My Econo is up and running!!

Well, I think the title says it all!

Purchased the Econo with Direct Vent and Digital Coaltrol about a week ago. Got it all up and running today.

I must say, I'm impressed. Puts out nice heat and the Coaltrol seems to be doing just fine. It's still a little early to determine if the thermostat will keep he heat within 1 degree, but so far, it looks good.

A few questions for the experts -

1. The house was at 57* when I fired the stove up. I set the thermostat to 67* and it took about 3 hours to get up to temperature. I realize the Coaltrol was trying to "learn" how high to run so this seemed about right to me. Does this indeed seem reasonable?

2. What do I set the baro damper at? Even with the direct vent turned all the way down, I'm getting the baro damper opening about an inch or so. Don't want all that heat leaving!

3. I've left the Min and Max on the Coaltrol to 6 and 40. At a setting of 40, how much coal per hour is this feeding? What about min setting of 6? Just curious how much coal i'll need!

I'm sure there will be more question as time goes on. After I've used the system for a few weeks, I'll try to post a full review! I'll also try to post some pictures.

Indeed, please post pictures! I'm interested in the Econo (and trying to talk my father into one, also, to replace a wood stove).

Mine would have to be the sidewinder version to sit in front of our fireplace, which is currently one of those gas prefab units (although it can burn wood). My father already has a nice masonry chimney, so he's set.

Chris

Hi MJ,
It sounds like your baro is set pretty close. (watch DVD). With a Econo the max output is about 52000-55000BTU. Your usage when maxed is about 5-51/2 lbs per hour. With the min setting the coal usage is less then 3/4lbs per hr. Where you place your thermostat will determine your burn. If you place the thermostat close to the stove, then it will overshoot its setting. Keep the thermo at least 15-20' away. Remember that coal is slow to come up, and slow to go down.
Jerry

I'll try my best to get some pictures up tonight! It's a very busy time of year with Christmas and all and we're having company come on thursday. Of course I decided to lay Snap Laminate wood floor throughout my dining room / hallways before they get here, so pictures may not make it up before next week.

Thanks for all the info about how much coal this thing uses. Yesterday was very warm and I noticed that the feed rate was around 0-5 most of the day. After a few hours idling like this, I noticed that the fire was going out near the left and right edges of the grate. This was with a default min setting of 6. Changed that to 7 so we'll see what happens. We're definitely having an unusually warm winter so far so I think when (or should I say if) things cool off, all will be better. As it cooled off at night, I noticed the feed rate go up to around 20-30 and the fire kicked back in just fine. So it's not like it's going out, I just don't want it to!

I've got the power venter at the absolutely lowest setting it can go to. My Carbon Monoxide detector hasn't registered anything at all so I'm sure I'm venting enough. The damper is opening between 3/4 and 1 inch depending on wind. I see no way to make this decrease without moving the weight but am unsure if I should do this.

Overall, I am so happy with this unit. It keeps the first floor of the house at 68* very easily and the upstairs is quite comfortable too. If I had to guess, I'd say I burned about 30lbs of coal in about 36 hours. Not too bad! We'll see when it gets colder how much I will really go though.

Well, I've officially had my Leisure Line Econo stove working for a full week.

Sorry there are still no pictures. Getting my camera, its cord and my laptop all in the same room seems to be more difficult than it should be.

Statistics:
House Temperature: 67* Nighttime / 64* Daytime
Square Feet Heated: 1000 first floor + heat traveling up to 600 ft second floor
Coal Burned in 7 days: ~120 lbs

So far, everything is working great. I have the rheostat control for the power venter at its lowest setting and am getting about perfect draft through my barometric damper. Therefore, there is minimal noise from the vent unit. In fact, I can hear the combustion blower more than I can hear the venter.

I started off the week with both the day and night temps set to 67* just to let the system heat up the house fully. Around Tuesday, I changed so that during the day the house was 64* during the day. I have it set to turn back up to the 67* setpoint about 35 minutes before my wife and I get home and by the time we walk through the door, it's almost if not already back up to temp.

When I got the stove, I received four free 100lb bags of oiled coal. I dumped two of these (200lbs) into a metal garbage can on my deck and still have about 25 - 30 lbs left in the can (with a full coal hopper). Since the hopper holds a reported 60 lbs, I'm looking to be burning about 120 lbs a week or so, less than 20 lbs a day. Granted we haven't hit the cold weather yet, but this seems very reasonable.

The wife is very happy too. Since the coal we can get bagged around here (also the best price) is oiled, there has been no coal dust in the house at all. As long as I'm careful handling the ash pan, I have found this stove to be very clean. I do notice that I'm starting to get a film of fine ash outside directly below the vent unit. I would assume this is normal and as long as it doesn't kill the grass too far from the house, I'm not going to worry about it.

Overall, the wife and I are vary happy with this unit. Anything larger would be serious overkill for the space we are heating (as it is, I've never seen the coal-trol go above 60% feed rate and that is when we had the windows open and were airing out the house). Furthermore, it's so easy to use. Neither of us have ever burned coal and we literally started it up, adjusted the draft and now just add coal / empty the ashes. Can't ask for anything better!

<20 # @ day? Are you heating a house, or baking bread?

I was thinking similar thoughts. That is a very low rate of burn. I'm envious. I burn at least 100-120# of stove coal a day. But of course I'm heating a big sieve disguised as a farmhouse. And all my hot water.

Your home must be well insulated and leak free. Like I said, I'm envious. My old place... oh well, nevermind.

This is also a testament to the effeciency of the LeisureLine stove! It is giving off a lot of heat for very little coal burned.

Burning coal in an outdoor boiler is the best thing to ever happen to my place, the comfort level in the house is vastly improved.

Don't be surprised if the amount of coal you burn doubles or more when [if] really cold weather sets in.

Merry Christmas!!

Greg L

coaledsweat wrote:<20 # @ day? Are you heating a house, or baking bread?

I'm heating a house! Guess I could put a loaf on top if I wanted.

The house is very well insulated except for the windows which leak pretty bad. I notice that the stove pretty much idles all day if I open the curtains on the side of the house. Whoever built it set it up so one side gets sun almost all day. Close the curtains at night and the feed rate goes up to around 35 - 40%. With the weather getting colder, I'm not sure I'll still be doing quite so well, but I will most definitely be under 50lbs a day which is what I wanted.




I love this coal thing! Much better than oil!

Coaledsweat, did you notice he only has temps at 64, and 67 degrees? If I told my wife I was burning coal and keeping the house at those temps she would laugh at me and tell me to get another job to afford the oil for the oil burner. With my Harman in the cellar the fist floor stays 73 and the second floor stays 68 twenty four hours a day. That is what brings a smile to my wife's face.
Tom

My wife is smiling. When we were using oil we were keeping the house at 55 day and night. She's much happier with 67.

Frankly, both of us are quite warm with the house at 67 wearing pants and a shirt. Heck -- if I'm working I'll usually put on shorts! Plus, neither one of us sleeps well when it's warm so we leave the door to our bedroom closed most of the day. Probably stays around 62 in there day and night. Perfect for sleeping.

Good luck and stay warm!

UPDATE: I finally got through 300 of the 400lbs of free coal I got with the stove. Running 3 weeks total. Picked up 500lbs yesterday so I probably have a months worth on hand.

I hear you on keeping it cool to sleep. The master bedroom in my house has no cellar and has hot water baseboard from my oil boiler. I have to keep the heat going in there so the pipes don't freeze. So the thermostat is kept at 58 and my wife says she sleeps better. But, when she gets out of bed and into the rest of the house she expects it over 73. God love her.
Tom

Well the one I have is always complaining how warm it is, she had it cranked yesterday, it hit 78F. I like it warm but that's nuts.

I've got my central coal boiler system zoned. Bedrooms are cool for sleeping but the bathrooms are toasty warm. Easy to do with time of day digital thermostats controlling the circulator pumps. The wife loves it.

Yanche

[quote="UPDATE: I finally got through 300 of the 400lbs of free coal I got with the stove. Running 3 weeks total. Picked up 500lbs yesterday so I probably have a months worth on hand.[/quote]

How much coal do you use in one day?

Fired up the stove again just last week. We're getting some colder temps at night <30* and in the 40s during the day.

Still working great! I'm guessing I've burned about 140 lbs after 10 days of use. That's something around 14 lbs a day. Not bad at all. Then again, this house is very well insulated and the stove just idles the day away.

After a year of use, I noticed that last year, I probably burned around 4000 lbs -- about $450 dollars to heat my home. Can't beat that with a stick. During the really cold spells, I had the feed rate up around 100% and it wasn't quite keeping up at night -- but then again it was close to -10* and our windows really aren't that well insulated. Either way, it's cheap, effective and adds a wonderful atmosphere to our home. Couldn't be happier!!!