Just Installed a Pocono

Hmm, interesting to see the rusted hopper.

I have a Lil' Heater and have not seen any signs of rust. The Blaschak I was using in December was so wet I had to poke holes in the bottom of the bags. The coal actually glued together at the bottom of the hopper and I had to break it apart with a hammer.

The burning season only has 6 weeks to go, so I suggest waiting and then pull the hopper and apply several thin layers of primer and paint. Another suggestion is to find a sheet of Formica laminate and cut and glue the pieces to the inside of the hopper.

That is quite a bit of surface rust for only a month of use. The white stains on the hopper make me wonder if the coal was treated with something so it wouldn't freeze? Regardless, I wouldn't wait until spring to address it. Even some WD40 would be better than nothing.

I have two Pokes that are three and four years old (110K) and both ridden hard and put away wet (as we say in the horse world). Damp coal, oiled etc. so this makes no sense. It looks like the hopper is deformed and you have a U ridge on the top and as the hopper lid goes there it makes no sense. Do you use damp coal and use the hopper lid? Is your basement damp. I never put my hopper lid on - do you? I have no rust issues. Strange!

So you have two furnaces going into the same chimney? Now I am really confused, it appears like the flue is coming out of the bottom.

Well, my opinion is that a closed hopper lid should be mandatory and operating a stove without the hopper lid closed is dangerous. The reasons for this "should" be obvious and not require an explanation.

Secondly, after looking at your pictures more closely, having your coal stove TEE into the vent pipe may be causing a poor draft situation resulting in excessive condensation. I would modify your installation method and of course take draft readings.

Well earth, it may be obvious to you as you are concerned about hopper fires which doesn't appear to be an issue with the Poke. If a modern stove can't operate safety without a lid then an interlock should be installed or else it should not be UL listed. What is obvious to me and I seem to be the only one that picked this up is that his issue is condensation due to flue design compounded by using a hopper lid, so enough of the irritating arrogance. I am still confused that this does not look like a Poco hopper. Not only are draft measurements in order but a pro needs to look at his install.

I agree you really don't need the lid. the only way I see a problem is if your draft goes through the roof and the hopper is almost empty the fire will follow the coal back into the hopper. other than that no problem really.

As a side note with the moisture, when I had my mag I notcied that the lid used to get wet (yes my draft was dialed in perfectly the over the fire and the flu) What I noticed was if I ran the convection fan all the way the moisture would go away. I think what happens is the heat at the back of the stove is so close to the hopper on lower fires it caused the coal to cook off. I thought about some sort of insulation there but not much room. So I just left the lid open to alleviate the problem.

Eric

Maybe when you clean the hopper up you could coat it with POR-51 or something to the like

Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people. ~W.C. Fields

Even a horse would know to keep the hopper lid closed, right coalnewbie?

Here are some good links about the issue.

Fire in Coal Hopper - Keystoker KA6

Hopper Fire - Alaska Channing 3 With Direct Vent