Englander 32- NC

[Cliff2448]

When the stove takes off it is when the back of the fire box secondary kicks in. this is why it takes about a hour for the stove to start to get to hot. I have tried pulling the coals to the front loading N,S behind them which does take longer for the rear to take off but eventually it will still do the same thing. I know using the key damper does work I'm just not happy with how to runs while doing this thru the entire burn. I have multiple sources off wood stacked up I have very dry smaller splits of maple that are around 15-16% on average checking a fresh split and I have larger oak splits that are between 18 and 22% on a fresh split. I usually put some smaller maple splits in the stove and load some of the oak on top of that. If i load the stove east west it will eventually disco inferno in the rear as well. I've read thru the glass wash plate thread a few months ago I looked at mine and it has about a 1/4 to 5/16 gap across the glass square the entire way.

 

[Cliff2448]

This is from a hour ish in this am fully closed air. Flue damper fully open stove top in "the hot spot" was 690. It is warmer out today ita in the 40s

 

[begreen]

An easy test would be to block off the secondary port at that back of the stove by 50%. This can be done with a strip of metal tape or a flat magnet.

Thanks for the front images. Can you post a side view picture of the stove with the door open so that it shows the airwash diverter clearly? Adjusting this may also present a possible solution as noted in the thread link posted earlier.

 

[Cliff2448]

An easy test would be to block off the secondary port at that back of the stove by 50%. This can be done with a strip of metal tape or a flat magnet.

Thanks for the front images. Can you post a side view picture of the stove with the door open so that it shows the airwash diverter clearly? Adjusting this may also present a possible solution as noted in the thread link posted earlier.

The video I posted a little while ago was with the secondary air about 70% blocked off the stove does seem calmer there. what do you think? and yes Ill grab some air wash plate photos

 

[Cliff2448]

The video I posted a little while ago was with the secondary air about 70% blocked off the stove does seem calmer there. what do you think? and yes Ill grab some air wash plate photos

Here are some pics of the air wash plate protrusion past the stove body.

 

[begreen]

The video looks like a near perfect secondary combustion. Try working with that setting for a bit and continue with aggressively reducing the primary air to keep the flames lazy. The airwash diverter looks about right.

 

[Cliff2448]

The video looks like a near perfect secondary combustion. Try working with that setting for a bit and continue with aggressively reducing the primary air to keep the flames lazy. The airwash diverter looks about right.

I'll see what she does and report back thank you all

 

[weee123]

I have a 32. No boost air holes at all and that square hole is indeed the secondary which is larger slightly than the 30. Im running mine unrestricted. Using a pipe damper and manometer, my stove is now completely predictable. I had a thread a year or so back documenting my experience and experiments i was doing on the stove.

Honestly you really need a manometer to properly use the pipe damper to get the draft to spec. With both of those being used simultaneously the stove is completely predictable now.

Edit: here’s that thread of mine from last year. https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/englander-32-modification.206194/

 

[Cliff2448]

Ran the stove for about a week now on a reduced un restricted secondary air setup So far the stove does seem a lot more controllable. If I'm on point with reducing my primary air thru out the start up I get a lazy rolling secondary with a stove top temp of 650-700 occasionally I have had to use the damper to calm the stove down due to me being late to reducing primary air but with using the damper to calm things down I only need to close it to 1/3 where before I would need to be almost fully shut. After 15-20 minutes like this I can open it back up and things settle down to the usual 650-700. I've noticed also I have less coaling in the stove. After my burns I have a few hot coals and mostly ash left. This must be due to having a open flu keeping adequate draft going as the fire dies down. I have not cleaned the stove in a week almost and still have minimal ash build up. Before adjusting the secondary air I would have to remove un burnt coals almost every morning. It hasn't been nearly as cold with temps now being normal for us so I will have to see if this changes if I need to start stuffing the stove multiple times a day. I do occasionally snuff the fire out on re loads by being to aggressive with primary air reduction this is on me and will be a learning curve. Burn times seem to be a bit longer then before. This I will probably never be happy with ( Guess I should of tried a cat stove) to try to satisfy my desired burn times not the stoves fault about that though. I will post a burn video.

 

[Cliff2448]

Here is a burn of a 700 stt primary fully closed fly damper fully open

 

[NickW]

Good! Keep trying different things. I bet unrestricted secondary air and leaving the damper closed to only 1/4 open (guess) throughout the burn might work too.

 

[Highbeam]

Note the pedestal base is now welded on. No leg option. That air deflector plate looks thicker than on the nc30 which is very susceptible to melting in the middle and sagging.

I use a flue damper above my nc30 with 19’ of flue but no manometer so I have to adjust it by sound and visual of the “speed” of the fire. Eventually you figure out the setting for a particular outside temperature and just trust that it will work out.

It’s too bad we can’t use the automatic barometric damper that sets itself.

The nc series is not a Swiss watch. It’s an effective heater but perhaps not fair to expect the level of refinement you would get from a high dollar stove.

 

[Cliff2448]

I agree with this. I just feel the EPA standards honestly make for a dangerous situation depending on the individuals chimney, draft etc. I feel that todays stoves don't have enough " adjustability" for the user to maintain a safe efficient fire unless they fall in the manufacture's average burning parameters. I do know that I don't know a thing about cat stoves but I may start reading up on them to see if that would be a better fit for my home and goals.

 

[EbS-P]

It’s been my perception that unregulated secondary air predates 2005 (or whatever the actual year was around that time). When EPA really started cutting emissions.

Here is where a good installer with experience and knowledge about products is invaluable. They exist. They may/probably are not the lowest bidder. I do think the regulations have increased call backs. And narrowed the normal operating window.

 

[begreen]

One thing to note is that a full load of wood on hot coals in a large stove is going to release a large bloom of combustible wood gas as the load heats up. I see this on our stove which is an easy breather on a 20' stack. Sometimes I need to have the air completely closed and the flue damper closed in order to manage that bloom. After a couple of hours, the outgassing slows down and the flue damper can be opened. This does not happen with a top down start on our stove, no matter how large the fuel load is in our stove.

 

[Highbeam]

I agree with this. I just feel the EPA standards honestly make for a dangerous situation depending on the individuals chimney, draft etc. I feel that todays stoves don't have enough " adjustability" for the user to maintain a safe efficient fire unless they fall in the manufacture's average burning parameters. I do know that I don't know a thing about cat stoves but I may start reading up on them to see if that would be a better fit for my home and goals.

I have both cat and noncat and a good cat stove is a huge step up in terms of less risk and less management efforts. Much easier to burn slowly for appropriate heat output and long burn times.

 

[Cliff2448]

Thank you for that info.