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I'm On Fire wrote:Both of the louver's I installed in the stove yesterday say Riteburn on them.

Hows your results with the recent modification so far?

So far these things are working pretty well. I shook down the stove last night waited 10 minutes and closed the MPD all the way. I started to smell the coal and thought, 'Oh crap, closed the MPD too soon it's gonna explode.' I went over to the stove to open the MPD and the loading door (which I didn't open when I loaded the stove)in hopes of preventing the inevitable boom that I thought was coming. As soon as I got over the the stove I noticed a tiny blue fireball pop up from the front left corner where I had installed one louver and then the fireball rolled across the coal bed igniting the gasses. It was pretty cool to watch and there was no boom.

This morning I thought I'd get the same result but I got blue flames almost immediately after loading the stove as I was closing the MPD.

I wish I knew about these things when I bought my stove originally. They were well worth the $85 to not have explosions.

What holds the Louvers in place?

McGiever wrote:Those Anti-Explosion Louvers are not a new design.

They were standard item on Riteway Stoves from back in the 1970's and 80's.

Riteway Stoves were a favorite of the Amish Community right up until Riteway went out of business.
It stands to reason why there are a lot of similarities in DS Machine and Hitzer's stove line-ups from the Good ole Riteways.

I have a pair of Louvers from a 80's model #37 Riteway. As was mentioned...same dimensions as a brick...to take ones place in the stove and channel air from below up to top of fire.
There were some smart fellows in the 1970's that figured these out.

My Hitzer 82 (Riteway 37 clone) had the same louvers in the front and rear of the firebox.

lsayre wrote:What holds the Louvers in place?

They sit in the channel that holds the bricks in.

Rob R., yup I put two in as well, front and rear.

I'm On Fire wrote:

lsayre wrote:What holds the Louvers in place?

They sit in the channel that holds the bricks in.

But are they screwed in somehow?

lsayre wrote:

I'm On Fire wrote: They sit in the channel that holds the bricks in.

But are they screwed in somehow?

No, they fit in the brick channels. They just sit there.

Here's how they look in a Hitzer 82 with additional brick layer above. Imagine coal being loaded to the top of the bricks here.
I'd have to look...but, there may be some tiny *nubs" that help hold the louvers tight in place w/ the bricks..

McGiever wrote:Here's how they look in a Hitzer 82 with additional brick layer above. Imagine coal being loaded to the top of the bricks here.

Hitzer 82_RITEWAY_FURNACE.JPG

I'd have to look...but, there may be some tiny *nubs" that help hold the louvers tight in place w/ the bricks..

There are nubs on the louvers that hold them in the groove that holds the bricks.

The louvers sound like a great idea!

lsayre wrote:The louvers sound like a great idea!

Yes they work but what do they do?

I mean, are they slowing the gasses down through the bed by giving a path for air to bleed off, or are they injecting air into the bed? or what. I know I asked DS and they just said they work. I mean if its extra air why not just increase the amount of secondary air?

Eric

Here's a quick update on the stove since installing the louvers (how the hell do you spell that word anyway?).

The stove has been running a lot better since they've been put in. I find I get a more complete burn on the coal and I'm seeing less clinkers and more ash. I also don't need to shake as hard to clear the ash. I've also seen a bit of a reduction in coal usage at higher temps. Last season when I was battling the explosions and running higher temps I'd be putting a coal hod and a half in the stove every 12-14 hours. This year running the same temps I'm using between 3/4 hod to a full hod of coal during reloading. I'm also able to cover more of the bed with coal and reduce the amount of red showing.

In the two weeks since installing the louvers I've also changed my shake down procedure. I used to crack the glass door and open the MPD all the way. Now I just open the MPD. I also used to have to leave the MPD and glass door cracked open until I saw blue flames for 15-20 minutes. Now I only open the MPD open for about 5-10 minutes.

I've had one explosion since installing the louvers and it was my fault. I was rushing to shake and fill the stove because I had to do something else and didn't have a lot of time. I quickly shook down, loaded the stove and then closed the MPD without any time in between and the stove blew up. But, it was a small explosion as opposed to a catastrophic one like in the past.

I've also noticed that when I reload the stove even if I cover the bed completely the blue flames appear immediately and don't go away. Before the louvers when I shook down and reloaded the flames would disappear even if there was a lot of red bed showing.

Great to hear about your success with the mods partner!! And the new variable speed control on the inducer is doing well too?

Lightning wrote:Great to hear about your success with the mods partner!! And the new variable speed control on the inducer is doing well too?

Yeah, I meant to include that but forgot too. It's working well. The motor is set to bring my draft up to .06" and it hasn't slowed down or stopped. Since it's a bit colder out now the draft has been at .08" but it's ok. I'd still like to find a snap switch I could wire into it too to turn the inducer off and then back on but I'm really not too sure what I'd need or how it'd get wired with the controller.

I'm On Fire wrote:

Lightning wrote:Great to hear about your success with the mods partner!! And the new variable speed control on the inducer is doing well too?

Yeah, I meant to include that but forgot too. It's working well. The motor is set to bring my draft up to .06" and it hasn't slowed down or stopped. Since it's a bit colder out now the draft has been at .08" but it's ok. I'd still like to find a snap switch I could wire into it too to turn the inducer off and then back on but I'm really not too sure what I'd need or how it'd get wired with the controller.

When I shake and reload I turn the draft inducer on to 1.0 and helps that get the fire going quicker also