6:00 pm, cold start. By 10:30 pm the upstairs was 73*F. Ran the stove hard. Kept the flue temps around 550*F to 600*F. Very pleased.

Questions:

I presume its ok for the ceramic fiber boards to "glow" at the edges?

Is glowing burn tubes ok as well?

 

[pen]

yep, my baffle board and secondary burn tubes regularly emit light as well.

pen

 

[Pagey]

The firebrick and the burn tubes in my Endeavor will get a dull glow when secondary combustion is strong on a full load. Sounds perfectly normal.

 

[dtabor]

Rowski,

I havent been on here in awhile. I see you finally bit the bullet and got a new stove. Im still limping along with the VC. Its not optimum but it is working OK until finances dictate buying a new one.

It seems you like the Englander. They are much less expensive than others from what I hear??

I'll have to monitor the posts and see how you like it after we get some more cold weather.

D

 

[Rowski]

I took a chance. I don't have an extra $1k laying around. Shuffled a few things around and got it to work. Defiantly put a strain on the finances. The reason I did it is the stove is working condition and is not damaged, so I might be able to get a few more $$ out of it. So will see.

Tomorrow I will have had the stove installed 2 weeks. We had one week of warm weather upper 20's to 30 at night mid 30's during the day. We did have a few colder days and the Englander kept the house warm mid to upper 70's. Then we had the big thaw Sunday to Tuesday. So not much time or usage has lapsed. I feel I would need the rest of the season to figure it out. My problem is I'm not home during the day and try to sleep at night. I can spend about 3 to 4 hours at night with the stove to monitor temps and fiddle with the draft and load size. Also my wood is not perfect either. One thing is for sure I have figured out how to start a fire in the stove. Top down works very well for me.

I am happy with the Englander. There are a few things I miss about the Defiant. The pros out weight the cons.


Pros and cons as compared to my Defiant

Pros:

A lot easier to start and get going.

Simple to run, open and close door and draft control.

Simple design.

Very few gaskets to worry about.

Fire bricks hold a lot of heat.

Secondary combustion is not hard to achieve.

North south loading.

Hold coals for a long time.

Dog house or zipper works very well injection air where its needed.

Nice flame


Cons

Not a top loader

Wood doesn't last as long

Ash pan.

Top loading is sooo much cleaner. But its tough to get secondary air tubes in a top loader and keep it simple in design. The Defiant can hold more wood because of the top loading. Have to be careful with the Englander during loading possible damaging the air tubes and ceramic board. The wood lasts a lot longer in the Defiant but the coals last longer in the Englander. The coals last longer in the Englander because the draft is more restricted than in the Englander and the secondary air flow is less in the Englander. But... overall the heat times are pretty close with the Englander being slightly less.

Those are my observations between my Defiant and the Englander with only using the Englander for 2 weeks. There are many guys and gals out there that have used this stove and may have different results. They are the ones that really know.

There are two things I would like to see. A taller fire box say 4 to 6 inches. A nice ash pan sealed, swing out pan, and a grate. My wants most likely would not work with this stove design.

 

[Rowski]

dtabor

Got carried away typing and forgot to mention my father-in-law is from Elmore, born and raised there.

 

[cmonSTART]

Nice looking stove! Looks great!

 

[Rowski]

Question:

Attached is a picture of the glass. Is this considered dirt with marginal wood? Time frame is 2 weeks. About half the time "24/7" the other half cold start in evening a load or two and let it die out overnight.

Is there a direct correlation between dirty glass and dirty chimney?

Englander is humming along tonite. -5*F with up to 35 mph gusts. House temp dropped down to 71*F spent a few hours burning off coals, had a half a firebox full of coals.

 

[BrotherBart]

The haze comes from the doghouse air bouncing back off the front of N/S splits. One reason my doghouse is now on a shelf in the garage and I haven't had to clean the glass since October.

 

[Rowski]

Now that you mentioned it, I remember reading you removed yours. Is it bolted or welded? I also remember someone sticking a bolt in it? Is the doghouse just for burning down the coals? It would seem you could get longer heat times with it plugged and dry wood?

Thanks...

 

[Pagey]

That's just the normal "haze" you get over time. I'm burning down some coals myself tonight before reloading.