How I tend My Hand Fired Coal Stove and Dispose of Ash

Lightning wrote: ↑

Sun. Nov. 20, 2022 12:50 pm

Hey Coldhouse, thank you for the detailed reply. I'm impressed that those little blowers only use 46 watts each. 66.24 kilowatts at $.23 per (for my bill) is only about $15 per month, which in my opinion is well worth spent. Although I do agree the noise is a little bit of a nuisance. I have my fan switch set to automatic, currently it's toggling on and off since I have it running so low and slow. Maybe I'm just over protective about heat accumulation in the stove if the blowers aren't used. Plus it seems like there would be a lot more useful heat, but that's just my own opinion, maybe that's not the case.

If you could compare that $15 electric cost against the cost of coal for how much heat would go up the chimney if you didn't run the fans...... I think you'd find that the fans are not costing you as much as you might think.

Paul

C, it's worked for me for years--PS--I did enjoy the video--ya got it down to an art my friend!! That & maintenance are how to simplify stove tending!!!


quote=ColdHouse post_id=808116 time=1668898102 user_id=15583]
What you think of leaving the ash in the pan until the next shake?
[/quote]

Sunny Boy wrote: ↑

Sun. Nov. 20, 2022 2:31 pm

If you could compare that $15 electric cost against the cost of coal for how much heat would go up the chimney if you didn't run the fans...... I think you'd find that the fans are not costing you as much as you might think.

Paul

Well heat escaping up the chimney is something I have not considered. My stove damper is as closed as it gets. I think when I get motivated I will go the the chimney and see how hot the air is that is leaving it. There are two flues one for the lower level and one for the upper.

I see you're able to find Kimmel. I used that for a while, but haven't seen it available. Your sizing looks almost stove size, but probably is nut? Do you do BTE for your supplier? For me in the Suffield warehouse, wasn't a lot of options this year. What-da-think of the cold frt blowin in all over us today? I think winter is knocking on the door. (Good job on the video, by the way).

joeq wrote: ↑

Sun. Nov. 20, 2022 4:17 pm

I see you're able to find Kimmel. I used that for a while, but haven't seen it available. Your sizing looks almost stove size, but probably is nut? Do you do BTE for your supplier? For me in the Suffield warehouse, wasn't a lot of options this year. What-da-think of the cold frt blowin in all over us today? I think winter is knocking on the door. (Good job on the video, by the way).

Thanks for the compliment!
I purchased a truckload from Penn Keystone in late spring early summer. 22.5 ton/18 skids. I think they had Kimmel bag it. Yes it is nut coal. I like it great consistency. No tiny pieces or fines. Freaking cold with that wind. Going to warm up a little for Thanksgiving and Friday. I am going to dig some holes and hopefully mix and pour some concrete Friday.

Concrete? Get it while the gettins good. Fingers crossed for the warm-up. I still need to finish winterizing the yard. Yeah, with that wind, it does bite the fingers some.

I carry my hod 20ft from the stove to the breezeway and fill the hod from bags outside. A second hod would be nice. I may get another or two. Then I carry the hod back inside and place next to the stove to warm all night and all day.

I can see where having two ash pans would be handy. I actually bought a second ash pan from Hitzer, but they sold me one for a modern 354/50-93 and my ash pan is more narrow so the one I bought won’t even go into the stove. LOL! Of course, I explained the difference of my stove to them and in person they still gave me the wrong pan…and they’ll likely charge me a restocking fee like the ash pan door they made for me that didn’t fit. Oh well! Guess I shouldn’t complain.

Hoytman wrote: ↑

Sun. Nov. 20, 2022 5:28 pm

I carry my hod 20ft from the stove to the breezeway and fill the hod from bags outside. A second hod would be nice. I may get another or two. Then I carry the hod back inside and place next to the stove to warm all night and all day.

I can see where having two ash pans would be handy. I actually bought a second ash pan from Hitzer, but they sold me one for a modern 354/50-93 and my ash pan is more narrow so the one I bought won’t even go into the stove. LOL! Of course, I explained the difference of my stove to them and in person they still gave me the wrong pan…and they’ll likely charge me a restocking fee like the ash pan door they made for me that didn’t fit. Oh well! Guess I shouldn’t complain.

I made a hod out of stove pipe and put a handle on it and contoured the tip. I used it when I had the Glacier Bay and had to fill it from the open door rather than a hopper. I think I did a calculation for how many cubic inches or feet in 40 pound bag and made it so it would fit a full bag.

Cool, I love the coal cannon you made. I was thinking about getting an aluminum ice scoop or grain scoop since my coal is in buckets.

I also rotate my 5 gallon buckets...I have at least 6 on porch as reserves,and 2 inside by each stove...that way at room temp...and "drying" out a little too before going in stove..

My blower fans are on at night,and during the day when it's real cold out..keep that heat circulating!

Sunny Boy wrote: ↑

Sun. Nov. 20, 2022 2:31 pm

If you could compare that $15 electric cost against the cost of coal for how much heat would go up the chimney if you didn't run the fans...... I think you'd find that the fans are not costing you as much as you might think.

Paul

Hat tip to Sunny Boy. As mentioned before I have two Hitzer 503's. One is not in a fireplace and is freestanding on a couple bricks in the walkout basement. I think on that stove all heat is radiated into the living space regardless of whether fans are running or not. The 503 in the fireplace is another story. I think if the fans are not running on that stove, much of the heat is not being removed from the stove and is radiating up the chimney. More than half of the stove is inside the fireplace directly below the chimney. I turned those fans on the other day and the temperature on the first floor rose 10*. I ran those fans all last year. This morning the fans are short cycling because the stove is not running very hot and fans were set on automatic. They were off and on every 30 seconds. I flipped the switch to on from auto. I think those fans are important to run if there is a fire in the box. If the stove is idling with a low fire and it is not good to run the fans constantly I think a timer wold be more effective than the auto sensor. I cannot believe any good would come from short cycling. A timer that runs the fans for half an hour on half off would make more sense to me.

That's interesting because the fans on my 503 spent a lot of time in the toggling on and off zone. But the toggle time was more like 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off.

I agree with nixing the short cycling, and making it manual. Automatics are for women, manual is the way-ta go. I've always enjoyed 3 pedals.