Englander 30-NC Install Progress

[Sain6815]

Thanks to this community and hours and hours of research I finally decided to go with the Englander 30-NC. Getting it shipped to the house this coming Monday or Tuesday. My goal is to document this and help someone else in the future.

Brief History.

We purchased the home Dec 2016 and I saw there was a wood stove in the basement and I was thrilled because I grew up on 40 acres of woods with my Dad having an outdoor wood boiler and my grandpa and uncle had an even bigger boiler that heated 2 homes simultaneously !

Anyway. The previous owner of our home said the stove was a High end stove and really heats the house well!

Come to find out, it was an old slammer and the folks hadn't cleaned the chimney in a while. At first I was determined to make it work. (Add a stove transition to round pipe and install a flex liner). I decided against it because I didn't have the time to restore it and I wanted to get all the EPA benefits. Plus, this stove is in our basement and provides the sole source of heat for my wife's office. So tax write off!!

Just had a chimney sweep come out this past week. He did an amazing job and removed almost all the filth in the chimney. He's been doing this for years and said it was the second worst he'd ever seen as far as build up goes.

A couple facts about the house:
Location: Upstate SC
Climate: Mild winter. Maybe 2 or 3 snows per year and only below freezing at night Mid Dec- Mid March.
House Size: 2800 sq ft ranch w/ full finished walkout basement (insulated)
Chimney: Masonry, interior, 11x11 clay tiles in good condition (passed chimney sweeps level 1 inspection)
Stove Location: Basement

That's all the details for now. I'll hopefully be installing everything next weekend. Have a the stove and flexible liner on the way. I'll post a pic of the fireplace and progress as I go!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Awesome! Sounds like a good project!

 

[2fireplacesinSC]

Lived in Columbia area about 12 years. Not a lot of wood burners in SC compared to North in general. I think you'll love the 30-NC. Have a friend in your area who has a Jotul Oslo and really enjoying it. Got wood? Congrats!

 

[Sain6815]

Lived in Columbia area about 12 years. Not a lot of wood burners in SC compared to North in general. I think you'll love the 30-NC. Have a friend in your area who has a Jotul Oslo and really enjoying it. Got wood? Congrats!

Awesome! We love this area. Really looking forward to this burning season. I'd say I have around 2-3 cords of seasoned hardwood. And about a cord that needs to be split for next year.

Also picked up the Harbor Freight moisture meter. Everything I checked in my stack for this year measured about 13-18%. Should be good to go!

 

[2fireplacesinSC]

Sounds good. Make sure you split a piece and check the formerly inside ("fresh") face for moisture levels.

 

[2fireplacesinSC]

Check out electric splitters if you don't want another engine to maintain.

 

[Sain6815]

Sounds good. Make sure you split a piece and check the formerly inside ("fresh") face for moisture levels.

Great tip! I didn't know that. I did split some pieces yesterday to break them down a bit and they had a good reading. It helps that the wood has been stacked for 2 years or more.

Check out electric splitters if you don't want another engine to maintain.

Now you've got me thinking! How do the electri splitters do with big fresh oak pieces? I've got access to a splitter now. Just stocking up rounds to split this winter for next year.

 

[Beldin]

I lived in Cross right by blacks fish camp for years. Man I miss that red oak. My advice is the same. Make darn sure it is dry, dry, dry. Coming from montana to the south sure taught me lessons on seasoning time. I split small, and learned two years was important! I should have known better as I had shitake mushroom logs not 40 yards away (in the shade).

 

[2fireplacesinSC]

Great tip! I didn't know that. I did split some pieces yesterday to break them down a bit and they had a good reading. It helps that the wood has been stacked for 2 years or more.



Now you've got me thinking! How do the electri splitters do with big fresh oak pieces? I've got access to a splitter now. Just stocking up rounds to split this winter for next year.

I got a 7 ton electric one from logsplittersdirect.com. Has worked well. Did great on oak for me.

Worst thing was really wet pine (like sopping wet that spills water on the garage floor as it's split). I could always turn a piece and take off an edge. I never had any pieces I couldn't split except the really wet pine. The electric splitter and a fiskars x27 took care of all my splitting needs.

Once I upgraded to a heavy duty electric cord, it split the pine too. I was using it with a small, regular extension cord initially.

 

[Sain6815]

Got an education from Bholler today on liner insulation so added that to the order today. Still hoping for a Friday install.

 

[Sain6815]

Stove is in!

Still looking good for install at the end of the week.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Ooooh, pretty. It won't look that nice ever A
again! Lol.

 

[Sain6815]

Outdoor break in fire in progress now. It's hard to build a fire halfway! I want to just load this puppy up but I don't want to be out here all night waiting for it to finish LOL.

Very impressed with the construction of this stove. Need to order a thermometer for the top. Most likely won't have a real burn inside until later next week. 85 degrees here in SC!! Ready for colder weather

 

[UAmember]

Here is my 30-NC during my break-in burn. It looks incredibly redneck, I know. I had it shipped by freight and used my neighbor's forklift to unload it off the truck into my truck. I put it into my truck because I knew it would be easier to move around after break-in and getting it into the house.

 

[Sain6815]

LOL!! That's real nice Clark.

I'm officially sold on this technology. Even here with only 2 feet of pipe and 75 degrees this evening I got into secondary burns. The control on these EPA stoves is unreal. And, no smoke at all when the door was closed.

 

[Blazing]

Here is my 30-NC during my break-in burn. It looks incredibly redneck, I know. I had it shipped by freight and used my neighbor's forklift to unload it off the truck into my truck. I put it into my truck because I knew it would be easier to move around after break-in and getting it into the house.

View attachment 201145

Hum using equipment for the heavy lifting. I'd say that's smart not redneck lol.

 

[Sain6815]

Got the stove into the basement which was a challenge. Pulled it in on a dolly using the mower because there is a pretty steep grade getting up to my basement door.

Once inside I hooked up the blower and it was rattling like crazy so I added this high temperature gasket meant for BBQ grills called Lava Lock.

I added this to the plate that holds the blower and it took away all all vibration. Now I just hear the blower and it's much more pleasant and perfectly acceptable for me sound level for me.

 

[2fireplacesinSC]

Just make sure the "Lava lock" stuff will take the temps expected and is ok for wood stoves. You don't want to wake up to fire alarms and/or smoke/odor.

 

[Sain6815]

Says it has a 650 F limit. I'm assuming that's ok for that area. It's a baffle behind the actual stove.

We will see how it goes!

 

[Highbeam]

When you really want to get some flow/heat from the blower system you can step up to a much bigger blower and add a convection deck. Very nice improvement in output. Almost makes it a mini-furnace

 

[Sain6815]

When you really want to get some flow/heat from the blower system you can step up to a much bigger blower and add a convection deck. Very nice improvement in output. Almost makes it a mini-furnace

I really like that. Any information on the blower motors you used?

 

[2fireplacesinSC]

When you really want to get some flow/heat from the blower system you can step up to a much bigger blower and add a convection deck. Very nice improvement in output. Almost makes it a mini-furnace

So highbeam, what's with the keys in the front on picture of your stove?

 

[Sodbuster]

Those are the keys to the walk in beer cooler.

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Those are the keys to the walk in beer cooler.

I think those are hot keys, very hot keys.

 

[Highbeam]

So highbeam, what's with the keys in the front on picture of your stove?

Ha! This stove is in my detached shop so I developed the habit of throwing my keys there. Otherwise I lose them. They don't feel hot until you drop them into your front pants pocket and then the burn starts!