Hitzer 503 Low Heat

Last year was my first year with the 503 and it worked great and put out a lot of heat. This year I cannot get the stove as hot even with the vents fully open. Last year I rarely had to open the air vents all the way and the stove put out tons of heat.
I am wonder if it could be the coal I am using. This year I am burning Blaschak last year I burned Donson Coal . Any suggestions why the stove is not putting the heat out ?
Thanks

Assuming you cleaned everything out good after last season (Stove, Pipe, etc...),
I was going to suggest the difference in coal, could be that.
Your baro/Draft all set correctly?

It is not the coal, Blaschak is good coal.

The most likely problem is a chimney obstuction. If you have a screen at the top of your chimney, check it for leaves, squirrel nest, bees nests etc..

If your chimney is open on top, then you could have the squirrel's nest, raccoon carcass or nest, etc further down the chimney..

Another possible item is: did you replace a lot of old drafty windows with new, well sealed windows? The air that leaves a house up the chimney must get into the house somewhere.. a very tight house will have chimney draft problems if an outside air source is not created for the appliance in the fireplace.

Did you clean inside the very top of the stove where Hitzer has the internal exhaust damper? If a large accumulation of fly ash has collected there it may be your problem.. also make sure te manual damper is moving .

Hope this helps
Greg L

I cleaned the stove and flue pipe completely in the fall. Removed the stove connection and cleaned the flue pipe. The chimney is clay lined and the flue pipe extends about 6 feet up the chimney into the clay liner. There was a lot of ash built up on the ash plate . I shortened the SS flue pie by about a foot because I had a hard time getting everything back together. That's the only change from last year. There is a good draft.. in fact I was thinking too much heat is going up the flue ?

JCBcoal,the first things I would check first are the pipe on the top of the stove, is it on right, and make sure you don't have air leaks around the stove shroud? Barry

Hitzer 503's get a lot hotter if the internal manual damper is closed, especially if your chimney has a strong draft.. Make sure you put the damper plate back together correctly after you cleaned out the fly ash, and it is moving into position correctly..

Greg L

The damper is shut. I generally keep it closed all the time. The coal is burning well and the stove is full. The coal is burning red hot. The stove is not not very hot however. It's very strange . Last year the heat from the stove would make the wood trim around the mantle very warm. This year the wood is not is warm at all .. running the stove with the vents wide open ...

Even though Blaschak is good coal.....buy a few bags of the coal you used last year....just to eliminate the possibility of "bad" coal.......just a thought......

Thanks for all the suggestions ! I ended up cleaning the ash out and restarting the coal. It’s working like it should now. I do think however the Donson coal was burning hotter than the Blaschak coal..