New Hand Fired Stove Install Have Excessive Draft?

Agree and IOF has some good stuff to check. Just because you can't find it right off doesn't mean it's not leaking. It obviously is somewhere, just a matter of sussing it out. The good part is it (the leak) is almost deffinately below the grate somewhere.

Open bolt hole or a leaky washer...
Do the smoke test...
Or clean it out and put a bright battery lantern inside daken the room and look for light...

By 645 pm tonight the fire was dead and temp down to 150. I killed the fire off and restarted and will see if anything changes. I left a layer of ash in the pot but now I have the fire rolling and temps are looking more normal.
maybe I didn't have something set properly so I will double check everything tonight thru 2morro.
I will buy some insense sticks for a smoke test.
This stove is very nice and seems fairly straight forward. could be that Im a newbie to this handfired stuff.

Mitch

get the right "zen" insense and you will see the mystic majic air.... grasshopper

you wont be a newbie long...your on track to success

I forget, there is a co detector? that works right

Call me crazy - but the way I see it - the side air purge flaps could be used in the slightly open position to allow ~less air from under grate and thereby limiting the fire and extending the burn.
As Larry stated in his video - paraphrasing - they are meant to allow volatile gases mix with room air even if they are in the closed position. But I tend to open mine a hair crack - until I hear the air noise getting sucked in.
It's by this air sound I have been somewhat successfully setting the MPD and lower door air intake.

And yeah - please let us know how the incense smoke test plays out.

today my stove is idling about 375 degrees and I have the air intake open about 1/8 inch. The fire is not running wild and I will get i"m sure another 12 to 14 hr burn or longer at that temp. I have the MPD closed all the way. If I open the MPD and the air intake I can run the temp well over 650 in no time.
my wife is gonna get me some incense sticks so we can see where the smoke draws in.
I honestly believe that some of the issue is that the chinmey drafts that well.
The chimney for my efm 520 pulls extremely well also.
I will definetly be playing around with the stove to work this out. Oh yeah, I have CO detector in the stove room and on every floor of the house.

Mitch

The function of the baro is to limit the draft to what ever you have it set to maintain, is the baro fully open? trying it's best to limit the huge draft?? or is it just partially open of mostly closed??

All coal stoves have a certain 'routine' that they like, for given draft, coal size, house 'tightness' etc..

I think you are getting a handle on it..

BTW, borrow the manometer and watch it for awhile,,

If you have it set for say, .06 or .07" then the stove may be easier to manage if set for .04-.05"..

Greg L.

picking up from lat year here. Started the chubby up this past weekend and had been able to keep the temp around 350. today though it has been running at 500 and I am not able to get the temp down.
i will be doing an insense test to see where there is a possible leak.
the dollar bill test is a pass. nothing has changed there from last year.

i would love to be able to idle this thing around 200 or 250. I would love to hear from anyone who is having success keeping the stove at these temps.

Mitch

Mitch

I have my little Chubby Jr sitting at 275. What I do is obviously choke down on the air but I also sprinkle (cover) small little bits of coal over the top of the bed as well. The combination seems to do the trick.

As a side note I do not have a baro and so far have not seen the need for one. Not opposed to one by any means as the stove burns just fine without one.

i am wondering if I should layer the coal with a scoop or 2 of buck size coal to choke back the draft. I put a load in this morn at 5am and have not touched since and it is going strong and holding at 500 degrees. so that is a 15 hour burn with nothing done to it and tons of heat and lots of coal left to go.

Go ahead and try adding a few inches of buck on top of the fire. I have burned straight buck in hand Feds with strong draft...it can be done and will help control the stove.

i shook it down and added about 3inch layer or so of buck ovr the fire that was rolling aat 500 degrees when I added. I will watch to see what happens.
i hope I don't snuff out the fire totally, just knock it back some so it aint so stinkin hot in here.

Open a window or two to take some of the heat out of house. I've been idling my stove around 250° and have one window open.

jjs777_fzr wrote:Call me crazy - but the way I see it - the side air purge flaps could be used in the slightly open position to allow ~less air from under grate and thereby limiting the fire and extending the burn.
As Larry stated in his video - paraphrasing - they are meant to allow volatile gases mix with room air even if they are in the closed position. But I tend to open mine a hair crack - until I hear the air noise getting sucked in.
It's by this air sound I have been somewhat successfully setting the MPD and lower door air intake.

And yeah - please let us know how the incense smoke test plays out.

Not crazy at all jjs. That would be the same as opening the secondary "over the fire" damper in my stove and does result in a temp drop. On my old Herald last year, to get the lowest burns (or on very windy days) I would close the primaries completely, open the check valve/damper all the way in the back of the ash pit and open the the secondary damper in the feed door.

mof1964 wrote:i shook it down and added about 3inch layer or so of buck ovr the fire that was rolling aat 500 degrees when I added. I will watch to see what happens.
i hope I don't snuff out the fire totally, just knock it back some so it aint so stinkin hot in here.

Did it work?