Newbie with a combo furnace

My only add to the good advice in this post, is there firebrick to the bottom of the door in the front? Or something else to keep the coal off the door frame? Its possible i missed the answer from other posts. My concern with this is warping or burnout of the door frame if coal is against the door frame over a period of time. But perhaps it wont hurt anything.

Ok, 2nd add... you will be learning how to use your windowstats to keep from getting too hot. Fresh air and wearing shorts feels nice in January.

warminmn wrote: ↑

Tue. Nov. 22, 2022 6:34 pm

My only add to the good advice in this post, is there firebrick to the bottom of the door in the front? Or something else to keep the coal off the door frame? Its possible i missed the answer from other posts. My concern with this is warping or burnout of the door frame if coal is against the door frame over a period of time. But perhaps it wont hurt anything.

Ok, 2nd add... you will be learning how to use your windowstats to keep from getting too hot. Fresh air and wearing shorts feels nice in January.

I honestly am not sure but I will check when I get home. I LOVE that I can open the windows when it’s 17 degrees outside lol

I know one member in Maine who left a window facing the street open all winter just so he could watch the passer by people on the sidewalk stare. I do it sometimes but not below 0. Enjoy!

If it’s getting too hot in the house, is opening the MPD a good solution?

Will release some heat up chimney, but it's heat you paid for. But when you are down to your skivvy s, only so much you can take.

Colder beer?

Can you turn down the air intake any? In warm weather I give my stoves over fire air. It moves some air over the fire which slows down the fire some plus puts some warm air in the chimney to help keep draft. That is one time a manometer is helpful to make sure you have draft. Lightning did a lot of playing with his other stove figuring all that out and explained it better than I can, and is when i started doing it after reading his adventures.

That said there is nothing wrong with letting the heat go up the chimney either, except it costs just a little bit more.

Sean.obrienpac wrote: ↑

Wed. Nov. 23, 2022 5:10 pm

If it’s getting too hot in the house, is opening the MPD a good solution?

Actually the answer to that is no in my experiences using a MPD. Sure, it let's heat out easier but it will also increase the draft and make the coal burn hotter/faster.. A lot of people contest that an MPD will "hold heat in a stove" and it makes sense at first glance. But the truth is, it only slows down the draft, weakens negative pressure in the fire box, which in turn slows down the combustion air. Case in point, the only result I ever saw by closing the MPD was that my stove cooled down.. and this is why. This could be different for stoves that have leakage above the fire bed or that have unregulated secondary air inlets because weakening the negative pressure in the stove (closing the MPD) will slow down said air flow that doesn't contribute to combustion, but instead just gets heated and carries that heat out the chimney. That's my belief on MPDs.

Sorry about the run on sentences lol..

If the stove is over heating the house I would tweak the baro damper to open sooner, set it to -.03 or -.04. This will weaken negative pressure in the the stove, which in turn will slow down the combustion air that it's drawing in.... And could help conserve coal usage.

Is that actuated combustion air damper doing it's thing and opening when your thermostat calls for heat??

Okay so I have the MPD open about 1/8th and the Baro set at 0.04. We will see how that goes. And yes the door actuator is working properly now

Sean.obrienpac wrote: ↑

Thu. Nov. 24, 2022 5:01 pm

Okay so I have the MPD open about 1/8th and the Baro set at 0.04. We will see how that goes. And yes the door actuator is working properly now

So how is it today?

waytomany?s wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 25, 2022 9:10 pm

So how is it today?

74 all day, granted the outside temps hit 50 at noon but I will say it never felt too hot. I’m definitely gaining some confidence and feeling better about making minor adjustments to fine tune the output. Seems like I’m burning through a lot of coal, but the grate is just so darn big that I think that’s inevitable

On another note, since I pick up my coal and fill the bin myself. I built a little chute today to try out. Wheelbarrow dumps right on top and the end fits perfectly into the bin door. Will let you know how it goes next weekend when I fill up

Sean.obrienpac wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 25, 2022 9:20 pm

Seems like I’m burning through a lot of coal,

Try tracking your usage and jot down the highs and lows of the outdoor air temperature. A full level 5 gallon pail is close enough to 40 pounds to help you measure. This will give you real data instead of guessing.

Sounds like tweaking the baro is helping don't be afraid to take it down to -.03 if it's still over heating the house.

It may seem counterintuitive, but keeping the fire box filled to the top of the bricks at each tending will give you the best efficiency. You don't want combustion air finding a way around the coal bed.

What is the difference between oiled and dry coal aside from dust? I can’t find anyone to deliver oiled

Nothing like coming home to a warm house when the power was out for 7 hours with temps in the low 30s. Got 2 ton of coal today and had them mix nut and pea to give “range coal” a shot. Something very fulfilling about hand loading the bin 5 gallon buckets at a time!