The fire chief 450

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Jgib4
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Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Fire chief 450

Post by Jgib4 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 12:40 pm

Figured I would start another thread to keep track of what is working and what is not.

Last time I checked in I had got a few bags of red ash and plugged the overfire air holes with insulation. Had a really nice fire that night, it lasted for 14 hours tried a shake down and added more coal. That was thanksgiving. We were gone all day, when we got back Fire was out and the coal never really took off. I think I didn’t do a good enough job on the shake down.
I then cleaned out the furnace, pulled out the insulation and burned wood for a few days after my fail. I decided to have another go and used all red ash coal again with no holes plugged. It actually worked really well. Finished adding the coal at 10pm, woke up at 4am to go to work and still had a nice bed of coals. Did a shake down and added more.
Unfortunately my wife never checked it and obviously after 28 hours away from it it was out. I had mostly ash and a little unburned coal. I’m filling about 3/4 up the wall of fire bricks and so far it seems to like that best.
As of right now I have a wood fire going to get a nice bed of coals, and plan on starting it up again with the red ash. I want to see if a better shake down will yield better results.


 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 12:45 pm

Fill up the entire height of the brick! And round it in the center! You may not even need to shake for the first 24 hours, just kee p reloading it every 12 hours, keep the coal up to the top of the firebrick! Shake after the first 24 or 36 hours, only shake until you see red under the grates.

 
Jgib4
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Post by Jgib4 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 12:52 pm

hotblast1357 wrote:
Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 12:45 pm
Fill up the entire height of the brick! And round it in the center! You may not even need to shake for the first 24 hours, just kee p reloading it every 12 hours, keep the coal up to the top of the firebrick! Shake after the first 24 or 36 hours, only shake until you see red under the grates.
Don’t shake the first 24 hours? When I did my shake down yesterday morning I got a ton of ash

 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 12:56 pm

It’s not usually necessary, the first fire is usually very hot.

 
Jgib4
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Post by Jgib4 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 12:58 pm

hotblast1357 wrote:
Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 12:56 pm
It’s not usually necessary, the first fire is usually very hot.
So just get the fire ramped up and add more?
Yesterday the reason I did the shake down is because the grates were blocked and I couldn’t see a glow

 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 1:18 pm

Yes, its good to establish a healthy deep fire first before shaking and disturbing it. But you must fill it when tending it, up to the top of the brick and mound it in the center.

 
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Post by Jgib4 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 1:39 pm

It’s loaded up to the top of the fire bricks with a small mound on the center. Left the ash pan open a little to long and the stove pipe temp got a little high lol.


 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 2:35 pm

U have to be careful of that!!

A good quick way to come down a over fire, is to put more coal on it, but as always make sure you leave some fire exposed for the volitals.

 
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Post by Jgib4 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 2:41 pm

hotblast1357 wrote:
Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 2:35 pm
U have to be careful of that!!

A good quick way to come down a over fire, is to put more coal on it, but as always make sure you leave some fire exposed for the volitals.
Yea got up to 400 so I shut it down and turned the damper down.

 
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Post by hotblast1357 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 2:45 pm

The stove pipe up to 400?

 
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Post by Jgib4 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 3:49 pm

hotblast1357 wrote:
Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 2:45 pm
The stove pipe up to 400?
Yes

 
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Post by hotblast1357 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 3:51 pm

That’s not that hot for a roaring fire from a hand fed.

 
Jgib4
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Post by Jgib4 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 3:58 pm

hotblast1357 wrote:
Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 3:51 pm
That’s not that hot for a roaring fire from a hand fed.
No not at all and is normal for wood. I’ve never had temps above 300 on the stove pipe for coal though. I did have a really nice bed of coals when I started today though

 
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Post by Jgib4 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 6:56 pm

Temps had dropped down to around 100 on the stove pipe checked the ash pan and hardly any glow. Took my poker and cleared the grates, got the glow back and topped off the top of the coal bed back to level with the firebricks.

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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Mon. Nov. 27, 2017 7:37 pm

It doesn’t always need to glow under there either, u should only have to touch this maybe every 12 hours, when tending it make it glow, but after tending you shouldn’t have to touch it.


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