hitzer 30 93

Ain't hind sight a bitch---if you're getting better distribution wise, she's doin fine--just do what you did yesterday & hopefully you'll be where you want to be upstairs temp wise--it all sounds good this AM---just keep those edges ash free

Just my 2 cents here(might not be worth even that) but ive found ,thanks to this site, that poking the hell out of the fire after shaking the grates is a big help.Keeping in mind that the coal needs its air from the bottom .I r smart ! Also ive done what Oliver said not to do,I unhooked my heat runs from my furnace and it help me keep the whole house a constant temp. different things work for different places.So dont be afraid to experiment with different setups. I only burned for 2 years now so I am hardly an expert and iam still tinkering with my setup . just dont get frustrated, every setup is different .

bucksnort wrote:Well things seem to be going much better. After the clean out and using the recommended settings, I've been able to sustain a nice fire for 12 hours, and could probably go longer. My basement is starting to feel saturated with heat and it's getting my upstairs close to 70. Oliver, to your point about running my furnace to move the heat, I actually had to disconnect my oil furnace to be able to tie my stove into my current chimney, because I know you're not supposed to have two furnaces into one chimney, and I wouldn't have had room for both anyway because of the layout of my basement. So I'm relying solely on the hitzer to heat the home. I'm hoping that it can do it when the nights get colder... After reading a lot of the posts on here I wish I would have went with the 50-93, but when I was looking to buy a stove, the hitzer dealer I was working with talked me into the 30-95, evening knowing that it was going in my basement. He told me it would be better to run the smaller stove hard than to run the big one too low. I'm starting to wonder if that's true, maybe I should have checked here first!

He's wrong in my opinion. I would prefer to have a stove that is "a little" on the large side rather than a little on the small side. Always pushing the stove hard leads to lesser burn times and possibly not enough heat in very cold situations. The other side is you have enough power but run the stove at a nice 350° and it easily goes the distance. When you need it, you've got the horse power in a very cold situation and especially in the basement.

Like someone else posted, the stove will run fine for 3-4 days off a fresh load and will then start to ash up if you don't make sure you are clearing it well when shaking down. Like Chester mentioned get yourself a poker and make sure you don't have ash bridging under the pile. I always poke mine after a fill and before shaking. Some coal has this tendency to bridge up and needs a little nudge to fall.

In case it wasn't mentioned before, make a poker from a piece of 1/4" or 5/16" steel rod, bend a ~3" 'L' [a 90* bend] on the end, Use this poker from below, from the ashpan area to poke up through the teeth on the grate, sort of 'floss' or 'toothpick' between the teeth of the grates.
This is especially important around the edges of the fire and grates.
The edges of the firebox, have a fixed wall next to the moving grate, so you you get 1/2 the shaking 'action' compared to the center of the fire,
where there are moving grates next to another moving grate, giving a more aggressive shake to the ashes.

If you can, after you shake down the fire, give the stove a few minutes for the dust to settle, then carefully remove the ashpan, and look through
the ashpan doorway, at the underside of the grates.. you will see red glowing coals through the gaps in the teeth, where you don't see a red glow,
you still have an ash buildup or partially ground down, partially burnt coal.. note that location for the next shake-down.

Once you get a pattern and proceedure going, you will be able to fine tune the operation of your stove..

Hope this helps.. Oh, that steel rod for the poker?? old, large political signs often use a steel rod for the frame.. recycle the steel fram's steel.

Greg L

Well, how are we doing so far? Sounds like you have lots of good advise. Also sounds like you are making head way.

Came home after 12 hours to a nice fire still burning, about 450 degrees with the blower running on low and still had a little coal to spare in the hopper. However, the stove still doesn't seem to be gaining any headway heating the house, I actually lost a few degrees while at work. As I mentioned earlier, I'm now afraid the stove just isn't big enough to do the job. I hope I'm wrong but I think the hitzer dealer may have led me in the wrong direction. I sure would hate to have to hook that oil furnace back up!

I've been taking everyone's advice and am trying to keep the box as free of ash as possible. I've just adjusted the dial up 1 notch to 9 to try and get some more heat out of it. I have the bottom ash tray vents at about 1/4 moon. We'll see if this helps with giving some more heat. Thanks again everyone for all the helpful advice!

bucksnort wrote:Came home after 12 hours to a nice fire still burning, about 450 degrees with the blower running on low and still had a little coal to spare in the hopper. However, the stove still doesn't seem to be gaining any headway heating the house, I actually lost a few degrees while at work. As I mentioned earlier, I'm now afraid the stove just isn't big enough to do the job. I hope I'm wrong but I think the hitzer dealer may have led me in the wrong direction. I sure would hate to have to hook that oil furnace back up!

I've been taking everyone's advice and am trying to keep the box as free of ash as possible. I've just adjusted the dial up 1 notch to 9 to try and get some more heat out of it. I have the bottom ash tray vents at about 1/4 moon. We'll see if this helps with giving some more heat. Thanks again everyone for all the helpful advice!

Heating the place from the basement is going to be tough with the 30-95. Notice I have both; the 30-95, and the 50-93. I heated my place with no problem with the 50-93 in basement. I have the 30-95 in the shop. It does a great job in the shop (same floor level) but, I can tell it will NOT heat my house from the basement. The 30-95 is a little firecracker of a stove. And will throw lots of heat if needed. The air comes up through that single grate, and is consentrated in that one spot, and no where else. As the coal burns, the only place for ashes to fall through the grate is in that one spot. The rest of the firebox is angled. The coal will burn because the air is heading in that direction in order to exit the smoke pipe. Problem is; the ashes have no place to go. They just set there and build. If run at lower settings, in theory, this gives unburnt coal a chance to make it's way towards the single grate, where ashes can drop through. The 50-93 has two grates, as well as straight vertical sidewals in the firebox. Coal can burn, and ashes can fall. The 50-93 is a whole different animal. The 30-95 is capable throwing lots of heat. The 50-93 is capable of hitting you with a wall of heat, and make a person feel short of breath. Without the help of your furnace, the 30-95 is going to struggle to heat your house from the basement. One thing you won't have is long burn times. Not heating from the basement anyways. How about moving that 30-95 up stairs. It would be plenty of stove then. I think it would also fit the cape cod style house nicely. That's what I would consider. Problems over. Oliver

Yes bs, that's your only realistic fix--get it upstairs--remember, sadly, most sales people, are just that SUMMARY "fix it or fight it" you gave it the best effort---OR--- keep your eye open for a 50-93 & post the 30-95 for sale--ya shouldn't get hurt $$$ very bad---just a big PIA.

Agree with the last two posts that if you are going to keep the 30, you need to move it up to the main floor. Personally, I would go back to that dealer and remind him of your conversation. See if he'll take a trade in? After all, you wanted the 50 when you first approached.

You could also try something like this hood to direct more of the heat upstairs.

SteveZee wrote:Agree with the last two posts that if you are going to keep the 30, you need to move it up to the main floor. Personally, I would go back to that dealer and remind him of your conversation. See if he'll take a trade in? After all, you wanted the 50 when you first approached.

You could also try something like this hood to direct more of the heat upstairs.

WOW! Talk about creative....I like that! Hood catches heat. Big door for filling hopper. Still able to get to other two lower doors. How does it work out? A fan drawing from the other end? Anything else you can add??? NICE JOB!

Not me Oliver, I just thought I would share it because it may help out this guy with the 30 in his basement. It's actually an install that my coal supplier did. They sell stoves also and did this for a customer.

Bucksnort, Just wondering why you are running your blower on low if you want the heat to move around? Turn that baby up!

anyone interested in buying a 30-95 thats one week old? i am just going to get the 50.

I didn't see where anyone mentioned the outside masonry chimney as a possible contributor to the problem of getting the heat up and keeping it there easier than it has been. The draft may not be as strong as it should be in order to pull air thru a certain amount of ashes. I don't think buck will be sorry for getting a bigger stove. My 30-95 heated 1200 sq.ft. of average insulated house fine, but that was with the stove in the livingroom. So many salespeople don't know what they are talking about and/or will sell you what they are overstocked with.

I can't immagine not wanting to feel the radiant heat boil off the stove on a cold night. Why hide the thing in the basement anyway?

bucksnort wrote:anyone interested in buying a 30-95 thats one week old? i am just going to get the 50.

Bucksnort, where are you located? Maybe I can help you sell that 30-95. Put your location in the profile to the right of this page. Then we all can help you sell it. You shouldn't have any problems selling the 30-95. I'll bet the place you bought it from would know of a buyer. Maybe they would take it in on trade. I'd ask. I'm sure you would like to get most of your money back out of the 30-95. We all know how that goes. You would have to give us an idea of how much you would let it go for. Before doing that, I'd check with the dealer first.