Hitzer 75 Coal Stove.

Yes, I was trying to use up the last 8 bags of it till I go back to the dealer next Saturday. And since I had decent draft, I thought I could use PEA until the weather got cold and then I would switch to NUT and even experiment with some STOVE size on the weekends.

The firebox was basically filled with dead, lifeless coal and I would post pictures but my wife is mad at me so I lost access to the iPhone.

Rob R. wrote:I looked in one of my old "Heating with Coal" books and it has the Hitzer 75 listed as 80,000 BTU's per hour, with an optional "water jacket". Provided the jacket/coil holds pressure, I'm sure you could use it to heat some radiation. Of course you would still need to buy a circulator, relay, thermostat, pressure relief valve, dump zone aquastat, AND A BOX OF $6 FITTINGS.

He ain't kidding!!!

Nice looking stove EWF. Should be a great heater when you work out the kinks.

EarthWindandFire wrote: And since I had decent draft, I thought I could use PEA until the weather got cold and then I would switch to NUT and even experiment with some STOVE size on the weekends.

The firebox was basically filled with dead, lifeless coal and I would post pictures but my wife is mad at me so I lost access to the iPhone.

No need to experiment nut is what you want to use, it is the most forgiving size in my opinion. Until you get the knack of it stick with nut.

A firebox filled with lifless coal , sounds like it was all burned up. are you filling to the top of the fire brick each time? is your baro set appropriatly?

Eric

If the coal in the firebox is burned, there probably wasn't enough coal in the firebox. If the remaining coal isn't burned, it could be from lack of draft, or restricted airflow from ash buildup...pea size is more sensitive to either condition. Nut size is the preferred choice, but stove size will also work.

OK.....so I was able to save the fire last night and I finally went to bed around midnight.

The ash had built up to the point that it choked the fire, even though I shook the grates at least several times per day and aggressively enough that hot coals fall into the ash pan. After each shake, I empty the ash pan outside and so the pan is always clean.

With this mild weather, the PEA just simmers along, not turning into a fine ash, but remaining nearly whole chunks which doesn't shake out unless I turn the grate to about 135-150 degrees which must be close to dumping the fire. Just rocking the two grates on this Hitzer is not enough, they are too wide and flat, most likely a compromised design for a duel-fuel stove like this one.

Edit: The evidence that convinced me that the fire was choked of air was when I had a fan blowing into the ash door and the fire not even flaring up from all of that high-velocity air.

The grates and shaking situation is why nut is the coal of choice for that stove.

Well, another lesson learned....do not use PEA sized coal in a Hitzer 75!!

I went to my supplier but all he had left was 10 bags of NUT coal, so I bought those ten bags and 10 bags of STOVE sized coal. My plan is to mix the remaining 8 bags of PEA with the STOVE coal later this week. As of right now, I'm slowly adding NUT coal today and shaking the ashes out much more aggressively.

You might want to try a few days with stove coal to see how you like it.

Save the pea till spring use the nut now and save the stove for the real cold mid winter. Now you can't tell a thing with the temps jumping up and down like this.

The Hitzer has been running well. When I opened the loading doora few minutes ago I can hear the rushing sound of air and flame blowing into the exhaust vent. I checked the dwyer and the draft was reading 0.06 so I made an adjustment to the crappy barometric damper I have. So now its reading 0.04 which is better but still high since the outside temperature is near 40 degrees.

On a mild day like today the draft should be much lower, am I just losing all my heat up the chimney?

That stove will run well with a strong draft.

How hot is the smoke pipe?

Well, I really need to invest in a infrared thermometer. The stove reads 400 on the top (if the cheap magnet thermometer is correct) and I can hold my hand on the stove pipe for about 3 seconds before I say ouch!

I'm burning a mix of nut and stove because I was running low on nut, still stuck with 8 bags of pea unfortunately.

Do not worry about heat going up the chimney. You need that heat going up there to create the draft, I would set the baro to where it draws -.06" I believe that is where they want it.

This is not a furnace that vents into a pvc pipe, you need that draft to be up there for proper flow through the bed.

I would not experiment till you get a couple tons with no problems under your belt, or the learning curve is going to be extremely high

Eric

I think your fine with 400 on the side and able to to touch the stack for a few seconds. Like Eric and Rob said you want a good pull on that stove and you need some stack temp. I'd bet that the stack temp is only 160-180 if you can touch it for 3 seconds like you said. That's no probs at all is good with that much draft.

I just bought a Sperry STK-3018T infrared digital thermometer. Nice toy, I think my wife likes it more than I do. The outdoor temperature is 51 degrees right now and the draft is reading 0.04 and the thermostat dial is set at # 8.

The stoves temp, reading taken from the top, is 232 degrees.

The stack temperature is 164 degrees.

As someone here suggested, I'll use the digital thermometer to calibrate the Hitzers bimetallic thermostat, just for an approximation of the correlation between the dial setting and the stoves surface temperature within 25-40 degrees give or take.