Hitzer 254 and New To Coal Heating
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- Joined: Fri. Feb. 03, 2023 5:21 pm
- Location: Harpersfield, OH
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 254
- Coal Size/Type: Nut
- Other Heating: Electric heat pump
Thanks to many days of reading, I have a beautiful coal fire going this morning. Brief detail and then a question or two. My Hitzer 354 is in the basement and the ranch home is 1900 sq ft. Essentially I’m heating the basement and residual heat rising for the main living area. I had been over firing my stove this entire season but was able to hit 77 degrees upstairs by accident really. It hadn’t been very cold out but now that it’s about 10• I’m running about 70ish. We have a heat pump that kicks on sometimes and that’s my trigger to go see what’s going on in the basement. If the Hitzer is designed to heat 2000’2, then am I wrong for thinking that the heat will rise and make the living space comfortable as well? The wife doesn’t like intense heat is why it’s in the basement. New build and fairly tight home. “IF” I have a handle on the fire, my only complaint right now is the rear thermostat door clinking so often. It does wake the kids but now that they know what it is, they go back to sleep. Could I run a thin bead of high temp silicone around the perimeter to dampen the sound but still maintain a seal if needed? I’ve read about paper clips and holes being drilled and weights being added. I don’t have any temp gauges and I’m running the dampers that are on the stove, nothing inline on the flue. Is it wise to add thermometers to stove and flue if I’m not struggling at this point?
Pic of broken brick is old and I replaced them. Shaker frame was warped and that’s fixed too. Second pic was from last night and it was starting to over fire but I got that under control. Looking good this morning and I’m excited to learn more!
Pic of broken brick is old and I replaced them. Shaker frame was warped and that’s fixed too. Second pic was from last night and it was starting to over fire but I got that under control. Looking good this morning and I’m excited to learn more!
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Starting to overfire? The stove body is glowing red blow the loading door! You are approaching nuclear temps. You are far from having things under control. Uh yeah, you need some thermometers and something in your exhaust system, how else would you know heat output and have control over what the stove is doing?
- warminmn
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it would probably be a good idea to get more of that massive heat upstairs so you dont have to run the stove that hot. Which is way too hot as mentioned. Im not an air movement expert but some others here are. It might involve cutting a small hole in the floor somewhere as a cold air return which moves the heat upstairs much better. Or using ducts. I'll leave that advice to others here that do those things.
Those hitzer flappers get a lot of mention on this forum. I dont think silicone is the answer. Try a real thin paper clip first just to see if you like the results. Member Hoytman recently started a post about his intake door flapper and quite a few things were mentioned.
Those hitzer flappers get a lot of mention on this forum. I dont think silicone is the answer. Try a real thin paper clip first just to see if you like the results. Member Hoytman recently started a post about his intake door flapper and quite a few things were mentioned.
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- Posts: 58
- Joined: Fri. Feb. 03, 2023 5:21 pm
- Location: Harpersfield, OH
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 254
- Coal Size/Type: Nut
- Other Heating: Electric heat pump
That redness happened instantly and I was very nervous. I thought that I was “revving” up the coals for the new batch. Apparently I won’t need to do that at this point. Here to learn and that will take some time. On my way to get the thermometers now.waytomany?s wrote: ↑Sat. Feb. 04, 2023 9:36 amStarting to overfire? The stove body is glowing red blow the loading door! You are approaching nuclear temps. You are far from having things under control. Uh yeah, you need some thermometers and something in your exhaust system, how else would you know heat output and have control over what the stove is doing?
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- Posts: 58
- Joined: Fri. Feb. 03, 2023 5:21 pm
- Location: Harpersfield, OH
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 254
- Coal Size/Type: Nut
- Other Heating: Electric heat pump
Thanks for the lead on Hoytman. He encouraged me to start the new post that I have here. I will go find the other thread and see if I can heed the advice for the flapper.warminmn wrote: ↑Sat. Feb. 04, 2023 12:02 pmit would probably be a good idea to get more of that massive heat upstairs so you dont have to run the stove that hot. Which is way too hot as mentioned. Im not an air movement expert but some others here are. It might involve cutting a small hole in the floor somewhere as a cold air return which moves the heat upstairs much better. Or using ducts. I'll leave that advice to others here that do those things.
Those hitzer flappers get a lot of mention on this forum. I dont think silicone is the answer. Try a real thin paper clip first just to see if you like the results. Member Hoytman recently started a post about his intake door flapper and quite a few things were mentioned.
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Bill(hoytman ) mentioned something about that spot, now that I think about it. Have to check with him.
- McGiever
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Yeah!! That ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
And
Yeah, where is Billy??
Why is the coal not full to the top of the bricks? As shown there is not enough coal to choke down the air flow. Very little resistance to air flow. What about draft control? You may have enough draft there to lift small pets off the floor!!
- Lightning
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Right below the load door seems to be a hot spot on my 503 also. The 503 does have a row across the front laying sideways. I'll see 300-350 degrees there even when it's not running hard.
BigT, fill that fire box up at least 8 inches deep and control the heat output with the primary combustion air. I think you'll have much better results.
BigT, fill that fire box up at least 8 inches deep and control the heat output with the primary combustion air. I think you'll have much better results.
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- Joined: Wed. Jan. 18, 2017 11:30 pm
- Location: swOH near a little town where the homes are mobile and the cars aren’t
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 354
- Coal Size/Type: nut coal
- Other Heating: electric, wood, oil
In the bottom picture…
Does your stove have bricks inside under the door lip. That stove should have them bring it is newer. Older 354’s may not have had them. I installed bricks under the load door of my 354.
By the way. Is your stove a 254 and not the larger 354? Looks like a 254 to me. Anyway…
Do you ever close the damper above the stove (push it in) when the stove is hot (like in that bottom picture)?
Is your stove top vent or rear vent (I didn’t pay attention)?
Blower (on back of stove) model or radiant?
There should be NO weights put on your air intake door flap.
This thread can be helpful to eliminate Hitzer thermostat flapper door noise.
Quieting Hitzer thermostat flapper door noise
Some of the pictures in the above thread are oriented wrong, so please excuse that. I wish a moderator could edit that thread and fix them.
Also you can try this below…and clicking on the (upward pointing) arrow will take you to the actual post/thread.
Does your stove have bricks inside under the door lip. That stove should have them bring it is newer. Older 354’s may not have had them. I installed bricks under the load door of my 354.
By the way. Is your stove a 254 and not the larger 354? Looks like a 254 to me. Anyway…
Do you ever close the damper above the stove (push it in) when the stove is hot (like in that bottom picture)?
Is your stove top vent or rear vent (I didn’t pay attention)?
Blower (on back of stove) model or radiant?
There should be NO weights put on your air intake door flap.
This thread can be helpful to eliminate Hitzer thermostat flapper door noise.
Quieting Hitzer thermostat flapper door noise
Some of the pictures in the above thread are oriented wrong, so please excuse that. I wish a moderator could edit that thread and fix them.
Also you can try this below…and clicking on the (upward pointing) arrow will take you to the actual post/thread.
Hoytman wrote: ↑Sat. Feb. 04, 2023 3:28 pm
Since the last post above and putting a paper clip on the flap it has started “tinking” some again. Likely time to add some anti-seize and lube things up again. Been a winter or two since I had to do that.
This flap rarely opens with this paper clip on the flap UNLESS I need to turn the dial up like for this cold snap. When it does open the flap tends to “float” in that space where the magnet pulls on the plate slightly. The noise isn’t nearly as loud as it used to be before lubing things up and/or adding the paper clip. This noise it still rare to happen for me.
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- Joined: Wed. Jan. 18, 2017 11:30 pm
- Location: swOH near a little town where the homes are mobile and the cars aren’t
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 354
- Coal Size/Type: nut coal
- Other Heating: electric, wood, oil
Dean at Hitzer told me some or maybe even all of the old stoves didn’t have bricks there. Not sure which but obviously some didn’t.
Like I said, my stove (1998 model), barely used when I bought it, had no bricks up front. I added them simply because the new stoves had bricks there.
Glowing steel is never a good thing and certainly to the point of bending or warping is never a good thing.
Is you basement finished? Sounds like it may be based on the fact people hearing the flap make noise. That shouldn’t be loud enough to be heard upstairs I wouldn’t think.
Like I said, my stove (1998 model), barely used when I bought it, had no bricks up front. I added them simply because the new stoves had bricks there.
Glowing steel is never a good thing and certainly to the point of bending or warping is never a good thing.
Is you basement finished? Sounds like it may be based on the fact people hearing the flap make noise. That shouldn’t be loud enough to be heard upstairs I wouldn’t think.
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- Member
- Posts: 58
- Joined: Fri. Feb. 03, 2023 5:21 pm
- Location: Harpersfield, OH
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 254
- Coal Size/Type: Nut
- Other Heating: Electric heat pump
Yes the draft is tremendous and I have heard a slight whistling if I crack open the ash draft. This is only happening now since I’ve learned to fill the box up so much. I used to only have it level with the door opening and had the flue choked about 75%. Always a fight to keep warm but now I’m re-learning everything that I thought I knew.McGiever wrote: ↑Sat. Feb. 04, 2023 2:14 pmYeah!! That ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
And
Yeah, where is Billy??
Why is the coal not full to the top of the bricks? As shown there is not enough coal to choke down the air flow. Very little resistance to air flow. What about draft control? You may have enough draft there to lift small pets off the floor!!