How Deep Should It Burn?

i have a godin large oval coal stove today was the first day I lit it. My questions is I filled the stove 2/3 full a few inches below the exhaust port just as the manual suggests, I had a good draft going after about 4 hrs of letting alot of air into the stove the flame was over the top of the coals a few inches below the exhuast port . I didnt expect the fire to burn that deep does anyone know if this is normal?

Handfired stoves like DEEP coal beds. Fill it up as high as you can without going over the firebrick or blocking any exhaust ports .

Smitty is right, coal likes a deep bed. Don't worry about the height of the flame, if it bothers you just turn down the air intake. The real fire is in the bed; sometimes you won't even see any flames but trust me the fire is still burning. Watch your stove thermometer. It will let you know if there is a problem with the fire. By the way, that's a great looking stove! Lisa

First off that's a good looking stove ,hand fired stove must have a full bed of coal all the time also I did'nt see any dampers on the stove a lot of heat is going up the chimney or turn the air down on the stove.

The time needs to adjusted reply sent at 8.35am where is the Moderator

I burned a Godin Oval for a number of years and found it to be an excellent coal stove. Fill the coal to the top. I had one of the earlier models where the shaker grate was rather small and round while the firebox was larger and oval in shape. Using nut coal combined with this shaker design caused a column of ash to build up on each side of the round grate. The only way that I was able to keep the fire from smothering itself was to manually rake these ashes down through the grate. I used a tool that I made that was about 20 inches long with a 2 inch right angle bend on the end. It worked through the grate at the front of the firebox. You can expect that your Godin with the deep firebox and the horizontal action grate will require some ash removal in addition to using the shaker. Using pea coal would probably help with ash removal but I would be concerned about hot coals falling out through the front grate. Make sure you have a strong fire prior to working on your ash removal and your new stove will be a source of great pleasure. We will all be interested in how you do.

Anthracite needs 3 to 4 inches of red coals going at all times to burn proper. Soft coal needs 6 to 8 in. If you don't believe me search the Firemans books from the Coal boiler days. This has gotten me not to loose a fire from Oct. to April

Beautiful stove. Wish I could find something like that in Michigan for sale. I would snatch it up.