Devil505 wrote:Jack Magnum wrote:ABOUT how long should it take to fill back up ? Right now I am loading some and waiting til it catches good and loading some more all the time with the ash door open and pipe temp at 300 degrees.
Way to go Jack (relighting your stove)
I've always found that a new fire doesn't need any poking for about a week in the TLC, as the ash is powdery & should settle OK with just shaking down. As far as how long to refill, maybe 5 to 10 minutes tops..... when you're running the stove hot on cold days! You don't need to wait for each layer to catch, (I just do that when initially starting a coal fire because it is still weak until going well) just leave a section of the fire still blazing (not covered with fresh coal) & dump a full load of coal onto the other areas. Once the areas you "dumped" coal onto are blazing...maybe 5-10 minutes.....dump coal onto the area you left alone b4. (keep the ash door open during this whole procedure & only close it when the stove temp is rising again, after the final load)Jack Magnum wrote:At night have you ever tried cutting back on the coal draft and opening a LITTLE on the wood draft levers ? My farmer friend says he does it to help burn slower. He has a vermont castings.
I don't bhave any draft controls on my chimney Jack because I have pretty poor draft anyway so I never need to lessen a strong draft. On very windy nights , I have sometime slid the secondary air controls up about 1/2 way to let the chimney suck some air from above the coal bed. To be honest with you, I don't really know if that saves me any coal or heat, but it doesn't hurt!
Devil,
No draft on my chimney either. I just meant the 2 wood burning draft levers on the stove itself. My farmer friend had said he cuts his main coal stove draft back some at night and opens his top draft a little and he says it helps it burn nicely. Today I sprinkled some coal on top the fire I haven't touched the draft at all and since outside temps have risen to 25 degrees my stove pipe temp is at 250 and my house temp crept up to almost 80 degrees. The wind is really picking up here so what shallI expect my fire to do ? You mentioned opening the wood burning draft levers and what exactly does that do ? Thanks for all the info.
Jack
Temps about the same but the wind is really starting to blow. Living on the lake we get our share and everybody elses share of the wind. Is there anything I need to watch as far as stove operation with the extra winds ? Seems nice not to have to be a slave like I was with our wood insert !!!!!!!!!! 
(this keeps my stack temp at about 300* ...on a magnetic surface thermometer about 12" up on the stack)
