Burning Bituminous in a Hitzer 82

Its been a week now that I have been burning bit. in my new Hitzer model 82. I just joined the one week club. But the inside of my stove is covered in about a 1/2" of fluffy soot and something that looks like creosote. I can't get over how well this stove runs but I am worried about the soot build up. My stove pipe thermometer is not in the burn zone very much I don't know how to change that. Any help would be great.

if your stove pipe thermometer is of the type thats typically sold in hardware/box stores, then it is accurate temp wize enough but the "zones" indicated on it I believe is for wood fires.

the burn zone is that which creates the least creasote when burning wood!

congrats on the week club level!! if you have the ability to take pics then post one, if not then check into digital photography!

I posted some pic of the stove under the hand fired thread under Hitzer fired up.

If you're only burning coal you don't need to worry about maintaining a certain flue temp. like you do with burning wood. Soot from coal isn't flammable like creosote from wood burning but you should check the chimney frequently to see how fast/much soot accumulation you get to be sure chimney doesn't get clogged to the point where draft is affected.
I don't get that much soot in my stoves or chimney in an entire winter so it could be the quality of the soft coal, the way you're firing stove or the stove design could be reasons for excessive buildup.

tractorboy13 wrote:Thanks I have a 9" or 10" diameter cement chimney. With 9" stove pipe to the in side. I have a 9" to 8" reducer and ordered a 7"to8" I'm thinking of running 8" from the stove to the chimney.

{Copied this post from other thread}
Did you go with 8 inch?


Edit: Oh, I just looked at the photo in the other thread....I remember now that you replaced an old furnace/stove with this one. Did you have lots of soot buildup in the old stove?

I went with 7 and from what I see come summer I think I am going to switch to 8 to see if that makes a change next year.