Thermostat Settings

just wondering were other people have the min and max set out on the thermostats
i have leisure line pioneer back vent
thanks
shawn

It all depends on how it feeds and burns. Every stove/heating situation is different. What works for one, may not work for someone else.

Start with the basic 6 min 40 max and get it burning good and see if any hot coals are falling off the end, if you have plenty of ash, then you can increase the max 1 digit at a time.

On my LL Hyfire, I am running around 6 and 48 and it seems to work quite well for me. I raise the min. when colder to around 8-10, to keep a little hotter idle when no heat is required.

Sometimes you just have to adjust slowly and check (after an hour or so) to see what has changed.

Read in the CoalTrol Section of the forum, there are numerous discussions on HLF (Heat Loss Factor) and settings of the units.

min 5 max 40

I run min 3 and max 35 on my LL Pioneer.

gambler wrote:I run min 3 and max 35 on my LL Pioneer.

Hi gambler, Do you know if you are burning deep mined coal or strip mined coal? I've tried min 4 & it went out on me, I think I'm burning strip mined coal. Thanks.

Dave, Maybe this topic should be moved to the coal-trol forum.

6 and 40 on my hearth. I tried reducing the min to 4 and started to see unburnt coal on the edge of the grate so I bumped it back up to 6.

spc wrote:

gambler wrote:I run min 3 and max 35 on my LL Pioneer.

Hi gambler, Do you know if you are burning deep mined coal or strip mined coal? I've tried min 4 & it went out on me, I think I'm burning strip mined coal. Thanks.

Dave, Maybe this topic should be moved to the coal-trol forum.

I do not know what mine it came from but it is strip coal.

av8r wrote:I tried reducing the min to 4 and started to see unburnt coal on the edge of the grate so I bumped it back up to 6.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think unburned coal is because FR is too high not too low. When your FR is too low the fire is starving for coal & goes out, too high & unburned coal starts falling off the front of the grate.

Mine will idle at Min=5, but there is unburnt coal along the edges.
With Min of 4 the fire would go out. It would run a couple of days at this low level, but then it probably got a couple of pieces of bad coal in the burn area, and would go out.
Right now I have the Min set to 12, just because I want to keep the stove a little over 200* when at idle.

Now, I have my Max set to 60, at 62 a few hot pieces of coal would fall.
Does that mean anything about the coal quality or draft, being able to set the max so high?

SPC, when MIN is too low, the left and right edges of the coal bed may start to go out while leaving the central area still burning.

Xackley, there are many factors, including coal quality, that influence what the optimal MAX is.

pvolcko wrote: Xackley, there are many factors, including coal quality, that influence what the optimal MAX is.

So, as a WAG, would being able to run at a higher Max usually mean lower quality coal, or higher. I don't think it is a high quality coal. Alot of it is not the shiny black I would expect with premium anthracite.

The MIN and MAX are arbitrary numbers. Comparing the numbers across stove makes and models is meaningless.

The values are just a universal way for the Coal-trol Digital(TM) to account for the various manufacturers stove mechanics. What works for a Leisure Line will not work for a Keystoker or other brands.

At the margins, coal size and maybe quality can be a factor, particularly for fine adjustment of the low-fire setting.

In general, we have found that a brand new grate needs a higher MIN initially than one that has burned say a ton or two. Some fine adjustment of the MIN to achieve a smaller fire may be possible after this breakin.

CAUTION: The Coal-trol Digital(TM) is capable of maintaining a smaller fire than your chimney may effectively draft. Ensure negative pressure in your stove under all conditions. Install Carbon Monoxide alarm(s).

It could be low quality coal (lots of aggregate and non-combustables). It could be an indication of softer coal which may be of decent quality (low aggregate, lwo ash content, good BTUs, etc.), but it simply burns faster. Could also be an indication of coal size being on the larger side. Of course go too large and the benefits of increased air movement through the coal bed are outweighed by the reduced surface area for the burn and thus will result in longer times to completely burn and lower MAX settings being needed. Coal size can also affect how well it feeds from the hopper or packs as it is moved down the grate.

Could also be a peculiarity of the specific stoker you have. Differences among the stokers of the same make and model due to tolerances in cuts, bends, welds, etc. can take away (or add) as little as 1/16" or 1/32" of travel compared to the "ideal" for the stoker mechanism and it can result in needing a MAX set at several points higher or lower than normal. Differences from motor to motor may result in a couple of percent variation in RPMs, also affecting optimal MAX setting.

Lots of things can be contributing. Couldn't say based only on a higher than typical MAX that it is specifically the coal quality that is to blame. To make that kind of determination you'd need to burn coal from at least a few different sources (or even different lots from the same source) and see how it affects your MAX setting.