Union Stove Works Invader 2 Parlour Coal Stove

Pictures are of poor quality but they will give you a sense of what I had going.

I have never lit my Invader but I have no reason to doubt it will act a bit like my Jotul 507 based on a 10" fire pot. there is nothing different about this unit, it has a coal fire bed and air being sucked through it. So I estimate 35-50,000 BTU and based on the size of the body a nice efficient burner and with the magazine full perhaps a 12 hour between tendings. Those windows will give off lots of radiant heat, a truly great little stove in its class. Of course, I can't give an estimate of your heat needs but given reasonable assumptions of insulation I suspect you would be just fine. However, as I have stated before, a crippled stove will not put out the manufacturers specified amount of heat. Right now you are urinating in the wind with these efforts. So my advice is as before, get the stove running right or get another stove as ol' man winter is breathing right down our necks. At best, fixing your stove will take more time than you have before winter comes, so change horses. LOL. However, it sure looks pretty makes me want to light mine up - such a cutie pie!!!!. So you are running at 300* and I see no reason why 600* even 700* would not be possible if the stove was right... remember... as posted elsewhere somewhere...

80* ------------------------------------------------------ 15 BTU's / Sq.Ft.
100* ------------------------------------------------------ 51 BTU's / Sq.Ft.
150* ------------------------------------------------------ 168 BTU's / Sq.Ft.
200* ------------------------------------------------------ 315 BTU's / Sq.Ft.
400* ------------------------------------------------------ 1230 BTU's / Sq.Ft.
600* ------------------------------------------------------ 2850 BTU's / Sq.Ft.
800* ------------------------------------------------------ 5430 BTU's / Sq.Ft.
1200* ----------------------------------------------------- 9370 BTU's / Sq.Ft.

YA GOTTA BE RUNNING RIGHT!!!!!!!

The leaky upper doors as well as leaky seams might be stealing too much draft. Leave damper open.

Make sure the check damper is closed.

Ahh, so the Gods of the coal board fight just as Athena and Poseidon fought over the patronage of Athens. AHAHAHAHAHAA, I slay myself, where are the peanuts? This is great, I canceled TV so I was getting desperate this evening. I have my own theory but David is not going to catapult the stone until this punch up is resolved.

Was referring to stove pipe damper, certainly the check damper should be closed.

Damn,you mean it fizzled out before it even got started?

coalnewbie wrote:Damn,you mean it fizzled out before it even got started?

What a troublemaker you are. I just might tell your wife.

Still waiting on your report on the Hitzer.

Nice responses gentlemen. Thank you. I am not sure I understand the chart. Surface temperature on the stove? verse BTU's per sq ft. What is the sq ft/btu part?
The check damper is closed; I "checked" that very early on. I did close the pipe damper as soon as the fire was well established and did not try it again other than full closed. I will open it next time as you suggest but what is your thinking behind that? Are you trying to increase the draft thus more oxygen boosting the burn? Does not much heat escape up the chimney with the damper open or do I have that all wrong? How do the seams in the stove get sealed? The ash door gasket that I made last trip up is good on the top and both sides but the bottom is still loose. I will work on that. Isinglass needs to be cleaned some. Any suggestions on best way to do that? There are air inlets on the two side doors that would be located at the base of the fire pot. (note location in picture) What position should they be in. I had them in the full closed position.
Would there be any value in trying to make gaskets on the upper doors similar to what I did on the ash drawer door using the red high heat gasket goop? The tube indicated that it was good to 600 degrees. Presently running at 300 at best. What is the risk other than smoking the newly fabricated gaskets?
Regarding the radiant heat feel from the isinglass glo; it was similar to the feel that sun shine on a warm day produces on the skin. Soothing.
Comments gentlemen?

Sometime using a very small rope gasket or flat rope gasket glued with HT silicone can endutre HT without getting ""liquid"" like from direct heat.
Silicone alone can easily melt from heat and glue both sides (door and stove) together.
If the lower doors: the ash pit one and the 3 over it are not sealing as perfectly as possible, it's just like having the primary air damper open and an incontrollable stove.

Closing the smoke pipe damper has the effect of lessening the draft and will slow down the fire and the heat it gives off. If you had a manometer installed you could see what the draft is. I would expect to see a smoke pipe temperature of 200 to 250 on that stove.

Seams on the stove get sealed with furnace cement.

Here is another thought; if you take a look at the most recent picture notice the reducer pipe fitting were it goes into the clay thimble. It does not make up tight and I have a little fiberglass insulation stuffed into it, a poor job at best. Could this be contributing to draft loss? Should I seal this with furnace cement?

I doubt you are losing much draft there. Light a match and see if it pulls in the flame. The point is we do not know what your draft is, whether it is good or bad. If you are getting no smoke or fumes then it probably is good.

And still yet another variable to plug into the equation; know that the fireplace up stairs is in use during this entire test fire and when the coal stove was not in use earlier in the month it drew air through the chimney tube that the coal stove is attached through. This is not a common flew but a second and separate clay stack within the same masonry chimney. The plot thickens. The fireplace upstairs is not vented like new installations of today are, rather it is sucking its combustible air supply from where ever it can pull it withing the house. Interesting?

That could have an effect like an exhaust fan would. Open a window to see if it makes a difference. Actually measuring your draft and its variations with a manometer would be best though