Chubby Question

 
lobsterman
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Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Chubby Jr, early model with removable grates

Post by lobsterman » Thu. Feb. 17, 2011 10:34 am

DOUG wrote:Yes, good call. I leave the manual damper open and the ash door draft slider, until I reach the desired stove temperature, which usually only takes five to ten minutes, then close it down. It will stay there or creep up a bit. Then I adjust the ash door vent to the needed temperature.
Yep, it was always easier for me to fire it up pretty hot and then throttle it down (slowly) to desired temperature by closing down the air. Or maybe that was just a habit I developed, but it worked for me. Easier than trying to slowly coax the stove hotter.

 
buck24
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Post by buck24 » Thu. Feb. 17, 2011 10:55 am

I agree with JBSparks and Doug. I think you are closing your MPD too soon and not giving the fire a chance to liven up.I would open MPD, Shake, Poke the grates from underneath, Open air slots on ash door all the way, Add coal. Now I would wait and keep an eye on the stove to see how long it takes to bring it up to the temperature you desire. If you don't have a magnetic thermometer on the stove I would get one. Now you can get an idea how long it takes to get back up to the temperature you want. Now, when you get to that temperature and your stove should be throwing off some nice heat you can now set the draft on the ash door slots and close the MPD to setting you prefer. You will get use to it in no time. The Chubby is a nice stove. Oh, before adding the coal I would make sure you have a lively fire going also.

 
DoubleD
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Post by DoubleD » Thu. Feb. 17, 2011 2:56 pm

Once again, Thanks again for everyone that posted replies to my questions. I took advice from the above posts and managed to get the fire up and going last night and it lasted into the morning. There was a slight bed of lit coal ontop alot of ash this morning. I opened the MPD and the bottom of the ash door for about 8 minutes. I noticed blue flames coming from the coals so I shook the grate approximately 30 times. I then used the tool that Larry provided and proceeded to "floss" each one of the grates. Alot of coal dust went into the dust pan. I then left the stove alone with the ash door open and the MPD open for 5 minutes. I then closed the ash door and opened tthe fire pot door. I found that the coals were covered with dust and the coal bed was almost extinguished. I restarted the fire with kindling wood and it has been going strong all day. I would appreciate any critiques/suggestions on shaking the stove and keeping the coal bed lit. I charged the stove about 12:00 am on 12-17-11, shook the grates at about 6:30 am the same day. The damper on the bottom of the Chubby was closed about halfway (as well the MPD) during the night. I am also going to buy a stove thermometer over the weekend. Thanks in advance and sorry for the long posts!


 
franco b
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Post by franco b » Thu. Feb. 17, 2011 3:13 pm

Once you had the blue flames you could have added a little fresh coal and given a very light shake, once the fresh coal was burning ,then more shake.

To lessen the fly ash rising through the coal bed. If the bottom door is open then also open the top door more or less depending on draft. this will divert the draft from pulling ash through the coal bed. If the bottom door is shut then close the air intake which will also lessen the pull of the draft through the bed. You might also do both, crack open top door and close air inlet.

 
lobsterman
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby, 1980 Fully restored by Larry Trainer
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Chubby Jr, early model with removable grates

Post by lobsterman » Thu. Feb. 17, 2011 8:06 pm

Your fire went out after 6.5 hr because you ran out of coal. Two possibilities for this: 1) you did have a full load of coal for overnight because of ash accumulation, or 2) you were burning very hot. Or combination of both. A half open MPD and primary air vent would burn up my coal quickly for my installation. I ran my Chubby MPD fully closed and air vent open about 1/8 inch. Of course, every installation is different.

 
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the snowman
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Post by the snowman » Fri. Feb. 18, 2011 8:34 am

With my chubby before I started burning it I noticed the shaker system would be ineffective in removing all the ash from above the grate which would require poking the fire from beneath. I made a new longer rod that shakes your grate. The new longer rod rotates the grate more degrees and allows a more aggressive shake. I also made a handle on the end of the rod so I could shake the stove without a glove. I posted pics of the changes on another thread. I never had to poke the fire from beneath. The longer shaker rod made shaking the stove very aggressive and would remove all ash above the grate within nineteen to twenty shakes.

The area you might want to check is where the shaker rod exits the stove. On my Chubby the hole around the shaker rod was warn (this area always has a lot of wear. Poor design and use of soft steel. Example: the use of a soft washer welded on the end of the tube to form the hole for the rod to exit). This area can let in a lot of air into your grate area and can be overlooked. I found if you shake your stove too much you will compress the coal bed which will take a long time for the stove to form new air passages up through the bed resulting in a slower and cooler burning bed of coal. With my chubby I wold run the stove at a temp very close to 450F all the time and would see burn times of +14hrs. I did cone the coal very high in the stove to accomplish this as well. My baro was set at .05. I would shake the stove once every twelve hours. I would shake the stove come back on the average two or four hours later depending how hot I was running the stove, quality of coal I was burning and type of coal I was burning, give a short shake and then reload the stove. By doing this I made sure the fire pot was almost empty. I would shovel in around thirty pounds of coal to refill the stove. For my Chubby I found it didn't like to be touched often. I set a routine and followed it and the stove became very predictable. Again, everyones stove, chimney ect is different and will give different results. When I had my grate failure on Wednesday evening the stove just had a burn of 21 hrs I believe. This is just my two cents on the subject.

The snowman.


 
DoubleD
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Post by DoubleD » Sun. Feb. 20, 2011 11:01 am

I would like to thank everyone for their help. I have had the stove burning continously since Friday afternoon.

 
cabinover
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Post by cabinover » Mon. Feb. 21, 2011 12:09 pm

My father in law has figured his Chubbys out and it did take some time. He ran into the stove being out several times, still having coal in it before he figured out the ashing part. He shakes, then gets down and runs a hook through the grates from the bottom. I was surprised at how much fine ash you can't get by shaking alone. Now his are a set them and forget them pair.

His routine:
Open MPD and crack ash door open for half a beer
shake vigorously 25 times or so
poke and floss from bottom of grate
load fresh charge, get another beer.
Drink beer then close MPD all the way, air slots open no more than 1/8" on large Chubby, 1/16" on Junior.

Easy 12hr burn times.

Glad to hear you are making strides with your burning.

 
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captcaper
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Post by captcaper » Wed. Feb. 23, 2011 7:25 am

My 2 cents. I owned a Chubby for 14 years. You have to have at least 4 to 6 inches of red coals going at all times with Anthracite. Or you'll loose the fire The more red coals going the more heat. Get that done (4-6 in.) then fill with coal until it gets up to and or above pot. Like an ice cream cone. I always loaded from the top with a Coal Bucket with narrow spout. Open bottom air slider for desired temps. Keep back damper closed if you can after tending stove. This way you'll get long burns and plenty of heat.
Keep the grate at bottom clear of ash build up for air flow. Don't do it too much as red coals can warp the grate if you fire it up too much after tending.
Like the poster above said "there is a learning curve". Trick is to keep the red coal base going and not to let the whole pot burn down to ash.
Hope this helps.

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