My first "Oh S**t"

[BrotherBart]

I was referring to the fixed air inlet a lot of EPA stoves have in the center front of the stove. On the 30-NC it is in a thing that sits up right behind the glass and shoots air into the center of the load.

N/S splits will also gunk up the glass if they are too long and the ends are too close to the glass. The gases cooking out of the ends will stick to the glass.

 

[NH_Wood]

BB - got it! Thanks! Cheers!

 

[vvvv]

Burning for the first time overnight with my new Englander NC30 was quite an experience and I learned something very important. I mistakenly tried to load it up for the night like I have done many times with the old non EPA woodstove at camp. I packed seven splits on a very hot bed of coals, let it get back up to temperature for a few minutes and then closed the draft all the way (at 500 degress) to bank it for the night. Bad idea....too much wood! Once my secondaries kicked in the stove temp began rising as you would expect, but with so much wood the stove just would not settle in even with the draft closed all the way....hits 550(I'm hoping its peaking)......hits 600(I am beginning to get mildly concerned as the fire rages with draft closed all the way and doesn't seem to be slowing down)....hits 650(now I am beginning to poop a brick as it seems to just be getting angrier).....At this point I began asking the divine for assistance to calm this stove down and I am not a very religious person. The only thing I could think of was to dive behind the stove and plug up the hole that is designed to hook an outside air kit to. Luckily that was enough to stop the monster from going any hotter heading south from a high of about 675. It was a very stressful hour....finally around 1:30 am I was able to drag myself (poop stenched pants and all) to bed. Lesson learned...bank for the night with 3 or 4 splits, not seven!

Anyone else have that happen to them and is there something else I could have done to help for the future?

dont load wood atop hot coals= move the coals so the added wood ignites slower. scrape coals to the front , add wood to the back of stove? dont really gotta have the 2ndaries flaming constantly, really

 

[rdust]

I time my night burn so that the stove is between three and four hundred. I do not load on top of a coal bed. I rake the coals to the front of the stove and then load large splits N/S with just the front ends of the bottom ones on the coals. This "cigar" burns the splits instead of them outgassing all at once. But I also have no burning, pun intended, desire to watch a raging secondary burn show. I got over that the first season with the stove. I just want a nice steady burn and stove top temps at five to six hundred and to hit the bed.

Exactly how I load it up, I actually aim for temps below 300 but that doesn't always happen. I turn the stove down in 3/4 stages starting around 400 and never just slam the air closed. Of course during the cold weather I have to load on a coal bed but I do my best to get as much of it to the front of the stove as possible.

 

[joefrompa]

Hi all,

Getting my first insert in about a week. A few questions about this:

1. I assumed that getting a 8-10 burn involved loading the firebox full. Are you guys indicating that I can load it, say, 50% and if I setup it up right I'll still have a bed of coals in the morning? (this is a Lopi Republic 1750 insert says maximum burn is 8-10 hours)

2. Wouldn't it be advisable to let the bed of coals get a nice bit of ash on top of them, and then stack the wood carefully on top of the "insulated" coals, and by doing so you prevent too much heat from building too quickly?

3. If I start seeing temps going above 725, is it ok to open the door and throw some water on the fire to cool it down quickly? I.e. a half-cup's worth or a cup's worth?

- Or open the door and re-arrange the wood so that it can't breathe/burn nearly as well? I figure this wouldn't slow the fire though once its that strong....

Joe

 

[vvvv]

i still cant figure out what happens to the incoming air from overhead 2ndary tubes if they aint flaming

 

[begreen]

1) - It will take some time to get used to the stove and achieve the longest burns. With a half-load of wood, you probably won't have an overnight burn. That's ok for this time of the year.

2) - Best to not put a full load of wood on a hot coal bed, whether ash covered or not. Go by the stove temp. When reloading, rake the coals forward to the front, center of the stove and then load the wood.

3) - No, don't do that. Stay calm. A peak temp of 725 is not going to harm anything. But opening the door will feed the fire even more air, fueling the fire further. It will be a raging inferno with the door open. And the water will risk cracking or warping components and/or bricks. Turn the air all the way down, and wait it out. The stove can take a foray to 800 without permanent damage. If you follow 1 & 2 you won't see too high temps too often.

 

[Battenkiller]

Like others have mentioned, I also rake the coals toward the air inlet (mine is at the back of the stove) and put a large split right in front of and leaning against the coals. That way the dry wood isn't outgasing furiously like it might if I dumped a load of thin, dry splits right on top of them. Whenever I've done that, first I see clouds of smoke coming out the chimney and a sudden drop in flue temps, then I get a rapid and sometime uncontrollable increase in flue temps as the stove regains its heat and the smoke starts to burn off. Luckily, in the old airtight stoves like mine, you can shut the air down in a heartbeat when that happens, but it still takes several anxious minutes for temps to get under control. Best to avoid it entirely and wait until the coal bed has cooled a bit.

Charcoal is a much better insulator than the regular hard firebrick that most stoves have at the bottom. That means that coals actually help hold in most of their own heat. I suspect that this may raise the coal bed temp to very high temps when that coal bed is both thick and already very hot. This may or may not contribute to the overfiring problem, but it is worth considering.

 

[yanksforever]

I never reload until it comes down to 350°

 

[Northeaster1]

I think you will get used to those temps as normal - I know I have.

Are you measuring stovetop, stove front, or pipe? (Our insert has the themometer just above the door, and I have verified it with an IR gun).


Our PE (mid-sized) Pacific insert is always up in the 800-900 degree range after loading it full, and watching it climb before settling in.

Right now we are burning the 1st time this year. The wife only has a couple of splits in, and the stove is nicely at 700, with a nice 2ndary burn.

A few notes.
- I rake the coals ahead from the back, but leave a pretty even amount in the back, middle, and maybe a bit more up front.
- A full load of small splits (lots of surface area to catch quickly) is different than a full load of a few large spits.
- I adjust the amount of time I run the draft on high, then medium, then almost off, then off (I realize it still lets air in) based on how quickly the load catch on, and heats up ( it will be faster with a bunch of smaller spits)
- Start choking it down substantially as the temp starts rising around 500 -600, as it will continue to rise anyway.

 

[clr8ter]

I have been having this issue with my Oslo. We just got it installed, and I have been just throwing different sized pieces in there on top of the coals, starting at 400 deg or slightly more. It then over 2 hours climbs to 550 or so even with the damper shut as much as it can be, then it slowly backs off as the wood burns out. If I've read everything here right, to get an all night burn, I should reload around 3 - 350 or so, rake coals forward, and use larger wood, yes?

And this is with only 10 month seasoned wood, including some oak......

 

[begreen]

clr8ter, that sounds like normal operation to me. Nothing unusual about climbing to 550-600 with a fresh load of wood.

 

[BrotherBart]

My concern would be that it takes two hours to get to 550 after a reload. From a cold start I want that sucker, the cast iron one, up to over five hundred in not more than an hour. The steel big boy better be getting there in thirty minutes or so. On a reload we are talking fifteen minutes with either one of them.

You have some wet wood there.

 

[weatherguy]

Ive been controlling the temp by turning the air down a little sooner, if I let it go to long before turning it down it will start to take off and then its hard to bring down. I think experince is whats needed to get it to where you want fast but not too fast.

 

[woodjack]

Not sure what the recommended burning temp and overfire temps are in that stove. In my Olympic, the goal is to get up to the 650-700 range as I close her down. I don't care if it goes a bit over 700.

+1 with my Regency. At 800 I start getting concerned and shut all the air off to get it under control. I've visited 900 a few times.

 

[kgrant]

I have an NC30 in my cabin. I'll let her run at 800 stovetop and 1200 chimney temp (probe) for 4-5 hours while the place is warming up. I wouldn't be scared the least at 700.

 

[jstellfox]

I would have thought 800 was an overfire on the nc30....i guess not? Others here say not to go above 650-700....

 

[clr8ter]

Yeah, I can get to 500 in under an hour from a cold start. On the reload, it does depend on the exact air setting, when closed, and the kind of wood I throw in. That would have to be an average, I guess. The wood I'm using doesn't really seem to sizzle and drip moisture much, most of it seems really dry, particularly the maple. I think I need one of those moisture meters.