Hitzer 983 Fireplace Insert Draft

Just fired up the stove on Friday night. This is our 2nd year with the stove so i'm pretty familiar on what to expect, so I thought. The situation I'm getting is:

I'm burning coal from Hazelton area as last year, but this year I need to add more draft than last( harder coal? ). Last year when I opened the ash door to work on it, it didn't take long at all for the whole fire box to light up, even when it was a in the 40's outside. Now it's taking a while to fire up with some spots w/nothing. For added draft, I opened slightly the window wash draft vents. I fired the stove up around 6 a.m. this morning raked ( not much ash at all), and filled to the top of the fire bricks then closed up. The temp in the room has been holding aroud 80 w/ upstairs @ 74. My concern is next week we are to get in the 50s & 60s, i'm concerned on Monday morning when I go to work that will I have enough draft if I turn it down a little ( possibly risking the fire to go out), or if I turn up the draft will I come home to a hot stove? (that I really don't want). Right now the draft I have seems to be working ( outside temp.in lower 40's), but I figured i'd see if someone is having the same situation or and answer. Hope this rambling makes sence.

Did you check your chimney for bird or squirel nests?? or if you have a screen in the top, a bee's nest or leaves clogging the screen? Or, if you have an open top chimney, a raccoon nest ??
There are lots of 'natural' reasons for reduced draft..

I'd suspect the draft and chimney before the coal.

Greg L

Stingray,I have the same stove you have and was playing with low idle just have some co detectors in the house,I lost the draft one day last month and filled the house with co when the stove temp went to 120' and the flue temp was 80',my stove runs good no lower then 170'(thermometer at the upper right corner of the door)and my flue temps no lower then 130' I have a temp gauge and a manometer in the flue(I think my set up is a little different then most insert installs Wood to Coal,My Story(Long))I was burning a mix of nut and pea and getting 48+hrs on 20 to 30# of coal.Right now I'm dealing with a strong draft issue when the wind blows and as far as the inside temp getting to hot just open some windows.Barry

Here is an update: Just took care of the stove earlier in the day after 24hrs. of burn, once I was working on it the fire seems to be healthier than the other day(s). Only thing I can make out different from last year I had the chimney cleaned in the spring and he replaced the box type cap I had w/ a taller stainless steel one made for coal stoves with a rain guard. Also, I'm using what nut coal I had left from last year ( the coal is in a wooden bin covered outside). What has me scratching my head is why I need to add more air from last year to maintain the temp I want? new chimney cap? or older coal?

Stingray, I highly doubt the coal is the problem but that new cap may have cut your chimneys draft but I'm a newbie to this coal stuff(6 weeks) so I have no experience in this area but the only thing that is different from last year is the cap, are the outside temps close to what they were last year for the setting on the draft?Barry

Did you get all the flyash cleaned out of any horizontal pipe run you may have in your set up? And did you clean out the exhaust port on the stove of any flyash that may be blocking the draft? I can tell when my draft reading on my manometer drops that I need to clean out the fly ash, but I am running a Harman, your Hitzer may not have that type personality.

Barry, The only thing I can go by is the temps in March were around the temp we are having now which is around mid 40's during the day and high 20's to 30's at night. Last year, I barely had the draft on the ash door open at these temps and I worked on it after 24hrs. The stove maintained a low temp with the blowers set on auto turning on when the heat reached temp ( I though the stove was going out but it didn't). I hope I don't have a draft problem this week with temps scheduled to reach 50 to 60's.

After I had the CO in the house I shut the stove down a few days later because the temps were going in to the 70's,the next time it gets that warm outside at least a day or two I will open some windows and run the stove hotter so I don't loose the draft again.Do you have any kind of pipe in your setup or is it sealed up in the fireplace like Hitzer says to do it?Barry

Barry,
The pipe that was installed is a heavy stainless steel tube wrapped in a steel mesh and fireproof insulation installed by a approve Hitzer dealer. The pipe runs from the cap down the chimney flue about 22 feet directly to the top of the stove installed in the fireplace. It is a straight shot to the top of the stove w/ no bends. Worked on the stove this morning and just finished w/ no issues on the draft. I got home from work about 10 hrs. later w/ the stove room temp @ 78, upstairs @ 73. Just let the air control on the ash door as it was. I guess I figured out that it's better to work on the stove twice a day no matter what the outside temp is, why take the chance of having a weak fire, just open the windows as you said . I know once we see some colder weather that any draft issues will go away. Hand fired stove can be tricky with temps like this. Good luck!

Stingray,so you have a SS liner from the stove all the way up,Just keep your eye on the liner for deterioration, I hear they don't hold up to coal usage for very long.If the liner had pin holes in it I think it would suck air and weaken your draft,just a thought.I don't have a problem going 24hrs between reloads right now,I am burning South Tamaqua nut out of my bulk load,I was burning Blaschak nut up till last week and so for it's burns the same .From what I have read on this site every setup is different so you have to to what's best for you and your stove.Barry

Good luck with keeping a coal insert lit during these high temp days. I never ran my Harman insert unless it was 40 or less the whole day and night. any higher and I would of had to have a blower on it to make a draft. Also be careful high temps outside can make the draft work the opposite way and bring in the bad gas stuff right into your home, along with fly ash. Make sure the co meters all have good batteries if you plan on keeping it running, or should I say, are going to try and keeping it running.

Be safe don't take a chance when temps go up into the 50s and 60s

I have a lifetime warranty on the heavy gauge SS liner, and I had the chimney/stove cleaned and inspected this past spring by a pro that still installs these units and has been for many years. I plan on sticking to this schedule every spring. The really warm temps. aren't suppose to reach PA. now until the weekend, so I can keep an eye on the stove. Thanks to all who have replied to my questions and concerns I'll let you know how it all worked out next week.

Thanks again!

Stingray--

One more thing for you to consider. I have the same stove as you, and after my first year of burning (2008-2009), I had the stove pulled and inspected and the chimney cleaned--just wanted a "professional" view after the first year of burning. Well, when I fired up again the next fall, I had the same issue as you: very poor draft compared to the first year. Eventually, as a result of being able, after loading fresh coal, to see blue light thru the tiny space between the top of the stove and the bottom of the surround, I realized the problem: the exhaust flue hadn't been inserted completely and seated properly in the exhaust "hole" when the chimney sweep pushed the stove back in. I was seeing the blue ladies as they exited the stove and went up the flue!

It's easy for this to happen because you have to seat the flue into the hole, THEN push the stove all the way back in. If the flue isn't seated well, this amount of movement of the stove could unseat the flue. I believe what was happening was that room air was being pulled behind the surround and up the chimney. In effect, this produced less "suction" on the coalbed, making the draft appear less and requiring wider ashpan vents to produce the same intensity of fire as the year before.

In my view, this is one of the disadvantages of an insert. Not only can you not use a barometric damper to tune things, you can't visualize the exhaust aspects of the stove while it's in operation.

There are two ways to check this: 1) shut down and remove the baffle plate to inspect this from inside the stove; 2) remove the metal "surround" that attaches to the stove and inspect the connection from above. The second is preferable, I think, because my exhaust flue has a lip about 1-2 inches from its end that allows you to hammer it into the stove if necessary. But this method, too, will probably necessitate shutting down--I can't get a socket behind the surround to remove it without pulling out the stove a half-inch or so.

Good luck.

Here is an update on the previous issues:
I made it through the warm weekend ( temps in the 60's in nepa), with no stove issues. I did take care of the stove every 12hrs. after the 24hr. shake and burn I previously mentioned. As I was sitting back one night,I though back on what could be different this year from last with the draft. Coal, chimney cap, ruled out as a problem ( would have had an issue this past weekend). Only thing I can remember that the chimney sweep did was ask me if the installers filled in the screw holes that were drilled in the bottom of the unit from the factory for the legs. After he removed the grates, we saw they were not filled in. He then filled them in ( 16 total). Now, if there were any uneven spots under the unit in my fireplace this could have given me a false draft through those holes after the ash pan door was closed. Come to think of it, I was receiving a stronger burn on one side of the fire box w/more fly ash than the other side last year, this year it is an even burn. Now all I need is the colder air to move in and I can close my windows