Napoleon 1900... I think I'm ready!

[ScotO]

Ha, it looks like you do what I do - boil artichokes/beets/potatoes.

I do spaghetti sauce also but on a lower burn temp.

I even use the same size pot.

Beautiful setup! Nice hearth.

Where's the other shoe?

lol....I think the dog may have ate it...thanks for the compliments.....we do a lot of water in that pot, to help with the dryness in the winter....but I also sometimes finish off maple syrup on it too....I plan on modifying the top sheild so I can get that pot to sit directly on the stovetop, that cooking trivet isnt all what it's cracked up to be.....gonna use a plasma cutter to make a nice size hole in the sheild to accept the pot, and making a custom trivet to put in it when the pot is not in use....someday!

 

[Rickochet]

great thread here guys, we've had our Napoleon 1900 for over 4 years now and we couldn't live without it...we liked it so much we went and bought a Napoleon NZ3000 for our living room....we have a 3000 sq ft. house and I haven't turned my furnaces on in over 4 years (other than to make sure they were in good working order)....this thread has given me many good ideas, we just changed out our firebrick for the first time, used the heavier brick, seems to be burning great......also had one of the top manifold bolts strip out, I ended up welding the original hole shut, redrilling a new hole in front of it, tapping it and using a new stainless bolt....I also removed, retapped and replaced the other bolts with stainless.....nice and tight now, also got the new, thicker top baffles, going to put then in here sometime this week...keep this post going for all those Napoleon users out there!

Last week I ordered a new secondary air manifold gasket and new baffles from Obediah's in Montana. Both have been upgraded to new improved styles. The manifold no longer requires a gasket. It came with new stainless steel bolts and much to my surprise, my existing bolts were easily removed! The redesigned baffles are completely different. Instead of four 3/4" thick baffles, there is only two of them that are 2" thick and they now run north-south in the firebox. To install them, the top layer of firebrick must be removed. After getting the baffles in place, reinstall the firebricks using the top Z strip again and pull the baffle down and it provides a firm pressure on the bricks so they stay in place. Make sure you push the baffles to the rear of the stove allowing the gases exit at the front of the stove. (Similar to the old baffle positioning.)

As far as my air control quandary: after the above improvements were made, the stove seems to be back to its normal mode of operation. It is 30 degrees outside right now and 74 in the house! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... it feels so good!!

Enjoy your 1900's and keep the dialog going to help others out with any issues they may have! Happy Burning!

 

[Rickochet]

I just realized something. If you "eventually" get the effect of shutting down the air intake, then you definitely have an air leak. Probably in the door gasket. The air leak should be a constant source of air where as shutting down the intake's effect should take time. Kind of like a shunting capacitor in parallel with the load in an electrical circuit.

Just been thinking about your problem.

Thanks for pondering the issue Heats Twice! Since you made the simple capacitor analogy, it became clear!

 

[HeatsTwice]

I just realized something. If you "eventually" get the effect of shutting down the air intake, then you definitely have an air leak. Probably in the door gasket. The air leak should be a constant source of air where as shutting down the intake's effect should take time. Kind of like a shunting capacitor in parallel with the load in an electrical circuit.

Just been thinking about your problem.

Thanks for pondering the issue Heats Twice! Since you made the simple capacitor analogy, it became clear!

How have things worked out? Has your problem been solved?

 

[ScotO]

great thread here guys, we've had our Napoleon 1900 for over 4 years now and we couldn't live without it...we liked it so much we went and bought a Napoleon NZ3000 for our living room....we have a 3000 sq ft. house and I haven't turned my furnaces on in over 4 years (other than to make sure they were in good working order)....this thread has given me many good ideas, we just changed out our firebrick for the first time, used the heavier brick, seems to be burning great......also had one of the top manifold bolts strip out, I ended up welding the original hole shut, redrilling a new hole in front of it, tapping it and using a new stainless bolt....I also removed, retapped and replaced the other bolts with stainless.....nice and tight now, also got the new, thicker top baffles, going to put then in here sometime this week...keep this post going for all those Napoleon users out there!

Last week I ordered a new secondary air manifold gasket and new baffles from Obediah's in Montana. Both have been upgraded to new improved styles. The manifold no longer requires a gasket. It came with new stainless steel bolts and much to my surprise, my existing bolts were easily removed! The redesigned baffles are completely different. Instead of four 3/4" thick baffles, there is only two of them that are 2" thick and they now run north-south in the firebox. To install them, the top layer of firebrick must be removed. After getting the baffles in place, reinstall the firebricks using the top Z strip again and pull the baffle down and it provides a firm pressure on the bricks so they stay in place. Make sure you push the baffles to the rear of the stove allowing the gases exit at the front of the stove. (Similar to the old baffle positioning.)

As far as my air control quandary: after the above improvements were made, the stove seems to be back to its normal mode of operation. It is 30 degrees outside right now and 74 in the house! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... it feels so good!!

Enjoy your 1900's and keep the dialog going to help others out with any issues they may have! Happy Burning!

I just got a set of the new baffles too, and I like them much better....haven't been able to install them, will wait for a mild day to let the fire go out......

 

[Rickochet]

I just realized something. If you "eventually" get the effect of shutting down the air intake, then you definitely have an air leak. Probably in the door gasket. The air leak should be a constant source of air where as shutting down the intake's effect should take time. Kind of like a shunting capacitor in parallel with the load in an electrical circuit.

Just been thinking about your problem.

Thanks for pondering the issue Heats Twice! Since you made the simple capacitor analogy, it became clear!

How have things worked out? Has your problem been solved?

I replaced the baffles, manifold and door gasket and things were very close to normal. However, I still wasn't satisfied that it operated as it did when new. I removed the door glass to get a good look at the glass gasket and I determined the gasket was not sealing very tightly on the vertical sides of the glass. After a quick trip to our local stove shop to get a glass gasket, I cleaned the glass and replaced the self adhering gasket, fired up the stove and NOW it is just like it was when new!

Just a good reminder to check out every possible component when something is not operating normally. I am sitting in my recliner watching the secondary burn flames slowly lick in such a beautiful fashion! Life is goooooood!!

 

[begreen]

Yea! Congratulations. Enjoy the warmth.

 

[HeatsTwice]

great thread here guys, we've had our Napoleon 1900 for over 4 years now and we couldn't live without it...we liked it so much we went and bought a Napoleon NZ3000 for our living room....we have a 3000 sq ft. house and I haven't turned my furnaces on in over 4 years (other than to make sure they were in good working order)....this thread has given me many good ideas, we just changed out our firebrick for the first time, used the heavier brick, seems to be burning great......also had one of the top manifold bolts strip out, I ended up welding the original hole shut, redrilling a new hole in front of it, tapping it and using a new stainless bolt....I also removed, retapped and replaced the other bolts with stainless.....nice and tight now, also got the new, thicker top baffles, going to put then in here sometime this week...keep this post going for all those Napoleon users out there!

Scotty, I know this is a little off topic but I was admiring your stove installation and wondered how you obtained such a nice curve when installing the wood floors. I am currently installing them throughout my house and, if challenged with the same type of curve, I would not know how to transfer it to the wood boards and then make the cut.

So how did you transfer the curve and what tool did you use to make the cut. I have some ideas but yours looks so nice I would like to know how a professional does it.

 

[ScotO]

great thread here guys, we've had our Napoleon 1900 for over 4 years now and we couldn't live without it...we liked it so much we went and bought a Napoleon NZ3000 for our living room....we have a 3000 sq ft. house and I haven't turned my furnaces on in over 4 years (other than to make sure they were in good working order)....this thread has given me many good ideas, we just changed out our firebrick for the first time, used the heavier brick, seems to be burning great......also had one of the top manifold bolts strip out, I ended up welding the original hole shut, redrilling a new hole in front of it, tapping it and using a new stainless bolt....I also removed, retapped and replaced the other bolts with stainless.....nice and tight now, also got the new, thicker top baffles, going to put then in here sometime this week...keep this post going for all those Napoleon users out there!

Scotty, I know this is a little off topic but I was admiring your stove installation and wondered how you obtained such a nice curve when installing the wood floors. I am currently installing them throughout my house and, if challenged with the same type of curve, I would not know how to transfer it to the wood boards and then make the cut.



So how did you transfer the curve and what tool did you use to make the cut. I have some ideas but yours looks so nice I would like to know how a professional does it.

Let me get some pics and a description lined up and I will post later tonight if I get a chance....it really wasn't that hard, trust me....this was my first real hardwood floor install and it went very smooth, considering I installed it in my 100yr. old house, and there was a lot of prep work.....I will post some pics later....

 

[Rickochet]

Since I replaced my baffles with the 2" thick updated models, my stove "pops & creaks". It always has made a little noise going through the typical heating cycle, but now it constantly is in a state of "creak". Have you noticed similar noises in yours since changing the baffles?

 

[Rickochet]

The popping & creaking finally went away. It must have just taken some time for the baffles to settle in to a "comfortable" position. The Stove is beginning the 5th heating season. I am still very satisfied with this stove.

 

[jeffs]

I know this is an old thread, but wanted to add something I experienced as there is a lot of great info here on the 1900, and thought it might be helpful to someone.

When we first got our 1900 I had frequent issues with not being able to control the fire. I called the dealer (local guys who were clueless), put in a flue damper, and finally found info here pointing me to Obadia's who gave me info on altering the draft regulator to close completely. That helped a lot. But later I realized I had missed the simplest explanation. I noticed that my coals was burning brighter around the ash door, and realized i was getting an air leak there. Eventually I learned to never clean the ashes out completely, but leave about an inch in the bottom as insulation. I also started pushing more ashes/burned chunks into the opening for the ash door and really packing them in there to seal that air leak. That helped, but stupid me, I never checked that the ash door was really closed 100%. If you use the ash door, it only takes a tiny bit of debris to keep it from closing completely. I mean, it can LOOK closed at a quick glance, but if you don't check it carefully, it may not be. I know this may sound like a "duh" thing, but when you're new to this, you don't know what you don't know. I don't even use the ash door now, I just shovel the stuff out the front, it isn't a big deal, and have no issues with over-firing now.

I would like to know if anyone has done more comparisons between using the replacement baffles (which are now up to around $90 a pair), vs. firebricks as HeatsTwice was suggesting.

 

[mepellet]

Curious how you altered the draft regulator to close completely. And do you mean close the primary and secondary openings completely?

 

[jeffs]

If you contact Woody at Obadiah's (mentioned in this thread by several people), he will email you the instructions on the fix. It's pretty simple. If I remember correctly, I had to take take out the ash drawer and take off a couple of bolts to access the draft reg. mechanism on bottom of stove. (the one with the handle under the ash shelf.) That handle, connects via a rod to a small steel plate that slides in a track and covers an air opening. You're sliding that plate open more or less to adjust the air going in. On newer 1900s, a small spot weld bump was added that prevents the plate from closing completely, so there is always some air going in, you can never close it completely. Word is, this was done to help the stove meet EPA regs. People who closed the draft down too far, too fast would cause excessive smoking/smoldering (higher carbon output). The extra air prevents that. Anyway– you can basically remove the rod/plate piece and grind that bump down so the plate closes almost completely. Took me about 30 minutes total. The thing that is also an issue with this (I think), is that the way it's set up now, to always allow that extra air in, it really pushes the stove towards over-firing if you're not careful. And, if you ever have a chimney fire, you can't close the draft off (also not a good scenario).

I believe this draft control is the only opening that allows air into the primary and secondary opening, but I'm not sure. Maybe someone else can shed light on that?

 

[jbean]

We have the Napoleon 1400Pl and we love it. It does a very good job of heating our main floor living. We wish it had a blower though (our model didn't come with one), so we have a fan that we set up and it seems to really help move the air around.

 

[mepellet]

Thanks jeffs. The fix probably doesn't apply to my stove then. I can push in the draft handle pretty far. I don't think I could push it in any further because the handle would hit the ash lip.

 

[jeffs]

Thanks jeffs. The fix probably doesn't apply to my stove then. I can push in the draft handle pretty far. I don't think I could push it in any further because the handle would hit the ash lip.

I could push mine in pretty far too, but after the fix I could actually push it in to where you could barely see the end of the spring sticking out under the ash lip.
If your stove is working fine, I wouldn't worry about it.
Woody at Obadiah's did say it will increase you burn time. If you can close it down further, you'll get longer times between loading.

 

[mepellet]

Interesting. Might have to investigate more. I can see the entire spring/handle. I just always thought it was bottoming out on the spring/handle

 

[rsplodge]

I haven't read the entire thread here but have just ordered a Napoleon 1900 for our 1200 sq ft cottage up here in Canada. We get very cold winters and our previous stove just couldn't get the place warm enough. I will probably still be fighting our very high ceilings and this huge 12 x 16' double-glazed garage door which is sort of the architectural highlight of our cottage (and definitely needs insulating blinds or something), but I'm curious to see how much better this stove will perform than our old Pioneer.

One question I have is whether a blower will do a much better job than the heat-powered ECOFans? We have one of those but I suspect the electric blower moves quite a bit more air(?) I don't like adding a powered unit, if I don't have to, as our cottage runs off of solar, a bank of batteries and an inverter. I wonder how many ECOFans equals an electric blower?

Thanks, ..Roger

 

[begreen]

Your nemesis will be the high ceilings. Heat will want to stratify up there. The stove blower will help somewhat, but I think you are going to need to have a fan running in reverse in order to stir the air near the ceiling and force it's return to the floor level.

 

[rsplodge]

Yes I'll definitely look into getting a ceiling fan and use some of my solar power to run that.

Your nemesis will be the high ceilings. Heat will want to stratify up there. The stove blower will help somewhat, but I think you are going to need to have a fan running in reverse in order to stir the air near the ceiling and force it's return to the floor level.

 

[begreen]

These fans might be worth looking at for low power consumption. 2.4 watts on low speed:
http://aeratron.org/our-fans/

 

[rsplodge]

These fans might be worth looking at for low power consumption. 2.4 watts on low speed:
http://aeratron.org/our-fans/

Wow those are super efficient! Thanks for the link.

 

[surfing woodsman]

when you guys are talking temperatures, WHERE are taking your temps? I assume under the trivet, as that where I see the reference temperatures taken from in the owners manual. If I remember correctly, I believe the owners manual mentions stove efficieincies are best when the stove temp as measured under the trivet are between 500-600 degrees? I use a magnetic thermometer under the trivet, and 6-8" up the stack for stack temp reference as well. For most efficient heating I would say my under trivet temps are best between 450 - 700. I find that is most commonly accomplished by setting the air input "draft knob" between 2.5 - 3.5 for most efficient operation.

I have noticed the under trivet temps ironically drop as much as 100 -200 degrees when the upper baffles have been disturbed and there is a large 3-4 inch gap between them from being bumped during loading, so those baffles make a large difference when put in place correctly !

As I stated before, I burn from October thru AprilMay depending on the temps each year. But, I CONTINUOUSLY run the stove from probably NovDec thru MarchApril. My first months using this stove last year I was constantly battling a relatively high coalsh level that consumed too much of the fairly short firebox height. We have come up with a loading scheme that seems very effective for keeping the coalsh levels at a minimum wile continously burning the stove through the colder months, and getting the most heat of our wood. We try and get our temps up throughout the day to accomodate the longer burn times we achieve at night by closing the damper to "1" or so . Problem is the low and long burns we do at night leaves a pile of coals that accumulate too much if you keep burning it on low, and loading front to rear. so, what we do to burn up the accumulating coals and keep the stove hot enough to burn efficiently is we burn 16" or so split logs sideways instead of front to rear in a 2 or 3 : 1 ratio. Meaning, for every long slow burn at night with logs front to rear as explained in the manual, we burn another 2 or 3 times between that with short split wood pieces turned sideways. the stove really gives off the heat this way, and burns up the accumulating coals into almost dust ash very well. In order to do this, I use my shovel or poker to move most of the coals to the left and right running front to rear, leaving an air 'tunnel" down the middle to the rear. I then set my shorter split pieces left to right, and and stack them closely, and possibly a single one on top to create a triangular stack, but sideways, spanning the air trough down the middle. I also place the first log almost 1/3 of way forward from the back of the stove for a small tight load. I came up with this idea from watching the stove throughout it's own burn cycles over months. I discovered with the stoves design of letting the inlet air in low and middle front of the firebox, the stove burns best when it burns the wood and creates a super hot middle kiln area surrounded by wood on 3 sides and possible on top. So, by creating the trough down the middle and burning shorter split pieces left to right, I am creating this same "kilnlike" tunnel, that burns hot and efficiently, and allows the coals on the left and right and rear of the box to burn completely into energy because the box temps are so high, and the air is moving across them anyways. I was even able to get my teenage son to understand it and he practices the same loading 2-3 sideways :1 front to rear ratio and we have become very comfrotable using this stove throughout the long winter heating months to comfortable heat our 2700 sq ft. house down into the single digits when managed properly.

To accomodate this sideways log placement cycle thing we do, I now cut some wood 16" , and others at 20 - 22" and stack them all together, so when we bring in wood each time, we have a good mix of sideways and front to rear logs.

This year between the blower installation, and the new loading scheme I am getting a lot more out of my stove than I did last year and our wood consumption is down as well! Before coming up with this, we had too much unburned coals and I would unfortunately have to discard some of the not so completely burned coals out with in the ash bucket, to make room for a long overnight slow burn, and that was frustrating. I am now betting the load of logs we get annualy that used to only heat our house for one year, will likely get us almost 1.5 years because of the our napoleon stove, and the way we are using it. I also stuck a mirror up my chimney last week and couldnt believe how clean it is compared to previous years with older technology, but good named brand stoves. Happy Napoloeon stove burning!

I wanted to say thank for the info on the ratio for burning the wood in different directions. I have a Waterford Trinity MKII and wasn't burning very well and I had read this post and tried it out last night and the stove burned like a champ and also very efficient. My brother has a Napoleon 1900 which he loves and I had sent him this link and he will be trying out this method tonight. I will be purchasing a Napoleon 1900 hopefully sometime this season because my stove wont put off enough heat for the whole house, but your method definitely has helped with keeping our downstairs living area very comfortable and keeping the wife warm (lol). Thanks

 

[mcdanie1]

Reviving an old thread here. We've been burning the Napoleon 1900 for the last 2 years. Recently replaced the baffles with firebricks as the baffles were quite beat up and wanted to do it before I had to due to failure.

Things were going pretty well, but I noticed that I was getting ALOT of smoke whenever the door was opened. Even if I opened it very slowly, once it got to a certain point, smoke would pour out. Slowed down the use quite a bit after this started happening then this evening I was taking a look and noticed something hanging down from inside the stove right in the middle of the top of the door opening. Upon further inspection it looks as though it is the manifold cover. Further inspection would reveal that the cover appears to be held in place by only one remaining fastener at the rear of the stove. It looks like there should be 3 fasteners holding this in place. I haven't been able to look at the middle of the cover to see if that fastener is still in place, but from what I can see both the front and middle fastener are missing.

I'll be giving Obadiah's a call in the next day or so, but wanted to ping the folks that have dealt with it here first to see what 'gotchas' lay ahead or any recommendations you all may have.

Any feedback is most appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Mac