D.S. Basement #4

Just like everyone at sometime or the other I'm new to this coal burning. I'm having trouble keeping my stove burning throughout the night. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong that makes it burn out pretty quickly.

I'm actually just getting ready for bed now. I put some coal on it, I would say I'm up to 6" deep of glowing red coal, I will wake up at 2 a.m. and its barely burning. I'm not sure if I got a bad batch of hard coal or maybe I'm burning it to hot. I'm not sure but I have yet to figure out how to keep this stove burning for 12 hours or more.

I know there is a learning curve and I'm currently in the middle of it but any help would be appreciated.

6" of coal is the bare minimum to maintain a fire. Fill the stove up to the top of the firebricks.

Don't be shy, load her up I run mine 12 inches deep, mounded up in the middle.

If ya gots the hopper...
that needs to be filled too...
easy 24 hour burns this time of year...
unless you are heating a big barn...

As it's been said, fill to the top of the brick then fill the hopper. Set your bimetallic thermostat on the back of the stove and walk away for 12+ hours.

My DS-1600 went 23 hours the other day no problem.

Like many here I suspect you are a recovering wood burner. Coal is a very different naimal. It is much more particular about draft, combustion air, etc. Some pics of your setup would help. Do you have a barometric damperinstalled to control draft? A manometer to actually set the draft accuratley? You've got a great stove that should give you consistantly long burn times.

coalkirk wrote:Like many here I suspect you are a recovering wood burner.

We need a treatment center

welcome to the forum and congrats on making a great choice in heating your home....

some recent inquiries had similar questions and the resolution seems to consistently be to fill the firebox all the way up with coal, cut back on the air feeding the fire from underneath and make sure over fire air is closed off or minimized as much as possible.

Me, in my 3rd year of coal burning... this is my process... I do have the exact coal stove you have. It is awesome! Heats my 1800 squ ft ranch very nicely! I first start a fire with wood charcoal... best stuff to use! Then toss in some coal, a little bit at a time... every 20 minutes or so... making sure, to leave the blue ladies dancing... we do not need any big bangs! Once I have put coal in 2 times thru the front door, I never open it again!!! Load it all from the hopper... once you have it filled up to the bricks, and nicely glowing, thats when you can usually just fill that hopper all the way to the top! it takes me about 3 hours to go from totally cold coal stove, to 550 degrees. Barometric damper is a must! Unless you are home all day to baby sit it. Never, and I repeat, NEVER EVER EVER NEVER leave ANY of your stoves doors open unattended. Safety is a must!!! Make sure you have those ladies dancing all the time.

Okay I am a past wood burner .............. but not anymore. Its not worth the messing around.

Well, Good news. I filled the stove up last night to the top of the fire brick and had a successful full night burn. I woke up around 6 a.m. and was pleased with the results.

On a different note, the stove is still burning now with hardly messing with it all day long. I have a smaller house, cape cod, roughly 1200 sq feet with a cut stone foundation. The stove is located in the basement and gravity feeds the whole place. We currently have the windows open because its 82 degrees in the house. I have also had the stove backed off to consistent burn temp. of 200 degrees all day long.

I posted some pictures of my set-up because I know it needs to be improved. The stove is two years old and it is directly piped to my flue. I do not have any sort of a damper on it. Can anyone suggest what to purchase to make my set-up safer and efficient? My stove only has a two foot run from the stove 6" flue to my chimney flue.

Because you have a thermostat to control the burn I would only put in a barometric damper if you have very strong draft. No manual damper.

i'd replace the 90* with a 't' that has a cap on it. then you can remove the cap and vacuum out the fly ash that will accumulate in the horizontal pipe section through the season.

i'd also get a manometer connected so you can see what draft you are pulling.

Lightning wrote:

coalkirk wrote:Like many here I suspect you are a recovering wood burner.

We need a treatment center

I thought the Forum WAS the treatment center/??

Here is my setup. I have my manometer always hooked up, so I can monitor my draft. As you can see, I also have a baraometric damper. I feel they are a must. As weather conditions can change in an instant... the barometric damper is the 1 thing that can regulate your draft in any weather conditions. I also have 2 thermometers. One sitting right on top of my stove, above the door, and one just on the far side of the baro damper. They are reading 300/100 as I type this. I am just trying to get the most BTU's out of my coal I can. I also installed a couple of duct fans in my cold air returns to help with air flow. They just empty into my open basement..... Wow did they help! The temps in my home are now all very stable. 77 downstairs, and 72 upstairs.... very nice. GL! dont be afraid to ask any questions!

Well today I finally got enough time to mess with the fire and get a good mound of coal build up to use the hopper. I have it topped off with roughly 80lbs of coal (guessing). Anyone with this stove have any suggestions or input while using the hopper?

I figure I will shake it down right before bed, wake up, and then get home from work. This should be around every 8 - 9 hours between shake downs.