RED ALERT FOR NEW DSM CIRCULATOR USERS / or Maybe Just Me

yeah I know "stop yellin"

OK, but I just had an unsettling experience that could be avoidable by others if known to be watched for.

i've been running the coal down out of my hopper to be able to remove it for pics of the new baffle plate arrangement, but I forgot about the pics when I shook it down this evening.

so I went ahead and built a ring of fresh coal around the bottom of the hopper so that it would get burning and would be a containment for when I put more coal in the hopper. all good, it was burning the stove all closed up and I got busy doing a few other things, until..................

i could suddenly smell HOT STOVE, went over and the stove top is reading 500*

well I had been running at dial setting 1.75 and 300 degrees for over 24 hrs so what is going on ?

from what I can peace together only one thing changed, a complete open top to the fire bed, no blanketing stack of coal over the center and it was BREATHING because of the decrease in the resistance to draft and the fact that the dial was still set to provide heat in "less favorable" condition.

i was here to catch this this time, but others may want to make sure that if you are going to let the fire bed go "topless" you should probably turn the bi metal down in anticipation of it.

be safe.

Good advice. As I still have a DS-1500 on my radar screen, I'm glad to learn the things to watch out for.

glad to add something of merit to the forum.

if you decide on one of these stoves i'm very sure you will be quite happy with it.

this situation took me off guard entirely though as soon as I saw the heat, fire bed and the bi metal setting together it seemed clear why things had changed.

I wouldnt think the stove top reading 500 would be any problem. If your using one of those magnetic temp gauges use it on the top front of the stove as it will get baked on the top and stop working. At minimum the magnet will stop working.

The smell is probably still your new stoves paint cooking off. It takes a few hot burns to take care of that.

I like the pics I'm seeing of the firepot in the DS's. It reminds me of a picture in a frame and I like it.

I'm not trying to take away from your stove getting hotter, but thought I'd mention where to put your temp gauge.

I am guessing this only happens because of the (baffle vent) installed? I ran mine (without baffle) last year several times with a low coal bed, loaded it up with fresh coal and never had temp change. Isint that the design of a bi-metal t-stat? It should have noticed stove temp increase and closed intake?
PS- I have baffle vent to install, but mine never coughed or backfired last year so I decided to leave it alone. Why mess with it?

500 degrees on the DS is nothing to worry about. The stove will smell like it's burning, though the first few times it gets good and hot like that. Mine has spiked to over 700 after a reload. One time I was down at DS Machine and asked them about the safe temp range. They said that although the literature states 600 degrees, "You're not going to hurt these stoves if you run them hotter"

One issue I have run into, and I think it may be related to the extremely strong draft of my chimney, is that the bi-metal tstat has problems regulating the stove temp at higher settings. It is worse after reloading, and evens out several hours into the burn.

My high-tech solution for this, was to sit a coal hod behind the stove, against the air flapper, so it can't open more than about 1/4". This did the trick, and got the temp swings evened out. I think a baro would probably eliminate the need for this, but I spent good $$ on duravent stove pipe, and I'm not ripping it all out to put a baro in.

warminmn wrote:I wouldnt think the stove top reading 500 would be any problem. If your using one of those magnetic temp gauges use it on the top front of the stove as it will get baked on the top and stop working. At minimum the magnet will stop working.

The smell is probably still your new stoves paint cooking off. It takes a few hot burns to take care of that.

I like the pics I'm seeing of the firepot in the DS's. It reminds me of a picture in a frame and I like it.

I'm not trying to take away from your stove getting hotter, but thought I'd mention where to put your temp gauge.

thanks for the input that's reassuring.

concerning the therm. placement i'll move it for the day and see what kind of change I see.

i'm certain this has nothing to do with the baffle, it's a good thing in my opinion.

i'm sure this came about because I had a better than average burning bed of coal which I then toped with a ring of new coal all the way up to and around the bottom of the hopper. all the doors closed and the bi metal on the same setting. for some reason the bi metal didn't close down and it was on it's merry way. with a very good fire even a little extra air can really boost the output, or so my experience was with the Riteway.

i'm going to be watching the bi metal and flap more closely at refill times to watch for fixes.

Never had a problem with the Basement #4...
I would look at the bi-metalic, chain and flapper for any hangups...
I have had coal keep the flapper open or let air in from the hopper...
Look for a small piece of coal that is making problems...

CapeCoaler wrote:Never had a problem with the Basement #4...
I would look at the bi-metalic, chain and flapper for any hangups...
I have had coal keep the flapper open or let air in from the hopper...
Look for a small piece of coal that is making problems...

Yes, I've had the flapper hang up on the HITZER stoves. Once on 50-93, and once on 30-95. This can happen on ANY bi-metallic draft set up. This is why I've mentioned so many times to adjust bimetallic dial AFTER entire stove body is up to temp. Or, if stove has cooled off to the point that the flapper is opened wide, don't leave it un-attended till mass of stove body is up to temp, and flapper is near closed position.

you guys are awesome with shared experience and suggestions, thanks.

ridgeracing, do I take from your post that you have an uninstalled baffle from DSM ? is there any chance you can put up some pics of it ?

been running all day at bead #5, 1.75 on the dial, flap barely open. 250* on stove top, 175* stove front. house holding at 70*

now it's a waiting game till the Baro arrives.

KingCoal wrote:you guys are awesome with shared experience and suggestions, thanks.

ridgeracing, do I take from your post that you have an uninstalled baffle from DSM ? is there any chance you can put up some pics of it ?

We are reffuring to the cast iron baffle that replaces the fire brick on right rear corner correct? I purchaced mine 1st week of December last year and ran it all season without baffle. I read several complaints about backfiring/explosions on other customers stoves and they were told to install baffle and this would take care of that problem. Mine has never even hick-uped so I purchaced one and have it sitting in closet incase I ever would have problem. If it aint broke don't touch it, my reasoning

My stove drafts very well. I leave my dampner 90% closed 24/7 even during filling up. I do get a very light amount of fumes when I top hopper off, but thats only open for 15 seconds. Blue flames come back within seconds of shaking down and toping off.

ridgeracing wrote:

KingCoal wrote:you guys are awesome with shared experience and suggestions, thanks.

ridgeracing, do I take from your post that you have an uninstalled baffle from DSM ? is there any chance you can put up some pics of it ?

We are reffuring to the cast iron baffle that replaces the fire brick on right rear corner correct? I purchaced mine 1st week of December last year and ran it all season without baffle. I read several complaints about backfiring/explosions on other customers stoves and they were told to install baffle and this would take care of that problem. Mine has never even hick-uped so I purchaced one and have it sitting in closet incase I ever would have problem. If it aint broke don't touch it, my reasoning

i see your meaning now, I saw a thread about that somewhere...............

that is not the same devise. i'll have to be sure to remember to get pics of mine when I install the Baro.

thanks,
steve

experimenting with low burn ability. stove ran fine all night at about 1.25 on the bi metal dial showing 200* on the stove top, 125* stove front. still had slight activity of the blues too.