Ash Content Questions for a Channing III

It'll be a couple of days before I get a good read on the weight percentage. The ash pan I emptied today was after I had re-lit the stove and had quite a bit of coal / kingsford / startersticks /starter gel remnents / hours of frustration and oh yeah one burnt starter bag in it (that finally worked). I finnaly have the starter bags down but nothing else so I bought five and am not going to mess with anything else again.

See the road flare video. Road flares are fun!

The new alaska stoves have no air adjustment. If you aren't getting enough air you may have to mix in some buckwheat coal. No more than 30% and I would be very leary doing that with a DV due to the increased risk of a hopper fire already by using an alaska DV. I have a chimney and I mix about 20-25 % buck with mine and it has cut the ash down with the exception of some lnig that I got which wasn't really there own stuff anyway.

So correct me if I'm wrong your mixing buckwheat coal so you get more airflow from under the grate around the coal for a more complete burn? If this is the case are the air holes too restrictive for the undergrate air? Why is a dv more a risk for a hopper fire than a chimney type vent?

James,
No worries. I had the same sort of nightmare that you had about a month ago. It took me almost 4 days before I had the stove running. I also had some mice that were duds... BTW , if the fuse fizzles out, you can still use it by placing it into position and hitting it with a propane torch. It will still burn and catch.(a good tip from my dealers). I ended up picking up 10 about 3 weeks ago just in case. I think it is the easiest way for us newbies to light a stove..

Jpen,
Do early versions of the Channing have rheostats on the combustion fan ?
When my stove was delivered, they ended up busting off one of the terminals on the top of the combustion motor. Well after calling them on it, they came out and replaced it with the one from their showroom. It was a very tight fit. The thru-bolt did not line up perfectly. He had a very had time getting it lined up and ended up sort of forcing into position. After he left I noticed a 1/4 inch gap where the metal shroud meets the stove body. I ended up sealing it with 500* RTV sealant. The motor works just fine but know I am wondering if this is not the correct replacement part or maybe it is but was not installed properly..............This may not even be the problem but it is on my mind now. I guess I'll keep digging.

First of all The DV are more likely to have a hopper fire because they don't have a way to control over draft situations. A chimney or a powervent have a baro to do this as an overdraft situation is usually the reason for a hopper fire. So since using buckwheat coal will increase the draft some using it on a DV unit is probably not advisable. To my knowledge no alaska's have had adjustable combustion air since the channing I series. Ashburnham your combustion fan shouldn't have a rheostat on it only the convection fan. Post some pictures of the gap in your fan housing. If it the "C" channel of formed 18GA steel which the combution fan motor is mounted on then I think you need to call them on that as well. You need to be able to take that though bolt out and remove that housing at leat in the spring to clean under the grate and to clean the squirrel cage of the fan out . That channel should fit snug and that bolt should line up rather easily . If it doesn't then it needs fixed and may definitely be affecting how much air you are getting to the fire. I classify this fan as the weak link of the stove. The rest of it is built like a tank.

Point well taken.. I am going to shut the stove down tomorrow and remove the motor and try to position it better.. I was planning to shut down tomorrow any way. I want to check out how much fly ash has accumulated in the exhaust pipe as others have suggested. I just want to find out how often I will have to vacuum it out.

I just did a 24 hour run and the nearest I can figure I'm at 22.22%. I had a total of 6 LBS of ash (yes that is minus the ash pan) and it took 27 LBS to fill the hopper full to the brim and the bag weighed exactly 40 LBS. With that said my figures give me 22.22% ash unless I figured it wrong. Does this sound right to every one. Its quite a bit higher than what coal berner stated should be between 11 to 12 % for Blashak wich is what I'm using. New to coal and was expecting alot of ash but wasn't realy sure how much I was told by some almost 40 %. Either way I'm using on average .88lb an hour at a cost of $0.1364 an hour ( at current temps) I can deal with quite a bit of ash at those prices. Another thought has been running through my mind any one got any Idea how many LBS of rice will fit in a plastic 55 gal drum.

My bad make that $0.17 an hour