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EGR stands for exhaust gas recirculation which is used on autos to reburn exhaust gases to help improve fuel milege and clean up emissions. Does it realy work ? Well lets just say its somthing the government came up with to clean the air. I am thinking of doing this on my Hearthmate coal stove. But why and how ? My stove sits on the hearth I have a block off plate that seals off the fireplace, the flue exits out the back into the FP , everything works great except I have a good size firebox and it always seems to starve for air in the rear of the firebox. I always have unburt coals in the back. I am thinking of taking the ashpan out and drilling two 5/16'' holes in the rear of the stove. This will do two things the first it will get some air to the rear of the firebox from the fireplace and second I can give it less air from the ashpan vents thus taking less air from the house . If my plan don't seam to work I will just tap the holes and install two 5/16'' bolts. Any thoughts

EGR is used in almost all internal cumbustion engines today(gas and diesel).

It in now improves fuel economy. It reduces it substancially. It does not burn unburnt exhaust gas but is used to reduce combustion temperatures wnich in turn reduces NOX emissions.

Introducing inert cumbustion gases into your fire box will only reduce combustion effiency.

Exactly what he said^ EGR is a horrible thing that cuts the life of many engines (especially newer diesels) short, it doesn't add efficiency, rather, it takes it away. EGR lowers peak combustion temps by placing exhaust gases in the combustion chamber and creating small "dead zones" in the cylinder and lower peak core combustion temps thus reducing NOx emissions.

Chiminy gasses from your stove should be low in oxygen, I don't think they will help combustion.

I think it will help; not by introducing flue gas but by creating negative draft at those holes which will tend to pull air to the back of the stove. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Abandon the EGR idea. It will reduce the performance of your stove.

Ugh .... EGR valves in cars/trucks. Another useless device not needed to get me to work, but needed to get an inspection sticker in MA.

Thanks for all your input, sounds like the best thing to do is leave as is.

In order for chimney gas to enter those holes the chimney would have to be back drafting and in that case the stove would be leaking fumes into the room. The chimney is always pulling whether from the stove exhaust or from the holes you drill.

This is a bad idea.

Yep.

combustion chamber temps over 900* increases the output of oxides of nitrogen... nox

that stuff lingers in the first two feet or so of our atmosphere and hurts everything that lives below our knees thus the food chain is being affected...

by introducing exhaust gas into the mixture bascially all thats happining is they are displacing oxygen which would make the mixture burn hotter and that imo is more harmful to longevity than anything.....with regards to an engine...

heat kills engines
heat warms us!!!

Nox doesn't really harm anything, it's a precursor to ground level ozone formation along with VOC's, this is why it's regulated. heat doesn't kill engines, EGR kills engines.

I have a 1999 Plymouth Neon. The first thing I removed when I started "modding" it was the EGR valve. Then Chrysler's PVO (Performance Vehicle Operations) department got wise to this and started designing the next gen vehicles without the EGR valves.

Adding an EGR system to your stove like others have said will more than likely hurt your stove.

EGR NO. But how much unburned gas or partially-burned coal (CO instead of CO2) goes up the chimney as waste? How about an oxygen sensor in the flue, to open and close a secondary air valve above the coal and make a more complete burn? Don't ask me how to rig it up, I'm no engineer!