New Neighbor burning in old stove with less smoke

[owingsia]

So I had a new neighbor move in, they have an old englander (Same as me until this year). It got cold and I saw they were just dumping smoke out the stack... I kindly explained that I own the exact same stove and I could show him a few tricks to get more heat out of it.

Anway, we tested his wood that he had bought and its 18-22% so not actually to bad for bought wood. I gave him one of my extra thermometers, showed him how to get the stove hot. (He was running it at 200F stove top) Showed him how to get the thing up to 500-600 and that once dialed in it cruse there as long as you keep wood in it. (Obviously) once it was up in the high 500s we started to tamp is down etc... got the blower going and heated up the house. Showed him his stack and it was putting out very little smoke as far as those old smoke dragons go.

This morning I saw them getting the kids on the bus with a clean burning stack, he waved to me as I went by saying "House was warm last night!" We were down in the low 30s and he was happy to be warm.

my old englander loves to cruse at about 580 all day long, throw a split in when it drops down to the low 400s and it picks right back up again. coals are what it loves. get a good bed of coals and that stove stays hot!

 

[jatoxico]

Good story. Getting people to listen isn't always easy as I'm sure you know.

 

[sportbikerider78]

I'm installing an NC30....where do you guys monitor temps? On the top of the stove?

 

[saskwoodburner]

... I kindly explained that I own the exact same stove and I could show him a few tricks to get more heat out of it.

That right there is the art of diplomacy.

 

[Alex C]

Nice work! I just started burning last year and I would have greatly appreciated in-person advice for things like that. I used this forum to learn everything I needed to know (I Think). Got the install done, wood burning practices honed in, and so forth. Good of you to do that for your neighbor.

 

[2broke2ride]

That is awesome, I started burning on my own last season and jumped right in with both feet running 24/7 as primary heat, believe me when I say the learning curve was STEEP. Including but not limited to, underseasoned wood, an old smoke dragon with a Thermostatic draft that I had a hard time getting right, and a chimney fire on Christmas Eve as an added bonus. I would have loved some first hand advice. Lol

 

[begreen]

I'm installing an NC30....where do you guys monitor temps? On the top of the stove?

On the lower step in front of the flue pipe.

 

[begreen]

Great story owingsla. Dry wood and proper operation go a long way towards smoke reduction. Kudos for helping out a neighbor.

 

[jb6l6gc]

Good job being a steward of wood heat. Always nice when someone truly appreciates the help and advice. I have a friend who just bought his first house and I go over and try to help him as much as possible because he truly appreciates learning from the mistakes I've made along the way