This thread I hope covers some questions or helps anyone.
So I've had my NC 30 for about 6 yrs now. Stole it from HD on clearance for about $600.00. Love the stove puts out great heat. This stove has the secondary burn feature (efficient) love it. Never had a problem with smoke unless I had one of those 100 types of draft problems, cold stove, air plug Etc.... Had the stove priorly installed in a townhouse with vertical stack of about 22 feet. Burnt all well seasoned hardwoods ash,oak,maple. Always got a great burn. Now I'm in a 1800 sq ft split level with a 18 ft stack( 6" pipe) Burned all thru winter. Now its March still cold so still burning. Tried to burn last night couldn't get a good starter fire started. I would have fire, but as soon as I closed the door the fire would sputter out. I was pissed wife was moaning and groaning about the smoke, plus it didn't help she that she had the flu. Didn't want extinguish the fire and have more smoke add to my misery. So I threw in an eco log and called it a night and let that burn thru till morning. Tons of what ifs going through my head GRRRR. Finally said let me check the pipe. Cleaned out the inside house pipe thimble and all. Not bad usual build up. Go up to the roof. Saw the culprit right away. The cap was clogged about 75%. Cap has a stainless steel mesh ember guard,Go figure. Cleaned everything, alls good now.
Went over through my head what I did different from last year.........It was the type of wood I was burning. I slacked off splitting this last year so kinda ran out. Most of my wood got buried under the snow couldn't get to it. Almost ran out of room pushing all the snow to every open space of my property. What I was doing was getting a good fire started and I would burn semi frozen logs I split from my in-laws place. Ash and Maple. Never thought that much creosote build up would happen.
Did some research and found out when you burn semi wet wood the smoke that goes up the pipe will stick to the pipe easier. Didn't think this would happen. Thinking the high temp burns wouldn't cause that. WRONG. Even though the would I was burning was over 3 yrs old with the little moisture in it that was frozen it cause more creosote to build up. So basically the burning ember screen on the cap got clogged bad causing crappy draft. Thought about taking it off but said that's all I need is to have one rogue ember fly off somewhere and start a leaf fire. I kept it on so now every 2-3wks I'll be checking my cap.
So I guess if you have a NC 30 and you're losing draft, or you can't get a burn going check your cap and pipes and stay away from semi wet wood. Or at least realize when you burn semi wet wood creosote can clog your cap and can change the way your stove performs. I hope I helped someone. Thanks for reading.
So I've had my NC 30 for about 6 yrs now. Stole it from HD on clearance for about $600.00. Love the stove puts out great heat. This stove has the secondary burn feature (efficient) love it. Never had a problem with smoke unless I had one of those 100 types of draft problems, cold stove, air plug Etc.... Had the stove priorly installed in a townhouse with vertical stack of about 22 feet. Burnt all well seasoned hardwoods ash,oak,maple. Always got a great burn. Now I'm in a 1800 sq ft split level with a 18 ft stack( 6" pipe) Burned all thru winter. Now its March still cold so still burning. Tried to burn last night couldn't get a good starter fire started. I would have fire, but as soon as I closed the door the fire would sputter out. I was pissed wife was moaning and groaning about the smoke, plus it didn't help she that she had the flu. Didn't want extinguish the fire and have more smoke add to my misery. So I threw in an eco log and called it a night and let that burn thru till morning. Tons of what ifs going through my head GRRRR. Finally said let me check the pipe. Cleaned out the inside house pipe thimble and all. Not bad usual build up. Go up to the roof. Saw the culprit right away. The cap was clogged about 75%. Cap has a stainless steel mesh ember guard,Go figure. Cleaned everything, alls good now.
Went over through my head what I did different from last year.........It was the type of wood I was burning. I slacked off splitting this last year so kinda ran out. Most of my wood got buried under the snow couldn't get to it. Almost ran out of room pushing all the snow to every open space of my property. What I was doing was getting a good fire started and I would burn semi frozen logs I split from my in-laws place. Ash and Maple. Never thought that much creosote build up would happen.
Did some research and found out when you burn semi wet wood the smoke that goes up the pipe will stick to the pipe easier. Didn't think this would happen. Thinking the high temp burns wouldn't cause that. WRONG. Even though the would I was burning was over 3 yrs old with the little moisture in it that was frozen it cause more creosote to build up. So basically the burning ember screen on the cap got clogged bad causing crappy draft. Thought about taking it off but said that's all I need is to have one rogue ember fly off somewhere and start a leaf fire. I kept it on so now every 2-3wks I'll be checking my cap.
So I guess if you have a NC 30 and you're losing draft, or you can't get a burn going check your cap and pipes and stay away from semi wet wood. Or at least realize when you burn semi wet wood creosote can clog your cap and can change the way your stove performs. I hope I helped someone. Thanks for reading.
