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

 
ColdHouse
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Post by ColdHouse » Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 8:48 am

[media] [/media]


 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 5:28 pm

Damn c, that's a lil shake????? :o Ya done good with the video!!!!!! ;)

 
ColdHouse
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Post by ColdHouse » Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 5:48 pm

freetown fred wrote:
Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 5:28 pm
Damn c, that's a lil shake????? :o Ya done good with the video!!!!!! ;)
What you think of leaving the ash in the pan until the next shake?

 
LouNY
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Post by LouNY » Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 5:56 pm

Interesting technique, I tend to use a knife on mine and a bit less shaking. And I take the hot ash out to a steel can.
I have thought about letting the ash cool before taking it out.
I have never worried much about the water in the bags, I normally dump a bag into a 5 gallon bucket to bring into the house and keep a bucket or two inside all the time so it does get to dry a bit unless my buckets both end up empty when it's time to fill the stove then I'll fill a bucket bring it in and dump it into the stove.

But a nice video.

 
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Post by waytomany?s » Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 5:58 pm

ColdHouse wrote:
Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 5:48 pm
What you think of leaving the ash in the pan until the next shake?
Yes, every time.

 
ColdHouse
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Post by ColdHouse » Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 6:07 pm

Thanks for the nice comments. I don't want to have dripping black water staining my hardwood if that can be avoided. Plus the water evaporating adds needed humidity from the open bags and warm coal is better to put in the stove. I used to walk all the way across the inside of my house to dump the hot ashes. Seems like if cool, just throw directly into trash unless I have a need for them. I like to think that I work smarter not harder and when I figure out what works I like to pass it along so others can have an easier time.

 
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Post by warminmn » Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 6:35 pm

Nice, simple to do video. Most the time I empty my coal bags into a bin and its dry but when i use bagged coal I have a bunch of plastic pails I keep full. I have 2 coal hods that I keep full with the plastic pails. I set the coal hods real close to the stove, one on top of the other. I use the top hod to fill with, refill the empty and put that on the bottom of the other for the next fill. Always bone dry that way and no bags sitting around. Your results may vary.


 
LouNY
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Post by LouNY » Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 7:45 pm

ColdHouse wrote:
Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 6:07 pm
Thanks for the nice comments. I don't want to have dripping black water staining my hardwood if that can be avoided. Plus the water evaporating adds needed humidity from the open bags and warm coal is better to put in the stove. I used to walk all the way across the inside of my house to dump the hot ashes. Seems like if cool, just throw directly into trash unless I have a need for them. I like to think that I work smarter not harder and when I figure out what works I like to pass it along so others can have an easier time.
Cooling the ash sounds good and I may try it this season. It will not make any difference in how far I walk as I'll still keep them in a steel can as I save them for when I need to sand the driveway, then if my cans are full I'll dump them in the sander.
I can see the benefits of adding some humidity, I figure mine gets to dry out a bit in the plastic 5 gallon buckets.

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 9:30 pm

Is that a 503? I noticed it's not plugged in. You don't use the blowers? Aren't you afraid that could damage the stove from overheating if heat isn't getting removed from it?

Great video, thanks for posting :D

 
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Post by Hounds51 » Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 9:35 pm

Nice video

 
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Post by nut » Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 9:53 pm

I stop after I see red.

 
ColdHouse
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Post by ColdHouse » Sun. Nov. 20, 2022 4:17 am

Lightning wrote:
Sat. Nov. 19, 2022 9:30 pm
Is that a 503? I noticed it's not plugged in. You don't use the blowers? Aren't you afraid that could damage the stove from overheating if heat isn't getting removed from it?

Great video, thanks for posting :D
I have thermometer on the stove and pay attention to the temperature. Stove is not running flat out as hot as it can because it is not that cold outside. It was my understanding that those fans are optional as to whether to use or not. They are not very quiet and I bet not very energy efficient. I have a regular fan that moves a lot of air on the low setting that blows onto the front of the stove. The air hits the stove, then the fireplace brick, and ricochets back into the living space. I make sure to turn the fan off when I tend the stove. So long as the stove stays within a decent operating temperature, I think I am fine. Furthermore, I think there are more tell tale signs for an overheating stove. I notice a different smell when the stove is burning hotter than I want it and obviously the temperature is hotter in the room. I have a pretty good feel for adjusting the stove thus the room temperature from the airflow control on the ash pan door. If I know it is going to be warmer tomorrow, I close up the holes and slow the fire down. I like to be wrong, so if I am missing something please don't hesitate to point it out.

I have another 503 that is free standing on a couple of bricks in my lower level. So it is not inside a fireplace. I do not run the fans on it either. Truth be told I can't run those because, I got that at a super deal and a mouse had chewed up some of the wires. It sat unused and brand new in my garage for years until last season. I had the great idea of how much easier that stove would be than a glacier bay where I had to open the front door to load. So I wired the fans and made it work in the garage. Well don't you know I didn't have the intuitive foresight to realize that wiring the fans with regular plastic coated wire was not going to work very long on a coal burning stove. But that stove is in a lower level walkout basement which heats easily and doesn't run very hot.

This season it is my goal to keep the home comfortable and use as little fuel and energy as possible. So in other words, if I can keep the house pretty consistently 70 on the main level and above 65 on the upper bedroom level, I call that warm enough. I would rather save fuel for future use.

I am sure you have been following what I have said in other threads also. I put in some heat pumps this past summer. I was having issues with the main level one calling for and defaulting to auxiliary heat, which is my oil boiler, when the temperatures outside were under or around 45*. The boiler is shut off presently with the kill switch. A board member here suggested that the heat pump calling for auxiliary heat at 45* was something that could be changed by program. I reached out to the guy that did the install and he wan't very helpful but said it was definitely something that can be controlled with the thermostat. I have this Bryant Evolution, Infinity air handler system with communicating thermostat and it is pretty complicated. That thermostat retails used for over $1,000 and can't just replace it with a Honeywell Tstat. Anyway not issue with the thermostat other than little plastic push tabs that have broken off. I didn't spend too much time trying to change the programming. I went into advanced settings and saw an option for "heat pump only" and selected that. So now it will come on when colder outside. I think I will experiment with running the heat pump possibly during the day when temperatures are above 40. I think if it can come on for an hour and bring the upstairs from 65* to above 70* it might be worth it so the bedrooms are a little warmer when going to bed. So everything would be backwards here. My coal stoves that would normally be supplemental heat will be main source for heating this big house and the heat pump might get used as supplemental.
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Post by ColdHouse » Sun. Nov. 20, 2022 7:07 am

I looked up that Hitzer fan and each fan is 46 watts. If both fans ran constantly for 30 days they would consume 66.24 kwh. The high velocity floor fan draws 1.35 amps at 120 volts. So running non stop for 30 days would consume 116.64 kwh but IMHO it moves much more air and I am not certain of how they rate the floor fan because it has 3 speeds and I run it on low. High seems like almost hurricane winds.
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » 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.

 
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Post by LouNY » Sun. Nov. 20, 2022 1:25 pm

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.
I have certainly noticed the greatly reduced amount of heat delivered from my 503 when the power is out and shuts the fans down.


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