Glenwood 116 to Help Out Little Tiget

I in guessing it's leaks. I had filled some but it tends to crumble off .Not wetting surfaces enough and using Canadian cement.
The ash when I use nut often is stuck together. Less now that I close the damper more though.
When I get home I'll think more about the questions. It would be great to get and keep it going properly. And I think you are getting the same weather there to in the minuses. Better go now

Yup. Snow stopped and temps are dropping quickly. Gonna be a lot of below zero F temps here the next few days.

FYI. If you have any Home Depot, or Lowes stores up there,... "Hercules" brand furnace cement has the best long-term adhesion of any I've used. It can be ordered on-line, too.

Paul

I went over the questions and maybe because of leaks Im worried to make the pot red and I close it down too much.
The stove has the Santa on the bag and the nut says Premium nut but last year was Lehigh.
Only in the 116 I get large pieces. But never with the stove coal and I like the ash pan light as possible.
But I shouldn't complain maybe. I was kind of worried about how cold the house was getting while I was gone today but it was 64 when I got back even though I hardly filled the pot. A relief. My daughter says it's minus 40 Celsius. I dont know why they went out yesterday. The delivery man is going near Watertown for stove. I'll be glad to have it. I do put a layer of nut last to keep it as I've read.
Iĺ reread again, I see some info is also in cooking with coal now. I will keep at it.

That's a lot of fused iron ash.

Here's some things to try if your not already doing them (or anyone else reading this).

Do you rotate the grates at least once every day ? If not, you should to help avoid getting large, grate-clogging clinkers like that one.

I find that the range only needs 1/3 turn in the morning to clear ash and grind up and dump a days worth of any clinkers before they get too hard for the grates to handle. If I'm away all day and let the range go for a long burn between tendings, I'll do another 1/3 rotation when I do tend the stove when I get home.

With the deeper firebed of the #6 (about the same as your 116), it has a much deeper bed of ash after an all night burn. For that, I do one and one third rotations every morning. And again if I don't tend it until evening. Unlike the range, the #6 will bridge the firebed. After I rotate the grates I use the right-angle tipped poker and gently push down between the firebed and the firebricks to collapse the bridging. I try to never push in the middle because the firebed is always hotter there and that can help push the burning coal - which soft and close to fusion temperatures - into forming clinkers.

By never rotating the grate just one turn, that way I'm not using the same grate surface two days in a row. That's to even out the wear and heat stress on the grates and prevent warping.

Then I shake the grates until see I the pan area start to get an even orange glow.

But, lets back up here.
Before I do anything with the grates, I open all the dampers to let the fire increase in strength and build up a "heat bank" in the chimney to increase the draft strength so that it won't drop too much and stall the fire when I open the stove and let in cold air and coal.

So, first thing, open all the dampers and let the fire build up and heat the chimney while you go feed the critters.

While the critters are eating, put a few shovels full of coal one layer deep and spread evenly on top of the firebed. Let that get burning well, while you make a cup of tea or coffee.
And, don't leave the loading door, or range top lids, open while you refill the shovel. Put the coal in and immediately close them. Cold room air is bad for the stove being able to maintain a healthy draft to hasten recovery.

When that coal is burning well, then you can deal with the ashes.

BTW. The ashes in the firebed retain quite a bit of heat. By waiting until you get some fresh coal burning, that ash heat helps feed the draft needed to get some coal burning sooner. If you shake ashes before getting fresh coal going there'd be less heat to feed the draft, it will slow the draft and make it take longer to get coal burning,... even though some people think they need to clear the ashes to get coal going sooner.

When the ashes are done, the firebed should have a healthy first layer of coal burning. Then you can top off the fire bed with additional layers of coal. Don't get in a hurry and pile the coal on. That has the opposite affect of what you want. A lot of cold coal put in quickly will stall the fire and actually make refueling take much longer, not less time.

If you don't do it in that order then, with both the range and the 116, it will take longer to get the stove to recover after refueling and shaking ash.

Paul

Well just to mention two things I run a poker through the middle often if I'm home exactly as you've said not to. So I actually make clunkers.
I also empty the ash immediately.
I do a few things properly....
Crazy weather high winds and endless cold for weeks. Have to get it right! I love how powerful coal is.
Will reread again in morning. Appreciate all instructions. Oh we're in for it now but January almost behind us.

Try that order of tending for a few days and see if it helps you cut down your tending times.

And if you don't want to come home to dead stoves fill the firebed as much as you can. The deeper firebed will actually help slow air flow through the bed, thus helping avoid a too hot fire.

A shallow firebed will burn faster, hotter (causing fusion clinkers), and not burn near as long as the stove is capable of.

Paul

I'll have to be more careful. With stove coal I fill it full and top with nut as in other posts you've said.
Its better with a stove each end. Coal consumption cut in less than half.
I was trying to straighten out the plates again.
Where would the cotter pin be?

If a pin was put back in (doesn't look like there is one in the picture), it will be located on top of the flat section of the pedestal's base.

It goes through a tab from the oven top that is sticking up though a hole in the middle of the pedestal base .

Someone used a bent nail instead of a cotter pin in my range, which has the identical pedistal as yours.

After you wire brush and compacted ash and rust out from under that pedestal area you may find it's still sticking up too much to let the plates sit level.

I found that the pedestal on my stove grew taller with over heating, so I ground off about 1/16 inch of the top and the plates sit/fit better.

When steel and cast iron gets over heated they will expand, but not quite shrink back to the original size when they cool down. When that happens repeatedly, the part, or area, will become noticeably larger. When it happens too much lots of tiny cracks appear on the surface as the metal has expanded so much that it cracks because it can't shrink enough to prevent the cracks due to the inner meal holding it too expanded. You see that more in grate bars that have been run too hot, too often.

Paul

So ideally a stove runs nonstop until spring, or at least doesn't cool too much? I'll brush it some more ( the pedestal) but stove running now. I moved the parts around a little flatter. Not much.

What a relief. The man has just arrived with stove coal from Evans Mills near Watertown. Carthage? Whatever... I get along well with stove coal when it's very cold and the pot doesn't get too pink.
He said it was a nice drive and he has a friend in Brockville to visit and crossed at Ogdensburg if I understood, so made a day of it.
So...things to refine and yes I depart from proper fueling technique. I have tomorrow off too and I'll read it all a few times.
I get a little nervous in this weather so thanks very muchfor all the ideas and information. Grateful.

It came from Black Diamond Heat in Evans Mills. Close to Watertown.
The man Jan said he bought five pallets of stove two years ago and nobody buys it . Funny.
6.50 American a bag and I have thirty five bags sent one to his friend who throws pieces in with his wood.

A layer of stove is in and the fire pot has not turned pink. I can only guess but maybe with all the leaks that I can burn the gas off and close it down before too much heat is generated because the rocks are bigger. I have to close the damper all the way and I was always burning too hot before I started closing it what seems like too much.
The snow is so deep the foundation is well covered and the house is very warm. A neighbour wrapped his foundation and says it makes a big difference.
But the coal is inside and my feet are up my daughter has been trying to call all day and the wind is so high it sounds like planes and trains.
Tomorrow I will read everything I've again and post a list because when I hurry or get tired every rule goes out the window. And maybe try to get the cotter pin or ...grind the top

Glad to hear you got your coal delivery.

Ok, lets start with the range, because it's easier and fewer steps than the 116.
Here's a simplified version of what I do with the range every morning and during the day.

1. Fully open the MPD, the oven damper, the primary damper. I feed the cat while the stove and chimney heat up and increase the draft strength - building up the "heat bank".
2. When the cat is eating and out from underfoot, I put one layer of coal on the entire firebed. Make a cup of coffee, take my vitamins while I wait for the coal to stop snipping/popping/crackling.
3. Put a second layer of coal on and while that gets going I put the grate handle on at 12 o'clock and then rotate it clockwise to 4 o'clock where it's stopped by the stop pin. That grinds up and dumps any clinkers while they are still able to crumble.
4. I put the handle back on at 12 o'clock and shake ashes until I see an even orange glow throughout the ash pan area.
5. I top off the firebed with an other layer of coal and wait about 5 minutes for it to get burning. Then I set the primaries to barely open, close the oven damper, close the MPD, and the water reservoir damper open.

Total elapsed average time is 15 minutes from walk up to walk away and I've also gotten other things done during that time.

If I'm going to be leaving for the day, I will add additional layers - waiting between layers for them to stop snapping - until the firebed is full right up to the top plates. Then I set the primary so that only the 1/3 of each (filed to a taper) end slot is all that is showing glow from the ash pan, the oven damper and MPD close. Then it's good for 11-12 hours. Those extra fillings adds about 10 minutes more tending time.

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The #6 base heater. As I've said, your 116 is the same size, it just has one less damper. Here's what I do.

1. Fully open the primaries, the back damper, the mpd. Go fill coal bucket while it builds up a heat bank.
2. Add a layer of coal that you can still see some of the fire through. (In my case I fill the magazine). Let that fresh coal get going until it stops snapping and you see more glow and blue flames as the firebed gets going.
3. Put shaker handle on a grate bar at 12 o'clock and rotate the handle outward 360 degrees, then another 120 degrees to stop down at 5 o'clock for the right hand grates, 7 o'clock for the left hand grates.
4. Open the load door. With the right-angles tip of the poker laid up against the firebricks, I gently push the ash down around the edge of the firebed. That will let the entire bridged fire bed drop to down into the gap that rotating the grates created.
5. Open the ash pan door and pull the ash pile up to the front of the pan - close the door. If you leave it open there may be too much cold room air rushing into the hottest part of the firebed and slowing the recovery. The fully open primaries are plenty of air. If the coal has stopped snapping add another layer.
6. Shake the grates VIGOROUSLY until you see orange glow through the primaries and the gaps around the grate bar shafts.
7. Keep adding one layer at a time as soon as the coal stops snapping and you see the glow up through the coal. The finished firebed should be up to the top edges of the liner and mounded up in the middle.
8. Reset dampers to cruise for 12 hours until the next tending of fuel and ash.

Total time from walk up to walk away is under an hour without the magazine. With the magazine it's just 10 minutes. The running time between needing to tend with the magazine is about the same as without one because ash buildup becomes the run-time limiter.
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Ok, that's it for what tending I do with both types of stoves.

Additional notes;
If your thinking of getting a magazine, the original type ones with a taper, made for the #6, fit the 116.
But, they jam if you try to use all stove coal. Best it can handle is no more stove coal than a 50/50 mix with nut. I've pointed this out to Paulie for his repro mag project, but I haven't heard back from him if his mags will eliminate that unneeded taper. Since the coal column in the mag is supported by the firebed I don't know why Glenwood had the taper. It serves no purpose that I can see, but it does limit using stove coal.

You'll notice I left out empty the ash pans. That's because that adds whatever time your method of disposal is. Mine is walk out in the yard and dump the ashes on my 250 feet of gravel driveway and about 6 cars worth of parking spaces.

BTW, I empty the ash pans on the driveway at night. Then any clouds of fly ash are not making nosey neighbors think of all the horrible things they've heard about coal from the idiots in the media.

Paul

That's quite a list. Right away I can see I wait longer than necessary between layers. The different instructions for both will help as I did confuse them.
That will really help. I overdo the ash clearing and burn too hot I'll have to curb that compulsive habit. I like to hear the burning take off after I rotate the grates on the 116.
I have to say that I left the pot about a quarter full of nut and was afraid to get home but although the fire was out the house was at 64. So if I can get with it and fill the pot with nut I'm sure I'd do well in terms of longer burn as you say.
Magazine makes sense to be adding nut as the fire burns down. So much to do.
Forty below at night for almost a week.
There should be a few Quebecers joining here. The coal drop man has a friend with a problem...top layer hardens over or something - I have no idea told them to come here again.
But with all the mangling of technique the house is still generally beautifully warm or or heading towards it. I'm at a friend's house now with a chilly electric system. Yuck.

Filling the pot all the way to the top is not proportional to the burn time gained. That extra depth of coal bed up to the top adds much more resistance to air and exhaust flow through the firebed, so it helps slow down and control the burn rate of what you have been adding.

Both stoves are capable of 12 hour burns. And, you may not realize it yet, but they are just as safe with a full firepot as being only 1/4 full.

Be brave and fill that firepot.

Paul

I hope you guys don't mind me jumping in here, but it looks like this thread "is" your book, Paul. Lots of good info.
As usual, you made me see something, from a different angle, than I was seeing before. Concerning a burning pot. I was always timid in my earlier days of burning, since the Surdiac days. Was afraid to put in too much coal, when tending. Not sure if it's relevant to your situation, Jen, but Paul's comment above, made me re-think what I was experiencing.
After I do a full shake-down, and get a fresh pot (of coal) brewing, I not only fill the pot, but I get it "heaping", to the point it wants to fall out on the floor. (almost, slight exaggeration), but I do mound it up. Hoping for longer burns. And it does appear to work. But I never thought about the resistance of a full coal bed, becoming a hindrance. I guess with my G111, and stove coal, it makes a nice hot fire in the evening hours, and when I put it to bed, I mound it with nut coal. Same thing in the day, when we're all at work. It'll go 8-10 hrs easy, through the night, and the day. I'm guessing your 116 should surpass that Jen.