Coalpail.com Forum

Hey K, did you take advantage of HITZERS phone # I PM'd to you with Deans name as a contact--

Kimberly wrote:Oliver, this sounds very plausible except I had the fan OFF. I don't run the fan, don't need to, this stove heats my house without it. And the flapper door was open, wide open. The fire was out and the flapper was open. Which means what? Either the stove never got hot enough to close the flapper yet still burned all the coal up or there's something wrong with the thermostat. Or as the stove cooled off the flapper opened up??

Or my husband turned the fan on and I don't remember turning it off when I found the fire out. Which would make your scenario 100% correct.

Stove was purchased 11-2012 I wonder if the stat is still under warranty.

freetown fred wrote: Hell, my hunt & peck finger has fallin asleep

FF, Ya fell asleep huntin for your pecker? What the.........?

And yes Im only twelve.

Damn "spell correct"

Kimberly wrote:Oliver, this sounds very plausible except I had the fan OFF. I don't run the fan, don't need to, this stove heats my house without it. And the flapper door was open, wide open. The fire was out and the flapper was open. Which means what? Either the stove never got hot enough to close the flapper yet still burned all the coal up or there's something wrong with the thermostat. Or as the stove cooled off the flapper opened up??

Or my husband turned the fan on and I don't remember turning it off when I found the fire out. Which would make your scenario 100% correct.

Stove was purchased 11-2012 I wonder if the stat is still under warranty.

OK, lets back up here Kimberly. There is no doubt your stove WAY over fired The burnt up coal bed still holding it's shape tells me that. The extreme heat coming off your stove would have EASILY closed the back flapper door, long before the coal was burnt up. That tells me the flapper door stuck open. The fan being on would multiply the cooling of the stove much quicker, if the coal bed was smothered at tending time. Not having your fan on is a good thing, as the stoves mass cools slower. And would normally allow the coal bed time to re-establish itself, and bring the stove body back up to temp. However, due to the smothered weak bed of coals, the mass of the stove still cooled, opening the flapper door way up, and it stuck open. The fan doesn't have to be on for this scenario to happen. The fan only compounds the scenario. The stove cooled way down at tending time. The new batch smothered the weak bed of coals. Before the coal bed can re-establish itself, the stove cooled enough to open the flapper door way up. More than likely, the flapper shifted a little, then hung up. I've had it happen on both my Hitzers. The extreme heat pushed your spring to the max, and POP! You say the flapper was all the way open when you got home. And it was open BECAUSE the stove was out. Maybe, Maybe not....... Question: Why was the stove out to begin with? Answer: The fire had way too much air, which caused an "Over Fire", burning all the energy out of the coal. When the stove cooled, the chain caught up with the stuck open flapper door. I still say the flapper door stuck open, and the extreme heat caused the spring to pop. Your fire must have been really low/smothered in order for this scenario to happen with the fan off. Should your fire be that low, then smothered, you may want to turn your back dial to low as well. Better yet, get the fire established before running out the door. Any book on coal heat will tell you to leave a hot spot at tending time. If you don't have a good established fire, the hot spot will speed things up.

Fred, I got it, thanks. Just haven't had a chance to call. Pesky day job.

Kimberly, How you making out with stove? One thing we all like to hear is outcomes.

All right,Kimberly,are you still making heat as we go below zero,or is the Hitzer still down waiting Control parts? Check in,Girl,as Guys want to know how you're doing.

Sorry, I was trying to give it a couple days to see. It seems to be fine. We're running around 300* which is higher than normal but it's so darn cold out. We had to open it up a little to keep the house warm. Flapper is opening and closing as it should. I want to see what she does when it warms up a little because that was the problem I was having right after the spring popped: I couldn't keep it under 300.

On a side note my hubby was talking to the guy we bought the stove off of and he said running it at 200* is inefficient. I have noticed a lot less ash at 300*, but our house would be way too warm if I always kept it at 300. So I don't know what to do about that. Nothing I guess.

Glad your on the Warm Side of Things! Too much stove on a morning like this may be an enviable thing,short term! We'll figure that one out as we go. Get that heatMonster to where it runs best for you and then decide your actions. Thanx for getting back to us!

Hi,can someone please tell me if this spring is supposed to look like this?Can you take this cover off or are there nuts inside the stove that will fall off inside?Can someone please post a pic of how this is supposed to look and how to adjust this?I cannot see how this spring would pop thru hole.Should there be a nut on the shaft?There are threads on it.Sorry for all the questions.Very new to this stove.I went from wood to coal.I have been reading a lot on your forum.Thank you for all your help.

You can remove the whole box. Screws are just threaded in stove. No nuts to fall off..

Thank you!This is a good start.

I looked at mine. I cant see how that spring could pop out.

So I am assuming it should be inside the box as picture indicates?I will take box off after Steelers game and mess with it.Thanks.

I'm still tryin to find the pix??? Is it just my computer??????????

Bill58 wrote:

Hi,can someone please tell me if this spring is supposed to look like this?Can you take this cover off or are there nuts inside the stove that will fall off inside?Can someone please post a pic of how this is supposed to look and how to adjust this?I cannot see how this spring would pop thru hole.Should there be a nut on the shaft?There are threads on it.Sorry for all the questions.Very new to this stove.I went from wood to coal.I have been reading a lot on your forum.Thank you for all your help.