Help! I need sleep!

Is it betterer?

New User,
If I understand correctly, you are running in the same flue as the fireplace 1 floor up. Is the damper in the fireplace closed (tight-no leakage)? This will effect the draft on the stove below. Best of luck to you.
Cheers

D-frost wrote: ↑

Thu. Jan. 18, 2018 7:53 am

New User,
If I understand correctly, you are running in the same flue as the fireplace 1 floor up. Is the damper in the fireplace closed (tight-no leakage)? This will effect the draft on the stove below. Best of luck to you.
Cheers

Good call D! Is the damper area around the flue pipe blocked off? Otherwise the air rushing up along side the stove flue pipe will prove Bernoulli's principle.

edit: A manometer would answer a lot off questions.

If you want to heat the whole house & get decent sleep....

Buy a big stove, like a Hitzer 50-93 or similar.

If you want to get decent sleep with that stove ,turn the burn down.

Right, it all boils down to coal capacity. A 100 pound fuel bed will run 24 hours in mild weather before needing tending, 50 pound fuel bed will run 12 hours. The colder it gets, the shorter it gets.

In severe cold the 100 pound fuel bed gets 12 hours comfortably, I would imagine a 50 pound would get 6 hours.

If the slots for the slicing poker are left open, the coal will burn too fast, and the thermostat no longer controls the burn until the slots ash up.

Top off the hopper at every tending. You should get 8 hours between tendings.

You might also test the tightness of the ash door by closing a dollar bill at various points around the door to see if it is held tightly.

Meh! Not really. I got almost 7 hours.

I just replaced the seals around both doors so they're tight.
As far as the flue goes, I have a 6" pipe from the stove to the outside of the house going all the way up the fireplace. My upstairs FP has a separate flue. Yes, there is a nicely fitting sheet metal plate closing the FP damper with the pipe going through it. I check the cleaning slots each time, all is good there. I'm not running out of coal, there's usually coal left, before it goes out. I just can't believe I get that much ash in 6 hours and then it drops temp and goes out.

How many pounds of coal are you burning per day?

The stove should be capable of going low enough to burn about 20 pounds per day with 12 hours or more between tendings. 8 hours at higher output.

I realize you put new gaskets in but do the dollar bill test anyway on the ash door.

You said the cleaning slots are OK. Does that mean they are closed after cleaning? The poker will not go in?

The stove seems incapable of a lower slower burn which has to be corrected to be useful in less cold weather. Is the thermostat flap closed or almost so with that high heat output?

I burn no more than 40 lbs. That's what my friend burned too with this stove. If I turn it down to 2 it will go out. I do have it down to 3 now and it's working but still no longevity to it. He went 13 hours. I will try the dollar bill test. I doubt that's the issue as the door closes hard from the new seal. Slots are closed after each cleaning. There's not a lot of change between a 2 or 5. But enough that it will go out. I read somewhere where someone shortened their cable. I'm wondering if that will make it more responsive.

The particular coal can make a difference. If you can, try a few bags from a different source. Crunchy ash can be hard to clear with the poker. Try poking from above as well, those dead spots to force the ash down.

I just really gave it quite a cleaning. I think the tool I use after the flat bar needs to be stronger. I noticed when I beat the crap out of it from below with it, I can see the flames grow as they get more oxygen. I was able to grow the embers and see them more from below. I kept going until I could see them from all corners. I was practically laying on the floor! I fiddled with the thermostat again with my hand behind the stove getting it so it is barely open. That's about a 3.5 setting. I'd be happy with getting 7 hrs out of it. Coal is topped off.
I thought of trying a different source for coal. This was the place my friend used but maybe they changed suppliers since last year, I'll ask. Also, it appears the pea coal is somewhat fine in some areas of the bag, wonder if it's too small? And when it was delivered this fall, it leaked water on the garage floor. Is coal damp usually? I bring a few bags in at a time so it dries out more.
Thanks so much everyone for jumping in, I'm desperate to figure this out! I'm not giving up, I love it when it's going good!

Coal can vary quite a bit from the same mine. Some coal will collapse easily when burned and the coal bed goes down, while other coal retains its shape and does not pass easily through the grate openings. Red ash coal is more prone to this when burned hot, as the iron in it tends to fuse together and make the ash crunchy instead of powdery. Harder to clear. The poker slides under it and it just bounces in place. The hopper does very little feeding between tendings because the coal bed retains its shape, instead of collapsing as it burns. Burning at a lower temperature can help a lot.

Beating the hell out of it as you have done should show a difference. Try poking from above as well to force the dead ash through the grate to make room for fresh coal.

Burning dry coal is always better.

Thanks! I did get 8 hours out of it last night! Yay! I'm going skiing today and I need to do it again!

If you can reliably get 8 hours between tendings with coal you are doing far better than i have done during my recent wood burning experiment. I can only consistently get about 4-1/2 hours between tendings unless I overload the stove with wood and in so doing reach living area heat levels that are approaching intolerable. But even then roughly 6 hours between tendings is about it.