Hello,
After lurking here for the last two years I've finally joined. I never needed to before because there is sooo much good info to be found through the search feature.
Anyway, we bought a house 3 years ago that had the englander 24acd in it. It exited through the rear and into an 8x12 masonry external chimney. After the last two seasons of burning LOTS of wood I felt that we could get a more efficient burner.
The last two years we went through about 5 cords (yes, cords, as in 15 faces -do people still confuse the terms?) per season.
Anyway, all summer I contemplated the stove, the hearth etc, and was very close to getting the Quadrafire 5700 but the turd burglars at a particular hearth store around here annoyed me several times and I said screw it.
I decided to get the 30 (which also saved me $1000) based in part on all the positive reviews here, my experience with the 24acd, and my dealings with Englander in the last two years.
I had Lowes special order it, matching a price i printed from overstockstoves.com or whatever they are called and got it for $1050. It's not the $5-800 price you read on here in spring when they are trying to clear them out but I was fine with it. Stove arrived 7 days later.
We ripped the old stove out, I cemented up the old hole going into the chimney that was approximately 24 inches from the ground (rear exit on that 24acd) and to my surprise, found they had done the reverse 18 years ago when they installed that 24ACD.! There was a cemented hole at JUST the right heighth so I just pounded like heck and used the air hammer a bit to re-open that hole.
I found a good deal on 20feet of flex liner from chimney liner depot and while talking with them and explaining what was going on, he also ordered me a thimble, a 12" double wall, and a larger 8x13 terra cota top plate.
For the hearth pad itself, again, from reading here I realized I needed R value of 1.5 and we hadn't really thought about that before and so I again just decided what was relatively quick and easy and used 12 sheets of 1/2 durarock (the hearth is 6' x 5' sheets are 3' x 5"). We staggered them as we laid them down because the 12" tiles (30 of them) had 1/4" spacing between them that hadn't been considered at first. Anyway, we had an extra inch and a 1/4 therefore the durarock could not be all butted up tight to each other. At .26 each, I have 6 layers of it and then the tiles are over that so I'd say I have a bit more than R 1.56.
Once the hearth was done, we shoved and pulled the 6" liner down, inserted the T which was inside the class A 12" pipe that was through masonry chimney and put the thimble on. One of the last things I did was mix 2.5 bags of Thermix and poured that down the chimney to insulate the liner.
So...I'm 95% done (need to finish mud/paint of wall and then trim out hearth) but this past weekend we fired her up for the first time and she worked like a charm! I've had a hard time actualy getting the CF of the 24ACD's firebox and the 30 is definitely bigger but the way it efficiently burned wood the last 36 hours has been quite nice to see!
I'm ABSOLUTELY glad i went with the big firebox. During midday when the outside temp actually got to about 47, one or two pieces of wood for a small fire was all it took. On those super cold days/nights in February I can just stuff that firebox with some of the oak or ash I've had stacked since last season
Anyway, thanks to all that post here and if I an help or advise anyone, feel free to ask.
Jeff
wanted to show some pics...how do you add pics??? (as an attachment under 450k in size??)
After lurking here for the last two years I've finally joined. I never needed to before because there is sooo much good info to be found through the search feature.
Anyway, we bought a house 3 years ago that had the englander 24acd in it. It exited through the rear and into an 8x12 masonry external chimney. After the last two seasons of burning LOTS of wood I felt that we could get a more efficient burner.
The last two years we went through about 5 cords (yes, cords, as in 15 faces -do people still confuse the terms?) per season.
Anyway, all summer I contemplated the stove, the hearth etc, and was very close to getting the Quadrafire 5700 but the turd burglars at a particular hearth store around here annoyed me several times and I said screw it.
I decided to get the 30 (which also saved me $1000) based in part on all the positive reviews here, my experience with the 24acd, and my dealings with Englander in the last two years.
I had Lowes special order it, matching a price i printed from overstockstoves.com or whatever they are called and got it for $1050. It's not the $5-800 price you read on here in spring when they are trying to clear them out but I was fine with it. Stove arrived 7 days later.
We ripped the old stove out, I cemented up the old hole going into the chimney that was approximately 24 inches from the ground (rear exit on that 24acd) and to my surprise, found they had done the reverse 18 years ago when they installed that 24ACD.! There was a cemented hole at JUST the right heighth so I just pounded like heck and used the air hammer a bit to re-open that hole.
I found a good deal on 20feet of flex liner from chimney liner depot and while talking with them and explaining what was going on, he also ordered me a thimble, a 12" double wall, and a larger 8x13 terra cota top plate.
For the hearth pad itself, again, from reading here I realized I needed R value of 1.5 and we hadn't really thought about that before and so I again just decided what was relatively quick and easy and used 12 sheets of 1/2 durarock (the hearth is 6' x 5' sheets are 3' x 5"). We staggered them as we laid them down because the 12" tiles (30 of them) had 1/4" spacing between them that hadn't been considered at first. Anyway, we had an extra inch and a 1/4 therefore the durarock could not be all butted up tight to each other. At .26 each, I have 6 layers of it and then the tiles are over that so I'd say I have a bit more than R 1.56.
Once the hearth was done, we shoved and pulled the 6" liner down, inserted the T which was inside the class A 12" pipe that was through masonry chimney and put the thimble on. One of the last things I did was mix 2.5 bags of Thermix and poured that down the chimney to insulate the liner.
So...I'm 95% done (need to finish mud/paint of wall and then trim out hearth) but this past weekend we fired her up for the first time and she worked like a charm! I've had a hard time actualy getting the CF of the 24ACD's firebox and the 30 is definitely bigger but the way it efficiently burned wood the last 36 hours has been quite nice to see!
I'm ABSOLUTELY glad i went with the big firebox. During midday when the outside temp actually got to about 47, one or two pieces of wood for a small fire was all it took. On those super cold days/nights in February I can just stuff that firebox with some of the oak or ash I've had stacked since last season
Anyway, thanks to all that post here and if I an help or advise anyone, feel free to ask.
Jeff
wanted to show some pics...how do you add pics??? (as an attachment under 450k in size??)
