Englander 30 Mods?

[leeave96]

Anyone modifying their Englander 30's ?

I'm taking a look-see at mine and wondering if anyone has tinkered with their stove for whatever reason.

Just courious.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[pen]

The Nitrous oxide keeps the magic heat a lot cleaner

pen

 

[crackshot]

lmao!!....... i am so getting a tattoo of that lol

 

[PJF1313]

The Nitrous oxide keeps the magic heat a lot cleaner

pen

A BIG :lol:

 

[BrotherBart]

Beer -------> Monitor

 

[begreen]

:lol: Pen, U B Pook'ed! :lol:

 

[BrotherBart]

When I saw that nitrous tank all I could think was "Honey, hold my beer and watch THIS!"

 

[leeave96]

Great replies/advice - one of my best posts/questions....

When I bought my Woodstock Keystone I tried a couple of things. I added additional soapstones to the stove top, but all that did was act as an insulator and dampen the heat output. I plugged a small hole in the ash pan thinking that would give me better control of the fire - which it did, but I got better combustion at the rear of the stove with the hole open. So after my tinkering, I found the guys at Woodstock a lot smarter designing the stove than I was at modifying it - so it is totally stock and rockin.

I read about the secondary burn tube type stoves like my Englander 30 and am a bit concerned about the inability to fully cut off the air supply to the firebox. I also read that sometimes the stove will go crazy on reload with temps going over 700 degrees and up. Turning down the damper doesn't help because you can't fully cut the air off and hang on for the ride.

So one of the mods I thought about was finding the holes in the stove that let that last remaining air come-in and put a magnet over the hole (vs permanently plugging it) and being mindful of the fact that you can choke the stove down like an old air tight stove, but retaining the ability to totally cut off the air in the event of an emergency - like an overfiring stove or worst a flue fire.

I've also thought about making my own air fan vs buying the factory one - though $200 ain't bad vs. some prices I've seen for other stoves. I've also thought about using my soapstones on the Englander stove top in some decorative way.

Thanks!
Bill

 

[pen]

I too bothered me at first that the stove could get too hot but after speaking w/ a fella that works for englander and having a few of us here take our stoves up to 900 - 1000 range and we haven't had one fall onto the floor in 2 pieces yet, I have kinda gotten over it.

If that situation ever came up, you can go to the back of the stove where the secondary air inlet is and plug it manually at that time.

pen

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I stuffed kaowool along the sides above the baffle. It's an attempt to plug the holes at the sides around the baffle since it doesn't fit perfectly. I don't know how well it works.

Matt

 

[BrotherBart]

To fill the gap and keep the baffle boards from moving around I picked up a small steel rod from the stock stuff at the hardware store and ran it through a piece of quarter inch rope stove gasket. I put it on the left side before putting the baffle boards back in and it makes a nice tight fit. The gasket rope is on its third season and hasn't disintegrated yet.

 

[leeave96]

I did some heavy duty searching and reading on the mods to the zipper in these Englanders. Sounds like it is something one would do to counter extreme draft. On the other hand, zipper air supply may get in the way of the air wash coming down across the front glass - limiting it's ability to self clean. Also, I gather these Englander 30's are designed for E/W loading and that is the reason for the zipper being in there in the first place - to blast air through the E/W logs so air can get to the rear of the stove for burning. The zipper also stick-up like a sore thumb in the front.

I'd like to burn my 30 N/S only. I may consider dumping the zipper.

Bill

 

[pen]

If you try and load this stove E-W don't be surprised to hear it laughing at you. Mine will not burn that way. NS is the only way to fly here.

I kept the doghouse air on mine because it actually helps me burn down the coals a bit better I think.

pen

 

[mtcates]

I plugged one of the two intake holes for the zipper air. It just cuts down on the volume of the zipper air but it still works. I also restricted the secondary air intake by a third. I still get very clean burns with no smoke at all. The door glass stays cleaner and the stove burns hotter with the exhaust temps a bit cooler. The extra air that was flowing through the stove before was just a little excess and not needed for complete combustion and served to just cool the fire a little Now, if I choose to I can peak at 900 degrees stove top with a half load of wood and at the same time I can control the slow burns better than when it was stock.

 

[johnstra]

Two intakes? I thought all of the zipper air came from the lone round primary intake?

 

[mtcates]

There is a small dime size hole behind each front leg on the bottom of the stove. They are both the air supply to the zipper air.

 

[johnstra]

I see. So then where does the primary air from the large round port enter the fire box?

 

[BrotherBart]

I see. So then where does the primary air from the large round port enter the fire box?

It enters at the top of the glass, washes over it and then hits the deflector plate at the bottom and turns into the base of the fire. It comes up to the top through the manifolds on each side just inside the door.

 

[johnstra]

That's good information and it explains a couple of things I've observed. It also might explain why the 30 burns more completely than my Mansfield did. I may be wrong, but I don't think the Mansfield had separate ports for zipper air. I think all of the primary air went to both the zipper and the air wash.

 

[HotCoals]

Do the header mod!