Update from the newbie with a potbelly

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NEPApotbelly
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: US Stove Potbelly

Post by NEPApotbelly » Fri. Mar. 22, 2019 8:08 pm

First, thank you everyone for your thoughts, wisdom, and suggestions. I would not have been able to get my cove stove working well without the help and encouragement of the people in this forum. After 3-4 months of daily use and experimentation, my potbelly stove is heating our home wonderfully now!

At first, it always overheated and would go out in a matter of hours. In mid-January though, I suddenly realized the secret for keeping this model going: choke it with lots of ash. I now leave a solid 4" or more of ash at the bottom. The clean out lever (that's supposed to be a shaker?) doesn't actually shake. But I realized that's fine. It is a round contraption that opens up the bottom of the stove in a circular hole about 3" in diameter. I open it up two or three times a day and work enough ash out into the tray below in order to provide more room for new coal. It leaves sort of an "ash doughnut" behind.

The biggest mistake I was making was thoroughly cleaning it each time it would go out. In summary, this thing draws so much air (even with gasket rope on the doors) that it needs a lot of ash kept in it continuously to clog up airflow and keep it from burning too hot.

Here's how I get a more efficient burn (I'm posting this in case any other noobs come along who are in a similar situation):

1) Allow lots of ash to stay at the bottom, even compress it to ensure it is choking out as much air as possible.
2) Get a fire going with charcoal soaked in lighter fluid – I use about 20-25 pieces.
3) Once the charcoal is thoroughly lit, add some coal and let it burn for a good 30 minutes with the damper wide open.
4) Close up the damper and all air vents as tightly as possible and enjoy the heat.

I’ve kept my stove burning for a couple of months at a time this way. The only reason it goes out now is if I forget to check on it every 3-4 hours and throw on a few small scoops of coal. It requires much more upkeep than the more modern, better stoves, but we’re used to that from our wood burning days and both my wife and I are now comfortable operating and maintaining a fire in this. It'll make it through the night now, just barely, but there's usually enough in there to get it going again when I wake up.

 
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keegs
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Post by keegs » Sat. Mar. 23, 2019 9:16 am

....looks like on the right side of the US Stove Railroad Potbelly there's a hinged port cover .. is that your access to the shaker?

 
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NEPApotbelly
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Post by NEPApotbelly » Sat. Mar. 23, 2019 2:09 pm

keegs, yes, that's the shaker. It doesn't move much side to side, maybe a few millimeters each way. It mainly just slides in and out to dump ash into the pan below.


 
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keegs
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Post by keegs » Sat. Mar. 23, 2019 3:19 pm

Okay... just looked at the grate...( not cheap BTW ) it looks like it would move in and out???

Over firing consumes and wastes fuel and could be dangerous. For me, a major benefit to burning coal is the 8-10 hour burns... that when timed properly, allow me to sleep through the night.

I think you've already mentioned this but buttoning up the ash and feed doors with some good gasket material should control the volume and flow of combustion air. Functioning barometric and manual flue dampers will control combustion as well.

 
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warminmn
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Post by warminmn » Sat. Mar. 23, 2019 3:47 pm

Even tin foil around cracks and seams would help a little, or some type of furnace cement. Im glad you figured out a way to slow the fire down some. I ran a smaller version of your stove and know how difficult it was.

 
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NEPApotbelly
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Post by NEPApotbelly » Mon. Mar. 25, 2019 6:04 pm

I'll have to try the tinfoil trick and see if that slows things down a bit. I think the gasket I placed on the bottom cleanout door wasn't big enough to actually do anything. So replacing that would probably help as well.

I'll look into a barometric damper; I gotta do something to slow down the burn time and having to restoke the fire every few hours is a bit let down. I don't have much room between the stove and the horizontal portion of the pipe that goes into the chimney (about 24-30"), so I would have to replace all of that pipe since the manual damper is currently in the middle of it.


 
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keegs
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Post by keegs » Tue. Mar. 26, 2019 6:00 am

It's a good idea to have the baro especially during periods of high wind but the manual normally does most of the work. Necessity is the mother of invention. When the season is over you'll have more opportunity to identify and plug the places where the air is getting in. Good luck with it. I see used Chubby stoves regularly in the listings here in the NE. They have a simple design and are pretty much bulletproof. I've seen them as low as $200.

 
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Post by NEPApotbelly » Sat. Apr. 06, 2019 10:45 am

warminmn, I wanted to post an update and mention that I tried the aluminum foil trick on the lower ash tray door. It's made a HUGE difference. It looks a bit ugly, but now instead of needing to check the fire every 3-4 hours, I can easily go 8 hours. Amazing what a difference a little aluminum foil can make!

As an aside, do most people just have powdery ash that comes out of the stove? I get some powdery ash, but also lots of really large clumps of ash, sometimes the size of a softball. It's as if the ash is melting and fusing together. It hasn't been as bad since using the aluminum foil, but I'm wondering if that's normal.
coal ash.jpg
.JPG | 97.2KB | coal ash.jpg

 
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keegs
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Post by keegs » Sat. Apr. 06, 2019 11:47 am

Good to hear the progress. I never had anything like a clump of ash forming in the fire pot.

My Chubby Stove ash pan generally captures about 70% fine ash, about 25% solid bits of burnt coal and the remainder is what I'll describe as a combination of burnt and unburnt bits. Shaking and flossing the grate can result in unburnt bits of fuel dropping down into the ash pan so I try to be mindful of how often I shake.

 
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warminmn
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Other Heating: Wood and wear a wool shirt

Post by warminmn » Sat. Apr. 06, 2019 12:45 pm

Im glad the foil worked out. I think thats a clinker you pictured(not positive), but an odd shaped one. Mine usually look like a hard dog turd.

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