New to Cannon/Potbelly Stoves-W.H. Landers "Hustler"

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Merganser Man
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Russo #2 combo

Post by Merganser Man » Sun. Jun. 11, 2017 7:52 am

Hello all; I started burning coal happily and successfully three years ago in a Russo No. 2 combination stove (and reading around on this forum roughly the same time), but came to the opinion (quite possibly wrong) based on my experience so far that it is a bit much for my 1440 total square foot (720 square foot living and 720 insulated garage) building. With this in mind a chubby is the final goal, but in the meantime (and literal complete lack of funds) in the interest of burning a little less coal, I picked up this stove, a W.H Landers "Hustler" #10, thinking it might be a good bridge between the Russo and the Chubby (no, I just assumed things about it without researching it first, It was local and fit my budget, so I bought first read later)
However after reading some about cannon stoves here (notable being the pearl heater thread) I am concerned ̶I̶ ̶a̶m̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶i̶d̶i̶o̶t̶ about it fitting my needs. My current plan based on what I read here would be to disassemble it and line the fire pot and seal it up tight, and I assume I need to replace the grate as it is cracked in a place or two, but in the end is it even worth it to go through the process? or should I just try and sell it to someone else? (is there any decent market at all for such a stove?)

And then mundanely; what size coal to burn in it if I get that far? Also the interior dimensions of the firepot are 8 inches bottom and 12 inches at the widest point

If anyone is willing to lend an opinion or such, t'would be much appreciated, and thank you all in general for the wealth of knowledge on these forums.

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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Sun. Jun. 11, 2017 8:07 am

Be patient M, we got a few real knowledgeable pot belly people. :)

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Jun. 11, 2017 8:27 am

Welcome.

Generally speaking, I am not a fan of those cannon heaters. They are cheaply made, and as you mentioned, require some work to be well controlled. However, since you already bought the stove, if a replacement grate is not too expensive it could be a good summer project. If you get the seams sealed up, you should be able to throttle it down to a manageable level.

Speaking of throttling down - what have you done to the Russo to try and "hold it back"? Are the gaskets in good shape, have you tried a pipe damper? pea size coal?


 
Merganser Man
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Russo #2 combo

Post by Merganser Man » Sun. Jun. 11, 2017 1:12 pm

Thanks!

As to holding back the russo; the gaskets are tight, and I think I am throttling down ok, my biggest problem seems to be that throttled down to an appropriate level the stove does not burn the coal load very thoroughly, so unless I take much time sifting out to reclaim the unburnt/partial burnt coal (something I have tried a few times) I feel like I am wasting money. Here is a picture of one of the ash piles; is it normal for there to be so much coal left over?

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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Jun. 11, 2017 1:28 pm

The amount of unburned coal in your ash does seem to be more than average. You might be right about the stove not operating efficiently at that low output, or maybe some different coal would make an improvement.

All other things equal, if you can run the stove about "half throttle" most of the time it should do very well. Not pushed hard enough to create clinkers, but hard enough to burn the coal & gasses thoroughly.

 
Merganser Man
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Russo #2 combo

Post by Merganser Man » Sun. Jun. 11, 2017 6:46 pm

Hmm; that that would explain it with the russo then, I run it with the ash door slider (the only air control on it) only open about an 1/16th to an 1/8th of an inch.

Regarding the cannon stove; anyone know a way to safeguard against really swift over firing if you forget the ash door open? (other than rigging some kind of alarm?)

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