godin 3720 coal stove info

Hi, does anyone know the max coal level of a 3720 Godin? Also should the vent pipe be in the upper or lower position ? Im not having much luck finding info on this stove. thanks

Hi Bart, Welcome to the forum. Do you have a photo of the stove?? and the vent pipe positions you are refering to?? This will help us help you.


Greg L

The smoke box on the back of the stove can be turned up or down i have seen them both ways i thought if i move it to the top i can load more coal thanks

Hello Bart, forum member Townsend has a Godin stove he aquired recently, maybe he recieved a manual or has burnt in it by now.

I PM'd him to take a look at this thread, and help if he can. I don't know if anyone else on the site owns a similar stove.

Hope this helps.

Greg L

Can you take a pic of the firepot? You usually need to fill it to the top of the firebrick or crucible. The depth is about 2/3 of the diameter normally I would think.

Hope this helps. Thanks

Isn't there a hinged door on the front of the stove? and behind that a slotted vertical grate-like affair that forms part of the firebox?? Can you get a photo of this part of the stove too??

Greg L

The fire brick goes all the way to the top.Thair is a divider on the lower exaust hole to keep out the coal. I did not know if i fill past that if it would try to light the whole thing or just keep burning at that level as the upper coal falls down. I have burnt a lot of wood but i am new to coal so far it's ben pretty good . you can get a lot of heat out of a little stove

Wow, that is something.

Bart
Welcome to the forum. I just started burning anthracite in October, and it’s been a great learning experience. Having a place like this with friendly, helpful people has really good me hooked to the fourm, and anthracite.

Your main question asks how much coal you can put in, and also you asked how the coal would act in the firebox.

I have an older larger stove and I was told from the past owner I can fill it up to the top of the firebrick. From the way yours looks, I think it would be the same. You won’t have to do that in this weather, where you might be able to keep it in half the firebox.

After you get going, your firebox you’ll have layers of different coal. Bottom will be dieing coals, and ash. Middle will be red hot coals burning making tons of heat. The top might have some black on it(which is good if you want a long burn), and will still make blue flame. I normally add coal 3 times a day to my fire, 6am, 6pm, 10pm.

Before you fire this up you need to make sure you have proper draft. The draft is very important with a coal fire. It’s good that there is a top exhaust on this burner, because I think fly ash could build up in the bottom exhaust plugging it. Coal burns from bottom to the top, and air needs to pass from the bottom to top for your fire to burn well. So my opinion is that if the bottom getting plugged, that might not be horrible. Only time will tell.

The grates look like they just spin. Do they open up a little to allow bigger solid ash pieces to fall down? If it just spins, you might have to do some poking to break up your ash. Coal ash isn’t just a fine powder like wood ash.

If you don’t have an ash pan you can get a some sheet metal and bend it without a break using clamps, two 2x4’s, and a hammer. Then just some self tapping metal sheet metal screws to keep it together. You might be able to find some type of metal mixing bowl that would be the size you need, just make sure its heavy metal that would take the heat.

Read up on how to light coal there are plenty of how to’s on that here. You basically need to start a good hot kindling wood fire first. I add some charcoal in because I know that will get hot and stay hot for a while. Once your wood fire is getting hot, after maybe 10 minutes and slowly start adding coal. Maybe a coal shovel full every 5-10 minutes until that catches, (I still add fresh kindling too during the fire few shovels) then you can add more every 30 minutes until maybe half the firebox. The whole time I’m closing off the damper to the flue, from almost wide open to nearly closed (I have good draft from my chimney). I am also closing my combustion air draft. A stack thermometer is a must, and you should have that before you fire it up(Only $10-$20 from any stove shop). My stack temp will go up to 400f – 500f when I’m starting it up… but it will work back down to around 300 f if I want good heat. It’s only around 200 today with just enough of a fire for the fire not to go out.


Three questions.
Do you plan on using anthracite? If so what size?
How does the combustion air enter the stove, from the side or the front door?

Thank's for all the info. I have been using anthracite nut. I have used the stove maybe 6 times. It heats real good. I have been having trouble getting it to go all night. Alltho it did one night.But im sure once i stop treating it like wood it will be fine. It has a rotating grate . and the intake air is on the bottom of the front door.it takes a long time to get hot maybe because of the brick. that's why i did not know if i should move the pipe to the upper position?or just leave it.It drafts pretty good although maybe it need's a little more.

I have a similar Godin that I have used for several years. It is vented thru the bottom and pumps out an amazing amount of heat. I typically fill it about 4/5 of the way up, any higher and the inner metal lid begins to glow orange making me nervous about damaging the stove. I have found that it is very easy to start a good fire using Matchlight charcoal, about 8-10 bricks will do. In 15 minutes I can begin layering about twice that amount of coal (no more Matchlight) and every 20-25 minutes thereafter for another 60-90 minutes, and then just fill the cylinder the remaining amount (to 80% capacity). Works like a charm. It has to be shaken down every 3-4 hours but can go overnight 6-8 hours if the damper on the door is open only two revolutions slowing the burn (the following morning it will then need a good 15 minutes of shaking and tending to clean out the ash enough to get the burning coals to drop down to the fire grate behind the door). It does take some effort, but I can heat half of my 3000 sq ft house with this small stove.