Installing US Stove Hotblast

I have installed 2 of the USStove add on furnaces one is a clayton 1557m currently burning wood and soon to make the change to coal. The second is a the clayton 1600 in my own house burning coal. This site is what brought me to burning caol from two wood stoves and ok heat with cold rooms in areas of the house. I started mine 3 weeks ago and am still learning.
I now have it down pretty good and I hope this helps, I am set up with a baro and a manual damper and having been a wood burner for quite some time I started as if coal was wood. My first mistake! I got a wood fire going and added coal as I had read on this site adding some and getting it going and so on till a real nice bed of coals,great heat and this is going to be great. Now as a wood burner what did I do? You guessed it I close down the manual damper as all wood people do. Wrong! I could go on with the story that you all can just chuckle over.
Open the manaual damper your draft is weak due to short chimney. A draft guage will verify that. Keep it in place should you burn wood you will need it.Get it going and don't rush it. I found before I got the inducer I had to keep the air intake open considerably.This link to usstove is their draft inducer for your unit,I needed one I have similar draft issues and it has made a world of change. http://www.usstove.com/proddetail.php?prod=11DIKL
Don't shake it for 6 hours or so and add coal in small doses when needed you'll learn it. I got a metal grain scoop from Tractor Supply for adding coal and all I can say for that is SWEET!
I hope this helps and if you need more support I'll be back later.
Bogie

I never closed the manual damper
Kinda scared to
Its been wide open since I put it in

I'm sure I need a draft inducer
Don you have mail

Gunna start that puppy up again today
I'm off till Wednesday so I have time to mess with it

OK
Its up and running,Its about 1 inch below the top of the fire bricks
Blue flames,most of it glowing red except for some right on top
Heat is coming in the house
It feels funny not to be wraped in a blanket

I made a make shift blower
I bought a in line duct fan,4"
I bought a 4 " elbow
On the end of the elbow I screwed a 1" plate with a hole in the middle
Removed the round vent control thingy
Used that bolt to bolt the elbow where the vent is
Slipped the duct fan into the elbow
and plugged it in
So I now have air blowing under the grates
I bought a timer too but right now I want the fan going so it doesn't go out

The temps on the chimney and the front of the furnace are both 200
Is this too low?
What are the "ultimate"temps?

Sounds like you are creative
I have found that 200 degrees is about where mine runs
I shut down the inducer to slow down the heat output
Sounds like your on the right track

200* is fine, but if that is the most you see it would indicate that your fan doesn't have the uuummmphhhh. A blower may be able to easily double that temp when most needed. You would absolutely need a temperature controller to operate a draft blower safely. Closing the manual damper will send your firebox overfire draft possibly into the positive zone, so be sure your gaskets are good and there are no leaks before using it.

The ultimate temps are the lowest you can get in the stack and still keep you house comfy. This will vary with everything you can think of. Boiler/furnace, chimney/PV, you name it.

I've now got the stack at 200-250
the stove between 300-400

The air down below is the issue
When it starts to get low I move the little fan and open the ash door
Set up a small desk fan on high right in front of the ash door opening
and it kicks the heat right up
Not sure it should be that hot all the time
I love it, but not sure is a good thing to do
Is it OK to run it that hot?
I don't want to warp or break anything

Is it suppose to be glowing red with blue flames?
or just glowing red?

I'm sure if I get the blower add on it will solve the problem
Its soooo nice not to be filling Kerosene heaters this weekend

You guys have all been great!!!!!
Thanks for all the encouragement and advice!!!!

When you click on "post a reply" there is a button near bottom left of page that says something like "upload attachments here" try that and it should open access to where your pictures are and attach what you wish to send. TimV

Well, it has been a few days now, have been wondering, is the learning curve on the Hotblast going well? I would like to think you are warm and comfy during this cold snap.

I think I'm getting the hang of it
I had my X weld up a rake type thing for banking the coals
Used it last night before I left for work,this a.m. I came home
It was still burning,still semi warm,blower still running
so that was from 5pm till 7:30 am

I seem to be going thru a lot more coal than I thought I would....
3 40lb bags a day......

and I have to do some more on the duct work
Not enough heat downstairs or in the GH
too much heat upstairs

hi crck,

i see you are making progress. i have the fan mounted to the ash pan door as you probably have seen from my previous posts. i haven't even used it this year. i've been able to keep the fire going even when it was 60 yesterday. i generally have my hand damper closed most of the way and the little door on the fan 90% closed. i've been able to get 15 hr burn if i need to and use about 60lbs per day, a little more when really cold and windy. i have found if i have trouble it is mostly self inflicted. lately i've found keeping it loaded up works the best.

hang with it and you'll have it all figured out.

good luck

Hi crck ,I too am a newbie Less than three weeks ago I bought a hotblast from the tractor supply in Ithaca ,I haven't had a chance to go to the mine to get coal I have been given free access to as many wooden skids as I want and at this point I can't argue with free heat. My intention was buying Bit coal for $80 a ton you haul ,but I pass free skids on the way home every day. I've decided not to run coal until I get the draft inducer and the filter box . I was looking at the cost of the fuel oil from last year ,and projected a cost of $2600 through this heating season . The furnace cost $934 and getting it hooked up was another $140 in parts ( I took the stack off my fuel oil and put in the exaust from the stove )I have burned nothing but skids and some well seasoned hardwood from a couple years ago . To date as far as I'm concerned from the 58-62 that I was keeping the house compared to the 70-80 now I have paid nothing but electricity.. Sure it is not an expensive stove but at the end of the heating season it will be paid for ,period . I'd lvoe to hear how you are doing with it ,this is my first wood /coal combo ,what type of coal are you burning?

I say good luck with the coal. I tried multiple times where I removed the forced draft from the rear and put it in the ash pan door. No luck for me. It worked when it was warm, but very cold nights when the temps outside dropped. I now burn all wood, and I haven't had any issues. They aren't made to burn anthracite coal in them. I have talked to half the people from the company, and noone could really help me out. The taper in the firebox kills the option to burn anthracite. If the walls were more of a 90 it would be okay. Also if anyone is thinking about getting a forced draft kit to help them with coal, it won't work. All the air comes in above the fire. What could work, it to modify the ash pan damper so it will open a bit more with a different bolt. That may alow enough air for under the fire. I have a great draft, but soon after multiple tries decided anthracite wasn't for me. I will say with good hardwood, i can get a 8 - 10 hour clean burntime from my furnace.

Looking through the owners manual it says to use bit coal and I have had good success so far starting with slats from skids or the like first put as couple scoops of bit on and keep the air flowing couple more pieces of wood then a couple scoops of coal ,break up the mantle then gradually add hard to make up 1-2 inches on top then top off with one big chunk of wood and it was good for 13 hours yesterday. bud fan in the ash pan works great !