Petit godin coal?

Trry wrote:Great video. I have a Godin Round, and use the same method, but since my stove is round, I need to reach further back into the stove to get at the ashes in the rear of the stove. I use a 30 inch length of copper pipe I had laying around. I flattened a half inch on one end, so ash doesn't run up the pipe, and bent it 90 degrees. I insert it between the front gate members and sort of drill it to the back of the stove. Then I rake out what I can, moving as much to the front as I can. This is not totally successful, but it gets enough ash out to let the stove function well. Then I shake until all I have left is some unbroken nuggets on the grate. Then I DO lower the front and shovel out what rests there. Carefully, and I don't disturb the "bridge" above. I then close the front gate, and then insert a totally flattened piece of copper pipe with about an inch and a half of "L" at the end and rake at the bridge. This causes more ash and nuggets to fall. I then shake that out, and if there are some nuggets left that do not crush and fall, I leave them there. Seems to work well, and it takes about 10 minutes total. I do this each morning and each night. I fill the stove about half way or a bit more usually, and I am done, once the vent and damper are set, following a short time to allow the new coal to light.
I am thinking of developing an auger to try to get more of that ash out of the back of the stove; if I so I will let everyone know how that works.
To some folks this may seem like a bit of work, and it is more work than my old Harmon used to make me do, but it is a lot easier than splitting and stacking wood, hauling that in the house, stacking it again, and tending the fire every few hours. Plus, my house is much more comfortable ALL the time, not just when the wood is burning at it's optimal stage.
These days I go out to my coal bin on Saturday morning and carry in enough coal for the week. Fifteen minutes. Nice.

Thanks for your imput. I have a Large Round going in this coming week. This will be my secondary source in the rear of the house.
I like the copper pipe tools.

Now I see Chiefcamper (needs?) to place a butter-knife in the top load door to prevent a puff back and to achieve faster ignition of the gases. I assume his MPD is wide open
and the Fire Door Air-Inlet is spun wide open as well, (or close to that).

Once my chimney is up "6 and I am sure there will be adequate draft, here's how I see the draft situation.
Before shaking and recharging the stove, turn the MPD wide open, and spin the lower air inlet open to get a strong draft going to clear the firebox of gases.

At this point I may or may not recharge the box with a layer of fresh nut/pea range. I always do this with my Vigilant. Then I would do the slicing and ash removal. After that is completed, it's time to layer the coal bed until the box is sufficiently filled. Once the side wall reaches 500F (or so), it's time to close the restrict the air-inlet on the fire door and then close the manual pipe damper. I would assume the Large Round Godin will operate well with a good chimney, MPD fully closed and the air-inlet appropiately
set.

Thanks, Matt

Trry wrote:Great video. I have a Godin Round, and use the same method, but since my stove is round, I need to reach further back into the stove to get at the ashes in the rear of the stove. Carefully, and I don't disturb the "bridge" above. I then close the front gate, and then insert a totally flattened piece of copper pipe with about an inch and a half of "L" at the end and rake at the bridge. This causes more ash and nuggets to fall. I then shake that out, and if there are some nuggets left that do not crush and fall, I leave them there. Seems to work well, and it takes about 10 minutes total. I do this each morning and each night. I fill the stove about half way or a bit more usually, and I am done, once the vent and damper are set, following a short time to allow the new coal to light.
I am thinking of developing an auger to try to get more of that ash out of the back of the stove; if I so I will let everyone know how that works.
To some folks this may seem like a bit of work, and it is more work than my old Harmon used to make me do, but it is a lot easier than splitting and stacking wood, hauling that in the house, stacking it again, and tending the fire every few hours. Plus, my house is much more comfortable ALL the time, not just when the wood is burning at it's optimal stage.
These days I go out to my coal bin on Saturday morning and carry in enough coal for the week. Fifteen minutes. Nice.

Thanks Trry, You have a nice looking setup as well. Yeah I've noticed the Bridge up above. sometimes I poke a little upwards and ash will fall, sometimes embers. I think the agil nut I have is working well. I stopped punching through it from the top this year and I believe it's giving me a more thorough burn as I'm not disturbing a crucial part of the embers. Not compacting the embers with the ash, then when I do the drill everything ash comes out soft and workable. Very few clinkers this year and it's the same coal that was leftover from last year. Not sure if leaving the bridge undisturbed is making things a lot easier and the stove more stable, but it seems to be. Then when I dump new coal on it, it must be breaking up that bridge. Maybe some upon impact, and I believe some as it burns, as I can hear stuff falling in there sometimes hours after it's been tended. Well I know with all the variables we all have you gotta find and use what works best for you. My stove has been quite stable this year so far. Hopefully due somewhat to my tending, probably due to the relatively stable weather and atmospheric pressure, wind speeds not bouncing all over the place. Also the coal vs wood puts things into perspective as I enjoy both. But Hell Yaa, the wood just takes more of your time and attention. Well especially in a stove that's not limited to wood I guess. When it starts to get chilly it's OK to sit down there and goof w a nice wood ambiance, but that gets old right around the time it starts to get cold.

vmi1983 wrote:
Now I see Chiefcamper (needs?) to place a butter-knife in the top load door to prevent a puff back and to achieve faster ignition of the gases. I assume his MPD is wide open
and the Fire Door Air-Inlet is spun wide open as well, (or close to that).

Once my chimney is up "6 and I am sure there will be adequate draft, here's how I see the draft situation.
Before shaking and recharging the stove, turn the MPD wide open, and spin the lower air inlet open to get a strong draft going to clear the firebox of gases.

At this point I may or may not recharge the box with a layer of fresh nut/pea range. I always do this with my Vigilant. Then I would do the slicing and ash removal. After that is completed, it's time to layer the coal bed until the box is sufficiently filled. Once the side wall reaches 500F (or so), it's time to close the restrict the air-inlet on the fire door and then close the manual pipe damper. I would assume the Large Round Godin will operate well with a good chimney, MPD fully closed and the air-inlet appropiately
set.

Thanks, Matt

Hey Matt,

Just an FYI, I leave the draft knob where it's been while tending. Opening the door heats up the pipe. Loading the new coal on cools it down. I was going w/ the idea that running it wide open after a fill would get things going, but the stove is still much to slow to respond. I'd be down there for an hour watching the temp slowly change. Also for drafting it heavy (on the knob) always seemed to give me some pretty violent puffbacks. I finally learned not to do it. The MPD is usually wide open, and always wide open while and after tending. Guess it helps to keep those gasses moving along and not just pooling up ontop of the new coal

Not saying you should or shouldn't cause it may work for you. Just that If you DO end up having the puffback problem, that would be one thing to consider.

I'll tell you guys something else and I know others have suggested this to me on numurous occasions, but I had to learn from my own experiences:
I'm seriously considering installing A Baro Damper. Not sure if I have the room on my pipe. I could easily replace the MPD with it, but I'd hate to lose that for wood. The only thing that bugs me is setting this on workdays and having to leave the stove un attended. Most likely the Baro Damper would give me enough stability where I wouldn't have to wonder "Is it at 700 or 500?"

Hey Joe,

Sorry for the late reply... I somehow missed your post.

Believe me, you have been a great help... thanks!

The Godin has been running since wednesday or so. Basically been cruising @ 750-800 at the hot spot on the surface.

The Godin only has a single 5" Flue in the rear, not two, as I have seen on some models. The connecting 8 foot single wall 5" stove pipe elbows up and
then elbows to the thru the wall set up, and then the chimney, a straight shot up 15'. There is a MPD about 18" up from the stove top. So daft is
very strong.

NOTE: WHEN THE FIREDOOR IS OPEN FOR CLEAN OUT, THE MPD IS FULLY CLOSED!!!! MY CHIMNEY IS A DRAFT MONSTER, OPENING THE MPD
AND FIREDOOR FOR A CLEANOUT COULD RESULT IN AN OVER-FIRE!!!!

With a L shaped tool, I am learning to clear out the ash and crush it or if the coal is too hard, pull the stuff thru
the fire grate. I then shake the remaining fine ash to a point where there is still a sufficent
bed of ash covering the grate.

Now I open the air-inlet enough to maintain a brish draft, and then through in the first of two loads. Sometimes I jam the slicer thru the fresh cool
to create narrow circular "vents" for the gas passages.... Now it is still taking some time for the bed to ignite probally 20 minutes or so.
Once the bed is ignite with hardy blue ladies, it's time to throw on the final load. After ignition, reduce the air-inlet to 3/4 or so and keep the MPD
shut or just a crack open. I still have a long way to go before I get a good feel for the stove

Thanks,

Matt

The latest clean out and shake down was a breeze. My friend Wadhams Iron Works lent me his hand-made
tool which is perfect for dragging ash from the rear, sides of the fire pot. It took 4-5 minutes to drag the spent fuel forward and down the grate or for the unspent coal, through the door grate.

The right tool gets the job done quickly and efficently.

Here are some pics of the tool:

second image of tool, profile...

Looks like a nice setup VMI.

Is that a large round? That's what it looks like.

Was the 5" pipe hard to get?

How often are you tending the stove? I try to keep mine between 600-700 and it will do 18 hours, although my daily routine is usually more like every 12 hours. On a typical day I just shake it down, then fill it up in one shot.

Guess you've had Zero Puffback cause you probly would have mentioned that.

My draft knob is usually set from 3/4 to 1.5 turns out.

So Do Tell Please: What's the history on your stove? Where did you get it? How much has it been used? From the pics it looks like it's in at least as good a shape as mine

Chiefcamper wrote:Looks like a nice setup VMI.

Is that a large round? That's what it looks like.

Was the 5" pipe hard to get?

How often are you tending the stove? I try to keep mine between 600-700 and it will do 18 hours, although my daily routine is usually more like every 12 hours. On a typical day I just shake it down, then fill it up in one shot.

Guess you've had Zero Puffback cause you probly would have mentioned that.

My draft knob is usually set from 3/4 to 1.5 turns out.

So Do Tell Please: What's the history on your stove? Where did you get it? How much has it been used? From the pics it looks like it's in at least as good a shape as mine

hEY cHIEF,

yES it is a 1978 Large Round.... the 5" pipe was easy to get, at the local hardware store... the hotest surface "spot" is around 750* to 700*. I don't know the history, but it is in good shape, no issues.... it looks like it was stored inside and lightly used over the years.

I MUST KEEP THE MPD CLOSED WHEN CLEANING THE GRATE AREA... too much draft....

When recharging, MPD is full open, airinlet is open 2 turns... after ignition, close her down to about 1/2-3/4 turns... 12 hours + on burn, easily... the deep fire pot burns very steady... not really any different than yours...

Matt

Great to have another Godin user on the forums!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I must say that the Godin is impressive! Wasn't sure what to expect but having seen VMI'S in use I would consider adding one to the arsenal! The Godin's have a great balance between form and function. Hmmm...the ovals are pretty sexy too!

Chiefcamper wrote:Great to have another Godin user on the forums!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks chief... still trying to acclimate myself to the Godin... Wadhams Ironworks and I have Vigilant II's as mainstay units... the VigII are very easy to operate and
put out a boatload of BTUs...

The Godin burn nice and slow....

Wadhams and I are enjoying the cold!!!

vmi1983 wrote:

Chiefcamper wrote:Looks like a nice setup VMI.

Is that a large round? That's what it looks like.

Was the 5" pipe hard to get?

How often are you tending the stove? I try to keep mine between 600-700 and it will do 18 hours, although my daily routine is usually more like every 12 hours. On a typical day I just shake it down, then fill it up in one shot.

Guess you've had Zero Puffback cause you probly would have mentioned that.

My draft knob is usually set from 3/4 to 1.5 turns out.

So Do Tell Please: What's the history on your stove? Where did you get it? How much has it been used? From the pics it looks like it's in at least as good a shape as mine

hEY cHIEF,

yES it is a 1978 Large Round.... the 5" pipe was easy to get, at the local hardware store... the hotest surface "spot" is around 750* to 700*. I don't know the history, but it is in good shape, no issues.... it looks like it was stored inside and lightly used over the years.

I MUST KEEP THE MPD CLOSED WHEN CLEANING THE GRATE AREA... too much draft....

When recharging, MPD is full open, airinlet is open 2 turns... after ignition, close her down to about 1/2-3/4 turns... 12 hours + on burn, easily... the deep fire pot burns very steady... not really any different than yours...

Matt

Chief I couold let the stove go for easy 12 hours... just refueling now and again... minor shake down and ash removal maybe twice per day..I am observing the Godin often
... you're right, stove could go some long time before major shake-down... not sure yet...
I would guess though 2 clean-out per day or risk major ash accumilation...

This morn at 0900, dumped one scoop on the well burning... coal, which was at level with the fire brick horizontal seam. The scoop is a large chicken feed type. Stove side metallic temp read about 600F, down from 750F at midnight. With the MPD closed, opened the fire-door and removed the spent fuel ash. This took all of 4 minutes.
Closed up the fire door. Checked the coals and noticed strong Blue ladies....layered in another scoop, which killed the blue ladies,

At this point

I opened the MPD and the air-inlet (say about two turns) and the blue ladies ignited about 10 minutes after.... the blue ladies will be present thru the burn cycle.
I closed the MPD and returned the air-inlet to 3/4 turn open....

There is still a stong bed remaining and with the fresh coal added, I estimate a coal depth of 12-14"...