Low Idle??

Chuck steak,my wife has the thin blood not me but the reason I'm running my stove is I have never burned coal in my life and my heat pump is s--- real low on oil and I sold my firewood to buy coal so I need to learn to run my stove before I really need it,I have some windows open and the front door to to cool the house down.The high inside was 82* so I can live with that for a short time as long as it stays under 70* for the high outside but it's in the mid to lower 40's at night.

Sheep dog,I though I was using reading nut but I think It's stove,It's has some real big pieces in it not even close to the blaschak nut.I don't shake it down until I reload it so it runs untouched for the whole time (so far 48 hrs max).My Hitzer does not have a hopper but the first fill I think I put in 80#+ to top it off,It runs real nice at 170* but I think I still use too much coal for that low but I have time to play.I poke the corners with a rod from the bottom after the shakedown until I see even red glow off the ash pan but I'm not sure if I should leave more ash on the grates or not? I just finished my indoor coal bin I'm going to post some pics on the coal bin thread.

Keepaeyeonit wrote:..but the reason I'm running my stove is I have never burned coal in my life

As we were talking about in another thread, if you are just starting out,
it will be SOOOOO much easier when it's cold! Two different animals...

....The high inside was 82*

That's about my melting point!!

(You'll need some heat tonight, looks like maybe upper 30's in cooler spots!)

Chuck Steak,so far this has been real easy but thats what worries me,things start easy finish hard!I just hope that the rest of the winter goes just like the last week.I just have to thank everyone on this forum for the help and knowledge, I searched this website reading almost every thread long before I switched from wood to coal or even signed up.

Chuck_Steak wrote:You guys have got some THIN blood!!
It was so warm up here in New England last week,
I couldn't have imagined touching off the old Mark....
Tonight is supposed to be the first cool night, but 60's tomorrow.
Just still a little too early for heat..

Not that I have noticed!!

I have lived in houses that ice would form on the inside of the windows and things would freeze if you where not careful!! The CFO and I did lots of our studying under wool blankets where we could see our breath in the living-room while we did our home work or studied for finals. Kind of funny really, her under one end me the other with the lab in the middle keeping our feet warm!! A ceramic heater blowing under one corner of the blanket made a very nice little heat tent.

Of course now that I have better options I like the house between 68 F and 72 F this time of year!! (Old habits die hard as I still have a wool blanket next to my easy chair!!)

As such the house is 68 F this morning when I got up and has been between 66 F and 72 F for the whole time I have been running the stove at idle.

I keep the bedroom much cooler since I like to sleep with it nice and cold/cool, but it is nice to be able to walk into the rest of the house in the morning and have it be what most consider room temperature. (One of my buddies still claims I tried to freeze him to death when he visited me when I lived in a dorm in MI!! Just because the fan kept blowing snow into the room during the night!!!)

The other thing is that the stove drives the moisture out of the house! During the summer the air conditioning does the trick, but this time of year a low fire keeps things nice and dry.

Here in the mountains the temps do some interesting things this time of year and I am always 5-10 degrees colder here than just a few minutes away in town. Of course as was also mentioned I am learning my stove a bit!! New stove, new fuel so I am finding out what I can about it before winter sets in!!

SD

SheepDog68 wrote:Wow does burning nut make a big difference!!

Started the stove with a good sized load of Harmony Nut and at idle it was running us out of the house!! The stove was running at least 100 degrees hotter than with the pea coal that I had been running it with. Been adding pea into the hopper so it is starting to idle back down where it was before!! I think that I will be able to idle through a good portion of this winter if the Harmony Nut continues to put out that kind of heat!!

SD

Now you know that we weren't joking around when you first joined the forum and were asking about coal stoves. When it is below zero and you have that stove cranking you will think there is a nuclear reactor in the house.

-Robert

david78 wrote:If they want to sell the bit cheap, tell them I'll come take it off their hands.

Bituminous will burn just fine in the Splendid Oak if you give it some secondary air. The only thing is that it will soot up the window pretty good.

markviii wrote:
Now you know that we weren't joking around when you first joined the forum and were asking about coal stoves. When it is below zero and you have that stove cranking you will think there is a nuclear reactor in the house.

-Robert

Trust, but verify man!!

I think I may have just corrupted someone else today by showing them my new stove!!

It is cool and blowing rain outside and we sat in the nice warm, dry living room talking stoves for their new house!! I told them to go see Hitzer's demo they have going not too far away and I gave them the name of my dealer and another not too far away, so who can say may be the coal genie struck again!!

SD

wsherrick wrote:

david78 wrote:If they want to sell the bit cheap, tell them I'll come take it off their hands.

Bituminous will burn just fine in the Splendid Oak if you give it some secondary air. The only thing is that it will soot up the window pretty good.

I hadn't thought about burning bit in the Splendid Oak, but I have been burning it in my outdoor furnace with good results.

david78 wrote:

wsherrick wrote: Bituminous will burn just fine in the Splendid Oak if you give it some secondary air. The only thing is that it will soot up the window pretty good.

I hadn't thought about burning bit in the Splendid Oak, but I have been burning it in my outdoor furnace with good results.

You can. It's an option if you ever need too, just like burning wood in it. If you try Bituminous in it, I forgot to mention earlier; that is one of the times when you would use the check damper in the exhaust elbow. It is very effective in burning off hydrocarbons as they leave the stove. You would want to use it if you are burning a lot of wood in the stove too.