Cold Stove Manometer Reading

 
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oliver power
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Post by oliver power » Sun. Feb. 28, 2021 9:24 pm

waytomany?s wrote:
Sun. Feb. 28, 2021 7:13 am
2 things after reading post again after some coffee.
Never been used-as in brand new? Paint will need to cure. Gonna stink a lot. Several small fires with increased temps as you go.

Basement install with that small of a stove-are you intending to heat only the basement? I'm not trying to be discouraging, just curious as to intent. Basement size, configuration, ability of heat to go where you want it, will determine if you're supplementing heat or making all of it.
How did I miss the basement install. The 30-95 may be lacking..... 2,000 square feet? I'm quite sure it will be lacking. Should have bought the 50-93.


 
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Post by Spacecadet » Sun. Feb. 28, 2021 10:27 pm

Lots of responses. I have the 30/95 in my house. It works quite well. I had a 50/95 in my garage it worked well. Personally I think the smaller stove works better - more efficient. Anyway. When you adjust the manometer it’s supposed to be unhooked. Set it zero. Let it sit for a little while and make sure the reading hasn’t changed. Then hook it to chimney. With no fire, a positive reading is good. Mine has 1-2” without a fire. My stove runs @ 4”. When the wind is very very strong it’ll tilt the baro level and it’s hit 10”. But again that’s severe wind. On average it runs from 4”-6”.
I’ve put a pic of how I have mine hooked up.

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Post by McGiever » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 12:10 am

Spacecadet wrote:
Sun. Feb. 28, 2021 10:27 pm
Lots of responses. I have the 30/95 in my house. It works quite well. I had a 50/95 in my garage it worked well. Personally I think the smaller stove works better - more efficient. Anyway. When you adjust the manometer it’s supposed to be unhooked. Set it zero. Let it sit for a little while and make sure the reading hasn’t changed. Then hook it to chimney. With no fire, a positive reading is good. Mine has 1-2” without a fire. My stove runs @ 4”. When the wind is very very strong it’ll tilt the baro level and it’s hit 10”. But again that’s severe wind. On average it runs from 4”-6”.
I’ve put a pic of how I have mine hooked up.
Should have a 0.0 in front of all those numbers... like, 0.04"

 
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Post by HandFire » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 5:56 am

fpappal wrote:
Sun. Feb. 28, 2021 9:08 pm

As far as my manometer goes. I am hooked up to the Low port. The gauge has been reading almost always to the right of zero, which are the black numbers, which the scale says is positive. Mainly .01 or .02. One time I saw it at -.01 which was last night. Am I correct in thinking that a positive reading (to the right of zero) indicates air is leaving
We are only interested in negative readings because we want to know the NEGATIVE pressure in the chimney. Think negative out, postive would be in. The reason we use the Dwyer 25 is because the labeled postive scale has a greater graduated scale to see the negative pressure over a wider variety of conditions. When the low port is hooked up you need to read the black as negative. Burn that paper, reading in the black, smoke out=negative reading=good. We are reversing the negative and postive scales to read over a wider range. In our application red is positive=in=bad. If they made a cheap negative large graduated scale meter we would use that but instead we fudge this one. Your described readings seem good, just remember they are negative out.

 
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Post by Spacecadet » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 7:05 am

McGiever wrote:
Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 12:10 am
Should have a 0.0 in front of all those numbers... like, 0.04"
Yes. Correct. All should have 0.0 in front of the numbers. 0.04”- 0.06” is what the numbers should’ve been.
Sorry for the mistake.

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 8:51 am

First,..... make sure that the Dwyer Mark II is perfectly level before zeroing it. If it's not level the readings will be off even though it's zeroed. That is why the gauge has a built-in bubble type level.

Paul

 
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Post by fpappal » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 9:23 am

I understand!!! Thank you for all the replies. Now to do some research to figure out the best way to start a fire in the 30-95. Thanks again.


 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 9:36 am

I used to start with wood, get a good hot bed of embers, and then start adding layers of coal. Since then I learned that BBQ charcoal and kerosene does the same in about half the time.

Coal needs a hot fire to burn and there is not much hotter fuel combo than charcoal and kerosene. Plus, it's less likely to soot up stove windows than using wood.

Paul

 
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Post by fpappal » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 9:44 am

That is great to know, I actually bought a bag of charcoal this weekend thinking that would be a good way to start the fire. Is lighter fuel fine? Or kerosene better?

 
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Post by freetown fred » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 10:16 am

I'm hopin ya bought match light!!! Tried & true.

 
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Post by Hoytman » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 10:51 am

freetown fred wrote:
Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 10:16 am
I'm hopin ya bought match light!!! Tried & true.
I'll want to try this brand of charcoal next time I re-light, or next year. Right now I'm in the one match club. Almost lost it this morning, but got lucky and stove is ready for the temp drop tonight.

Hardwood lump charcoal popped and cracked and spit sparks out everywhere I had a door open from the time I set the match to it. I was fine, but it sure made the wife uneasy. Had a close call or two with the carpet also. So yeah, small amount of matchlight it is next time. Although, regular Kingsford will work as well if you have any skill lighting fires at all.

 
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Post by Hoytman » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 10:51 am

A small kindling fire will work also, then add a bit of charcoal on top once the coals have burned down. So if you don't have kerosene but you have kindling you'll be fine. Heck, a handful of sawdust underneath some charcoal will light the charcoal if they both are dry. You can start a large amount of charcoal all across the grates, or you can pile up some charcoal a couple inches high about the size of a paper plate like I did and when it catches and is burning well spread it all out just a little to flatten it and add a layer of coal about an 1 1/2"-2" high and let it catch and burn bright. This is where I differ from guys here...adding the next layers.

Some here add a second layer letting it catch, then each additional layer is added and allowed to burn of the volatiles (blue flames) ... all with the air vent and ash pan door wide open letting the fire roar. I have found you don't need to do this...letting the stove get so dang hot it burns you out of the room.

NOTE:
The following only works if you know what dial setting you run your stove on. So, if this is your first time lighting a coal stove DO NOT attempt this method below.


I have not read anywhere on this forum where anyone else has tried the lighting method below, so I thought I'd share it here.

The following is what I do once the first layer of coal has caught fire as in the first paragraph above.

Once the first layer of coal has caught fire real well and burning hot...coal has burned blues off and is turning red...I then set my dial on the back of my stove and close the ash pan door. Often if the fire is too hot the thermostat on back of the stove will take over and allow the coal to cool down or continue to heat up to the dial setting temperature you ran the stove at previously. Once the stat takes over, closes and then re-opens...so long as coal is still burning bright, I then add a 2nd layer, 1"-2" layer of coal, towards filling the stove up. Once the layer is added, I simply close the load door. Keep in mind the ash pan door is also remaining closed once blue flames ignite and again opened with each successive layer to allow stove to get just a little hotter when adding coal. Once blue flames of second layer has burned off I add a third layer and allow it to also burn off blue flames.

During this time of adding layers of coal, any built in stove dampers above the fire box, if your stove has them, or if you dampers placed in stove pipes they MUST remain open to allow gasses to escape while filling the firebox with coal.

(IMPORTANT: Between each layer always leave some glowing red coal along the front or in one front corner to help ignite each layer as you build the firebox up with coal. Otherwise you could have a serious EXPLOSION!!)

After the first layer set your dial on the stat. Keep adding layers of coal, with ash pan door and load door open and then close and allowing each layer to burn off gases before adding another layer, until the stove is full.

Some don't have to go this effort, but I don't like being run out of the room by trying to get a stove going. Never have and if I have to deal with heat cycles like that I might as well burn wood. For 2 winters now I have been successful initially loading my stove or when adding coal to my stove in this manner at tending time.

People keep saying that an anthracite coal bed needs to be deep. Well, I keep it that way 99.9% of the time because that's what I've read here to do, but I have also let it burn down to near empty on 3 occasions now and let the firebox remain low in order to rid the stove of additional ash that I don't have the tools to get to when the stove is more full of coal. This makes raking along the grate frame much easier for me (since I so often have to burn my stove at a low temperature compared to other users) until I can make some tools to do a better job without having to let stove burn down so much. I have found that the stat can, so long as mine is working properly that is, can maintain proper stove temperature for a day or two with the coal bed near empty yet still burning. I have not doubt that once my stove is up and running that I could run it on a low bed of coal 24/7. With the bi-metallic thermostat it doesn't seem to matter how much coal is in the box, the stat runs the stove.

 
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Post by fpappal » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 11:13 am

Thank you for that detailed explanation. I appreciate it.

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 11:40 am

fpappal wrote:
Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 9:44 am
That is great to know, I actually bought a bag of charcoal this weekend thinking that would be a good way to start the fire. Is lighter fuel fine? Or kerosene better?
Both lighter fluid and kerosene will work. I use kerosene because I can buy a gallon of it at the gas station for less than the cost of a quart of BBQ lighter fluid. I just pour the kero into a used gear oil qt bottle with the squirt top type caps. Easy to sprinkle it on the BBQ charcoal, then put the cap back on. ;)

As to the Match Light. It's more expensive per pound than just the twin-packs of Kingsford 20 lb BBQ bags on sale at Lowes, plus the cost of kero to light that pound, and Veterans get 10% off that at Lowes.

Several years ago - about mid winter- I bought some match light at Walmart that was left over from their summer sales, stored in their garden center. The lighter fluid in it had mostly evaporated out though the paper bag. I had to add kerosene to get it to light. :x

So for about $15.00 I get 40 lbs of BBQ charcoal and enough kero to get it burning quickly. That's enough to light both my stoves about 5 times each. Match light would cost me more than double that.

Paul

 
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Post by Hoytman » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 4:29 pm

Good point, Paul. The matchlight I finally found is probably the same as you found because I bought it late in the season and it was also in the garden center at Wal-mart in winter. I'll use it up grilling and next year I'll keep some in a bucket with a tight fitting lid so I can try FF'ds method with the matchlight.

Heck, I keep a propane torch handy as well. That light kindling, hardwood lump, or any kind of charcoal.


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