Reducing the Gigantic Firbox in a Gibraltger LLC

Hey Guy's and Gal's

Last year was my 1st year burning and I think it was pretty successful thanks to alot of you here helping me along.
The one issue I had was over heating in spring and fall and hence wasting a lot of Coal.

The way the grate system is set up im not sure there is anything I can do but was hoping someone might have a suggestion.

Thanks

I wanted to do the same, do a search it has been talked about. But from what I was told you should be able to keep the fire low for a slow burn with not to much heat.

Try using Pea coal it will do a very low burn...
Make sure Pea is not too small for your grates...

Coal_Trickle wrote:Hey Guy's and Gal's

Last year was my 1st year burning and I think it was pretty successful thanks to alot of you here helping me along.
The one issue I had was over heating in spring and fall and hence wasting a lot of Coal.

The way the grate system is set up im not sure there is anything I can do but was hoping someone might have a suggestion.

Thanks

No need to reduce the box Just give it less air Less air going in less heat coming out.
Or you can burn Pea size less heat out put with pea coal low and slow .
I always burned from the second week of Oct. to first week of May using hand feds stoves Last one I used was a Gibraltar MCC model . By far the easiest to use and best hand fed stove for long burn times and Lots & Lots of heat .

Thanks guys's very helpful as always

The only concern I had with pea is it falling through the grates making for a lot of waste.

I burned a gibraltar lcc for 22 years, I used pea coal in spring & fall , a mix of pea &nut on cold nights , all nut when it gets real cold. I had a baro damper & in- damper installed , just make sure you have in-line damper closer to stove then baro damper. When you first fire the stove some coal will fall through grate. I always made a good wood fire then add coal .very little coal will fall through grate. when stove is burning & you shake the grates, stop shaking when you see hot coals going in ash pan , then you have a buffer of ash on the grates , no coal will fall through grate, & you will not burn the grates up . I would not even try to reduce the firebox size , the stove will idle down .

Thanks Hot Rocks! I will try it.

Does your unit have an interior edge or lip around the perimeter of the firebox? I have built fire box reducers with tight fitting ss plates sitting on this lip or edge. Works well in the harman. Check out
SF 250 Fire Box Reducer

Cap,

That may work, I would need to figure out a way to get the plate to sit slightly above the grates so when they swing side to side they don't hit the plate.
if I could have small risers welded to the four corners then I could get new fire bricks and cut them down a bit so they rest on the plate.

Hummm... I wonder how much a plate like that would go for?

Coal_Trickle wrote:Cap,

That may work, I would need to figure out a way to get the plate to sit slightly above the grates so when they swing side to side they don't hit the plate.
if I could have small risers welded to the four corners then I could get new fire bricks and cut them down a bit so they rest on the plate.

Hummm... I wonder how much a plate like that would go for?

Stick with the Pea size for fall & spring burning no need to reduce the box The grates on the Gibraltar stoves have much tighter fitting grate fingers then then other stoves Plus the grates are twice to three times heavier then other stoves
The Pea won't fall threw unless you shake the grates to much or turn the handel to far opening the grates all the way .

coal berner wrote:

Coal_Trickle wrote:Cap,

That may work, I would need to figure out a way to get the plate to sit slightly above the grates so when they swing side to side they don't hit the plate.
if I could have small risers welded to the four corners then I could get new fire bricks and cut them down a bit so they rest on the plate.

Hummm... I wonder how much a plate like that would go for?

Stick with the Pea size for fall & spring burning no need to reduce the box The grates on the Gibraltar stoves have much tighter fitting grate fingers then then other stoves Plus the grates are twice to three times heavier then other stoves
The Pea won't fall threw unless you shake the grates to much or turn the handel to far opening the grates all the way .

I don't agree with burning a full firebox in warmer weather. I find that coal around the edges will not completely burn creating waste. Thus the reason for a reduction in size. A reducer will also give a large unit the ability to control heat output without chasing the kids & wife away.
My .02 cents
Coaltrikle. That 5/8" plate I use was cut from a large ss tank. You could possibly go with less, maybe 3/8"? But even that will be hard to acquire without paying through the nose. Take care. Mark

Cap wrote:

coal berner wrote: Stick with the Pea size for fall & spring burning no need to reduce the box The grates on the Gibraltar stoves have much tighter fitting grate fingers then then other stoves Plus the grates are twice to three times heavier then other stoves
The Pea won't fall threw unless you shake the grates to much or turn the Handel to far opening the grates all the way .

I don't agree with burning a full firebox in warmer weather. I find that coal around the edges will not completely burn creating waste. Thus the reason for a reduction in size. A reducer will also give a large unit the ability to control heat output without chasing the kids & wife away.
My .02 cents
Coaltrikle. That 5/8" plate I use was cut from a large ss tank. You could possibly go with less, maybe 3/8"? But even that will be hard to acquire without paying through the nose. Take care. Mark

That problem does to occur with a Gibraltar stove it burns all of the coal up no matter what the temp is outside .
there is no where for the coal to get hung up on the grates or the grate yokes so all the coal will burn no wasted coal your stove is a different design your grates are completely different as well as your firebox.