Why Doesn't My Hitzer 503 Heat My Small House

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Emerald7
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Post by Emerald7 » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 5:45 pm

I have a 995 sq ft home, with a 17' tile lined chimney and a 6" liner, then with a chimney cap. I burn nut coal in a bag labeled kimmels. The 503 can heat the house when temperatures are above 15-20 degrees anything lower than that it can not keep the house warm. I have to have my boiler zones set at 63 to keep the house somewhat warm. I do not have a manometer or thermometer on the stove. I tried shaking it more often and emptying the ash pan to give it more air to burn better and keeping the hopper full. Now I have resorted to keeping a small amount of ash in the stove itself and leaving a small amount of ash in the ash pan to keep less air going in. I figure if I put x amount of coal in to burn, I should get x amount of heat out and its not heating the house so it must be going up the chimney. What is it called, a cold chimney which creates more draft and sucks the heat out? I also noticed that the colder it is out the less coal I burn, I know sounds odd doesn't it? I have a hard time burning 3/4 - 1 bag of coal. Hitzer says I must have a cold chimney. Today was -25 ° here I was gone for 11 hours, when I got home, shook it, all the hopper took was half a hod and that with damper closed and air vent open 80%. HELP, I am so frustrated!


 
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EarthWindandFire
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Post by EarthWindandFire » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 5:59 pm

Where do you live, Emerald?

 
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Emerald7
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Post by Emerald7 » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 6:03 pm

The adirondacks in northern NY

 
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WNY
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Post by WNY » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 6:09 pm

Do you have a baro damper? or manual damper to help slow down the draft if you do have a lot of draft.

You might need to put more coal in and get it burning good. There are many threads on here on burning in the hand fired type stoves.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 6:10 pm

Are you running the blowers? Have you tried opening the damper some more so you have more draft?

 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 6:11 pm

What do you have around the liner going into the smoke shelf, insulation, metal , anything?

 
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Post by carlherrnstein » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 6:17 pm

A chimney that drafts way to hard is called Florida bungalow syndrome but, that is very rare and less of a issue with a air tight stove which is what you have (or at least it should be).

The first thing I would check is the load door gasket, hopper door gasket and also the ash door gaskets. If you have a leaky load door gasket of hopper gasket, than room air will bypass the coal bed and go up the chimney and it wont burn as hot, of the ash door gasket is bad it will burn hot and quickly.

To test the gaskets shut a dollar bill (or similarly shaped piece of paper) in the door and try to pull it out, do this around as much of the sealing surface as you can. If it pulls out easily then the door needs to be adjusted or the gasket needs to be replaced.


 
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Post by franco b » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 6:35 pm

With the air open 80 percent you should have a runaway fire. That you don't makes me suspect the chimney draft. Somewhere you seem to be loosing it.

A manometer would tell us right away what draft you have.

You have a liner. Does it go all the way up? I suspect that liner installation. If it is not sealed at the bottom where it goes through the damper area I would stuff fiberglass insulation around it. It should also be sealed at the top.

Open the damper. With low draft you don't want to restrict it further.

Can you hold your hand on the smoke pipe? A thermometer here would tell us how hot it gets.

 
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Post by Emerald7 » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 6:40 pm

My fan is always on automatic. I have a manual damper. I have the hopper full which is 42- 50 lbs. The dollar bill test passed everywhere but the hopper load on the right the dollar came out easier. My flue or chimney shelf has just the 6" liner going up no insulation and its a tight fit.

 
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Post by Emerald7 » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 6:45 pm

The only way I can get a runaway fire is by having the air vent door open. Yes, the flue goes the length of the chimney. I don't know if stove pipe is hot. I could check that tomorrow from the roof stove pipe is that where I check it? I have no meters, I guess I need to get a manometer, a thermometer and a baro?

 
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 6:54 pm

Open the manual flue damper.

 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 6:55 pm

Emerald, I've never heard the HITZER manufacturers out in Indiana ever tell anyone they had a COLD chimney?? Let me get this off my chest---liners SUK--good, I feel better now. I wish you could post some pix of your install--something ain't right as you well know & it's probably something pretty simple fix wise--I've heard of the 503 heating a lot bigger house then 1000 sq & doing it well--first your trying to give her more air & then less--don't make sense. How well is that house insulated? If you can reach where the liner is & put a lighter or match there does it get sucked up? Are you keeping the hopper full after tending EVERY 12 hrs? Do you keep your MPD closed or open after tending?--I think I read you have a MPD???I guess that's enough questions for the moment
Emerald7 wrote:I have a 995 sq ft home, with a 17' tile lined chimney and a 6" liner, then with a chimney cap. I burn nut coal in a bag labeled kimmels. The 503 can heat the house when temperatures are above 15-20 degrees anything lower than that it can not keep the house warm. I have to have my boiler zones set at 63 to keep the house somewhat warm. I do not have a manometer or thermometer on the stove. I tried shaking it more often and emptying the ash pan to give it more air to burn better and keeping the hopper full. Now I have resorted to keeping a small amount of ash in the stove itself and leaving a small amount of ash in the ash pan to keep less air going in. I figure if I put x amount of coal in to burn, I should get x amount of heat out and its not heating the house so it must be going up the chimney. What is it called, a cold chimney which creates more draft and sucks the heat out? I also noticed that the colder it is out the less coal I burn, I know sounds odd doesn't it? I have a hard time burning 3/4 - 1 bag of coal. Hitzer says I must have a cold chimney. Today was -25 ° here I was gone for 11 hours, when I got home, shook it, all the hopper took was half a hod and that with damper closed and air vent open 80%. HELP, I am so frustrated!

 
franco b
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Post by franco b » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 7:03 pm

Emerald7 wrote:The only way I can get a runaway fire is by having the air vent door open. Yes, the flue goes the length of the chimney. I don't know if stove pipe is hot. I could check that tomorrow from the roof stove pipe is that where I check it? I have no meters, I guess I need to get a manometer, a thermometer and a baro?
Just check the smoke pipe temperature about a foot from the stove exit. A baro is to cut down on excess draft which is not your problem. If roof access is easy you could check that the liner is sealed around it up top. We don't want cold air descending into the chimney around it.

 
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Emerald7
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Post by Emerald7 » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 7:06 pm

I am trying that right now. I have a roaring fire with air door open 3" and manual damper 1/2 way. The house temp is 66 now so it went from 63 to 66 in 2 1/2 hrs. Not too shabby huh! Maybe I need more draft, but that doesn't make much sense to me.

 
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Emerald7
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Post by Emerald7 » Tue. Jan. 21, 2014 7:10 pm

My stove is a 500 lb insert, that will be a diffuct task right now. When I let it go out I will insulate around the fireplace damper where the flue exits the stove and put some friction fit insulation around the flue in the chimney.


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