Hitzer 983 Owners,I Have Two Questions.

Do you have your 3/8 leg holes filled(inserts only)or not? I started my stove this week but I have to give it a lot more air then last year with the outside temps,coal ,and the wind the same as last year.When I shut it down last year I cleaned the chimney, 7' pipe going into the stove,and the stove then I placed a piece of ply wood with insulation on it with a brick to hold it down right on the 8" SS pipe to keep the moisture out a 100 watt light and 2 RV Damp-Rid's(it must have worked the inside is like new with no rust).I checked the pipe and the chimney before starting the stove and all looked good,after lighting the stove and seeing that I need more air to maintain the temps I want I did a smoke stick test to see if I had a draft leak from in the house but its good and I know It's still warm outside, but with the stove apart last year I put (12) 3/8 set screws to fill the leg holes down by the ashpan I did have insulation stuffed under the stove but I'm not a 100% sure it was air tight,now for the strange part I did some number crunching and the area of the 12 holes is about the same is the area I have to make up with the air control(not sure if I'm off base with this or not ) and now for the second question what gap is your air vents on the door and what is the stove temp?(I'm running Blaschak nut).

Thanks Barry

I have noticed that Blaschak coal is not the same as last year. The ash is whiter instead of pink. Probably coming from a different seam. There is also more pea size coal in the nut bag and more buck size coal in a pea size bag. It does burn different and I also had to use more air than last year. I am not using a Hitzer so can not answer the other question.

Barry--

I fired up my 983 last night for the first time. It seems to be running pretty much like last year at these outside temps, with similar ashpan vent settings. I too am burning Blaschak nut, and don't have a sense yet that it burns differently than last year. (I haven't yet shaken down much ash to know if appearance is different)

My 3/8 inch leg holes were never closed. I strongly suspect that that is the source of the difference you're seeing this year. That's a lot of area that you've closed up. Overall should be fine--giving you more control over the fire.

Not sure if it makes sense to compare settings in entirely different installations, but to answer your question: the ashpan vent holes are about 15-20% open (in terms of total hole area), and the stove has been rock solid steady at just under 300* for the past 10 hours. Outside temp now 53*, and was 39* when I tended this AM at 7:30.

Franco b, I'm still burning last years coal but I do have 1 1/2 tons of this years Blaschak,Ashcat,I'm running 1/2"on the air and the stoves 290* it's heating up but I ran 3/16 to a 1/4" to get the same temp,but you are right about the area of the holes,the through hole for the 3/8 thread is 5/16x12 is almost 1 sq in of area which is what I need to make up(give or take)
Thanks Barry

franco b wrote:I have noticed that Blaschak coal is not the same as last year. The ash is whiter instead of pink. Probably coming from a different seam. There is also more pea size coal in the nut bag and more buck size coal in a pea size bag. It does burn different and I also had to use more air than last year. I am not using a Hitzer so can not answer the other question.

Franco,

The 5 tons of Blaschack bulk nut I had delivered 6 weeks ago is definitely the pink ash variety. That said, I don't know if its from this year or not? Who knows when it was mined. Your definitely right about the size though. The bulk nut, while very uniform, is smaller than the bagged Reading nut I had a few bags off in the barn.

last year I switched from blashak to reading (only 2 available in my area) because the blashak nut coal was not getting the job done. Hitzer 503, similar to yours. Reason: size of nut was small for that lot.

The reading coal burned great (sans the wood pieces which are common with that brand) .... bought 2 tons of blashak nut & 1 ton pea this month .. have not burned it yet. 2400 sq ft house 2 levels.

putzing around with my stove useage ... blocking 1/2 the box w/firebrick for oct-nov months to see if I can heat the house w/o it causing me to sweat to death -- that stove can output heat boy.

Update on the stove,removed 4 front screws and put in a slot(on the inner slide on the ashpan door) for the 8TH air slot on the ashpan door,only 7 out of the 8 are used but it's running ok now.I did add two things this fall,I welded (2) 3/8 nuts on the fire brick retainer with bolts to hold the retainer from moving forward(but leaving a 1/8" for heat expansion) thus holding the rear fire bricks back(had coal get behind them and pushed them forward)I just hope the bolts will back off in the spring so I don't have to cut them off. and I added firebrick to the front of the stove but I"m not sure why the 983 did not come with brick in the front Keepaeyeonit.