New Hand Fired Stove Install Have Excessive Draft?

it knocked the temp down last night and through till 6 am or so. went home around 1130 and temp up around 500 again.
larry trainer suggested that I am letting the fire get going to much when I reload.
maybe I should shake it and not let it ramp up and just load the stove on a lower fire bed?

mof1964, I've been using a chubby the last 2 years. Just traded in my rear vent for a top vent and notice a difference in how the stove runs. Just have to find her quirks! Like LsFarm mentioned, all stoves are different.

mof1964 wrote:larry trainer suggested that I am letting the fire get going to much when I reload.
maybe I should shake it and not let it ramp up and just load the stove on a lower fire bed?

I've let too much coal catch in the past causing a hot, quick burn. I was always nervous about smothering the fire and possibly extinguishing it. I've learned to get a good bed of coals burning then just completly fill the pot. Much better temp control and burn times.

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.

I've been using my secondary air purges to keep a low fire due to the mild weather. Like jjs777_fzr explains, these air purges allow over fire air to mix, thus decreasing air pull through the coal bed.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

MItch

How are things working now with your Chubby? Did you try the suggetsion Larry mentioned? Got my Jr cruising at at 250 this morning and held it till late afternoon when I opened her up a bit. Just loaded her up for the night. Such a comfort knowing that I don't need to get up in the middle of the night to shove wood into a "Volcano".

Last year I didn't play that much with my Chubby keeping it at low temps since it didn't get installed till Nov/December. I am very happy with how responsive it is. Once you figure things out via the ole learning curve I bet you will be one happy camper.

If I can be of any help drop me a PM.

ciao!
m

Mof1964,

Forgot to post my temps and burn times, I know it was an issue with your setup. I have the fire burning about 225* with the primary air open 1/8". Haven't tried any lower, scared of dumping it. I'm running my mpd 100% open because the weather has been a bit mild. I'm getting 12+ hours at this rate. Of course once winter hits its gloves off! Be warm my friend!

ok. yesterday around 1130 am checked the temp and it was around 500. I shook it lightly and added a few scoops of buck coal. the next time the stove was checked was 330pm. the stove was at 200deg and it has held that temp now for 14hrs. I shook this morn lightly and added nut coal to the top layer.
my damper is closed all the way and the air is cut back to about a 1/16 of inch open.

so the stove is capable of idling low like I want. with this result, I would think that there is no leak of air or the layer I added yesterday at 1130 am would have caught fire and took off sending temps up. the layer of buck from yesterday has not even been tocuhed yet.

is this strange? I am wondering if the layer of nut I added this morning will be able to hold temps back to around 200 till I get home tonight? or do I need to continue to layer with buck? maybe instead of nut coal I should be burning pea to help cut back on the air allowed to run up through the coal?

Any guidance would be helpful.

Pea may be too small and fall through the grate. If not then it should work to keep temps down.

tcalo wrote:Pea may be too small and fall through the grate. If not then it should work to keep temps down.

Pea isn't going to work in a Chubby. The holes in the grate are too big and Pea is just going to fall through it.

When you close or open the ash door on the stove does it hang down? Meaning when you open the door it's not perfectly level. Does it kind of flop to one side? Are the holes on the mounts elongated?

When I had my Chubby the holes were elongated in the mounting brackets and when I opened it the door would kind of slope down to one side. When I closed it, it would kind of pick up on one side. But it wouldn't never be level. When you did the dollar test was it tight all the way around or were some areas tighter than others?

It still sounds like you've got an air leak.

If there is already an ash bed in the stove I would expect pea to work fine.

i was just home at 130pm and checked the stove it is sitting now at 300deg. I will have to look at the ash door as it does seem to drop a little when opened, but seems to level out when closed.
yes coalfire and I did the dollar bill test last winter and everything was fine. he checked my baro setting with a digital mano and the baro was set right where it needed to be.

part of me believes that the chimney just drafts that well. I have great draft on my other chimney with the stoker hooked to it. I have a manometer on the stoker.
Larry trainer told me today not to switch to pea coal. he said too small. that I should be able to control the stove by working the draft door and the setting on the baro.

I did not change anythign when I checked the stove at 130. I will find out what it's doing at 330 when the kids get home from school.
it is very very windy here today, so i'm thinking that is helping to draw on the coal bed and raised the temp.

Mitch

update-- the stove temp has not changed since I checked early today at 130. it has been idiling since 5 am this morn and there is still a nice layer of unburnt coal at the top. I just shook it down and filled the pot heaping full. I will i'm sure get through till tomorrow morn at 830 am.
just wondering whet the temp will be like on the stove.
i have the draft still open about 1/16th of inch and the manual damper closed all the way.
the stove temp at 300 is ok since it is cold and windy here, just hoping it holds that temp all nite long.

mitch

In your should I would adjust the baro to open a tad easier for experimentation sake. Like larry said you should use the baro first to control the draft, then the stove controls to fine tune the temp. You haven't gotten past step 1 yet in my opinion regardless of what the manometer says. Reality is telling you its to much draft, and you slow it down by the baro damper. Putting ash on the coal fire will slow it down without using varying sizes of coal, but that is to control a runaway fire and shouldn't be part of the routine.

yesterday morn at 730 am the stove was 300 degrees. I shook the stove down and added coal. I have been able to keep that temp for almost 30 hrs now.
i just shook the stove down nice layer of unburn coal still there and I topped the stove off with more nut.
it seems that maybe i'm getting the settings correct and also the way to shake and load the stove. I did adjust the baro to open easier.

Mitch

mof1964 wrote:yesterday morn at 730 am the stove was 300 degrees. I shook the stove down and added coal. I have been able to keep that temp for almost 30 hrs now.
i just shook the stove down nice layer of unburn coal still there and I topped the stove off with more nut.
it seems that maybe i'm getting the settings correct and also the way to shake and load the stove. I did adjust the baro to open easier.

Mitch

Mitch, Yes it take a little experience to get the feel for how your particular situation works. The settings on the stove for a given temp and shaking and filling. I find that almost all coal stoves utilizing a deep bed of coal always shake down a little better with help from a poker after a long run. The coal ash bridges a bit and a gentle poke in the middle or sides will collapse it before shaking so that you get the ash out.