My Crane Coal Cooker 88 ( Like a 44 but Taller)

44: 40,000 BTU - 10,000 CuFt
88: 60,000 BTU - 15,000 CuFt

Both are spec'd as a 15-40 hour burn. I shake down my 88 once a day.

ddahlgren wrote:OK simple question more or less Does a 88 make more or less heat that a 44? I am thinking the 404 can do more given grate area.

Second question how does a 404 do with stove coal? I have heard others rave about it in other stoves.

the BTU's are rated the same for an 88 or 404 (60k), but your absolutely correct about grate area/heat exchange area with blower as well as "coal banking" ability of the 404 (I do not believe for one second the 88 can output more heat or preform better than a 404)... I will say the one advantage would be in the case of constant over firing (both stoves can be over fired and surface temps maintained 600-700 degrees but when limits are pushed and each stove is abused the 88 will hold up better and sustain less damage than a 404).

there you have it...

OK got it. This being my first year just about ready to take the training wheels off as have faced about every mistake possible and found more than one way to cause the same problem on a few times. I have avoided a puff back and hope I never go there as I hate house work and a vacuum the whole house from one way more than I signed up for LOL. I do have to run the 404 hard to heat the house on a very cold night. On a zero to a low we had this year of -17 and blowing 50 off the water I ran a solid day of 650 to 700. I was worried about wounding the fire pot but thought at 250 for a new one at 250 that is 65 to 75 gallons of fuel oil at the time so a chance worth taking. On an average night I run 400 to 500 and covers low 20's to mid 30's and most common. I do have a surface thermometer on the stack and an internal probe that measures actual gas temperature in the stack and with the MPD closed 450 not uncommon. but 200 on the surface and makes sense to me. I keep thinking if I can drop the internal temp down to 200 that is a lot of BTU to harvest for cheap. While many think an old fashioned heatalator a piece of trash if it can pull that heat out worth every penny in coal costs and no different than adding more heat exchanger area like a BB. That would allow me to run much slower on coal and pull out waste heat that goes up the chimney. If I pull the internal temperature to 200 I am thinking still plenty left to have a good draft when -10 outside.

the inside of these refractory liners match exactly to a 5 gallon plastic bucket (joint compound), good for mold making. I have a few thoughts on the # of turns to open the bottom intake air vent for a 44 compared to a 88. I will start with 2 full turns for tonight and see what happens. This picture is the recent 88 that In got. I put old doors on for this firing, I wanted to look at the new unused doors for a while, maybe hang them on the wall behind the stove.

When your all done and going good, I'd like to hear your comparison between the Crane and the Jotul 507.

I'd be interested to know how you do with two turns open. That should over-fire by a large measure. I run my 88 at a 1/2 turn open all day all night, and it burns at ~500° most of the day which for me, works fine.

You might consider adding a barometric damper (Field Control RC) and a Dwyer Mark II manometer to tune it. You're going to run a lot of heat out the chimney without one. You could be keeping it in the stove to radiate into the room by using a baro.

1 1/2 to 2 turns is where I ran my 44, so I had the 88 at 2 turns while I was watching it, and it was solid at 500 with a stack of 130. I had stove coal in it, and want to get the job done. I turned down to 1 turn and it went down to 300 with a stack of 110. This is the same way that the 44 runs. I also know that the hotter you run it, the finer the ash, and have no clinkers, making shaking easier. To me, 500 with a stack of 130 seems to be a comfortable temp that the 44 or 88 like to run at, and the ash is like flour.
I have done this on 2 different chimneys w/different lengths and they run the same, For me.

I run double wall DuraVent pipe inside to DuraTech chimney, so can't take a stack temp. That written, I can hold the pipe down to the baro with bare hands, it's that cool. Last season with just a manual pipe damper, it was considerably warmer. I halved the amount of coal I was cooking last year (~40#/day down to ~20#) with the baro install tuned to -.03" this past fall. Chimney is 3' over peak.

Clearly every install is going to be different, so whatever works, works.

On my single wall, that goes to the metalsbestos, I can hold my hand all day if it is 110F, for about 10 seconds at 120F, and for about 2 or 3 seconds for 130F. (YowzA) These temps are taken with a IR handheld point and shoot temp gun. thanks for your helpful info, Rob

I have read further, on the 88,
quote by Doug,...(on this particular 88 is that it includes an optional blower shroud (this is rare on a 44 and ultra rare on an 88!),
I got one of these on that 88, I thought it was a close tolerance heat shield. Now I can put a blower on it, ... 135 cfm?? maybe a bit lower.

alpineboard wrote:I have read further, on the 88,
quote by Doug,...(on this particular 88 is that it includes an optional blower shroud (this is rare on a 44 and ultra rare on an 88!),
I got one of these on that 88, I thought it was a close tolerance heat shield. Now I can put a blower on it, ... 135 cfm?? maybe a bit lower.

Nope...not a heat shield at all, its a blower shroud and many people believe that a larger cfm blower must be better but that is not the case (sure its nice to have a variable/multi speed if money is no object), but ive always found this to be a waste... very minimal air movement will do what you want in terms of moving air (heated air)... bear in mind that a blower cools a stove... a blower makes noise, a blower takes electricity.... therefor.... the wise person knows to obtain a very minimal cfm blower (or they have a variable speed they keep it at a steady minimum). I would opt for a minimal single speed blower (many will wisely recommend a Fasco or Dayton for longevity and noise level)... 75 cfm is PLENTY!

wow... I have not seen that glass gasket since I was weeeeeeeeee lil boy LOL... that's original for sure!

KingCoal918 wrote:I run double wall DuraVent pipe inside to DuraTech chimney, so can't take a stack temp. That written, I can hold the pipe down to the baro with bare hands, it's that cool. Last season with just a manual pipe damper, it was considerably warmer. I halved the amount of coal I was cooking last year (~40#/day down to ~20#) with the baro install tuned to -.03" this past fall. Chimney is 3' over peak.

Clearly every install is going to be different, so whatever works, works.

You must have a very tight house as 20 lbs a day is 7800 BTU an hour8300 if very optimistic about stove efficiency. As Doug mentioned I finally scored a used blower and it came with an inline speed control and have it set very low and basically just a low hum as back ground noise.

I get very little powder like ash mostly pretty coarse looking stuff and wondering if from burning too hot or too cold that I really doubt as routinely 500-600 on stove top. If not from that from the cast fire pot vs. brick or refractory of some sort. Possibly something to bring up in the handfired section as well.

At the risk of restating info posted in another thread, but for clarity; I'm heating my shop with my 88.
It's 16 x 20 on an insulated slab with a partial loft, so all of ~3,000 cuFt.
Fitted out myself, it's pretty well insulated, but the doors and windows aren't so there's air infiltration.
That written, I couldn't have been happier to cut my use by 50% over last season.

KingCoal918 wrote:At the risk of restating info posted in another thread, but for clarity; I'm heating my shop with my 88.
It's 16 x 20 on an insulated slab with a partial loft, so all of ~3,000 cuFt.
Fitted out myself, it's pretty well insulated, but the doors and windows aren't so there's air infiltration.
That written, I couldn't have been happier to cut my use by 50% over last season.

I looked into building something similar to that and every zoning board around here said no nothing under around 750 Sq. ft. even if you don't need it all. I told them it was only for seasonal use and did not elaborate when LOL. My though summer to work in the garden and hike, fall to go hunting, winter to snow shoe and cross country ski and spring to get the garden ready and go fishing! See seasonal use LOL.

I did a road trip today to pick up another Craigs list Crane 88, the seller provided good pictures of grate,. liner,,.. etc, when asked, and the whole deal went very well. This one has seen some use, but still in very good condition. I enjoyed using my first crane 88 so much at the end of last heat season that I think that I will start collecting these now. The 88 burns hotter if needed, and definitely longer than the 44, so reloads are a snap without a relight. The 44 is still a very good stove, but my area/volume is too large for the 44.