EFEL Symphony

 
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Lightning
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Modified AA 130
Coal Size/Type: Pea Size - Anthracite

Post by Lightning » Sun. Aug. 30, 2015 7:31 pm

I have faith that if the previous owner was successful with burning anthracite in that stove, then you can too. You'll love it.


 
Serge
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Location: Thetford Mines, Que, Canada
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93
Coal Size/Type: Blaschak nuts

Post by Serge » Mon. Aug. 31, 2015 7:02 pm

I got a Efel Bayard wich look similar to yours, except mine got a real happer. Yours got a cast iron plate that you slide in the stove that makes your hopper using the 3 other sides. You got 3 positions: pea size, nut size or stove size.
I have been using this stove last 3 years in my garage, using nut anthracite. I love this stove. You got a thermostat control on the right rear, a shaker on the left rear, that needs a seperate handle to use it but this shaker in not very efficiency. You must use the slicing knife to clear the ash. What I usually do once or twice a day, I give 10 to 15 strokes with the shaker then finish with the slicing knife.
I am sure you will love this stove once you get familiar with your new stove.

 
scottg
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Efel Symphony

Post by scottg » Wed. Sep. 02, 2015 12:57 am

Thanks everyone!! I was able to find the slicing knife and the shaker rod! It looks like everything else is where it should be on the stove.

So this might be a dumb question, go easy on me, I'm new to coal :) I place the cast iron piece in the stove based on what type of coal I'm using. Then I load up coal from the top of the stove - to the rear of the plate? Do I fill it to the top of the plate?

Also, any issues with removing the cast iron hopper rear and burning some wood in the shoulder season? Seems that the previous owner must have been doing this..

Thanks again!
Scott

 
Serge
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Posts: 122
Joined: Thu. Jul. 24, 2008 7:57 pm
Location: Thetford Mines, Que, Canada
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93
Coal Size/Type: Blaschak nuts

Post by Serge » Wed. Sep. 02, 2015 7:42 am

scottg wrote:Thanks everyone!! I was able to find the slicing knife and the shaker rod! It looks like everything else is where it should be on the stove.

So this might be a dumb question, go easy on me, I'm new to coal :) I place the cast iron piece in the stove based on what type of coal I'm using. Then I load up coal from the top of the stove - to the rear of the plate? Do I fill it to the top of the plate?

Also, any issues with removing the cast iron hopper rear and burning some wood in the shoulder season? Seems that the previous owner must have been doing this..

Thanks again!
Scott
When you fire is well alive, with 3 to 4 inches of red coal, insert your hopper plate and fill it to the top, leaving some space between the coal you just add and the top filling door, to make sure your door is properly closed. Have a good heating season Scott!

 
scottg
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Efel Symphony

Post by scottg » Wed. Sep. 02, 2015 11:20 pm

Excellent - Thanks!

I've been playing around with the stove a bit and I think I'm starting to figure some things out. The slicing knife tool.. It looks like it can be inserted on either the left or right side of the stove through small little trap door type openings. Question is, why would I want to do this? To help separate the coal from ash?

Also there is a lever on the top of the stove.. If I move it from left to right, the coal bed platform swivels back and forth.. I'm assuming this is the "shaker" action?

Sure wish I could dig up a manual for this thing.. I've been scouring the internet, but no luck as of yet.

 
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warminmn
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Junior, Efel Nestor Martin, Riteway 37
Coal Size/Type: nut and stove anthracite, lignite
Other Heating: Wood and wear a wool shirt

Post by warminmn » Thu. Sep. 03, 2015 12:26 am

If you do a search for Bayard, your going to find some things on here that are real similar. Your grate and the surround part that sits on top of the grate look the same. If you are handy with a hand grinder, take the grate out and widen the slots just a little. there is kind of a casting that creeps into the slot area that blocks the ash from falling. Dont widen it much, just take the casting off. Im just talking maybe 5 or 10 minutes of grinding on the whole thing and don't grind into the thick part, just those castings. And don't grind a finger off...

Make sure to remove your ash pan religiously and dump it or you will crack the grate and those things are $300 if you can find one. Minimum of once a day and sometimes twice as the ash pans are not distanced from the grate enough. The crazing on your window probably wont matter except for seeing the fire.

Yes, those slots are for slicing the ash.

I take it you do not have the hopper? I ran mine (mine was a bayard model) both with a hopper and without. It will work fine either way but takes more work without hopper. Its a prettier fire without and I enjoyed watching stove size burn when I did it without. The shakers are pretty much a joke. You have to use your slicer. It took me a year to figure it out good, and don't expect miracles with slicing from the start but you'll figure it out. I had the luxury of a side door, which helped a lot for raking it back and forth to get rid of ash once in a while. You can load coal up in the front to the height of the window but don't let coal touch the glass. you can bank it higher in the back. I added a piece in the front of mine to get coal 2 inches higher in the front. I had a pretty deep bed but cant remember how thick. The back air intake works pretty good and works just like a wall thermostat. Good luck.

The manual for about any European type stove should work, but if needed, I can try to find mine. Not sure its legal to post it here (copyright laws). It pretty much tells you what we are all telling you, and maybe some things that will just confuse you more.

 
scottg
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Post by scottg » Sat. Oct. 03, 2015 5:41 pm

Hi Everyone,

Well today was a chilly day in the house and I thought I'd start to play around with the stove.. I started a small wood fire and then slowly added some coal. Worked like a charm and lit right up, no problem.

At the moment, I've got some tall blue flames coming off of the coal bed and the stove top temp is 440F with a stack temp of 150F. Is it safe for me to adjust the air down at this point? It seems like this stove has some type of automatic air control. On the right hand side rear of the stove there is a rod with a handle that you turn. I had it fully turned and I noticed when starting the fire that the opening at the bottom rear of the stove (which is connected to the rod) was also fully open. A few minutes ago I went to turn the control to close some air off and when I took a look at the bottom opening, to my surprise, it had automatically almost closed itself.

So at this point, do I manually close with the rod anyway, or do I leave this full open and let the stove try and regulate it? Can this thing possibly over fire itself? If I do manually close with the air control on the back of the stove, can I go to the lowest setting or will this kill the fire?

Picture of my current fire attached! Very excited that this seemed to go so well for my first try.
IMG_2437.JPG
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Thanks all,
Scott


 
franco b
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Post by franco b » Sat. Oct. 03, 2015 5:55 pm

Close the rod down partially and in time the stove will hold a set temperature by automatically regulating the air.

 
scottg
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Post by scottg » Sat. Oct. 03, 2015 6:43 pm

Sounds good, will do! One last question for the evening.. Is it ok to just have a glowing red coal bed with no real visible flames? I can see some very small ones every once in a while, but nothing like when the coal had first been added.

 
franco b
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Post by franco b » Sat. Oct. 03, 2015 10:38 pm

scottg wrote:Sounds good, will do! One last question for the evening.. Is it ok to just have a glowing red coal bed with no real visible flames? I can see some very small ones every once in a while, but nothing like when the coal had first been added.
When first loaded the coal is giving off gas which is about 5 percent or so. After that is burnt off any blue flame you see is probably carbon monoxide gas.

Make small changes to the thermostat control and observe the effect an hour later. In time you will get a feel for what you need. Do a thorough job slicing the ash. If you don't, you will have trouble after several days as the ash bed builds up and restricts air through the coal bed. How frequently will you need to clear ash will depend on firing rate.

 
Markalang
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Efel Symphony

Post by Markalang » Sat. Mar. 25, 2017 6:55 pm

Hi Scottg: I just came across this site. I have been using an Efel Symphony since 1988. Are you still using yours? If you have any questions, I would be happy to assist.

 
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Lightning
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Modified AA 130
Coal Size/Type: Pea Size - Anthracite

Post by Lightning » Sat. Mar. 25, 2017 7:10 pm

Markalang wrote:Hi Scottg: I just came across this site. I have been using an Efel Symphony since 1988. Are you still using yours? If you have any questions, I would be happy to assist.
Welcome to the coal board Mark. It appears that Scott hasn't signed in since Oct of 2015 but that's a nice gesture of you, :) Stick around and enjoy the coal burning fun!

I'd be cool if he reported back on his success with his stove.

 
NJBourne23
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Other Heating: Efel Symphony

Post by NJBourne23 » Thu. Dec. 07, 2017 12:44 pm

Markalang, Scott may not be here but if you have the info, you can help educate me with this stove. We recently purchased a home in South East PA that had this stove inside. Looks well taken care of and after some reasearch, I found that this stove will burn both coal and wood. The thing is that i have NO info on it at all when it comes to operation. I have used regular wood stoves growing up and in our previous home but I am not familiar with the catalytic versions. I have an idea of what the process is......Start the fire with the bypass closed, open the stack flew when starting. Once you reach 500F you open the bypass.... What I don't know is where is the bypass lever? Do I close the flew when I go to bed at night? What do I do with the bypass at night? What are the steps needed when I go to load more wood into it? I'm confident I can probably figure it out but this isn't something I want to risk burning the house down or having my kids get hurt etc. I don't believe I have a "shaker" tool but there are the general tools that people with a wood have. I will have to confirm if something is there for shaking the grate or box. Not sure if I even have the exact tool needed to remove the ash box while the fire is still going. I'm a fireman so I have gloves that can be used for that but it would be nice to have the proper tools. If you are still on this forum and can assist me, if anyone can assist me, I can provide pictures. I did check out the model number and it says it's for coal/wood and the manufacture date was Feb 1992. Very nice stove so far. Has the thermostat on the top and is an ivory porcelain. Either well taken care of or they never really used it.

Thank you and I hope that you see this and can help me out a little. Most places I have called that say they offer Efel products on their sites all want to just get me to buy a new stove or say they have no idea and can't help me.

 
NJBourne23
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Post by NJBourne23 » Thu. Dec. 07, 2017 1:22 pm

Correction, the stove CAN be used for coal but it states on the back that the burner is for wood only. IDK what "burner" they are talking about. It seems that maybe a piece can be changed to use coal instead. The model number is 390.74 and the manufacture date was Feb 1991. I am attaching a couple pics I had on my computer of the back plates. IDK why but it seems they used white out under the Symphony Catalytic.

Attachments

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IMG_20171110_1908385.jpg
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franco b
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Coal Size/Type: nut and pea

Post by franco b » Thu. Dec. 07, 2017 4:07 pm

It states for wood only because it has a catalytic converter. Coal can ruin it, so remove it if it is still in the exhaust path. Then you can burn coal.


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