First days with new DS1600 stove!

So the air tubes are actually getting fresh air from outside of stove? I would think that would be like opening front door and letting air in, just in smaller amounts.

ridgeracing wrote:So the air tubes are actually getting fresh air from outside of stove? I would think that would be like opening front door and letting air in, just in smaller amounts.

I think that is what they were trying to do. A little bit of overfire air will help prevent puffbacks. It would be nice if the overfire air had some adjustment to it though, to make up for differences in draft and variance in the coal being burned.

It acts more like an air wash over the glass. Doesn't help too much in explosion prevention. I find cracking the glass door open when reloading the stove helps with the explosions.

LDPosse wrote:

ridgeracing wrote:I was curious, the drilled secondary holes, are they just bringing fresh air from ash pit to flow above fire?

There is a small tube on each side of the stove that feeds the secondary air holes. If you shine a flashlight in against the mesh sides, you can see the air intake holes, just below the level of the door.

Ash can accumulate in that tube by falling through the air holes. I was wondering how to clean out the tube, but then I had a puff-back explosion, and it was just like a sneeze, blew the ash out both ends. I don't recommend that technique, though. It's the first significant explosion I've had in this stove, and it was a doozy! Gave me an appreciation for how strong the door glass it, I'm still surprised it wasn't shattered.

I am new to this stove, but I have been loading/shaking my stove every 24hrs, coal is down to just below hopper with red coals but no blue flames. I shake for 4-5 seconds, open ash door and shake a little more (3-5) till I see red coals, close door, fill hopper, everything is closed and cycle continues till next morning. This has been with low outdoor temps (upper 30s-40s), 2 1/2 on dial, damper closed and 270 stove temp.

It's those lack of blue flames that will one day cause the puff back all the way to a boom depending on the situation. I like to rev mine till I see some blue and then set it for the next cycle. I've never had a puff when doing that.

SteveZee wrote:It's those lack of blue flames that will one day cause the puff back all the way to a boom depending on the situation. I like to rev mine till I see some blue and then set it for the next cycle. I've never had a puff when doing that.

Also it's a good idea not let the hopper get completely empty, and not shake down too much at one time. Otherwise when you fill the hopper (or shake down a lot) you can end up with a layer of cold new coal on top of your fire. Boom potential. I'd recommend shaking twice a day instead of once, even if it's only a "partial" shake, and top off the hopper then if there's any danger of it emptying.

If I see blue flame or flames dancing, is it ok to load with coal, am I past the explosion period?

Well ... that depends. With a strong draft, yes. With weak draft, no. "Strong" & "weak" are very subjective terms to boot. Have to see for yourself what happens. With my stove, if I see a very bright ash pan but no red up top, I know I need to go easy with the layers. If I'm seeing red up top along with a bright pan, it's safe to pile a layer on ... or top it off and close her up for the night, depending on how much I've got in there.

While on that subject, my Harman Mark III manual says the same - .06" minimum. My stove runs just fine at .03" - .04" ... and even at .02". Basically as long as it's PULLING draft, your good. Only thing is, with draft that low it takes FOREVER to get the fire going on a reload, and the puffback potential is in the RED zone. Have to be VERY patient in loading, or you'll bust some glass or send pipes flying.

SMITTY wrote: Harman Mark III manual says the same - .06" minimum. My stove runs just fine at .03" - .04" ... and even at .02". Basically as long as it's PULLING draft, your good. Only thing is, with draft that low it takes FOREVER to get the fire going on a reload, and the puffback potential is in the RED zone.

That was true also with my Harman. I concluded that the coal bed makes its own convection draft within the bed itself, and once it is burning well only minimal draft is need to carry off the products of combustion. BUT when you want to increase the burn rate, or kindle new coal without going boom, you need that extra chimney draft to suck more air through the coal bed. When reloading the Harman I would always clip the baro in closed position to get even more draft, then unclip it once I had blue flames.

ridgeracing wrote:I am new to this stove, but I have been loading/shaking my stove every 24hrs, coal is down to just below hopper with red coals but no blue flames. I shake for 4-5 seconds, open ash door and shake a little more (3-5) till I see red coals, close door, fill hopper, everything is closed and cycle continues till next morning. This has been with low outdoor temps (upper 30s-40s), 2 1/2 on dial, damper closed and 270 stove temp.

I usually shake every 10-14 hours. If I go a full 24, the hopper will be either nearly or completely empty.

Keep the hopper 1/4 full minimum...
All that cold new coal...
is a good way to make...
a good...
Boom...
The new coal drops the fire temp...
opens the air door...
thus heating the existing coal...
causing the new now slightly warm coal...
to make the gas that will cause your boom...

rberq wrote:When reloading the Harman I would always clip the baro in closed position to get even more draft, then unclip it once I had blue flames.

Oh yeah, good move! I do the same thing if my fire is cool and I put a lot of fresh coal on. The biggest preventative for a puff back that I have found is to just keep those volatile gases diluted by keeping the load door cracked a quarter inch until the blues come out. I've never had a puff back with this method. I've even over drafted the coal bed with the draft inducer up to a .12" WC, with a pile of fresh coal on top and it didn't flash with the load door cracked. Keep the load door cracked till the blues come out, then close the ash pan door, let the fire settle down, close the load door.. Its that simple

ridgeracing wrote:If I see blue flame or flames dancing, is it ok to load with coal, am I past the explosion period?

When you see blue flames dancing it is safe to close the MPD and set your primaries (if you have them) or in your case set for the night or long haul. Before loading fresh coal, I open up my stove and rev it up a bit or if it's already going well, I'll load up but keep everything wide open (like the secondary over the fire air) till I have the blues again, then close down to the settings I need. If you don't have a secondary (over the fire damper) then keep the loading door cracked is the same thing. Once you have blues again on the new coal, your good to close up and cruise it.

rberq wrote:

SteveZee wrote:It's those lack of blue flames that will one day cause the puff back all the way to a boom depending on the situation. I like to rev mine till I see some blue and then set it for the next cycle. I've never had a puff when doing that.

Also it's a good idea not let the hopper get completely empty, and not shake down too much at one time. Otherwise when you fill the hopper (or shake down a lot) you can end up with a layer of cold new coal on top of your fire. Boom potential. I'd recommend shaking twice a day instead of once, even if it's only a "partial" shake, and top off the hopper then if there's any danger of it emptying.

I agree with that Bob. If you are home anyways and can do this why not? You avoid the potential of having to add allot of coal at once and you also decrease the recovery time of adding fresh coal. When I'm running fairly hard, say 450 and up, I will check the stove every 4-6 hours or so if I can, and throw in a scoop or so and brighten up the pan a bit. It just levels out the peaks and valleys a little.