NC13 rear intake...

[Jason721]

Been using a NC 13 for a couple of years now. It seems to burn hot! It has no problems hitting 700*-800* and burn time isn't that long to me... A bit over 2 hours..maybe 3 hours if I'm lucky. I'm burning 2 year old oak.
Last night I experimented with blocking off the rear intake. I covered it with
aluminum foil. Put a small slit in it with my pocket knife so it could still draw some air.. I had a much more controllable fire. I didn't time how long it burnt but it did seem a lot longer!
Side note... Before I started my experiment I did check the stove for leaks
and found none.
Is cutting the rear air intake a good thing to do or should I ????

 

[begreen]

Is there an exceptionally tall flue on the stove? If there is the stove may need a key damper on the stove pipe. If not, consider changing burning habits before changing the stove. Try turning down the air sooner and burning thicker splits.

 

[Geoff C]

I used to have that stove. It would take off like a rocket ship. Similar burn times to what you are saying. I moved before I did anything to try and calm it down.

 

[begreen]

Too many people leave the air open too long, trying to get all the wood burning briskly. At that point the firebox is too hot and all the wood is outgassing strongly, leading to a very strong fire. Closing down the air, in increments, sooner, can make a big difference. Member @Dix has the stove and may want to chime in. She has been running it for many years.

 

[Dix]

*Jogs in* You rang, BG?

The best burn times I get from the 13 range from 3 - 5 hours, and throwing heat for 5 - 6/7 hours, tops on primo firewood. Depends on how much I load it

Never had a problem with the rear intake.

I start w/ air & door open, and front air open, once the fire gets going, shut the door and decrease front air control as the temps start going up. It's usually shut down with in 1/2 and hour or so. Yes, it does cruise at 700 -800F.

 

[Jason721]

*Jogs in* You rang, BG?

The best burn times I get from the 13 range from 3 - 5 hours, and throwing heat for 5 - 6/7 hours, tops on primo firewood. Depends on how much I load it

Never had a problem with the rear intake.

I start w/ air & door open, and front air open, once the fire gets going, shut the door and decrease front air control as the temps start going up. It's usually shut down with in 1/2 and hour or so. Yes, it does cruise at 700 -800F.

 

[Jason721]

I have read that I need to shut it down faster than what I would think... Which I thought I was doing. So this evening upon first reload I shut it down a lot quicker than I normally do. Everything seems good right now. If cruising up to 700-800 is normal then I'm good with that. I will let it do it's thing

 

[Dix]

Where is your thermo?

 

[Jason721]

Center of stove in front of the flew pipe. I also check the temp with a IR gun..

 

[Woody Stover]

Too many people leave the air open too long, trying to get all the wood burning briskly. At that point the firebox is too hot and all the wood is outgassing strongly, leading to a very strong fire. Closing down the air, in increments, sooner, can make a big difference.

You have to get the box up to temp so that the re-burn kicks in, and if you don't build the load right, it's easy to get too much wood burning. Still trying to perfect our technique on my SIL's new secondary-burn stove. In fairness, I think her stove is still pulling too much draft, so you can't cut the air enough to slow it down if you overshoot, bringing it up to temp. If you can cut the air enough on your particular stove and setup to slow it down, it's probably easy to get it right. But if the 13 likes to run at 800, it sounds like they are in the same boat as we are with the T5.. that's about 100 degrees away from a glowing stove.
You read the stove makers' spiels and you see "simple, one-control lever operation." Sheesh, running these secondary stoves right is more a lot more complicated than a cat stove, where you just burn in the load and cut the air to your desired cruise burn, either a little flame, or a smolder.
That said, I'm finding that with big splits of dense wood like White Oak, the gassing seems more controlled. If you load a box full of medium-sized soft Maple splits, you're goin' to the moon, baby!

 

[Jason721]

Is there an exceptionally tall flue on the stove? If there is the stove may need a key damper on the stove pipe. If not, consider changing burning habits before changing the stove. Try turning down the air sooner and burning thicker splits.

Sorry for the late reply.. got busy
My flue is 14'.... I think that is a foot short of what the is required. It draws fine. Never any smoke leakage. Fire ups are no problem. I have often thought about adding a key damper but read the new stoves don't usually require one unless a long chimney with a large amount of draw. Don't think that's my case.... however I may have figured something out.
I use to heat with a century s244 and the wood I cut for it was split small (size of 2x4's) . My thinking now is it's too small of splits for the nc 13. I pack it full with these small splits and it burns too fast and gets hot quick... today I have time to experiment so I went to this coming years wood stack that has much larger splits and just loaded the stove. Hopefully larger splits and cutting the stove down faster gets me a more controllable/longer burn.

 

[Jason721]

Loaded stove at 8:45am. Stove top temp was 400... good coal bed. About 9:00am or so.. I had it completely shut down..
9:45am stove top temp 668. Flue temp 302
(Single wall black pipe. Temps taken with IR gun)
10:46 stove top temp 435. Flue temp 186.
This was with 2 large splits of white oak and two small splits of pen oak....
This just doesn't seem too darn good to me... personally I call that a 2 hour burn time... and definitely do not like it.
I do like burning less wood than I use to with an old stove. From all the reading and searching this stove should do a bit better than this... I will keep trying..
I'm getting disappointed in it.

 

[Geoff C]

400 is a hot temp to reload. Try reloading when it’s around 250-300. Try raking coals forward and stacking the big splits up against the back wall.

 

[Dix]

Bigger splits are the way to go, mix 2 - 4 " rounds when it's brutal outside.

Also, keep the dog house clear of ash, makes for a better burn. A bit of ash when it's cruising, helps, a lot But for a reload, clear it, then let the ash settle until the next load.

I also agree on the reload @ 250 - 300. HUGE difference !

 

[Jason721]

400 is a hot temp to reload. Try reloading when it’s around 250-300. Try raking coals forward and stacking the big splits up against the back wall.

Most of the time I do load around 300...
Today to be honest I was in a bit of a fit over the stove...
Yep when I reload I always pull the coals to the front.

 

[Jason721]

Bigger splits are the way to go, mix 2 - 4 " rounds when it's brutal outside.

Also, keep the dog house clear of ash, makes for a better burn. A bit of ash when it's cruising, helps, a lot But for a reload, clear it, then let the ash settle until the next load.

I also agree on the reload @ 250 - 300. HUGE difference !

On reloads I always clear the dog house..
I use to use a century s244 in our house and swore it burnt longer.... I still have and use this stove. I installed it in a tiny house I built this summer.. today the wife and I fired the s244 up.... got it going well and when it was time to reload I timed it. I got a good 3 hours of that little guy... made me feel better knowing I was at least running it well...
That being said while we were enjoying setting there I got to thinking I may have a air leak in the nc 13.... I check the door seal... it looked good and sealed good... the window seal I wasn't too impressed with. It seemed a bit loose. I could easily move that seal pushing on it with my fingers. That can't be the way it should be... I took it apart.... inspected the seal. Which look to be in good shape.. I put it back together.
It feels about the same... but I had to look it over... I'm going to load it up and get it going later this evening and see what happens...

 

[Jason721]

Thanks for everyone's help... I have tried every I'm gonna with this stove.. again last night I timed and watched the stove... reload at 300... peaked about 700... by the time it was 300... it was about 3 hours.. not exactly 3 hours but Close enough I guess...
I'm just going to put ol faithful fisher momma bear in service and cut a little extra wood...