Just Installed Stove

I don't know very much about the handfired, but in the pic. after he filled her up shoulndt he have left some burning coal show to burn off the gases?

mseymour wrote:I made an adjustment on the automatic damper and got the surface temp on stove to 300 degrees. The spinner knob is on the ash pan tray door.

Moving in the right direction! Yes, if you open the spinner all the way, then stand next to the stove and watch it! The reason for making a major adjustment, rather than a fine one, is that you will easily and quickly be able to tell if inadequate air is the primary problem, before you get confused after making multiple other fine adjustments and can't sort out which one variable is the problem. I agree, if you open the spinner wide and leave for 15 minutes, that could be close to catastrophic.

I've had my Mk I for about 10 years now. I throw coal in until it falls out the front. Basically a big pile that tapers from the back to the front. I run with the air knob 1 to 1.25 turns open. Also, I find leaving the ash pan out makes my burning more consistent. That's a personal preference and some people will say exactly the opposite.

Also, I am running stove coal. The smaller you go, I find, the more air you need. Again, that may be chimney dependent. I don't have a manometer or a thermometer so I can't be more specific.

I set my baro damper to the lightest setting. Basically, the nut is out as far as it will go. The room temp, really the whole house is about 70*. The chimney pipe after the baro is barely warm, as in I can plant my hand on it and hold it there as long as I want.

I'd still add more coal from where you are now and then keep upping the air until you get the temperature you want. I find even an 1/8 of a turn on my stove makes a difference. The difference between 1 turn and 1.5 turns is the difference between comfortable and melting iron.

It sounds like burning the coal stove without having the barometric damper properly set with a manometer is your biggest problem. You've got enough coal in the box for now. Also, forget everything you knew about burning wood. It's VERY different. Keep asking questions and read, read, read in the hand fired section. That stove can really crank out the heat but as others have said, it's not like a wood stove. A wood stove burns very hot but for a short time. This stove can burn 350-400 for 12+ hours. I hope you have a CO detector. Otherwise we will send the coal police to your home.

The last pic you posted looked like it was filled up well. Filling like that it will knock the temp down a bit until that coal starts to catch. As suggested, leave a little red showing when you load it up like that to burn off the gases. It seems you avoided the 'boom' since you have the blue flames showing.

My procedure is to open the ash door to liven up the fire for about two minutes, close ash door and open spinner all the way, shake down ashes until I see glowing red reflected in the ash pan, add coal, filling to top of fire brick, leaving a front corner of red coal exposed, set timer for ten minutes, come back to see blue flames across coal bed and then cover the exposed front corner with coal and run spinner knob in to about 1-1/4 turns, come back in 12 hours and repeat the process.

I agree that 1/8 turn can make a big difference on the spinner.

Just a guess, but maybe your baro isn't opening enough currently and you are still sucking too much heat up the chimney, it's hard to tell without a manometer what the draft really is. I would suggest a manometer and also a CO detector.

Current conditions here at the funny farm: My draft is measuring at .04, the stove temp is 525* and the stack temp measured with a probe about 290*, this is with the spinner at 1-1/4 turns today, outside temps here are about 39*.

By the way, welcome to the forum and I'd say you are doing great with your first try at coal burning!

After adjusting the automatic draft control my stove started putting out some heat. It is burning about 400 degrees now. I think most of the heat had been going up the chimney. I really don't understand the draft control yet, but am looking into a manometer. I think this is the key to my lack of heat. The house is much warmer tonight than last night. I definitely see how being use to a woodstove makes it more challenging to operator a coal stove. This forum has been extremely helpful and the members have be friendly and helpful. Thanks again! Oh and I just put fresh batteries in my Carbon Monoxide detector and I believe I will buy one more for upstairs.

jpete wrote: I throw coal in until it falls out the front. Basically a big pile that tapers from the back to the front.

Just be careful doing this - you would think that all the coal that falls out the front while stuffing the fire box would be fresh, not burning coal, right? After all the burning stuff is below the new stuff, right? At least I thought that and I just cleaned it up. Apparently I missed a piece a and later I found a burn mark on my hard wood floor approximately 3 ft beyond my hearth. The mark is just the size of a piece of pea coal and is quite deep and I'm really glad that coal likes a deep coal bed or we may have had a major problem. The other thought is that sometimes I was throwing the "rejected" coal back in the coal bin after I swept them up. I'll leave that to your imaginations. Anyway, let's just say I pay a lot more attention to how full I fill the firebox now. Take care, Lisa

I have one of those wool carpets to extend my hearth just a bit. Nothing like the smell of burning hair.

I learned my lesson the other day. I opened the door and put my bucket down at the same time I heard a piece of coal hit the tiles. I looked and there was a perfectly black piece of coal so I picked it up and tossed it in.

I should know by know that in any 50/50 situation, I'm going to guess wrong. Damn was that hot.

Ah well, I may be old but I'm still pretty quick, especially when holding hot coal!

open the spinner another half turn .

mseymour wrote:After adjusting the automatic draft control my stove started putting out some heat. It is burning about 400 degrees now. I think most of the heat had been going up the chimney. I really don't understand the draft control yet, but am looking into a manometer. I think this is the key to my lack of heat. The house is much warmer tonight than last night. I definitely see how being use to a woodstove makes it more challenging to operator a coal stove. This forum has been extremely helpful and the members have be friendly and helpful. Thanks again! Oh and I just put fresh batteries in my Carbon Monoxide detector and I believe I will buy one more for upstairs.

Draft is a challanging concept. Draft is what is created when a stove and chimney work together. It's the "draw" of air up the chimney. It varies depending on the height of the chimney, the temperature of the flue gases, the outside temperature, etc. A baromtric damper is a draft limiting device. It is not going to give you more draft. It's going to limit the amount of draft to keep the heat in your stove. The heat is in the coal, not in the flue gases like wood. Having the manometer allows you to set it precisley. Well worth the small expense. In most cases you should be able to grab the vent pipe and hold onto it briefly without losing flesh. Don't try that with a woodstove.

Your going to love it. I have a Mark III running stove coal, I run my spinner at 1.5 when I am sitting there and 1 when I go to bed. fill it to the top of the tiles. My most common mistake letting the ashes touch the grates. empty your ash tray every day. One mis que and the grates are $112. each.

I have a Field controls type RC baro damper. I also have a Dwyer manometer. On the metal part that the adjustment knob slides on are numbers. I have my knob set so the center of the knob is at the 3. My manometer consistantly reads .02 to .04 (inches of water columb, which is how draft is measured). If your baro has the numbers marked, try setting it on 3. Still get the manometer when you can to monitor the draft. Things can change and the manometer will keep you informed. .02 to .04 is the recommended draft for coal burning. It permits enought draft for a good burn while wasting as little heat as possible up the chimney.

Good luck. It sounds like you are comming along fine.

I too have guessed wrong and picked up a piece of hot coal that fell out the front. I believe I will only ever do that once. I too have learned to burn coal this year.I have a Harman Mark II. Sounds like you are on the right track. Set the baro correctly, set spinner knob to 1 turn (+ or - a little depending on outside temp), and fill it with coal until a piece or 2 falls out the door. This is what has work for me!