England 30NC question

[Blaine Coon]

We installed a brand new 30NC wood stove. Wondering why the stove isn’t heating the home. The stove is installed in the basement with a flex liner up the chimney. The chimney length is 20ft with a 3 ft horizontal run. I have a good draft , wood burns clean. I can only get the stove to 500 degrees, when I turn on the fan on the stove the temperature drops on the stove to 400 degrees. I am burning seasoned oak. Any advice .

 

[DAKSY]

What is the moisture content of your "seasoned" oak?

 

[Blaine Coon]

I do not have a meter, the oak has been seasoned for a year.

 

[DAKSY]

You might want to get a meter & check your wood.

 

[Blaine Coon]

I will pick up a meter tomorrow.

 

[Highbeam]

Mine likes to cruise around 750. Feed it lots of dry wood and this thing can make lots of heat.

 

[Stinkpickle]

I do not have a meter, the oak has been seasoned for a year.

I don’t have much luck with oak with less than two years of seasoning.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

My shop Nc30 was cruising at about 700-750 tonight. Had to run that noisy fan to keep it from going higher. Dry wood and a good draft. Oak is like a fine wine ,takes awhile to age and perfect.

 

[jotul8e2]

I am burning seasoned oak. Any advice .

I have to season oak two years for it to be burnable. Three years works a lot better.

 

[kennyp2339]

I'm also a 3 year minimum on split oak, my split size averages between 5&6" per split, I can def burn it at 2 yrs, but there is a night and day difference between 2 & 3 years on red and white oak.

 

[MAD MARK]

Make sure the baffles are aligned properly and also, check if they are even there. Recently had a thread where person was missing them.

 

[Hogwildz]

Your wood is not dry enough.

 

[billb3]

Burn some scrap lumber (or those horrible expensive bundles at the grocery store) to compare.

 

[jetsam]

Oak takes 3 years to dry when split, stacked, and topcovered around here. You have classic wet wood symptoms.

If it was me, I'd hit the woods and look for some dead standing/leaning pine. You can also find dead oak that burns ok, but it seems like a waste because if you split it and let it dry for another year, it'd burn great.

That said, my first year in this house, I burned whatever dead leaning stuff the woods gave me!

 

[Blaine Coon]

Bought a moisture tester today. All the seasoned wood is at a moisture level of on average 6.2%. Trying another fire tonight. Will see what happens.

 

[jetsam]

Bought a moisture tester today. All the seasoned wood is at a moisture level of on average 6.2%. Trying another fire tonight. Will see what happens.

You would need to live in a desert to have 6% wood.

Warm the wood up to 70° (just leave it inside overnight), split it, and test on the fresh split.

Honestly, I have a meter but I don't use it anymore. You can tell dry oak by weight, appearance when you split it (when dry, the grain on a fresh split is the same light color as the dry grain outside), and how it burns (dry oak catches right away on hot coals, and it doesn't hiss or sizzle).

 

[blacktail]

Bought a moisture tester today. All the seasoned wood is at a moisture level of on average 6.2%. Trying another fire tonight. Will see what happens.

You need to split a piece and check the middle. 100% guaranteed your wood is not 6%.

 

[Blaine Coon]

I will do what y’all suggest. I am burning 4 year old walnut and oak tonight and have the stove up to 620 and holding. Thanks for all the suggestions. Hoping for a 700-750 burn.

 

[Highbeam]

620 feels good but this stove is happy to run hotter and output is significantly more at higher temperature though probably less efficient.

6.2% is not right, anything under 20% is great for a noncat like this. Split a bit smaller for high burnnrate. Say 3-5 inches across.

 

[Woody Stover]

I'd hit the woods and look for some dead standing/leaning pine. You can also find dead oak that burns ok

Yep, look for little dead-standing trees <8" with the bark fallen off. It will be burnable, even Oak.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I will do what y’all suggest. I am burning 4 year old walnut and oak tonight and have the stove up to 620 and holding. Thanks for all the suggestions. Hoping for a 700-750 burn.

Check the manual for the high temp recomendation is for this stove. Could be less than 700-750. Whenever my 30 reaches those temps i start that noisy fan to bleed off some heat.