Burning Bitumious Lump Coal in a 1557M Hotblast

Will over the fire air make the coal burn up faster and not last as long??

Jared43758 wrote:Will over the fire air make the coal burn up faster and not last as long??

The rate of how fast the coal itself burns will be mainly dictated by the primary air (spinner). Secondary air (load door vents) will have some impact but will mostly burn the gases being baked out of the coal.

How did it go last night once you had a good fire going?

It's burned Hott all night. I went down this morning and put the ash pan in and shook it down and dumped the ashes I opened the door and still a pretty good bed of glowing hot coals. I had everything closed and the ash pan spinner only open 2 turns and it was 77 in my house. I prolly only had 40 pounds in last night. I'm thinkin the baro might be ok cause the draft didn't seem to be the problem

Great! Sounds like progress..

Any problems with puff backs? Smoke getting pushed out of stove after loading?

I agree your draft is probably healthy if it stayed hot with only two turns on the spinner.

No back puffs

So now I now I have no problem burning coal has anyone had any luck using the draft inducer with the thermostat to control the heat somewhat so I don't have to walk in the basement everytime I wanna increase on decrease the heat depending on outside temp??

I'm glad you didn't give up on it I doubt you will willingly go back to wood.

When you say draft inducer do you mean a device that is installed in your chimney, or a blower that pushes air into the firebox?

I think its probably best to continue to go down in the basement to do any adjustments but, that's just me.

If I wanted to set up that type of furnace with a remote air damper I would cut a hole in the side of the ashpit and install air intake and damper and possibly a bimetallic thermostat like what the hitzer stoves an wondercoal stoves have and then run a chain up to a thing like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-CAST-IRON-FURNACE ... 417c7b4f2f . It doesn't have to be fancy unless you have a Mrs. that demands it. You could make something out of wood or metal that would work if you have some basic tools

. This is what I was talking about thermostat controlled

The trouble with an arrangement like that is that it may over shoot the thermostat because once it heats up it takes time to cool down again. Its like trying to slow down a freight train after it just got up to speed...

The blower has limit controls. Like it will only run until the box is 200 degrees, whether the thermostat is calling for more heat or not. Of course the 200 degrees number is adjustable. This high temp limit keeps the blower from melting your stove.

Now once your home gets to desired temp your stove will still be hot and air circulating fans will still blow as long as my box is above 130. So it's something a person would have to mess with until they find the right spot. I more or less was still this a ash pan blower might be nice for after this bit coal burns all night and toward morning it's not putting out as much heat the blower could get on and help get the temps keep up until I wake up to shake the ashes out and add more. Anyone understand my thinking?

Thermostatically Controlled AD-1 Draft Inducer

Here's where I used my pipe blower to do what you are suggesting..

I think what you are wanting to do is make coal as user friendly as possible. The best way to do that is with a stoker, like I did.

The problem with doing that is as lightning stated you will have massive temperature overshoots.

Now if you only want to overcome the cool fire before a reload then open the ashpit door and stand right there and watch the fire then when it comes back then you can add fresh coal.

With that kinda stove u have to use Antercite and I don't wanna spend the money for that kinda coal. I'd rather deal with more soot, and save money. I don't need the more heat. I got plenty of heat with wood so bit coal will be tons of heat

Not true there were countless soft coal stokers made by many manufactures. I found a used combustioneer on craigslist for less than $500 it hooks up to a thermostat and feeds itself, all a have to do to tend it is put stoker sized bit coal in the hopper and take out clinkers.

They don't come up often but, they do come up once in a while.

If you put a blower controlled by a wall thermostat the scenario will go like this. The thermostat will turn on the fire blower on and the fire will start to burn faster and it will get hotter, the convection blowers will come on when the their thermostat is hot enough, and your house will start to heat up, then once your wall thermostat is satisfied the fire blower will shut off, however the thermostat for the convection blowers will still be hot so they will continue to run, then your house will continue to heat up, and then when and only when the convection blower's thermostat is cooled past its shut off point will the heat stop coming out of your air vents.

I'm not trying to pop your bubble I'm trying to save you some aggravation.