PLEASE......... can anyone help me???

Good Morning,
Thank You my son is ok... I closed the damper some. I added very little coal at a time..till I got a pile...every hour I was shaking the grates....I still have a problem getting ashes clened out for a good burn in the far bach of the stove yet...But I really thing the problems are my grates.they are not working right..But I will not give up I will get the thing to work...LOL maybe by than winter will be over LOL.
Sharon

Lost Lady wrote:...every hour I was shaking the grates....

This you should not do. Once you get it going don't shake it, don't prod it, don't even look at it funny. It's best to leave it alone until you need to add more coal. Most stoves will go 12 hours which is one of the benefits of using coal. Whether yours will or not i do not know but it most likely will. Again the key is patience, what you do now might take half an hour to take affect.... Opening the damper up full blast isn't going to give you an instant large body of fire like wood would. It will take a while to ramp up to full steam but if it does good luck slowing it down.

You seem to have the lighting part tackled... Once you get it lit, you should close the damper so it's just craked open a little and just let it burn (the farther this open the faster it will burn. How much specifically you should have it open really depends on how hot you want it to burn but generally most just keep it barely open.

The hard part is figuring out when you should add coal, I'd give it at least 6 hours before adding more. You should be able to easily get 6 hours out of it. First shake it until you start to see glowing embers fall through the grates, you don't have to remove every piece of ash. Usually 5 or 6 quick jerks on the handle is good but it varies by stove. Restock it with fresh coal, open the damper a bit until the fire is going well then close them off to a crack again. Repeat 6 hours later.

It's alearning process and once you get the hang of it you'll see it's quite easy.

Thank You.....

I had just laid down on the floor and with a flash light was shaking the grates...What I learned is that the shaker hand is worn out...Soooooooooo I was shaking and shaking to no avail....now I got to run and get a new one....hope that will help me..I'll let you know.


Sharon

Sharon,

I've got the hitzer 82 FA. Sounds like its the same as your stove. I've only had to start one fire in mine. The key is making sure you got a good hard wood fire with lots of coals. It appears your past that part and have a good fire going. When you get the new shaker handle shake it down and put a small amount of coal in. About two inches. Close the feed door and leave the ash pan door open. Check the fire in about 15 minutes. If you have blue flames coming through the coa, fill it up to the top of the fire bricks. Keep the bottom door open for about 15 minutes. You should have blue flames. Close it up and let it burn. I wouldn't worry about playing with the dampers until you get the hang of skaking it and adding coal. I would say learn the basics of your stove first and then start to fine tune it. I have had great luck with mine. It burns great and put out lots of heat.


Good luck
Don

Thank you Don,,
My stove is just like yours I think,,,, just a lot older...but mine is also hooked in to the radiant water system that has to run to 2 floors so i have to figure out that after I get the hang of all this..LOL like I said I might get this all figured out but it will be spring LOL.
Sharon

Hi lost lady,I started burning coal early this past fall,after 25 years of burning wood,after about aweek I thought I had mad a BIG mistake,within a month I was burning coal with my eyes closed(not really) Anyway stick to it at stay on this site here,you might just like it a lot.how is it going for you????

not good at all!!!! I can get the heat in the stove but having circulating pump problems,,,,,, the stove is at 450-500 degrees but I can't get the heat to the different zones