Minor Explosion in Coal Stove

 
Jared43758
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Post by Jared43758 » Thu. Oct. 09, 2014 7:40 pm

The holes are like 1/8 at the beginning and then 3/16 toward the end


 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Thu. Oct. 09, 2014 7:42 pm

Can I see a pic of the front of the furnace? where is it drawing secondary air from?

 
Jared43758
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Post by Jared43758 » Thu. Oct. 09, 2014 7:49 pm

I can see flames shooting out of the holes in the right side pipe real well now. Not the left so much. It may help if I turn the holes sideways some instead of straight down
image.jpg
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Thu. Oct. 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Dude... I have that SAME pipe wrench in my basement.. :lol:

 
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Post by Jared43758 » Thu. Oct. 09, 2014 8:15 pm

Hahaha

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Thu. Oct. 09, 2014 8:17 pm

Any possibility of cleaning that glass off and shooting a short (10-20 seconds) video clip thru it with yer phone? I'd love to see how its responding the secondary air.. :)

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Thu. Oct. 09, 2014 8:28 pm

Check your private messages please.. :)


 
Jared43758
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Post by Jared43758 » Thu. Oct. 09, 2014 8:29 pm

I tried sending a video the other day and it won't let me. And yea it's the same spots on my glass everytime that gets black. Not enuff air going across those parts I guess

 
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Post by Jared43758 » Fri. Oct. 10, 2014 9:24 am

Really puts off more heat now. Even banking coal to the back I only had stove half full. A couple hrs later by the time the fire spreads to the front, the underfire bottom damper knob closed, stove above the feed door got to 425. It really puts off heat when the stove is 425. I wonder how high a temp this stove can take before problems occur?

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Fri. Oct. 10, 2014 10:43 am

Hard to say... I seldom run mine over 375 degrees. It probably can take 500 degrees safely. The concern I have is warping the grates or grate frames or baffles or damaging the liners. I burnt thru the rear liner with a hot bit fire.

 
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HarMark3500
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Post by HarMark3500 » Mon. Nov. 17, 2014 9:45 pm

Evening.. Yes, this is common. Ive had several (mainly because im new to heating with coal as primary heat) explosions. Im using a Harman SF-3500, which has a huge fire box. It can be exciting when you open that door. Ive found that air in this situation is your friend. I have an extremely tight house, and as a result I was getting these explosions every time I re-charged. I thought it was the stove of course. But alas, no, that's not the case. I found if I open the basement window it allows air to enter through the top knobs which allows the gasses to burn off. Leaving a tiny corner open also helps.

Now, you also have to watch leaving the window open on colder days (20ish). This will drive the temp of the stove through the roof if your not careful.

Last note... I blocked my baro, and the stove runs between 300-400 with stack temps of 100. Thats pretty good!!

 
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Post by Jared43758 » Tue. Nov. 18, 2014 12:46 pm

I close my baro off when loading my stove to help keep any smoke from leaking into my house. It's cold and windy today in southeast Ohio. I looked up at my manometer and the draft was .25 with the baro closed. Like having a Vac truck at the end of my chimney. Prolly sucking the soot right out. And btw Bit coal burns and works great in a hotblast stove with the right setup and practice.

 
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Post by 243kid » Thu. Jan. 29, 2015 4:51 pm

This problem is why I joined this website. So I could ask someone for their advise. Glad to hear it has happened to someone else.

 
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paulus
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Post by paulus » Wed. Oct. 28, 2015 4:07 pm

Hi all,

Yesterday and today I witnessed an "explosion" inside my stove... One time (yesterday) the stove door was open and I was looking right at it, result: black face and ashes all over the place :D ... Today a loud "boom" when shaking up the stove.. Does anybody have any idea what I'm doing wrong here??? never had before

I changed only from 20/30 to 8/14 coal dimension.

 
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Post by franco b » Wed. Oct. 28, 2015 4:32 pm

The smaller coal does not let air through as easily so more gasses build up before enough air gets through to ignite them all at once.

Put the hopper back in as it helps to preheat and to somewhat burn off gasses prior to shaking down or clearing ash.

If burning without the hopper it might help to bore down with a poker from above to grate level where there are hot coals to help ignite gasses before they build up too much. Do this after loading fresh coal. Leaving some red hot coal exposed can also help.

You can also leave loading door open a crack until blue flames ignite.

Opening that hole in the back for a short time should also help.

The problem is that as fresh coal is heated it releases gas and if it is not burned because of either lack of air or lack of enough heat, it builds up until heat and air are enough, but then it can burn too fast, or explode. It can also just be vented up the chimney, but that just wastes the heat it can produce.


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