30-NC burn time

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Louis

Member
Oct 21, 2018
65
Ocean County, NJ
I've used the search on this site, looked for a bit about the topic got some info but wanted to get more in depth.

Englander 30-NC, I do a top down fire for cold starts keeping the door wide open (with a window near also cracked) until the fire is going. and all the kindling is caught.

I then shut the door but let the lever rest on the catch piece so that the door is not locked and is still letting air in. I let the stove pipe temp reach 350-400 before shutting the door completely mean while the air control is fully open. If my wood is not at a very dry MC this will usually start to suffocate the fire flames die and I have to mess with the door opening and closing to get it to relight and or keep going. I believe this has alot to do with the higher MC for sure, but possibly weak draft as well. smoke will fill firebox very quickly if im not babysitting and stuck to the stove.

If I have drier wood and shut the door down completely when the pipe hits 350-400, the wood is usually engulfed and I let it go to let the stove temp rise.. on my first start i have to wait til the stove top is at 450-500 then I throttle back the air control starting with 75% open.. watch that the flame doesnt die down (sometimes it will, weak draft?) and if all is good throttle it back some more til the Air control knob is even or just behind the sill plate of the stove.

At this point I watch the stove to make sure it doesnt take off because its done so in the past, sometimes the stove pipe will come down rapidly other times itll go up, usually depending how well secondaries light and stay lit.. but secondaries dont last very long.. I turn the blower on when the stove top reaches 650+ to cool down the stove top before it keeps going. pipe temp will hover about 400-450 here, after i get the stove back to 600 i turn the blower off and from there with the air control still where i put it ( i assume its about 30-40% open maybe) the stove will slowly begin to come down in temp with the pipe dropping off very quickly first.

I have only been getting 2-3 hour burn times until i need to reload. i load up a good amount of wood, on reloads with quick starts i still use the same door sitting on the catch barely shut til the pipe hits 3-325 door shuts air control wide open then throttle down at 400 stove top and by the time it hits 450 im at that "sweet spot" air control knob flush with sill. dry wood, stove still rises to 650 very quickly and only max of 3 hour burn time til reload.

Been messing with the stove for a while, and even though ive gotten better at it, achieving secondary burns, slightly longer burn times then before and hotter burns over all i know this stove is capable of much longer times then 2-3 hours. From this long story which i apologize for, what can I do differently?

Mason chimney with clay liner.. 6.75"X6.75" ID.. total length is about 15 foot. Not lined, I want to line it when i get the extra money. stove pipe situation is far from Ideal.. at the collar of the stove it goes right into a 45 elbow.. 2 foot section of pipe at that angle up towards the thimble into another 45 elbow into the thimble which is 18 inches deep then 90 degrees into the stove. it was this way or having the pipe come up 10-12 inches from the collar into a 90 elbow and a 2 foot run into the 18" thimble into the chimney.. Unfortunately who ever build the house mustve have a very small stove where the thimble was at a good height for that appliance and doesnt do me good with the 30-nc sitting at i think 30 inches or so at the collar the thimble at 42-45 or so inches from the ground.
 
I've used the search on this site, looked for a bit about the topic got some info but wanted to get more in depth.

Englander 30-NC, I do a top down fire for cold starts keeping the door wide open (with a window near also cracked) until the fire is going. and all the kindling is caught.

I then shut the door but let the lever rest on the catch piece so that the door is not locked and is still letting air in. I let the stove pipe temp reach 350-400 before shutting the door completely mean while the air control is fully open. If my wood is not at a very dry MC this will usually start to suffocate the fire flames die and I have to mess with the door opening and closing to get it to relight and or keep going. I believe this has alot to do with the higher MC for sure, but possibly weak draft as well. smoke will fill firebox very quickly if im not babysitting and stuck to the stove.

If I have drier wood and shut the door down completely when the pipe hits 350-400, the wood is usually engulfed and I let it go to let the stove temp rise.. on my first start i have to wait til the stove top is at 450-500 then I throttle back the air control starting with 75% open.. watch that the flame doesnt die down (sometimes it will, weak draft?) and if all is good throttle it back some more til the Air control knob is even or just behind the sill plate of the stove.

At this point I watch the stove to make sure it doesnt take off because its done so in the past, sometimes the stove pipe will come down rapidly other times itll go up, usually depending how well secondaries light and stay lit.. but secondaries dont last very long.. I turn the blower on when the stove top reaches 650+ to cool down the stove top before it keeps going. pipe temp will hover about 400-450 here, after i get the stove back to 600 i turn the blower off and from there with the air control still where i put it ( i assume its about 30-40% open maybe) the stove will slowly begin to come down in temp with the pipe dropping off very quickly first.

I have only been getting 2-3 hour burn times until i need to reload. i load up a good amount of wood, on reloads with quick starts i still use the same door sitting on the catch barely shut til the pipe hits 3-325 door shuts air control wide open then throttle down at 400 stove top and by the time it hits 450 im at that "sweet spot" air control knob flush with sill. dry wood, stove still rises to 650 very quickly and only max of 3 hour burn time til reload.

Been messing with the stove for a while, and even though ive gotten better at it, achieving secondary burns, slightly longer burn times then before and hotter burns over all i know this stove is capable of much longer times then 2-3 hours. From this long story which i apologize for, what can I do differently?

Mason chimney with clay liner.. 6.75"X6.75" ID.. total length is about 15 foot. Not lined, I want to line it when i get the extra money. stove pipe situation is far from Ideal.. at the collar of the stove it goes right into a 45 elbow.. 2 foot section of pipe at that angle up towards the thimble into another 45 elbow into the thimble which is 18 inches deep then 90 degrees into the stove. it was this way or having the pipe come up 10-12 inches from the collar into a 90 elbow and a 2 foot run into the 18" thimble into the chimney.. Unfortunately who ever build the house mustve have a very small stove where the thimble was at a good height for that appliance and doesnt do me good with the 30-nc sitting at i think 30 inches or so at the collar the thimble at 42-45 or so inches from the ground.
Your problem is your wood you are wasteing allot of wood driving the moisture out. Also don't bother with stove top temps run it by the pipe temps keep them below 450 and above 250 if you are measuring pipe surface temps.

Also if you have a clay liner your chimney is lined. And it is within spec for your stove as long as you had it inspected and the tiles are in good shape and you have all required clearances it should work ok as is. Yes an insulated SS liner would be better but not absolutely nessecary.
 
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Your problem is your wood you are wasteing allot of wood driving the moisture out. Also don't bother with stove top temps run it by the pipe temps keep them below 450 and above 250 if you are measuring pipe surface temps.

Also if you have a clay liner your chimney is lined. And it is within spec for your stove as long as you had it inspected and the tiles are in good shape and you have all required clearances it should work ok as is. Yes an insulated SS liner would be better but not absolutely nessecary.

Thank you, makes me feel more confident in my chimney, thought I needed to get it lined ASAP because the newer epa stoves need that good draft, SS liner would improve that greatly.

I watch stove pipe temps until it hits 400.. that’s when I shut the door completely. I can’t mess with air control otherwise the temp drops dramatically. That’s when I watch stove top temps. Once the door is shut the pipe temps stay up in the 350-400 mark for a bit but at this time the stove top gets pretty hot and don’t want to over fire so I drop the air control which in turn drops the stove pipe temp.
 
Thank you, makes me feel more confident in my chimney, thought I needed to get it lined ASAP because the newer epa stoves need that good draft, SS liner would improve that greatly.

I watch stove pipe temps until it hits 400.. that’s when I shut the door completely. I can’t mess with air control otherwise the temp drops dramatically. That’s when I watch stove top temps. Once the door is shut the pipe temps stay up in the 350-400 mark for a bit but at this time the stove top gets pretty hot and don’t want to over fire so I drop the air control which in turn drops the stove pipe temp.
You need dry wood before worrying about anything else as long as what you have is safe. You will be fighting it the whole time if your wood is wet. Get a moisture meter and find out what you have
 
Your door should be latched long before the stove top reaches 400. Latch it as soon as the fire wont go out.
 
How tall is your chimney? What type of wood are you burning? How big are the splits? Are you filling the stove as full as you can? Larger splits and filling your stove full will increase burn times....you should be able to get 6 hours pretty easy out of this stove...
 
Thank you, makes me feel more confident in my chimney, thought I needed to get it lined ASAP because the newer epa stoves need that good draft, SS liner would improve that greatly.
There are a lot of factors contributing to draft. How cold it is outside, for one. I'm guessing if you have an exterior chimney, it takes a lot longer to get up to temp. An insulated stainless liner would help for sure, especially at that stack height. I'm thinking maybe the 30 doesn't pull as well at startup, due to the fact that it has no bypass.
Sounds like wet wood as well. When you start in on the wood that's been split and stacked three years, that's when it gets good. >>
Don't feel too confident; bholler said "as long as what you have is safe." He's stated in the past that most masonry chimneys don't meet code regarding clearance to combustible materials in contact with the brickwork..
 
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I'm guessing that the 3 hrs. is when the flames go out. What happens if you open up the air on the coals, can you keep stove top temp up enough to hold room temp?
 
I can blow through a full load in three hours but I also close the door right after ignition. Full throttle for a few minutes until I can close it about 25% of the way. Then do nothing until pipe surface temps hit about 300.at that point I usually close the draft until the tip of the spring is even with the front edge of the ash pan. That seems to be a more normal burn rate. Not the max but more than 3.

The nc30 is an easy breather. Feed it dry fuel and it can happily run with the door closed.
 
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I'm guessing that the 3 hrs. is when the flames go out. What happens if you open up the air on the coals, can you keep stove top temp up enough to hold room temp?


depending on the burn, the 3 hours usually means when im about ready to do a reload. coals are still bright red, wood has burned down to ash/coals. i move the coals around to get them cooking again and ready for a re load. stove top temp is usually 3-350 at this point. pipe is 150-200.

I usually dont open air up anymore with the hot coals till im ready to open the door for re load.. i assumed the fire would retain heat longer with the air shut down even with the coals hot.
 
I can blow through a full load in three hours but I also close the door right after ignition. Full throttle for a few minutes until I can close it about 25% of the way. Then do nothing until pipe surface temps hit about 300.at that point I usually close the draft until the tip of the spring is even with the front edge of the ash pan. That seems to be a more normal burn rate. Not the max but more than 3.

The nc30 is an easy breather. Feed it dry fuel and it can happily run with the door closed.


i do believe some of my problem still stems from not so dry wood. with Moisture meter im reading splits anywhere from 14-22% anything higher i dont put in. and that is on a split cut down in half or 1/3rds so the wood can dry a tad more before going into the stove. after i split them further i bring them inside for a week in the stove room, i hold a weeks worth of wood inside before burnig and re check MC before burning. so the wood isnt perfect but its not terrible. When i shut the door before the pipe gets to a certain temp, 350+, the fire will usually die. even substituting with dry pallet wood, mixing it in with the so so wood it will still die. i have more control over the fire in the start up and reload phase with the door then the air control.
 
Just to double check you know that pulling the rod out gives the fire more air?
 
Just to double check you know that pulling the rod out gives the fire more air?


Yes sir, I had a chance to mess with the Madison made by Englander, which was oposite.. air control in for more air and out for less.. I know the 30 is out is open, in is closed.
 
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I would think 20% moisture should burn fine, not ideal but not so far out of range as to cause problems

I believe that is in he outside of splits after trying to dry them indoors for a week.