New to stokers please help

I concur with the lighter test results and only a day away from manometer.

Home from work, still moisture but no traces of CO.
I think I'm misreading the feed dots, mine stops just behind the first dot(towards the front of the stove) and moves back two. Is that considered 2 dots or 3? Or do you count the first dot and than the ones after it?

I count the number of dots of movement so you are at two dots in my translation.

Just making sure you aren't only looking at the current display number on the CO monitor.....Does the peak reading button still show a 0?

titleist1 wrote: ↑

Wed. Nov. 13, 2019 4:52 pm

I count the number of dots of movement so you are at two dots in my translation.

Just making sure you aren't only looking at the current display number on the CO monitor.....Does the peak reading button still show a 0?

Ok so I was reading it right, thank you.

Yes they both show peak 0. The one on the main floor is no more than 8ft from the stove so I do not believe there is a CO danger as of now. Since I've gotten home from work I turned up the tstat to warm it up and the hopper seems to be drying out a bit

I really need to read into how to use the manometer, seems to be a little bit to using them.

With 'complete combustion', there is no CO, just CO2 and water...but hard to know when combustion is 'incomplete'...
A CO detector cannot detect CO2.

If it was mentioned before I missed it or forgot, what kind of chimney are you using? Tile lined brick or block, double wall insulated SS or ??, Interior or exterior to the structure?

You mentioned the moisture going away after adjusting the 'stat and I am wondering if when the unit runs a while it warms up the chimney structure to promote a stronger draft?

titleist1 wrote: ↑

Wed. Nov. 13, 2019 10:03 pm

If it was mentioned before I missed it or forgot, what kind of chimney are you using? Tile lined brick or block, double wall insulated SS or ??, Interior or exterior to the structure?

You mentioned the moisture going away after adjusting the 'stat and I am wondering if when the unit runs a while it warms up the chimney structure to promote a stronger draft?

It's an unlined brick chimney and its inside the structure. I did have it inspected and he said I should have no issues.

I'm curious as to why this didnt happen before, is it because I was able to dry the other coal out for longer and thus there wasnt as much moisture to build up?

I also had my settings at 5 on 8 off to keep the other coal burning so maybe it just kept the chimney warmer?

I would lean toward the 5 on 8 off setting kept the chimney warmer and draft better.

Similar situation... A friend has a mag stoker in the basement of his two story home and has draft trouble in shoulder months with a lot of idle time. His chimney is a double flue exterior brick / tile...lots of thermal mass...he has a much weaker draft than I do with my shorter SS double wall insulated chimney. He is about 1/2 mile from me so weather is identical, he is on a hill, I am lower, I have trees very close to the house and higher than the chimney, he is clear all around. You'd think his would be the recipe for a better draft than mine, but its not. We have checked his chimney with phone video and the only explanation I can come up with is his exhaust cools more than mine. (I am open to other ideas though).

So manometer is hooked up and ready, I got a reading off of the flue pipe below the baro at -.02 the stove has been idling probably most of the day while I was at work. I know harman calls for -.04 but I'm not sure how to achieve this. The temp outside is around 40.

Even with the restrictor plate all the way open the stove was at -.03 so no over pressure?

Should I run it for an hour to warm everything up and then go again?

hour update- the flue draft went to -.03 no change to the stove, it actually seemed to increase when I opened the restrictor more.

As long as you are negative no problem with pressurization. The weaker the draft the better chance you have an outfire, but -.03 vs -.04 NBD

Now you are driving and not blind-folded!

Definitely alot better knowing what's going on draft wise now. One thing I did find out is when its windy like it has been the draft goes way beyond -.05 and I cant seem to adjust the baro. I am going to be replacing that today.

Is it safe to assume then the moisture in the hopper is just from the coal?

You've hit the ground running and are in the best place to tap into coal burning knowledge!

You have a bright (and warm) future