30 burn-in

[PapaDave]

BBar, you awake yet?
Just wondering what the flue setup is like. Maybe the 30 needs a little more pipe?
I'm curious how this goes for you, since it's back on my short list.

 

[remkel]

Oh yea
Smoke alarm all worked too. Un-wired them, still blaring.
One I had to buy a new one, Thew it outside, couldn't get the battery out of it.
Sounds like this isn't your first rodeo either.
Have fun

At least you could remove the batteries....mine are all hard wired.

 

[BrowningBAR]

BBar, you awake yet?
Just wondering what the flue setup is like. Maybe the 30 needs a little more pipe?
I'm curious how this goes for you, since it's back on my short list.

Straight up and about 18 feet.

 

[begreen]

How are you loading the stove? N/S or E/W?

 

[BrowningBAR]

How are you loading the stove? N/S or E/W?

I went north/south with the wood.

I suspect weather was the main culprit. Between it being mild and having a front and rain moving in this morning, I think that may have been the biggest issue.

This happens once or twice during the winter as well. All three chimneys will act sluggish for a few days during certain weather.

 

[remkel]

Ding fine, BB. Enjoy that new stove, and wait at least until after the honeymoon before looking at another lady

 

[BrotherBart]

I always hate the first burn or two in a stove without an ash bed. After it has a bed of ash under the load it is a different animal.

 

[leeave96]

I fired my 30NCH for the first time this year last night and today. I made a change to my stove based on input here and that was to put a piece of 1/4" steel rod into a piece of rope gasket and use that to squish my baffles together and eliminate the gap between them and I'm pleased to say that the stove seems to burn better - no leakage of heat/flames straight up the chimney, more controllable. Now all of the air going to the chimney has to pass the entire length of the baffles to get to the chimney. I feel this really helps keep the firebox heated - helping burn the smoke for a cleaner burn, with less open damper. If you haven't done this mod, you might consider it.

The other thing I'm giving a try this year is E-W burning. The goal is to lower the output of the stove a bit and conserve some wood. With my stove, burning N-S really churns out the heat, but it consumes more wood and in doing so lessons the time between reloads. Burning E-W forces the stove to deal with one stick of wood (for the most part) at a time - front to back in what I think is a more controlled burn. Loading the stove E-W also helps keep the accidental bumps to the baffles/burn tubes to a minimum for me too. The other thing is with E-W, the logs are out gassing against the side of the stove vs the glass door - so I'm hoping the glass will stay cleaner. E-W burning also resembles a fire place too - which I like.

Having said the above - watch for a post in a few weeks or a month where I completely change my mind regarding the above.

Good luck with your stove.

Bill

 

[pen]

for a small fire, in this weather (especially when there is no ash bed) I like to run two splits about 2-3 inches in diameter, n/s in the stove about 1/3 of the way in from each side, then e-w on top of those, then anything remaining I think I'd need would go n-s. That helps get that doghouse air under the wood and get things rocking and rolling.

pen

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah I went with E/W last season in the 30. I had never been able to burn worth squat that way in the 30 or in my old stove for that matter. I decided I was gonna keep after it till I made it happen. Getting a good burn going with small splits in front on top of the coal bed was the answer. And less heart stopping sessions when the back end of a N/S split decides to take off for the moon about the time you thought it was settled in for the night burn and was headed to bed.

I cooked up the rod/rope solution in 2007 and have never looked back on that one. Everybody should do it right off the bat. The rod can be smaller than 1/4" but that is the right rope size. There is a bin full of rods of different sizes in any hardware store.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Thanks for chiming in Leeave! I hope the 30 eats less wood for you this season.

I think the 30 is going to be great for my needs. I got the stove going at 12:30-1:00 this afternoon. It was slow going again, but the weather is kind of dodgy. We'll see what happens in a few weeks. I'm not too worried considering the Vigilant and Defiant drafted well in the same chimney.

 

[pen]

Yeah I went with E/W last season in the 30. I had never been able to burn worth squat that way in the 30 or in my old stove for that matter. I decided I was gonna keep after it till I made it happen. Getting a good burn going with small splits in front on top of the coal bed was the answer. And less heart stopping sessions when the back end of a N/S split decides to take off for the moon about the time you thought it was settled in for the night burn and was headed to bed.

I cooked up the rod/rope solution in 2007 and have never looked back on that one. Everybody should do it right off the bat. The rod can be smaller than 1/4" but that is the right rope size. There is a bin full of rods of different sizes in any hardware store.

I played around with EW a bunch more last year and found I liked it for certain loads, especially if I had a good sized coal bed and large splits to use. I found loading that way would let me leave the air open a bit more without overheating thing, which helped me have less coals left over at the end of a burn cycle so the weren't building up excessively.

Only thing I hated was needing to reach clear to the back of the stove to load EW.

pen

 

[BrowningBAR]

In terms of how the 30 burns, it is exactly what I had hoped for. In mild shoulder season weather like today, the 30 was still heating its area even when the stove temp was down to 200 degrees. I loaded the stove at about 12:30-1:00 and had the firebox about 30%-40% full with a few shorties and an ugly or two. I reloaded the stove at 8:00 this evening with the stove still heating the area sitting at 150-200 degrees.

This is what I wanted and needed. Mild temps was one of the areas in which I wasted a lot of wood in previous years. I was hoping that the 30 would heat much like the Defiant does in terms of being able to produce heat even at lower stove top temps due to its size. And it does.

So, that's half the needs covered. Now I need to see how long I can get a full load burn cycle to stretch and what type of overnight burns I can achieve.

• I have noticed that the 30 is more efficient than the Heritage. The splits do not break down nearly as quickly as they do in the Heritage. The load I mentioned earlier today would not have lasted nearly as long in the Heritage. I find that a little odd that there is that much of a difference between two different non-cat stoves.
• Still haven't gotten the 30 into the 650+ degree range so I can not comment how the heat feels as compared to the other stoves.
• The blower is really loud. Still haven't gotten used to that. At this point I only plan on using it for overnight burns due to the noise level of the blower.
• I really like the firebox. Big and square and easy to load. It seems easier to work with than even the Defiant, which is also quite roomy.
• The burn-in smell was worse than I expected and took forever for the stove to stop producing the stench. I expect it to start up again when I hit a new high temp, but the worse should be behind me.

 

[BrotherBart]

The fun is yet to come.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Weather seems to have been the biggest issue I was dealing with. Outside temps have dropped, the rain has stopped, and it is noticeably drier outside. The stove is taking off much quicker.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that I hit new stove temp highs. Which means the stench is back...

Take the god with the bad, I guess.

It is still very surprising how different the 30 burns wood when compared to the Heritage.

 

[BrowningBAR]

And the 30 feels more like the Defiant in terms of how it produces and moves heat. I though for sure it would feel the same as the Vigilant, which was more of a searing heat. No other stove has radiated heat like the Vigilant.

Both, the Defiant and 30 have a softer feel to their heat, but both are capable of pushing the heat further out from the room than the Vigilant did. Of course, both stove can heat the room at lower temps far better than the Vigilant.

 

[BobUrban]

x2 on pretty much everything Browning said except, Good/Bad - I like to think I have to take the good with the Better around here.

Unlike my old cast stove(Defiant) the 30 is putting off heat much quicker and at much lower temps. Good heat. So as the fire nearly burns out there is still nice warm radiant heat coming off. Even with mid to small fires I get some serious, home warming heat for a long time. Although not a true test I was at 70 degrees in here this morning with a few coals left on a mid size uglies fire started around 7pm last night and we had a heavy frost on the deck this morning.

I am guessing that this will extend burn times and provide heat through the night w/o much trouble when it gets really cold out.

As far as burn in and smell - it was not too bad but my hard wired alarm system was going off so I have most of the fire alarms out right now. Actually planning to put them all back today for a test run and see if the smell is gone.

I did the rope and rod thing like BBart suggested right out the gate and feel it was a good choice. I used welding rod to fill my rope because it was readily available and tucked it tight into the LH side of the baffle plates with the stove pipe out for easy access.

At this point I am feeling the rave reviews here about this stove have been actually understated. This, compared to my old stove, is just awesome.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Okay, with better weather everything is running silky smooth.

• Restating from coals was fast.
• No smoke from the chimney with a firebox about 35% full and a stove top at about 450 degrees.

The glass is a little dark, though. Not sure why at this point. Again, no smoke from the chimney, but the wood does seem to like to burn back to front.

 

[Jags]

• No smoke from the chimney with a firebox about 35% full and a stove top at about 450 degrees.

The glass is a little dark, though. Not sure why at this point.

See previous bullet point.
450 is just getting started on that stove.

 

[BrowningBAR]

See previous bullet point.
450 is just getting started on that stove.

No smoke, though.

 

[Jags]

No smoke, though.

Not doubting that, but cruising that low is not going to make for a real active air wash for the glass.

 

[BobUrban]

My glass gets darkened up at the end of my burn cycle too - I was guessing(and correctly I may add) that it is due to cruising below 450 - sometimes below 400. Zero smoke but I just cannot get the temps I need to keep the glass clean yet or I would be working out on the deck. It is already hot in here

I was assuming that when in full stride this sucker will keep the glass clean because it stays relatively clean throughout my low heat burns until I get below 300 towards the end of a cycle. I just take a scotch pad with a little water and scrub it off between refueling and it is just fine. I am sure in a month or so I wont give a hoot how it looks as long as it is doing it's job and I am not producing smoke out the stack. I'll them save the cleaning of glass for when I have company.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Agreed. I'm okay with the glass darkening if there is no smoke coming from the chimney. It's sitting at 350 right now and the room is 80 degrees with nothing but chunks of coals in the firebox.

 

[BrotherBart]

Ya get less glass gunk if when loading N/S you make sure that the doghouse air is aimed between to splits. If it bounces off the end of a split it defeats the air wash and gunks up the glass.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Ya get less glass gunk if when loading N/S you make sure that the doghouse air is aimed between to splits. If it bounces off the end of a split it defeats the air wash and gunks up the glass.

There's my problem! Thanks.