Stoker - Low Fire Use

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Mossy Beard
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Post by Mossy Beard » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 6:50 am

Goodmorning,
Is it a problem to let my Harman Mag. just "idle" on low fire ? ( long periods)
With the current temps., my stove has been running virtually all the time, on low fire(pilot) mode.
I've not experienced a problem but with the "hopper fire / low draft posts", it's got me a little concerned...
I'm not using much coal and really don't want to mess with starting it again. ( but I don't want a disaster either)
I'm set on a 10min. off, 3min. on, maintenance cycle. Comb. blower and dist. blower on all the time.

Pls. advise.

Thx, Mossy Beard

 
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WNY
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Post by WNY » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 7:37 am

Direct Vent? If so, no problem at all. It will keep a constant draft on the stove and maintain it very well.

If No Direct Vent, then, keep a full hopper of coal and keep an eye on the burn so it's not too far back. I think the way Harmons are designed are less likely to have a problem, since they are bottom type feed.

It's the flat grate style like the Keystoker/LL. My LL is wide open up to the hopper except for the coal that blocks the feed section, and if it gets low, it can start either pulling air or pulling exhaust back into the hopper....

And make sure you have good working CO detectors in/around the stove.

 
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Horace
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Post by Horace » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 12:50 pm

Mossy:

I'm not that far from you so my temps are pretty much the same. I've been idling away for the past few days with a heat call maybe in the middle of the night. I have just a tiny strip of burning coal on the back of the grate. Draft seems fine - baro flutters at -.04. I agree with WNY that you should keep the hopper full, although I have run the hopper completely out and never had a hopper fire. My settings are 3 on, 15 off, 12 extended. Comb. blower on 24/7.


 
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Highlander
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Post by Highlander » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 5:43 pm

Mossy

My boiler loafs all summer long just to make hot water, it barely comes out of pilot mode, and I burn between 10 and 12# per day so its a very small fire. Same stoker as the Magmun, so I wouldn't worry about it.

 
btrowe1
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Post by btrowe1 » Thu. Nov. 06, 2008 8:33 pm

I too am burning on absolute low fire, no distribution blower because of no hi fire. Coal use is almost nothing for 2 days now. I'm amazed at how little useage, I dropped my Thermostat down to 60 so the unit won't hi fire till the temps again lower. CO detector is fine. draft is great, wow..

 
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coalkirk
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Post by coalkirk » Fri. Nov. 07, 2008 8:00 am

I shut mine down yesterday morning. It's going to be in the 70's here today. Plus I was having my fireplace flue swept yesterday and the coal flue is directly adjacent and didn't want my chimney sweep to get a snoot full of coal exhaust while working.


 
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gambler
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Post by gambler » Fri. Nov. 07, 2008 8:59 am

WNY, I think the issue that you had was a fluke. The weather had warmed up & your chimney had stopped drafting. Granted getting CO leaking into the house is cause for concern but I don't believe your hopper would have caught fire. What was the feed rate of your stove? I have run my stove with a low to almost empty hopper in warm weather and have never had an issue. The only issue that I have had was last year in the fall I was running a min feed setting of 2 and it had always worked well. When the weather turned colder (in the low 20's) I had a reading on my CO meter. What was happenning was the idle fire was too low for the colder weather which allowed my chimney to cool and stop drafting. I bumped up my min setting to 4 in the winter and have not had any more problems.

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Fri. Nov. 07, 2008 12:53 pm

No matter how hard we try,, we can't wean our stokers, :D you have to burn some coal to keep the fire going, and enough to keep the chimney drafting.. not an easy thing to do with 70* and calm wind..

Greg L.

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