Ceramic Blanket on a NC-30

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rottiman

Minister of Fire
Sep 23, 2009
1,249
Ontario Canada
Decided to try putting a 1" thick ceramic blanket on top of the ceramic boards of my 30. Ran a burn last evening and overnight. Differences I noted were that the stove top (@ the step up) temp was consistently 40 to 50 degrees lower both by gauge and IR. The stack temp was where it usually was between 350 and 425. The quality of the burn was better and the secondaried fired off alot sooner. On the overnight side, the glass was absolutely clean. Prior to this I would have a slight brown haze after an all night burn. The heat production overall seemed to be the same as the temp was 78 @ bedtime and was still 78 this am after a 9.5 hr. burn on 4 splits. There was a really good base of red coals for the restart this a.m.

Has anyone else tried this and what were your experiences with it?
 
Nice information. I have a sheet of high temp insulation left over from a replacement I made for another stove. I will have to try this also. What I have is apx. 1/2" thick. Did you make in 2 sections and install like the originals or cross stack it on those to block the center seam?
 
I have an Englander 30 and wouldn't mind trying this trick.....where would one find such ceramic board/blanket?
 
Try a refractory service in your area. I get mine from a place that rebuilds industrial kilns and heat treat furnaces.
 
blades said:
Nice information. I have a sheet of high temp insulation left over from a replacement I made for another stove. I will have to try this also. What I have is apx. 1/2" thick. Did you make in 2 sections and install like the originals or cross stack it on those to block the center seam?

I had found the 1" ceramic blanket on E Bay under wood burning products. I do not remember who the seller was but he was down east in Nova scotia. The product was made by or for SBI Industries who is a stove manufacture here in Canada. The sheet was large enough to cover the two boards. I placed it E/W over the N/S facing boards.

Just came in for lunch and checked the stove. All is great, temp in the house is still 78 and the glass is still clean with the primary air 3/4 closed. It just seems that this has given a "fine tuning" to the way this stove runs. I am curious as to whether of any of the others running the 30 have tried anything like this, and what their experiences were.
 
I did something similar on my Regency and Fisher.

On the regency I added 1/4" Koawool behind the firebrick(4 sides and bottom) and put 1/4" on top of the ceramic baffle.
It does seem to help the secondaries light off sooner.

On the Fisher I added 1/2" behind the fire brick.
 
Most of your gain came from eliminating a gap at the baffle. I did that by inserting a piece of steel rod in a piece of 1/4" stove gasket and putting it in the gap when the boards are pushed to one side. If there is any space at all between the boards the stove top temp goes up quite a bit.
 
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BrotherBart said:
Most of your gain came from eliminating a gap at the baffle. I did that by inserting a piece of steel rod in a piece of 1/4" stove gasket and putting it in the gap when the boards are pushed to one side. If there is any space at all between the boards the stove top temp goes up quite a bit.

Makes you wonder why they don't do that straight from the factory. Then again in involves additional $$$$$$ in production costs which dosen't jive with the low cost of these stoves. Either way, this appears to be a good idea for other 30 users as it has all been ++++++'s with no -----------so far.
 
It seems to me, you're improving the insulation in the firebox, would explain why the secondaries seem to fire sooner. If the heat stays in better, the firebox gets hot enough to support the secondaries sooner.

I guess it really is just a balancing act. Finding the right balance of insulation to keep the heat in the firebox to make combustion most efficient, and let some of the heat out the sides/top/back/front of the stove to warm the room.

-SF
 
I bought a 1/2" piece that was 36" x 24" and also put it above the existing baffle boards. The second layer closes the gap between the stove top and the boards. Which in turn slows the draft of this monster in the basement.

Have only had mine in a week. Had a few fires and have noticed a fes differences.
1.- The Primary air on a re-load, when I would have it wide open before. The flame would get super violent within a couple minutes. Now it still gets big fairly fast. But retains some if that heat.
2.- When closing the air down... After reaching temp. I used to have the Primary open about a 1/2"-3/4" Now with the board its about a 14"-1/2". I can close the air down farther (it seems) because the temps stay higher in the forebox now and needs less Primary. The secondaries are a little slower also. But not smaller by any means. Higher temps and and a slower draft (18' of Class A outside is pulling pretty hard)..
3.- Longer burns on the softwood I am using right now (Silver Maple and Pine)

I cant say much else yet. Other than what you said.
 
I am bumping this thread, just wondering if anyone else has done this to their stove and noticed improvements?
 
BB,
would you happen to have a pic or 2 of what you did? I'd like to do the same. I have this big fear that my little 1101 will out burn my 30 on less than half the wood. It won't put out as much heat but will burn longer. So I'd like to do anything I can to the 30 to improve it.
 
Also wondering if you can post pics...I have the same stove and am due to replace the boards on top of the burn tubes, probably this weekends project, am now thinking that i will double them up to close the gap also. wondering also if anyone has had any difficulties with removing the screws that hold the air tubes in...i'm hoping that i will only have to remove the front most one to get the new boards in.
 
Also wondering if you can post pics...I have the same stove and am due to replace the boards on top of the burn tubes, probably this weekends project, am now thinking that i will double them up to close the gap also. wondering also if anyone has had any difficulties with removing the screws that hold the air tubes in...i'm hoping that i will only have to remove the front most one to get the new boards in.

The screws are just sheet metal screws. Easy out and easy back in. You can do it with one tube out but two makes it easier. Don't mix up the tubes. They aren't the same.
 
The screws are just sheet metal screws. Easy out and easy back in. You can do it with one tube out but two makes it easier. Don't mix up the tubes. They aren't the same.
Thanks for the advice...i was just nervous about getting the screws out after they have been exposed to that much heat for that much long...wouldn't want to break one
 
In my Napoleon 1900P, the 4 original baffles were shot. So I got a pair of new and improved baffles (2 piece instead of 4 piece), and the new style are twice as thick as the originals. Big difference, especially for the secondaries. I am sure, like BB said, a lot of the gain on what you did came from closing up all the gaps that are there around your baffles. After reading this, I will try adding a 1/2" sheet of Kaowool to the top of my baffles and see if it makes a difference. It will be a while til we burn, though. Supposed to be in the upper 80's right through the weekend!
 
I've not even run the "break in" fires yet in my 13NC, as I'm waiting for cooler weather to do the chimney and finish buttoning up things in the attic. Would this be beneficial in a 13NC even before I have a first fire??
 
The thing ya need to be careful about is that the Englanders have a flame shield in front of the flue exit. You don't want to block that thing from letting enough gasses out under and around it to the chimney. And lowering the stove top temp kinda defeats the purpose of having a heater in my book.
 
Flame Shield Hmm.......

Thats interesting , that maybe the trick as why the englandars are lower in grams of emissions than similar stoves.

I wonder if that shield keeps some of the particulate matter from going up the flue and out to the outside air.

But I have no idea of how its placed in the top of the stove so it may not be accomplishing this.
 
Flame Shield Hmm.......

Thats interesting , that maybe the trick as why the englandars are lower in grams of emissions than similar stoves.

I wonder if that shield keeps some of the particulate matter from going up the flue and out to the outside air.

But I have no idea of how its placed in the top of the stove so it may not be accomplishing this.

Its attached to the top of step top, hanging down. Its a shield/baffle to slow the gases and make them kinda "go around" it.

Lots of stoves have a baffle (of some sort) to slow the gases. To help extract as much heat as possible.
 
I did a cleaning today on both stoves & liners and checked out this unwanted infamous gap. I pushed the baffles together to one side and low and behold there was almost a 3/8" gap.

Centered the baffles, cut (2) pieces of 1/4" rod about 19.5" long, pulled the center out of some gasket material, slid rods into gasket, set over each gap on the sides. Done in about 10 minutes. Now the cleaning on the other hand.... uuuhhggggg.... do sooteaters work any better than a poly brush?

Thanks for the tip on the baffle gap.
 
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