Coalpail.com Forum

I have burned coal for several years, with an antiquated stove....we increased the height of our steel chimney and that improved things immensely...the design of the old stove left something to be desired.
I have decided on Hitzer....I am sold on the grates, no real chance of 'dumping' my fire. The top load and EZ flo hopper are all sellers for me.
Now to decide the size...
I do have a barometic damper installed now....no manual flue....
It doesn't flap around all that much....maybe I need to play with the screw like weight a little to find the right set....my dad helps me with this...and he is a wood stove expert...he doesn't know about the baro...
as for stove and pipe thermometers I didn't know I should pay attention to these things...are they important
A Man - o - meter....what to heck is that?
I thought I knew much about coal stoves....I can tell you that I am the queen at starting a coal fire, having a stove that went out nearly every day for the first year I had it....no way to get a deep enough bed of coals without blocking the ash exhaust....
Anyhow....my stove has a back vent as does the hitzer there is an elbow there and then the pipe goes up and elbows out to the steel chimney (thimble through wall)....Should the baro be in the up and down or vertical part of the inside stove pipes???
Okay maybe too many questions at once...all of a sudden I am full of them.
Thanks for all your kind help to date..

tammysue wrote:A Man - o - meter....what to heck is that?

That is a hand fired stove. J/K.

It is a guage to measure draft.

The baro could be in either, it should be in a straight run, not to close to an elbow if possible. I would go closer to the elbow than the stove if possible. I like about 3' minimum from the appliance.

http://www.fieldcontrols.com/draftcontrol.php#diinstall

tammysue wrote:....Should the baro be in the up and down or vertical part of the inside stove pipes???
..

How about should it be in the vertical or horizontal portion....would help if I proofed before posted.

Most baros like the field controls type RC can be mounted either horizontal or vertical. My preference is vertically especially with the setup you described. With the RC type baro all you have to do is cahnge the side the weight is on. Your owners manual should tell you where to set the baro for best perfomance. Mine is set at -.04 but that is on a stoker.

Does that mean you are in the low side port and your needle is in the red negative side of the red tube --.04 or if you where in the high side port would it read +.04

It would be in the lo side port, since the draft is actually negative pressure.

Even if hooked up backwards the reading is good. The meter is at 0, you stick your tube in and read it. If it moved .04 in either direction its good, because if it wasn't, the house would have already been full of smoke. Draft is the difference between the air pressure in the room and the air pressure in the pipe. The room will be at higher pressure and the pipe at a lower one. This is what causes the constant flow of air up the chimney. If there was no draft, you would not have a fire going at all. The difference between the two pressures is important with coal as it is a grumpy fuel. Gas, oil, even wood can be throttled over a wide range. Mr. Coal is only happy in a narrow band, too slow he zonks out. Push too hard and he takes out his anger on you.