need help nc30

[notshubby]

my wood is not perfect css back in march. mostly maple. burns good no hissing or sap bubbling out of the end of the splits. will shoot right up to 750 with a big load for the night if I'm not paying attention with the fan on. I installed a damper in my connector pipe as an emergency shutdown which I have had to use to throttle it down. otherwise it stays in the wide open position. most of the time I run it with the end of the draft lever spring handle even with the lip of the ash shelf below the door. I get nice burn times.

my problem is if I fill it to last the whole night when I get up I have a huge coal bed. stovetop temp around 200. ive tried pulling the draft control out forward and opening up the draft to different spots to burn down the coals but it will not go back over 200. the only way to get heat is too drag coals forward and add some small splits. which just burns down and makes more coals. seems like the only time you really get heat off it is if you have visible flames. I let it go out after about a week of burning and when I shoveled it out I had basically a pile of unburnt coals with some ash about even with the top of the doghouse.

it hasn't been really cold out but I'm wondering how I am going to burn down coals without leaving the damper control knob all the way out, getting no heat out of it, once it gets real cold.

 

[quotejso]

my wood is not perfect css back in march. mostly maple. burns good no hissing or sap bubbling out of the end of the splits. will shoot right up to 750 with a big load for the night if I'm not paying attention with the fan on. I installed a damper in my connector pipe as an emergency shutdown which I have had to use to throttle it down. otherwise it stays in the wide open position. most of the time I run it with the end of the draft lever spring handle even with the lip of the ash shelf below the door. I get nice burn times.

my problem is if I fill it to last the whole night when I get up I have a huge coal bed. stovetop temp around 200. ive tried pulling the draft control out forward and opening up the draft to different spots to burn down the coals but it will not go back over 200. the only way to get heat is too drag coals forward and add some small splits. which just burns down and makes more coals. seems like the only time you really get heat off it is if you have visible flames. I let it go out after about a week of burning and when I shoveled it out I had basically a pile of unburnt coals with some ash about even with the top of the doghouse.

it hasn't been really cold out but I'm wondering how I am going to burn down coals without leaving the damper control knob all the way out, getting no heat out of it, once it gets real cold.

Yea it's making heat just not enough. My stove does the same thing. If you can't wait just scoop out ash as best you can until you have enough room for a reload. I use a Poe rake to sift the coal from ash. Also turning the coals over and getting them out from under the ash helps them burn. I have heard of people mixing soft woods with hardwoods to avoid the coal issue. I had the worst coaling issues when I was burning less then seasoned locust.

 

[kennyp2339]

Your post caught my attention, just a few questions..
1. How long is your flue and what type of chimney system do you have?
2. Have you checked your door seals? When the stove is cold do the dollar bill test: using a dollar bill place it between the door and stove, pull the dollar, there should be high resistance on dollar when pulling, if not your door seal needs to be replaced, test in multiple spots on the door.

I had the same issue with my old stove last season. I moved the stove from my living room to the basement, when the stove was in the living room I would burn and never have a problem with excessive coal build up, everything would pretty much burn evenly with in reason down to ash.
When I moved the stove to the basement I ran a new chimney using single wall to class a double insulated about 22ft straight up from the stove collar. I quickly noticed that I had a problem with excessive coal build up. My first check was my door gasket, I found a couple loose areas so I replaced the gasket. It slowed the fire down a little but I still had issues with coal build up. I then put a pipe damper in, it kind of helped but again I still had the build up like I never had before.
I started looking at my wood supply and bought a moisture meter, I tested random pieces (freshly splitting them) and had a consistent average of 12% - 15%. I think took a look at my brand new chimney. I was about 6ft higher than whats needed for the 10-3-2 rule, so I removed a 3ft length. The next fire I had burned like when the stove was upstairs, nice and even, respectable but workable coals.
What I think was that I had an excessive draft issue, during the decay stage of the fire all the heat that was generated in my fire box was being robbed and evacuated up the chimney causing the coals to stay large and not burn down effectively. When I removed that length it was a night and day difference.
Now that's my experience and everyone has different setup's and different conditions, there are members here that had a strong draft that simply blocked half there air inlets to give them more control. I'm curious what you find out.

 

[notshubby]

Your post caught my attention, just a few questions..
1. How long is your flue and what type of chimney system do you have?
2. Have you checked your door seals? When the stove is cold do the dollar bill test: using a dollar bill place it between the door and stove, pull the dollar, there should be high resistance on dollar when pulling, if not your door seal needs to be replaced, test in multiple spots on the door.

I had the same issue with my old stove last season. I moved the stove from my living room to the basement, when the stove was in the living room I would burn and never have a problem with excessive coal build up, everything would pretty much burn evenly with in reason down to ash.
When I moved the stove to the basement I ran a new chimney using single wall to class a double insulated about 22ft straight up from the stove collar. I quickly noticed that I had a problem with excessive coal build up. My first check was my door gasket, I found a couple loose areas so I replaced the gasket. It slowed the fire down a little but I still had issues with coal build up. I then put a pipe damper in, it kind of helped but again I still had the build up like I never had before.
I started looking at my wood supply and bought a moisture meter, I tested random pieces (freshly splitting them) and had a consistent average of 12% - 15%. I think took a look at my brand new chimney. I was about 6ft higher than whats needed for the 10-3-2 rule, so I removed a 3ft length. The next fire I had burned like when the stove was upstairs, nice and even, respectable but workable coals.
What I think was that I had an excessive draft issue, during the decay stage of the fire all the heat that was generated in my fire box was being robbed and evacuated up the chimney causing the coals to stay large and not burn down effectively. When I removed that length it was a night and day difference.
Now that's my experience and everyone has different setup's and different conditions, there are members here that had a strong draft that simply blocked half there air inlets to give them more control. I'm curious what you find out.

I have 2 elbows right off the stove not 90s closer to 45s to get me lined up with the chimney going out. connector is single wall about 4 foot then 15 foot duravent triple wall. no way around that it goes through a chase in an upstairs bedroom. heres an old pic b4 the new carpet and trim that shows my double elbow offset.

 

[notshubby]

Your post caught my attention, just a few questions..
1. How long is your flue and what type of chimney system do you have?
2. Have you checked your door seals? When the stove is cold do the dollar bill test: using a dollar bill place it between the door and stove, pull the dollar, there should be high resistance on dollar when pulling, if not your door seal needs to be replaced, test in multiple spots on the door.

I had the same issue with my old stove last season. I moved the stove from my living room to the basement, when the stove was in the living room I would burn and never have a problem with excessive coal build up, everything would pretty much burn evenly with in reason down to ash.
When I moved the stove to the basement I ran a new chimney using single wall to class a double insulated about 22ft straight up from the stove collar. I quickly noticed that I had a problem with excessive coal build up. My first check was my door gasket, I found a couple loose areas so I replaced the gasket. It slowed the fire down a little but I still had issues with coal build up. I then put a pipe damper in, it kind of helped but again I still had the build up like I never had before.
I started looking at my wood supply and bought a moisture meter, I tested random pieces (freshly splitting them) and had a consistent average of 12% - 15%. I think took a look at my brand new chimney. I was about 6ft higher than whats needed for the 10-3-2 rule, so I removed a 3ft length. The next fire I had burned like when the stove was upstairs, nice and even, respectable but workable coals.
What I think was that I had an excessive draft issue, during the decay stage of the fire all the heat that was generated in my fire box was being robbed and evacuated up the chimney causing the coals to stay large and not burn down effectively. When I removed that length it was a night and day difference.
Now that's my experience and everyone has different setup's and different conditions, there are members here that had a strong draft that simply blocked half there air inlets to give them more control. I'm curious what you find out.

ill check my door gasket but It should be good since its only been fired about 10 days and the gasket is still pretty new and hasn't hardened up yet. I cannot remove a section of chimney cause that would put me below the 2 foot higher than anything within 10 foot code.

 

[Blaine]

Someone on this site suggested that sprinkling a scoop or two of wood pellets over a problem coal bed helps to burn down the coals in short order without compounding the problem. A neighbor of mine who has ongoing coaling problems tried this and has been extremely pleased with the results. Might be worth a try in your case, since the cost of a bag of pellets is a reasonably inexpensive solution for a frustrating problem.

 

[edyit]

if not pellets then pulling all the coals to the front of the stove and putting a small split east west on top of it and burning that with the air opened burns down the coals and gives off some decent heat in the process

 

[Z33]

I had the same problem with mine the first year that I burned less than stellar wood (high 20s). This year I am burning 15-21% and the problem is completely gone. When I clean the stove out its rare that I have anything larger than a quarter.

The fix is dry wood...The half ass fix for this year is using small splits of some soft wood if you have it to burn down the coal bed.

 

[blades]

Compressed wood blocks are another alternative to use on a bed of coals to reduce them. Around here the blocks are cheaper than an equal amount of pellets.

 

[johnpma]

Have been burning the NC30 at nights for a few weeks. I load it up at bed time and at 5 AM I have a nice hot bed of coals. Except the glass is usually very black. I open the air add a couple splits, and keep adding to the fire as it builds. About an hour later the glass clears up to about 80% clear. Is this how your NC30 reacts as well?

 

[Highbeam]

My NC30 is run hard on softwood or low btu hardwoods. Coal buildup can also be caused by running too hard. See pic.

My glass stays very clear on the NC30. Just dust.

The stove really seems to have a hard time burning slow. It's either really hot or too cold and smokey with dirty glass and foul emissions. I like to keep it at the 700 mark.

 

[MagKarl]

My NC30 is run hard on softwood or low btu hardwoods. Coal buildup can also be caused by running too hard. See pic.

My glass stays very clear on the NC30. Just dust.

The stove really seems to have a hard time burning slow. It's either really hot or too cold and smokey with dirty glass and foul emissions. I like to keep it at the 700 mark.

Highbeam, how easy is it to control the NC30 when it's running hard? That stove is on my short list for my barn as well. Same climate and wood as you for the most part.

 

[Highbeam]

Highbeam, how easy is it to control the NC30 when it's running hard? That stove is on my short list for my barn as well. Same climate and wood as you for the most part.

I feel in complete control. Unlike the other noncats I've run, this stove will instantly snuff if I shut the draft control. Even when ripping along wish a full load.