New LL Hearth

The new LL stove is working great. Thanks to Dave & Matt for all their assistance. One thing I haven't figured out yet.... The hopper doesn't empty evenly. I noticed that the stove started shutting down and I opened the cover and I saw what was happening. The feeder draws from the center and leaves the rest of it. I'd say when this occurs, there is about a half of bag still in there. Probably the only cure is to keep the hopper completely full. Thanks again!

See that!! you answered your own question correctly

The hopper bottom would have to be sloped at a fairly steep degree to get the coal to all flow to the center, that would cut down on listed capacity and if they were to try and recover that capacity the hopper would have to be larger all around and probably have very little asthetic value at that point... Just remember, while it's not good to open the lid and look down to see the carpet feeder working back and forth with no coal on it, it is nice however to be able to push that coal from the sides to the center to give it a jumpstart right quick!!! With my Harman, when its empty, its EMPTY, no coal left anywhere in the hopper to push to the center... That then has me making a mad dash for the coal bin in hopes of saving the fire!!! What you have there allows you to top the hopper off in your "leisure".... Pun fully intended...

I did this mod on my Keystoker, but you get the idea. Helps a little bit. You should check it every morning and evening, and push it towards the stoker opening. It just gets to be habit after a while.

Coal hopper modification

I have a Poco. Firstly, what is a lid? I suppose I have it somewhere. The angle of repose of my anthracite seems to be about 30% so I cut out a piece of crap steel and used aluminium pop rivets to make a triangle and placed them in the bottom corners of the hopper, loose fit for easy removal and if some coal gets jammed there so what. - the coal never flows from there anyway. So perhaps my hopper is now 180#. I was thinking making a hopper extension on the top to bring it back to 200# usable or even more. Sadly, the pizza guy arrived and I had some Blue Moon in the fridge and even an orange so that was that end of that idea. Without the lid it does not have to be an exact science. Never did part two of the project as I was way too lazy and the existing hopper lasts long enough as it is even on the coldest day. Oh well, story of my life.

coalnewbie wrote:I have a Poco. Firstly, what is a lid? I suppose I have it somewhere. The angle of repose of my anthracite seems to be about 30% so I cut out a piece of crap steel and used aluminium pop rivets to make a triangle and placed them in the bottom corners of the hopper, loose fit for easy removal and if some coal gets jammed there so what. - the coal never flows from there anyway. So perhaps my hopper is now 180#. I was thinking making a hopper extension on the top to bring it back to 200# usable or even more. Sadly, the pizza guy arrived and I had some Blue Moon in the fridge and even an orange so that was that end of that idea. Without the lid it does not have to be an exact science. Never did part two of the project as I was way too lazy and the existing hopper lasts long enough as it is even on the coldest day. Oh well, story of my life.

Same here with my Poker, agree that side wedges would likely cure the center drop "angular repose" on just about any stove.

In past years there have been discussions on the forum (not just LL stoves) about this issue and some have suggested some sort of barbecue motor spit that rotates ocassionally tickle the side coal into the center....or betterIMO try the side wedges..the wedges can even be made of wood so that they can be removed, etc...I'd just make sure they were in some way lightly attached to the box so they will not move around.