Can’t keep the fire going Hitzer 30/95

Same batch of coal? Any chance you did the lit incense or cigarette trick to see if any smoke pulled into the stove? When it's running good and hot.

If it was ok last year and not this year, list all the things different from last year, including where the coal is from.

There can be a big difference in coal burning quality. And with the way much of the coal industry has gotten whacky this year, it might be more so.

Yeah, as waytoomany suggested, doing a smoke leak test with a piece of smoldering string or incense held right up close to the stove all around the outside, and under, to see if the smoke gets drawn into any leaks is always a good test for a stove that won't work as it did.

Paul

I'd say a combination of gaskets & weather. How's your chimney? Cleanout door? Anything obstructing the chimney? I should be a couple feet above the peak.

Worth double checking the 90* clean out cap ( my question is is 550* stove temp and 150* chimney normal range for hitzer) my stove gets up in the 250-80 on pipe when I’m in 500* range ( but it’s cast and smaller box etc

Update. I got tired of fighting with the stove. I let it go out. Well it actually went out on its own, fire burnt up all the coal in a 12 hour timespan and I didn’t have the time to babysit it to get the fire back.
Personally I think it’s the coal. I also have a 30/95 inside my house. It’s been acting the same way. But not to the extreme the garage 30/95 was. I’ve been burning coal for the past 7 years, in my house, 6 of them have been with a 30/95. The garage has had multiple different stoves. Up till this year the garage usually had an Alaska stoker. I changed it out for the 30/95 because the 30/95 worked so well in my house and it burned all the coal more efficiently and didn’t leave a lot of unburned coal like the stoker did. Plus having to have 2 coal supply’s was not so much fun. Honestly I should have kept the stoker for the garage and delt with it.

Get a few bags of Santa Coal as a control...
Bad/Different coal will do it...
Gaskets changed after last fire...
Test gasket for leak...
Cover Baro for a control with Santa Coal...
Assume nothing...
Test everything...

Update. Wow. What a ride. I had let the stove burn out and I thought I had a chimney issue. Still think there is an issue with the chimney but it was not the problem.
The problem... I found multiple. After it went out, I cleaned it out. Left the ash that fills in the blocks etc. I lite a nasty Smokey fire in the box to check for leaks. I found multiple. The top load door seal was leaking. The front door seal was leaking and the door frame was also leaking. Mind you all gasket were new last year and I only burned in this stove @ 3 weeks before it was too warm and I didn’t need the stove going. So... top load load door. Adjusted the locking bracket to hold door tighter. Leak solved. Front door. Found door wasn’t properly aligned with the frame. The gasket only caught the edge of the frame. Adjusted the door hinge so the door would sit centered in the gasket. Problem solved.
Door frame leak. Leak from top of frame under the air deflector where the frame is welded to the body of the stove. It was leaking from what appears to be thin weld that had deteriorated over years of use. Welded the outside of the box around the door frame. Problem solved.
Got some fresh paint on it. And got it lite back up. Stove worked soo much better. However. Not perfect. Stove was still running hotter than it should be. And I couldn’t get the firebox to consistently stay under 400 degrees. ( goal was 350). Flapper closed it was running and holding a 450 temp. Couldn’t get it to come down. Checked the ash pan door. Slide is all closed and ‘looks ok’. Look at the door seal and it was not sitting squarely on its framing. Unable to adjust the hinges for that door. I replaced the gasket again. Made sure to bunch it up tighter so it would have more seal to seal around. Seemed to work better. Got the temp more controllable @ 425. A little difference but still not enough. After figuring I had all the possible leaks found and solved I found one more issue. A ‘stupid’ issue. Thinking the door flapper was actually closing all the way, even with the chain loose and bundling a ‘pile’ on the flapper door. The door wasn’t closing all the way. The door wasn’t closing it still had a good 1/8” gap on the one corner. After tinkering with the door I found the metal tab ‘pivot’ that holds the door was bent. The door wasn’t sitting squarely when it tried to close and the ears were touching the top off the door not allowing it to seat. I adjusted the bracket. Bent the ears so they wouldn’t contact the door I finally got the stove controllable and operating like it should ... almost. The stove will now operate at @ 350 where I want it to. The only last issue i have is the baro is actually too close to the stove. Once the season ends for me I’ll swap the pipes and move the baro up about 2’. This should eliminate back feed air entering the firebox through the chimney.
So. That’s my story. Lol.

Good. Those are.all good things to have found. Maybe your experience will help someone in the future with similar problems.

And as much trouble as it was it is now much better and working far better. Keep at it until you’ve got it running exactly how you want it and you’ll be sitting like you had a new stove. Glad it’s coming around for you.