Hitzer 75 Coal Stove.

I'm off to Back to Basics in Terryville right now to buy 20 bags of pea coal and maybe a couple bags of nut. The weather is expected to be cold till next Thursday due to a cold front heading east across the mid-west. It's a big story on the news and this is a good time for me to get my feet "wet" with a fairly big hand-fired stove.

Well it's been about two hours since I started a small wood fire in the Hitzer. I slowly added one bag of pea over the hot wood coals and the fire looks established. The top of the stove is 375 degrees and the dial for the draft box (primary air) is on 15, the highest setting. The direct draft damper is closed and about three-quarters of the coal bed's surface area is glowing orange and giving off blue flame. By late this afternoon I will have the Dwyer manometer hooked up and will start taking draft readings. The draft should be good, I never had smoke pour out of the stove when burning the wood. The outside temperature is 50 degrees and the inside temp this morning was down to 60 degrees. If by 8pm tonight this stove doesn't raise the house temperature above 70 degrees on a moderate day like today, then I have both a natural convection and stove problem. The natural convection may be helped with a fan, but if a stove that can produce nearly 100,000 btu's can't warm up a house on a day like today, even if located in an uninsulated basement, then the "type" of stove is incorrect and I need a coal furnace, not just a large radiant stove. I'm nervous already because, to be honest, the stove doesn't seem to be putting out very much heat.

When should I start adding the second bag of pea? I believe the fire box should be filled to the top of the brick and I'm wondering if I should have bought nut or even stove coal which I know would be burning more vigorously and putting out more heat.

With my 50-93, I tried a couple bags of PEA, the stove never could get enough air up through it to work at it's full potential. Been burning NUT for 4 yrs without any problems. The pea was smothering the fire or at least prohibiting a good upward air flow. In this type of weather, my thermo is on 3 or 4 & ash door vents are closed---MPD 3/4 closed--when the COLD gets here, my thermo rides on 8 or 9 with ash door vents slightly cracked. On 15 you should be opening window stats--yep, the NUT will make a big difference---BUT--possibly you do have the wrong stove--don't panic till you try some NUT & see how it goes. Yes, to the top of your brick.

Don't forget that with the stove in an uninsulated basement most of the initial heat is being beat down by the cool basement. That is a lot of thermal mass down there. It is going to take some time to get those basement walls and floor warmed up. Don't get despaired if things are not as warm as you want today. Give the stove a couple of days.

And I agree with Fred as well about the nut.

A couple of years ago the Wife and I went up to the White Mts for a few days in late October. It took 2 days of hard wood burning to get the house back up to a temp that would stay. Thermal mass is big factor with heating.

Save that pea coal till maybe next spring, get a handle on the stove with either nut or stove size, with the settings you have the stove should be 6 or 700*. I would shake it empty the ash and then dump the pea in the pan and start over again with something that will breath. The point of having to heat the basement walls and floor is correct and that takes time before you will see much differance in the upstairs area temps. Hang in there, make the change and see if it helps but give the stove time, and get the stove temp up around 5 to 600*.

Thanks everyone for the help!

I thought and read here that pea was best for a first timer with a hand-fed stove. Luckily I was only able to buy 15 bags of pea because that's all Back to Basics had open in his yard. Next weekend I will buy nut and stove, but I'm hoping to burn the pea this week because the supplier is an hour away. Burn and learn!

Here are a couple things I will do today which should help?

1). Cover the baro with aluminum foil to increase draft.

2). Leave the coal bed shallow, not full to the top of the brick.

3). Shake the ashes every six hours, not letting them build-up.

Thanks again everybody!

Yes on covering the baro, no on the shallow bed and shaking. When the fire is going well, fill the firebox to the top of the bricks...but leave burning coal exposed in the front right corner. When there is a good fire going throughout the firebox, fill it the rest of the way and leave the direct damper open for 30-40 minutes. After that, close the direct damper and adjust your thermostat as desired.

Leave the vent on the loading door open a turn or two, and don't shake the ashes for 15 hrs or so. After the first shakedown, 2x per day should be plenty.

So I opened the direct draft and put 20lbs of fresh coal in the firebox, then after twenty minutes I put the other 20lbs of fresh coal in the firebox leaving the two front corners still burning. Even after adding 40lbs to the other 40lbs that I had in the stove, the fire brick is still exposed and would require almost another whole bag to fill the stove to the top of the fire brick. When my alarm goes off in 15 minutes I will shut the direct draft.

After that, I will start setting up the manometer and take some draft readings. I really wish I had a infrared thermometer to take some temps.

Thanks Rob and everybody for the advice!

Yes, it takes about 80-90 lbs to fill that stove. Trying to run a shallow firebed will just make you frustrated. 6" is as thin as I would go...pea is more forgiving in this regard.

Totally agree wi Rob,

Coal stoves do better once going on a full load period. This is the reason that many of us wait (till later in the season) and use wood or another source because it's a 24 hr commitment to heat at minimum. The stove will always run better on a full load whether you are running it at relatively low temps or high output. It will just go longer at the low settings. The partial load thinking is a throwback to our wood days.

Well here's my 4:30 update!

After some constipation with HD and Lowes, I was able to find parts to get the Dwyer manometer installed. The reading(s) were .05wc each time I took it, burned my fingers a few times but that's the price I guess.

The current outside temperature is 52 degrees with a misty type of rain, so high humidity which should result in lower draft up the chimney.

The stove temperature on the side is 400 degrees and the basement temp is 82 degrees and 70 degrees in the upstairs living room.

As an experiment, I left the ash door open for three hours. This was dangerous but I never left the room and I basically stared at the stove.

However, the stove never went above 400 and the coal bed looked half black and orange with about fifty percent putting out blue flames. The stove "should" have melted with the ash door open for three hours, so why didn't it?

To be honest, I was almost hoping that I had poor draft, because that would have partly explained why my first stove never satisfactorily heated my house last winter. On the flip side, maybe an excessive draft, which I might have, may be the explanation?

With pea coal you need to be patient, it will take a while for the fire to migrate. It takes a while even with nut...stove is best for marginal draft.

EWF, I lit up today--45 minutes & I was opening window stats & closing up ash door vents & bi-metalic back to 3--outside 43*--INSIDE 71* as we speak-- WINDOWS CLOSED UP LOOSE THE PEA & TRY THE NUT--YOU CAN ALWAYS MIX OR SAVE THE PEA FOR SPRING---Damn cap lock

I agree Fred!

I just added 20 lbs of pea and will add another 20 lbs before 10pm. Never banked a coal fire overnite before so hopefully the pea will burn till morning.

Thanks everybody!

Well, I just learned another lesson which I've read about on here so many times before.

I was laying in bed watching Fox News when I heard a bang, I started down the basement stairs and I could feel the heat. The stove was hot and when I slowly opened the feed door, all I could see was the whole coal bed ablaze, bright orange with lots of blue flames. The temp gauge read 550 degrees and climbing.

So, what happened was, I had left the direct draft in the open position after loading the stove with coal for the night. The "bang" was the door on the draft box closing. Oops!!

Luckily I wasn't asleep yet or I would have experienced the China Syndrome first hand...