Hitzer 30/95 burns too slow

Yea. Just like the headline says burns too slow. I’ve had a 30/95 for the past 4 years. I picked up another. Completely reconditioned it. All new seals. New glass, new load door and seal. New tilt plate and new bricks and of coarse a fresh coat of paint. Basically I cant get it to heat up. I fired it up yesterday evening with a bag or char-coal. Got it going and filled it with real coal. Couldn’t get the box temp over 300. Let it burn as is overnight and the day. Box temp stayed at 200. Tonight, I Left the ash door open for an hour trying to rev it up to refill it. I shook it 2 little jiggles hoping a little ash woul drop and allow more air to flow up through. But to no avail still can’t get it over 200 and it’s been @ 150-175 since then. Look in the box and you can see into the bed it’s red.
I had check the chinmey before I hooked it up. It’s clear. I had also put in a new black pipe with the manual flapper. Thinking maybe the manual flapper was in wrong or closed. I put a bore-scope down through the baro and it was flat and even /open. So it’s not blocked.
The only thing I can think of is since this stove is 100% clean inside I’m wondering if since there is no ash stuck between the bricks and in the books and crannies it may have a lot of air leaking through the box and not going through the coal bed. Anyone have issues like this with a freshly totally clean stove ?

Pic of temp gauge. Chinmey temp is 70
Manometer is at 4”
The flame pic is the char-coal when lite it up.
The red bed pic is as I was shovel loading it with real coal.
The open lid pic is when I was installing it.

Did you check for air leaks with a cigarette?

Coal maybe?

Manometer is at 4”?????

Hoytman wrote: ↑

Wed. Dec. 01, 2021 11:32 pm

Did you check for air leaks with a cigarette?

Coal maybe?

Manometer is at 4”?????

I don’t smoke. Have no way to do a smoke test. Been smoke free for over 21 years. I’m thinking there are leaks around the bricks inside the box.
Coal is same coal that I burned last year in the other stove with no issues.
Box temp has been dropping its now at 3 my chimney has a 1” draw with out the stove on.

Please take some pictures of your manometer.

Seems like any air leaking through bricks would come from underneath even if through slanted bricks at rear of stove. No different than air coming up between the grate frame in front and back of my 354...between the bricks and the steel of the stove...except of yours is leaking through the bricks it should also be coming through the coal as well and adding to the heat of the stove, not taking away. Hmmmnnnn...

Several members here have your stove. Maybe Oliver Power will chime in. I know he’s used that stove a great deal. Perhaps he can help.

Yup this makes no sense. The 30/95 I’ve had for the past 4 years I’ve had no issues with. That would run strong and as hot as needed.
Pic of Mano and another pic of box temp it’s dropped a little more.

Air has got to be bypassing the coal bed , whether up behind or at corners of brick , or through door/glass /or hopper , congratulations on staying smoke free 21 years( I just made 3 months ) , hit the nearest vape/smoke shop or gas station and get a pack of incense sticks , I’d say cover the baro with foil for the test and light a fire with spruce/cedar /fir kindling so it gets hot fast and creates strong draw than choke it down and do the smoke test to eliminate any of the upper gaskets as the cause good luck

-.04”WC on the manometer
Hitzer says run between -.03” and -.06” for my stove. Check you manual for the 30/95 and see where they say to run it, but I’m thinking you have a good draft. Mine runs at -.02”WC all the time.

I thought of window and hopper gaskets as well. I’m hoping all those were changed when the door gaskets were changed. Did you dollar bill test ALL new gaskets to ensure a tight fit?

Radiant or blower model stove?
Take a flashlight and where the top of stove meets the body use the light and check for cracks in the stove body, then check the rest of the stove body.

Did you double check that you aren’t missing vital stove parts? Just trying to cover the obvious things.

Some of the older stoves are known to crack at a corner near the top and front of stoves. This is not an issue for blower models but it is for radiant models as CO could leak into the home.

Sounds like a call to Dean at Hitzer may be in order.

S, try puttin tin foil over that baro--crack ash door vents about 1/8"-- by manual flapper, ya mean MPD? Set that around 1/2 closed (ya never had any draw problems before-- looks like you're losin heat goin up the chimney. Great ya quit smokin!!! Use a damn candle to check for leaks--Fire bricks have nothin to do with your situation. PLUS--give her a GOOD shakin before toppinjg off--Ya keepin that hopper FULL???????????????????????????????? How much space ya tryin to heat with that lil lady? Sorry Shawn, just read your post--we're on the same page pretty much.

Stove pipe is only 70* ? That’s a miracle you’re able to see any glowing coals , that thing should be a blast furnace after 30 min with ash door open , ( was this stove complete before the rebuild?) probably unrelated to your issue but I just saw a post on FB , with a hitzer that was overfired the tube or angle that holds the front firebrick under the door opening had warped and separated from stove front so air was flowing up behind bricks rather than through the coal bed .

I don't understand that cool of a pipe and that high of a draft...70F pipe and -.04"Wc??

Too much secondary air, and not enough primary air. My brother had the same problem. The problem is above your grates and not below. Check all new gaskets and fire box for leaks. Yep way too much secondary air.
When you find the problem, you will smack your head and say wow I should have had a V8.

Well this morning, I used a piece of incense to check for leaks. I found the black chimney pipe leaking on the bottom of both the stove side and the chimney side. Where the seam of the pipe is it wasn’t round. It was flat. Large gap. Tonight I pulled out the drawer full of stove junk. I had bought extra glass seal and extra hopper grate seal from Alaska stove company. I used that to seal both ends of the pipe. The stove body was just under 100 and the chimney pipe temp gauge doesn’t have a reading. Took me about an hour to get it all sealed up. Since the box is still rather warm and I can surprisingly still see red in the bed, I’m hoping that this solves it. Hopefully the corners and the space between the bricks aren’t an issue. I’m going to see how she goes. After an hour the box temp gauge has moved up its just over 100. Not sure if I’ll be able to save the fire or not. (I highly doubt it). Anyway. Once I get it going again I’ll find out.
Thanks for the congrats on not smoking for just over 20 years. I guess it’s ok to be a quitter sometimes. Lol.

Wrong pics posted above. The box temp and the Mano was this am. The chimney temp pic is correct new correct pics posted.

I dunno... even with those leaks in the stove pipe you still had decent draft pressure.. I have reservations about this being the cure. Just my opinion.