Limit of stove top temperature on NC30

What is the upper range I should use for stove top temp running this stove? Seeing 650 now, but thinking I should go up. House temp is not picking up like I would like. Stove pipe temps are not exceeding 325 regardless of where the top has been.

650* not hot enough! What kind of cold are you dealing with in the "northeast"?

Steel stove with a step I'd wager has a high limit of 800* or so but I wouldn't want to take it there on the regular.

I start getting a little nervous at 700. It sometimes does get that high (a bit higher maybe 750)but I am still learning the stove and how much wood to put in it. If you are getting 650 stovetop temps and your house still feels cold, you may need to experiment with some fans to move the air around. There are a lot of threads on circulating hot air here. Utilizing a box fan blowing cold air into the stove room works for me as well as the ceiling fans on low clockwise.

I did have to let the Defiant burn out middle of the night so it was cool engough to handle this morning. House was down to 66, now up to 68. Seems the 650 stove top temp on the 30 is not pushing heat like the Defiant did at the same temps. Once I put the fan on the unit and ran it on low, the top would not exceed 450. It was getting late in the burn, 3hrs or so, and that did not help either. I will keep playing/learning.

Can you tell us a little more about the stove setup and the house?

-SF

+1

Same here. When the 30 starts creeping over 600, the sweat factor increases with it too as the heat really starts pouring out of the stove.

Bill

+1

One of the things I try to hammer around here with my family using the stoves is that heating is about momentum - not necessarily instant heat. So when the temps start going down, we fire a bit hotter to compensate for heat sink of the house.

Also, if only secondaries are driving your stove top, you might need to open the damper a bit for more log flames. Most of my burn is a combo of flames and secondaries. Sometimes lazy and other times very active.

You will need time to learn your stove too.

Great stove you got!

Bill

My 30 likes to cruise at 550-600 stovetop and 325-350 stack (single wall) and that gives us enough heat to be more than comfortable with "summer attire." I never just rely on secondaries, I always have some flames coming off the splits.

I did back down the primary on the first full load, once it hit 500. In trying to get the temps up I turned the fan on and went to full open. The top never exceeded 450 during that period. Loaded a couple larger splits of Hickory/Oak and left the air wide open again. It never got over 500. It has been very windy today, temps around 40. Right now I am trying to burn off the coals in preparation for the overnight load.

So once the 500 mark is met on startup/new load, the object is to find secondary burn only? It seemed that when I did that, the secondaries went out and there was no ignition whatsoever.

If your secondaries want to go out at a temp like 500 degrees you might have some wet wood issues.

Single wall off the stove is up 40 inches, over 14 to the thimble and then up 23 feet of double wall insulated stainless.

I have been getting pretty good performance with my stove but after reading this post I tweaked my stove adjustments just a hair and it has kicked the stove's performance into the stratosphere. The biggest thing is to keep the fan off until you reach 600 and to get the stove blazing with the primary all the way or nearly all the way closed. The stove needs to get to at least 550 before the "turbo secondaries" begin, when the primary is all the way closed and there are lazy but very active secondaries with very little flame on the logs and the temp keeps climbing. I've have this before but it was hit or miss. Now I can get this condition consistently. We're getting our first cold spell of the season in a couple of days, so the timing couldn't be better!

I ran a full load at 6 pm last night and let the secondaries run more actively. Loaded coals all to one side and ran logs parallel at base level, then crossed direction and finished filling the box. 7 logs total, with 2 larger on the bottom level. I got good secondaries on the load for 2 hours, then she calmed down a bit. Adjusted the primary to allow more air and let it go. 6 am this morning had enough coal to rearrange and start another burn. Granted the incoming storm brought temps up to 47 this morning, but the house made 73 degrees at 6 am. I feel there is progress there, but am still reluctant to claim victory until I see real cold weather.

What was your stove top temp for those 2 hours of good secondaries? Do you know your stove pipe temp about 12-18" up?

Just curious sounds like your getting the hang of it. Good job!

Top was 625, flu 410. When it calmed down the top was 450, flu 300. Flu temp is taken 12 inches up.

If you house is cold with a 650 stove temp then you either need more insulation/air sealing ect, or a bigger stove. Id go with the insulation.