Is the Englander NC-30 capable of a 8 hour burn ?

[jsab9191]

I have a NC- 30 and am wondering what people with the same model get for a long burn with good dry hardwood. I heat from the basement and push mine pretty hard, not getting very long burn times.

 

[Jazzberry]

Only had mine for one season but my answer is no way. Coals after 8 hours yes if your burning oak. No coals after 8 hours with pine or cedar. Smoldering is not burning to my way of thinking. Pushing it hard as you said makes for much shorter inefficient burns. Mine likes a full box of wood and keep it around 550 degrees for my best results. Pushing it makes heat go up the stack not into the room along with shorter burns.

 

[mol1jb]

It depends on what you consider a burn time. Most consider burn time from reload to coals, stove temp ~300 on the coal end of the burn. Will you see flames for 8 hours, no way. I used to burn my 30 in the basement with similar results. You had to push it really hard to make the main floor a decent temperature. Thus you would get to the coaling stage quicker. The best advice I ever received on this site was to put the stove on the level you want the most heat.

 

[CenterTree]

As you will see most responses will mention that "burn time" is subjective.

8 hours of flames, no.
8 hours of "heat", sure.

If your basement is insulated, then the end of your burn (coals only) will go a lot farther to make ya feel warm.
However if you are using that 30 in an uninsulated basement, you will definitely be seeing shorter burn cycles.


Has anyone ever noticed that according to spell check the word "uninsulated" is not a real word?


.

 

[JA600L]

Is the basement insulated? I had similar issues with my Quadra Fire from the basement. I fully insulated the basement and installed a woodstock Ideal Steel. Now heating from the basement is easy. I am away 10-12 hours a day and it's mid 70's upstairs when I get home.

 

[begreen]

Burn time is relative to the cu ftg being heated and the heat loss of that area.

 

[Highbeam]

Burn time is relative to the cu ftg being heated and the heat loss of that area.

I totally disagree. Burn time has nothing to do with the heat load of the room. This stove, and most others do not have a thermostat. You control the burn rate, not the wall. For max burn time you adjust the stove to the slowest burn rate.

 

[jsab9191]

The basement is uninsulated and I recognize that the heat loss is high. We are building a new house and will insulate the basement, i am trying to determine whether I will keep this stove or replace it. Overnight burn is important to me.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

The basement is uninsulated and I recogne heat loss is high. We are building a new house and will insulate the basement, i am trying to determine whether I will keep this stove or replace it. Overnight burn is important to me.

Wood quality is an important factor too. With dryer wood i was able to close off the damper more.

 

[JA600L]

Do you have plenty of coals to reload on or is it about dead in the morning?

 

[Highbeam]

The basement is uninsulated and I recognize that the heat loss is high. We are building a new house and will insulate the basement, i am trying to determine whether I will keep this stove or replace it. Overnight burn is important to me.

Leave the stove there. The new house should get a new stove. Even if it's a new nc30.

The nc30 will burn overnight easily at a low burn rate. You will have plenty of coals for a relight without matches. The nc30 is a very large stove and will accomplish this overnight burn just as well as any other noncat.

I'm sure you know that cat stoves can burn three to four times as long on the same amount of wood. Long burn times, especially overnight, are what made me convert to a cat stove for home heating.

 

[Squisher]

Well if all non-cat re-burn stoves are the same you should be able to easily get 8hrs out of softwoods with a full load. I can throw full size splits in my summit after overnight burns with fir and easily with any hardwood. I've been burning silver maple a bunch lately and have plenty of coals into the 12hr+ range. We are approaching 15hrs now from about a 1/2 full stove last night and the stove is out for all intensive purposes but it's still got some heat to it.

 

[begreen]

I totally disagree. Burn time has nothing to do with the heat load of the room. This stove, and most others do not have a thermostat. You control the burn rate, not the wall. For max burn time you adjust the stove to the slowest burn rate.

We're saying the same thing with different terms. If the room is at 75 you are not going to turn up the stove unless you want it to be a sauna, that means turning down the stove because you're only maintaining room temperature, not trying to raise it. If the room temp is at 60F and you want it to be 75F, then you are going to push it and burn time will be notably shorter. If the house heat loss is great then you are going to burn at maximum and fight an uphill battle with wood consumption and shorter burntime.

Bottom line is many folks are getting 8+hr burn times with the 30NC because it is right-sized for the heat load (or heat loss) of the house and climate zone.

 

[jsab9191]

Thanks for the replies, I have not tested the NC 30 under conditions one would normally use a wood stove. It is in our summer home and we only go there on weekends in the winter. The house is cold and we are always playing catch up running the stove to bring the house and basement up to a reasonable temp. The new house will be occupied all the time and will not require hot burns we currently are needing to do.

 

[mol1jb]

I remember when I insulated just part of the basement and closed the uninsulated part off from the stove area. Made a huge difference in basement temp and more importantly main floor temp.

 

[kennyp2339]

My buddies NC30 averages between 8 - 10 hours between loads, but that's packed to the gills with oak, Depends on what your burning I guess, but I do have to say that stove rocks, very simple design but its of good quality and a real work horse.