Englander 30 NCH

[67440DartGT]

Hey everyone. Looking for a few pointers and maybe some suggestions. I installed a Englander NCH-30 and have been running it for a few weeks now. Here are a few things I have been noticing and would like some tips on it.

My set up is :

Stove NCH-30
Double wall pipe to wall thimble.
14' of stainless double wall chimney

Burning oak. This oak was cut about 3 years ago and has been outside for 2 years and now in my storage shed stacked for 1 full year. It burns very well but I would say it is split fairly small. Lengths would be 12-22 inches but in my opinion split pretty thin.

Temps in my area have been mid 40's during the day and low 30's at night.

I am finding that in my opinion I am burning through a ton of wood. The stove is very easy to start. I am starting with some paper and the stove loaded up pretty well. I only have a stove top temp gauge at the moment. I am leaving the stove damper open until the fire is good and hot and the stove top gets to about 400-450 degree's. It seems if I close the stove damper down a bit the stove top drops into the "creosote" zone fairly easy. Although my house is staying in the upper 70's to lower 80's.

I am usually starting a fire when I get home from work about 6pm and have to fill the box 2-3 times before I go to bed at 11 and while the stove is still warm in the morning it is almost completely out.. no hot coals.

Last night I loaded the box really full around 11pm and went to bed. I had the damper closed down pretty far. I set an alarm for 3am and while I still had coals the wood was pretty much gone. I threw three more logs on the fire and went back to bed. At 6:30 I woke up and the box was empty again with hot coals and the stove still warm. Temp in the house was good.

Is it normal to be going through this much wood? Any thoughts or questions would be appreciated. I am very happy with the heat the stove gives off. I am new to wood burning so any other tips would be great. Thanks, Colin

 

[Jags]

A couple notable points...First is the fact that you are running a work horse stove. The sucker was designed to generate gobs of heat. Just pointing out that slow and low for a long duration wasn’t the design. Second would be what most call the “learning curve”. Its going to take many fires for you to learn that stove in that setup. Play with it. Play with the primary air. Play with load methods. Oh - and ignore the “zones” on that thermo. Go by the actual temp while taking into consideration what part of the cycle your burn is in (I.e. if you are at coaling stage and the thermo is reading 350 - you ain’t making creosote)

And yes - larger split will help with extending the fire.

 

[saydinli]

Sounds like you need much larger splits than your using. I realized that too with my FP30 after the first few burns. 3 larger splits burn better and longer than 5 small splits in that size of stove.

 

[67440DartGT]

Thanks for the tips. I will continue to play with the stove. I have learned a lot already about how it works just in the last few weeks. I am very happy with the heat output of it. I have an older home with older windows and the stove has had no problem heating the house. I have found a few good ways to circulate the heat that helps too. I plan on purchasing some more wood from a local vendor and maybe see if I can try some bigger splits.

 

[begreen]

I plan on purchasing some more wood from a local vendor and maybe see if I can try some bigger splits.

Be critically fussy on the wood purchase. Getting seasoned wood is not easy in many areas. What is sold as seasoned often is not.

 

[Jags]

Yep - purchased wood at this time of year is often not ready to burn. May I suggest a cheap moisture meter? Have the supplier (or you) do a fresh split on the wood and give it a test.

 

[67440DartGT]

Thanks again. I have a listing in mind that says they will test the wood for you. I will be purchasing a moisture meter for myself soon too. I have plenty of wood at home to go through for now though. Does anyone have any suggestions as far as a meter goes? Brand you prefer? Here are my little guys that stacked all that wood

 

[Mike M.]

Instead of buying wood consider bio bricks from Menards or Tractor Supply. These will burn nice, mix them in with the oak. You will be very disappointed with any Wisconsin wood for sale.

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[moresnow]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-LC...558386&hash=item51bce84210:g:FfQAAOSwDk5T5EZd

Used this one for the last 2 years. Cheap but effective.

 

[MDWOOD]

Colin,

When you went to bed at 11 did you have the damper closed all the way?


My stove manual says to close all the way down as soon as possible.

 

[67440DartGT]

Yes actually I did have it closed almost all the way. It looked like the secondaries were burning good but then I kept hearing a clunking sound... I came out to find the fire almost extinguished and opened the damper and bang had a big thump of air and instant fire again..... Anyone ever experience this?

 

[jwfirebird]

don't trust the rutland magnetic temps either, was like 100 deg off, now after using it a while normally about 30-50 low from ir gun

 

[Highbeam]

When you went to bed at 11 did you have the damper closed all the way?

Yikes, I can never close the damper all the way on my NC30 without snuffage. I have 19' of all vertical chimney and excellent wood. The low damper setting to maintain a clean burn will depend on a lot of factors and I would never say it is a standard operating procedure to cruise with the damper fully closed.

 

[MDWOOD]

Yea, i was just curious about shutting it all the way down.
On my last two stoves i always shut them down for over-nite.
NCH-30 must be a bit different

 

[Mike M.]

Never been able to shut mine down all the way either. Usually go all the way in then back a 1/4 inch or so. Those look like pretty small splits in the picture. Are you loading them tightly with hardly no air gaps?

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[jwfirebird]

you can close it all the way just takes a while from cold or fire out

 

[67440DartGT]

Never been able to shut mine down all the way either. Usually go all the way in then back a 1/4 inch or so. Those look like pretty small splits in the picture. Are you loading them tightly with hardly no air gaps?

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I did not pack it very tight until last night. I noticed a major difference when I picked some really heavy pieces and really loaded it up. I bought an infrared thermometer today so we will see how she does tonight. I am going to pack it tighter than usual and see what temps and time I get out of the burn.

 

[venator260]

Never been able to shut mine down all the way either. Usually go all the way in then back a 1/4 inch or so. Those look like pretty small splits in the picture. Are you loading them tightly with hardly no air gaps?

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I think it depends on a person's set up. I have around 25 feet of insulated liner in an outside chimney. When temps get cold (teens and low 20s), I've had to shut the primary air the whole way, close the key damper, and run the blower to keep the stove top from climbing through the 800s. When it's cold, I have to be very careful to shut down quickly, and I still usually need the blower to keep things cool.

 

[begreen]

I think it depends on a person's set up. I have around 25 feet of insulated liner in an outside chimney. When temps get cold (teens and low 20s), I've had to shut the primary air the whole way, close the key damper, and run the blower to keep the stove top from climbing through the 800s. When it's cold, I have to be very careful to shut down quickly, and I still usually need the blower to keep things cool.

Agreed. The setup matters and so does the time of year. I don't close the air control all the way in shoulder season, but when it gets very cold I can and do close it down to the stop. Also, this depends on the wood being burned.

 

[67440DartGT]

Just thought I would give an update on how my burn went last night. Temps were a bit warmer through the day so I didn't start a fire until 7-8pm. I loaded the stove really tight with my medium splits and used my infrared temp gun. Once the fire was up and running I was seeing stove top temps about 550-650 degree's. I found a very happy spot with the damper and left it right there. The fire burned all night and still had some glowing coals this morning at 6:30 am. The stove read about 150 degree's this morning. I could have thrown a few more logs on before I went to bed but the house was very warm so no need. I think loading the stove full and controlling the temps with the infrared gun are going to give me more consistency. We are going to warm up a bit here so probably not much need at the moment but winter is on it's way and I'm really looking forward to using this stove. It's been a great addition to our home. Thanks for all the tips!

 

[begreen]

It takes some weeks to dial in and get used to how a stove is going to perform under different loadings and outdoor temps. Sounds like you're making good progress. Note that the model designation for this stove is the 30 NC or 30-NCH. I changed the title so that it's easier to find in a search later on.