Help With Idling

Ok, it seems that I've hit another intuitive block with the coal burning and need some help. It's warm out in CNY (day time temps in 40s & 50s) and I want to idle the stove down so that I'll still be able to have heat at night but be able to be in the house without every window and door open during the day. So, my thought was, cut the air intake. I did that (it is currently closed as far as it will go) and have had a very active coal bed and nearly 400* stove for the last several days, burning right through an entire hopper of coal during the night and red-lining the thermostat in the living room. I've been sleeping with all windows in living room wide open and bedroom window open to create a cross draft so that I'm not melting. I'm guessing that my gut has led me astray again in this coal burning education curve.

Right now, it is 45* outside, air is moving but it's not windy, baro is flapping, stove is 400*, air intake is closed and living room is 80*.

What am I doing wrong? Would covering the baro to send more heat up the chimney help?

~Rebecca

No, closing the baro will allow more draft. Your stove is pulling air *below* the firebed if you are unable to slow down the burn.
Typically, when the air gets warm and especially damp, your stove will require more air. I always need to open up the damper one additional turn.

Maybe a bad ash-pan door gasket, or your air inlet is not closing fully or sealing tight.

Pete69 wrote:Maybe a bad ash-pan door gasket, or your air inlet is not closing fully or sealing tight.

The air inlet flapper appears to be closed (it doesn't "seal") when I look from above (it's on the rear bottom of the stove). My next move is to pull the ash pan and vacuum the underneath to make certain nothing is stuck in the flap keeping it open.

I'll check the gasket but, I think it's okay.

Cap wrote:No, closing the baro will allow more draft. Your stove is pulling air *below* the firebed if you are unable to slow down the burn.
Typically, when the air gets warm and especially damp, your stove will require more air. I always need to open up the damper one additional turn.

Well, I certainly don't want MORE draft right now! I've got every window and door in the house open and it's 78* in here.

You have to find where the fire bed is getting the combustion air from. That's what is probably happening if you can't control the rate of combustion. After checking out all of the above suggestions, is the air control regulator fitting tightly? I'm not familiar with the Saey 92 but some stoves have a manually operated slide that might have some in-out play. It might be set in the closed position but the closure plate has enough play that air bypasses it.

Has your baro been properly set up with a manometer? Is the baro flap clean and 'floating freely'?

Another change you could make if you're burning nut size coal is to try switching to pea size coal. The smaller air space between the coal pieces restrict the air flow and therefore cut down on the draft.

You can try using the ash to reduce the size of your fire box and cut the underfire air. Just don't shake as thoroughly or as often and watch your themometers. Think of poking - not stirring - poking to open air holes in the bed instead of shaking. The ash that's left should cut down the air flow. Also using a smaller size coal will act as a damper to some extent. I would think most hand fed stoves could go down to 125* or 150* while idling. I have to agree that it sounds like you have an air leak somewhere; maybe your door gaskets or around the window if you have one. Whatever you do remember that coal responses very slowly so any changes are going to happen over time. That waiting is the hard part when learning what works with your stove. Good luck, Lisa

My buddy has a Saey ... that air intake sucks. He had a hard time getting it to stay lit in the beginning, then had problems keeping windows shut after, as you are now. That intake is supposed to automatically control air based on ... temp or draft??? I can't remember.

If there is a spring or something you can disconnect on that flapper, that might work .... but you'll have to watch to make sure you don't kill the fire. I think there's another intake on the front too that you can try & close down -- that slide thingy there in the front ...

VigIIPeaBurner wrote:You have to find where the fire bed is getting the combustion air from. That's what is probably happening if you can't control the rate of combustion. After checking out all of the above suggestions, is the air control regulator fitting tightly? I'm not familiar with the Saey 92 but some stoves have a manually operated slide that might have some in-out play. It might be set in the closed position but the closure plate has enough play that air bypasses it.

Has your baro been properly set up with a manometer? Is the baro flap clean and 'floating freely'?

Another change you could make if you're burning nut size coal is to try switching to pea size coal. The smaller air space between the coal pieces restrict the air flow and therefore cut down on the draft.

Already burning pea - burn pea throughout the season.

Baro has been set with a manometer and is flapping away, staying slightly open much of the time this morning.

The air intake on the Saey is controlled by a lever connected to a flap (thermostaticaly controlled) and it is in the fully closed position - I see some light filtering in when I look through the ash door but can't close it any further - there is nothing holding it open (a problem I discovered last year when the stove was running out of control).

It sounds like until I can get it cool enough to check the ash gasket (I can barely touch the handle now with the stove at 450*) I just have to wait for it to burn itself out and keep the windows and doors open so I don't melt. Thanks for the thoughts.

SMITTY wrote:My buddy has a Saey ... that air intake sucks. He had a hard time getting it to stay lit in the beginning, then had problems keeping windows shut after, as you are now. That intake is supposed to automatically control air based on ... temp or draft??? I can't remember.

If there is a spring or something you can disconnect on that flapper, that might work .... but you'll have to watch to make sure you don't kill the fire. I think there's another intake on the front too that you can try & close down -- that slide thingy there in the front ...

Yes, my learning curve in the beginning was brutal trying to keep it lit! I agree. It's supposedly temp controlled.

The air intakes in the front control air over the fire (for a wood fire) - I've opened those hoping to slow things down (I swore to folks here on the board that I would never open them again when I was struggling to get heat out of the stove last year and someone noticed in a picture that they were open!)

I don't know that I can get to the spring - definitely can't get to it with the stove at it's current temp! But, I'll look - there definitely is a spring on it.

Thanks.

Yeah I'm not to fond of that design. It's not real beginner friendly ... or user friendly for that matter. Dialing it in takes waaay more time than it should.

Your welcome, & keep us posted.

lowfog01 wrote:You can try using the ash to reduce the size of your fire box and cut the underfire air. Just don't shake as thoroughly or as often and watch your themometers. Think of poking - not stirring - poking to open air holes in the bed instead of shaking. The ash that's left should cut down the air flow. Also using a smaller size coal will act as a damper to some extent. I would think most hand fed stoves could go down to 125* or 150* while idling. I have to agree that it sounds like you have an air leak somewhere; maybe your door gaskets or around the window if you have one. Whatever you do remember that coal responses very slowly so any changes are going to happen over time. That waiting is the hard part when learning what works with your stove. Good luck, Lisa

Thanks Lisa, I'll try not shaking it - I shook it this morning of course!

I'm using pea already and anything smaller will fall through my grates.

I was thinking the same thing on temp - I was thinking I could just idle it down to reasonable so that I had coals to fire up at night when the temps drop.

The waiting is killer!

Yes, check that spring! The stove is a top loader/hopper unit, right? maybe a small piece of coal has made it's way down to the bimetallic coil/spring thing and is jambing it. That could be letting more air to the fire and keeping the stove running hot. More than likely if you're observing light around the ash door, that's the problem ... or one of a few?!

You can also take some ash from your ash pan and spread a thin layer over the top of the coal bed. This will restrict the ability of the stove to pull air up through the coal bed, it fills in some of the air spaces between the top layer of coal (it will slow down the burn rate of the stove). This is a technique some coal burners use to get longer burn times. Just make sure you don't put too much ash on top and put out the fire. Remember, for every change you make, wait at least an hour for the coal bed to react to the change. I hope this helps.

the snowman.

SMITTY wrote:Yeah I'm not to fond of that design. It's not real beginner friendly ... or user friendly for that matter. Dialing it in takes waaay more time than it should.

Your welcome, & keep us posted.

Thanks Smitty! Yeah, if it wasn't for everyone's help here last year the stove would have been on Craig's list! I've loved the coal heat once I figured it out last year but, the learning curve sure is steep! I just got another 3 ton delivered a couple of weeks ago and hadn't yet run out of the 3 ton I bought a year ago November - love that kind of heating bill!