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I know its a long shot because Baker is local to Central PA, but does anyone have a Baker? I've been reading some threads about how to maintain the fire but it doesn't seem to be working for me. The fire wont go for more than 9 or 10 hours before it seems to snuff itself out. Im told not to over-shake or stir but the ash doesn't seem to want to fall through the grates and eventually chokes out the coal.

Anyone have one of these and have any advise for a first time coal stove owner? I bought it used and its a very stirdy stove, but Im extremely frustrated with all the time and money Im wasting to get this thing to be my primary source of heat.
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To shake or not to shake? Stir or not? How often do I shake and/or stir? Im hoping for some specific advise because I think I've read and tried everything.

Thanks!

Read my tending post ... link below.

Very helpful, Dallas. I don't have a manual pipe damper thing, though. Just seems like everyone has the same kind of stove and set-up, with damper controls and wide glass fronts. My shaker doesn't seem to work as well as your's, either. That may be my problem. Inconsistent shaking. I'll try it this weekend when I get another fire going.

Thanks!

There are many burning without manual dampers. I'd suggest a baro damper as a minimum, and a manual, if you want to fine tune it.

Hello Heat king, there are a couple of threads about fires going out, or not lasting more than a few days..

You need to shake your stove enough to get rid of the ash that is blocking the air passageways.. If you don't shake enough, the ash will build up and cause the fire to go out..

However,, what you wrote about is a single burn only lasting 9-10 hours.. before the fire starts to die.. That sounds like a draft problem, or coal that is burning up too fast.. Are you filling the stove full of coal?? you want as deep a coal bed as possible.. the deeper the better..

Greg L.

Thanks for the tips. Im learning so much here. This forum is fantastic. Thanks Dallas and Greg. I've got my stove going now for almost 60 hours now. I wasn't filling it all the way and I was Definitely tinkering with it too much. Watched a few videos on here and you tube and read a bunch of these threads. So helpful.

A new problem is that I seem to be going though alot of coal and my ashpan is always full of large chunks of mostly burn stuff. Is it NOT supposed to be all dusty powdery stuff. Do I have bad coal or am I shaking too long? The fire is great and it gets plenty hot. I've shaken about three or four times a day the past two days.

I look up through my ashpan door up at the coal bed and if I don't see any glow, I shake. Is this a good gaging of when to shake?

HeatKing wrote:A new problem is that I seem to be going though alot of coal and my ashpan is always full of large chunks of mostly burn stuff. Is it NOT supposed to be all dusty powdery stuff.

If it's burned to ash color, that's good! If it is burned chunks, rather than powder, that's due to the coal origin, as would be the color of the ash. No problem. IMO

hello heatking I was wondering if you had any updates on how well your coal is burning in your baker stove - if it was bad coal not burning all the way has it gotten better or stayed the same
Also what kind of coal are you using nut ? stove ?
thx - just curious since the baker stoves have caught my eye
if you bought the baker new can I inquire as to approx price paid ?

I bought a baker Fireside, fireplace insert this year and am very happy with it. As a heavy truck mechanic I am very critical of fabricated and manufactured metal components and assemblies (ie.) design, welds, fit, finish, functionality, and overall ruggedness of the part or assemble in relation to its intended purpose. In all respects I would rate the baker as a top of the line stove. In my opinion I think the design of the heat exchanger is superior to other stoves. I could not detect a single flaw in the fit of any of the pieces. All the welds were perfect. the steel is heavy. The shaker grates are massive, with enough rotation to dump the fire if required. The linkage that operates the grates is very heavy duty. Any problems shaking down a baker stove would be operator error.
The only drawback is that the stoves are a little pricey, although I do believe that you usually get what you pay for. In this case this is very true. I do not believe that you would be disappointed with any of the baker stoves.
The biggest thing to keep in mind is do they have a stove that fits your particular circumstances. there are other stoves out there that may be a better fit for your wants or needs.

Pete69 wrote:I bought a baker Fireside, fireplace insert

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! We would like to see it.

Mine is on pg. 25 of pictures of your stove. there are better pick's on the fireplace inserts thread by dtzackus.

This is exactly what I found with my heat queen. I had a baker duel fuel before the heat queen. Loved the duel fuel. Can't say the same for the heat queen. Much more labor needed to keep after the queen. I added a draft inducer to help with warmer weather burning. I will look for a surface mounted stat to automatically control the inducer. The advice to keep the stove full and keep the ash clear is a must. Also if you don't burn real hot try red ash coal over white ash. If you burn red ash to hot you will get clinkers.

I have a Baker and have been burning for a few years now with no issues. I shake down once in the morning and once in the evening and run the door temp between 200-400* with a draft between .05-.07, (its very capable of higher temps but this is all I need to stay toasty). I shake down until I get some red burning ashes and a couple chunks across the whole ash pan, I then have a really good orange glow in the bottom. A few things I learned with this stove was to get a really hot wood fire going and then start adding coal a little at a time until its full, keeping the temps really hot then throttling it back when full. I found if you start out with a cold startup, it seems to never get a good heat output. Once its going and ready to refill, I open the bottom door, shake it down as described the let it run till the top stove pipe rolls up to about 500* and add a shovel of coal to fill it up, then shut the lower door when flames are rolling off the top and the top pipe temp starts to rise back to the 500-550 range. I usually have about a 100* difference between my door temp and the stove pipe temp after it is running for a while. I'm also very impressed with the quality, welds and materials used which is why I purchased this stove. I have a 2400 sq ft fairly insulated rancher, stove is in the basement and it is my heat source that keeps upstairs about 78* and basement about 88*. I started with red ash coal then switched to white ash and the temps were about the same, the white ash seems to produce about 40% less ash when shaking down. With the red ash, I got a full ash pan every shake and with the white ash, I get a full pan about every 2 shakes. Hope this helps, it sounds like you are not shaking enough and chocking it out. Mine will run about 24hrs with no problem on a full load with moderate burn, it just takes a lot longer to refill adding a little coal at a time and keeping the flames and temperature at the stove pipe hot and roaring. Shaking and refilling 2x a day takes about 5 min each time compared to about 20-30 min, doing it once a day.

Nancy Baker is a great lady, and a wealth of knowledge. She can coach you through almost any common issue. She's seen it all. I swear by my Baker.

zink442 wrote:I have a Baker and have been burning for a few years now with no issues. I shake down once in the morning and once in the evening and run the door temp between 200-400* with a draft between .05-.07, (its very capable of higher temps but this is all I need to stay toasty). I shake down until I get some red burning ashes and a couple chunks across the whole ash pan, I then have a really good orange glow in the bottom. A few things I learned with this stove was to get a really hot wood fire going and then start adding coal a little at a time until its full, keeping the temps really hot then throttling it back when full. I found if you start out with a cold startup, it seems to never get a good heat output. Once its going and ready to refill, I open the bottom door, shake it down as described the let it run till the top stove pipe rolls up to about 500* and add a shovel of coal to fill it up, then shut the lower door when flames are rolling off the top and the top pipe temp starts to rise back to the 500-550 range. I usually have about a 100* difference between my door temp and the stove pipe temp after it is running for a while. I'm also very impressed with the quality, welds and materials used which is why I purchased this stove. I have a 2400 sq ft fairly insulated rancher, stove is in the basement and it is my heat source that keeps upstairs about 78* and basement about 88*. I started with red ash coal then switched to white ash and the temps were about the same, the white ash seems to produce about 40% less ash when shaking down. With the red ash, I got a full ash pan every shake and with the white ash, I get a full pan about every 2 shakes. Hope this helps, it sounds like you are not shaking enough and chocking it out. Mine will run about 24hrs with no problem on a full load with moderate burn, it just takes a lot longer to refill adding a little coal at a time and keeping the flames and temperature at the stove pipe hot and roaring. Shaking and refilling 2x a day takes about 5 min each time compared to about 20-30 min, doing it once a day.

Funny you should mention "if starting cold, you don't seam to get the heat out". Also, when tending, "get a mounded full bed of coals HOT, then throttle back". You just described my D.S. stove.

The bakers appear to be a nice, well built stove. When re-searching to buy my first "new" coal stove, I looked at Baker's. Ended up going with HITZER, due to location & price.