First year with the NC30, lots of changes

[Pagey]

Long time, no visit/post. A lot has changed over the years...my wife and I have moved into my late paternal grandparents' home on their 70 acre former cattle farm. This will be our first year with the Englander NC30, btw. Both of my step daughters (I don't have any biological children) whom I raised from 2 and 7 are now legal adults and moved out. The wife fought and won a battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. And, we all got a little older, wiser (?), and grayer along the way.

As I type this, I have a little pine kindling fire in the NC30, burning off the dust. It also reminded me to order my annual Super Cedar 100 ct. box, so a shout out to Thomas at NW Fuel for the continued discount to Hearth.com members!

I hope you are all well. Greetings from the mountains of TN!

 

[SpaceBus]

Congratulations on the well earned gray hair! I hope I make it that long.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Welcome back!

Sounds like you've had a lot going in! Time to relax a bit by the fire!

 

[begreen]

Greetings Pagey, good to hear from you!

 

[Pagey]

Greetings Pagey, good to hear from you!

I'm alive and kickin', BG. Looking forward to the extra firebox space on the Englander vs. the Lopi Endeavor we had at the other house.

 

[begreen]

There will definitely be more wiggle-room, bigger loads and more potential heat if a polar express descends on TN. Watch overloading the stove. You don't need to fill it much above the brick level. The baffle is not the solid firebrick found in the Endeavor so you don't want to be bumping against it with a log or flue brush.

 

[Pagey]

I already miss by bypass. Just cleaned the SS flue for the first time. Dad burned it all winter last year when he was remodeling the house. There wasn't enough in there to fool with all of that taking out the burn tubes, removing the boards, then brushing the flue, lol. But the peace of mind is always worth it.

 

[begreen]

I already miss by bypass. Just cleaned the SS flue for the first time. Dad burned it all winter last year when he was remodeling the house. There wasn't enough in there to fool with all of that taking out the burn tubes, removing the boards, then brushing the flue, lol. But the peace of mind is always worth it.

Yes, the bypass is sweet for cleaning and starting. Looks like it's time to update your signature line with the new burner.

 

[Pagey]

LOL, indeed. Done and done.

 

[Highbeam]

You only need to remove the frontmost tube to get the baffle boards out.

 

[Pagey]

You only need to remove the frontmost tube to get the baffle boards out.

That is what dad told me, and I found it to be true. All in all, it wasn't a difficult job by any means...I just admittedly became very spoiled by the Lopi. In fact, a few hours after I cleaned the SS flue here at "the farm," I went by the former house, which still has the Endeavor, and cleaned the SS flue there, as my younger step daughter and her boyfriend are going to live there for a while. They won't burn a ton of wood their first winter, but for the times they do have a fire, I wanted the peace of mind of a freshly swept flue. It always amazes me just how little soot comes out of 18' of SS flue and double wall stove pipe. I grew up seeing a coal bucket full of large, shiny black masses come out of the masonry flue that a Fisher Papa Bear was attached to...and that was with regular/monthly cleanings. I think I could have cleaned the SS flue the Endeavor was attached to once or twice a season and been fine. We've come a long way.

 

[Pagey]

We've had a few small pine kindling fires in the NC30 now, and I have to say that this stove creates some beautiful secondaries! In our Endeavor, which served us well for nearly a decade, there was a very fine line between the primary vs secondary air flow. In fact, even with a full charge of seasoned, dry hardwood (e.g., red oak) that had been C/S/S in the barn for years, I could never shut down the primary air all the way on the Endeavor. The secondaries would die after 5 or 10 minutes, tops. I think we're really going to enjoy the NC30 when some real winter arrives here on the ole Cumberland Plateau this year.

Speaking of the Endeavor, I looked at Lopi's website and noticed in the manual for the new Endeavor that they've switched from a solid brick baffle supported by angle iron over to a board/blanket system. I wonder how well that is performing for them vs the solid brick baffle system...?

 

[begreen]

Speaking of the Endeavor, I looked at Lopi's website and noticed in the manual for the new Endeavor that they've switched from a solid brick baffle supported by angle iron over to a board/blanket system. I wonder how well that is performing for them vs the solid brick baffle system...?

Good to hear the 30 is working well for you. I think we'll see several stoves with this kind of change. They are insulating the firebox better so that it gets up to temp faster and stays there.