Englander or Summers Heat 13nc owners look inside

[jasong]

Anyone that has the above mentioned stove, how clean does your firebox stay? Here is mine and It's sure not clean like others I have seen.

 

[branchburner]

When was your wood cut/split/stacked? Looks like it's a bit moist, or else not enough air.

 

[jasong]

14 to 18 percent mc. Stove hits 550 to 600 with good secondaries until coalling stage but the firebox is always like this.

 

[slayer7]

I have the Englander 50-SNC13i insert and my firebox never looks like that. Once in awhile the glass gets some black on it but it usually burns off on the next fire. That'd be my guess too, moisture or smoldering wood.

 

[lexybird]

well IMHO your burning dirty ,my nc13 never looks like that and i have been guilty of burning less than perfectly seasoned wood a time or two ,you got alot of ash and some glossy creosote ,a sure sign of incomplete burning and moisture ,whats your chimney setup like hows the draft what kind of wood and how long has it been split and drying and such maybe your doing something wrong or your not checking the wood correctly/accurately and its wetter than you think

 

[Danno77]

how much have you burned? I have the non-epa 12 and it's 100x cleaner than that. I've only burned about 100hours in mine so far.

 

[jasong]

My wood is 14-18 percent moisture and that is confirmed with a moisture meter. Chimney is class a, flue is double wall and top of chimney is 16 feet from bottom of stove and it has an oak 15 feet is what is recommended. I do have a good draft, a lit flame next to the cracked open door will suck the flame sideways into the firebox The only thing I can figure out is that when I get the stove up to temperature and shut the primary air down I need to leave more primary air on. But that would seem to me to possibly cause an overfiring of the stove. Right now its to warm to try it though. Stove was used all last winter.

 

[lexybird]

well thats fine for now but it seems at some time you were burning wood that was not well seasoned,yo u dont get creosote buildup on the firebox and brick from hot burning dry wood in a epa stove. maybe your choking her down too much and smothering it out before it takes off

 

[MNtreewood]

What does your chimney look like at the top? If your stove looks like that on the inside, the chimney more than likely is building up too. Wouldn't hurt to check it before it gets hazardous.

Have stood outside and noticed a lot of smoke coming from the chimney while burning?

 

[jasong]

I get some smoke when starting up and when reloading but its not much. most times it's just shimmering heat waves. I cleaned the Chimney three times last winter and each time you could probably put what I got out of it in your cupped hand.

 

[North of 60]

My wood is 14-18 percent moisture and that is confirmed with a moisture meter. Chimney is class a, flue is double wall and top of chimney is 16 feet from bottom of stove and it has an oak 15 feet is what is recommended. I do have a good draft, a lit flame next to the cracked open door will suck the flame sideways into the firebox The only thing I can figure out is that when I get the stove up to temperature and shut the primary air down I need to leave more primary air on. But that would seem to me to possibly cause an overfiring of the stove. Right now its to warm to try it though. Stove was used all last winter.

How are you taking your moisture readings?

 

[jasong]

I check it in the middle after resplitting.

 

[North of 60]

Well that rules that one out.

 

[North of 60]

OK assuming your moisture meter is correct. What type of wood and how long has it been cut and split? Just trying to get a feel.
I think some store bought wood would surly rule out your fuel. Your ash is all thats left so it looks like you have a good draft to the end.

 

[jasong]

Wood is oak. It was cut around March of 08 and split in september. It was split into smaller pieces to facilitate drying and was stacked out of the rain. It may be that I am turning down the primary to far, even though I get good secondary. If I slide the primary all the way in it will just smolder so I back it back out about an 1/8".

 

[North of 60]

Keep your Primary air opened a crack more on your next burn until you reach a litter higher temp than you are used to seeing, BUT monitor your stove top. Maybe a few more degrees are in order before its completely shut down. Other than that it sounds like all is being operated correctly. I know how it sucks when its not that cold out and your looking for the secondaries to kick in. Time to open some windows. Cheers
N of 60