Hitzer 503 - Loss of Heat

Hello,

I was hoping to get advice on what do with my Hitzer 503. After this past Christmas, I shut the stove down and cleaned her out, since the fire had gone out because we were gone for a few days. Since I restarted the fire, I am not getting the same amount of heat. I have attached a picture of my set-up. The thermostat in the room next to the fireplace usually reads about 76-78, however, now I'm struggling to get to 71. My gas furnace is even kicking on at night, to try to keep the house at 71. This is my 4th winter with the stove. Everything seems to be normal and the fire seems to be normal. The heat coming out of the fans is less than usual however, the fan does seem to be less powerful than normal. Normally, I would go the place where I purchased the stove for advice, but he went out of business last year. I do understand that this winter is colder, but the stove has done well in previous winters where is was almost as cold. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

nc, can't tell where you're from cause it's not in your profile--BUT-- Here in NYS, the night temps have been sub-zero for around 3 wks. If this is your case, are you taking that into consideration? Have you opened your under air more? Of course I could say something smart assed like, of course it's not putting out the heat---ya got her laying on her side--BUT, that's just not me. Open your ash door vents 1/4--do you have that damper closed somewhat ?

I am in central Pennsylvania. I am taking the recent low temps into consideration. I have never had a winter where this stove could not keep the house at least 74. Its an 1800 sq ft. house. There just seems to be less heat coming out of the stove. The fans seems to be not as strong as they usually are. As for the pic, sorry, that's how it comes out with the iPhone.

Have cleaned the fan blades recently?

nc, just goofin about the pix--again, are your ash door vents open around 1/4 & is that internal damper closed a bit or more--C12's idea on the fan blades would also be something to check

What is the temp of the stove?
The links on the control rod to the internal damper are still in place right?

Hi
I have a 503 and live in central NY. No doubt my stove is having to work harder to keep my house in the low 70s. With these cold sub zero days I'm tending my stove 3 times a day. Two full shake downs 12 hours apart and a light shake and top off just prior to bedtime. I'm having to run the stove at 500 to 550 to keep home temps up. Make sure the fire can breath. I poke up through the bottom of grates after each shake down. I also use a straight poker through the shake grate holes where the shaker nipples emerge and the arm attaches, poking the fire front to back to brake up any deep bridging to again allow for max airflow. Stack your coal to the top of the fire brick to get max heat. The blower fans take a lot of abuse. Go to radio shack and get a couple of cans of compressed air that they use to clean electrical equipment. Also get a can of their contact cleaner/lubricant. Use these to clean your fan blades and armatures. I do this after I shut down. If stove is hot be careful I think it is flammable stuff. With these extreme conditions you need to have all your ducks in a row to get max heat. Hope this helps......works for me.
Gian 4

Everything is in the right place, I checked before I posted. The holes on the ash vent door are open to the size of a #2 pencil right about now. I will clean out the fans later on tonight and see if that helps. I have had the stove through sub zero days before and its usually kept the house at 74-75. It may just be because of the length of time that we have had the sub zero days. Its supposed to warm up to the high 30's over the weekend, so I'll see if that brings the house temp up. As for the stove temp, I have no idea, I don't have a thermometer on it. Stove temp seems normal, its just the fan strength that seems lower.

If your ash pan vents are only open the size of a number 2 pencil in this sub zero temp that may be your problem. Mine are open full after a fill up to get the new coal to catch and usually leave open about the size of a carpenters pencil to run at 500 to 550 in this sub zero weather. You really need a stove thermo to run your insert correctly otherwise its all guess work. With the thermo. you'll learn what ash pan settings produce a given stove temp to achieve the house temps. you want. You can get them at any farm and home store. They're magnetic and I place mine to the right of the manual pipe dampener adjustement rod just above the stove door. What size coal are you burning? I find nut works best in my stove.

My vents are also open wider than a #2 pencil. I am 1/2 to 3/4 open to get a temp of 500-600. I suspect that long spells of cold weather probably cool the walls of the house a lot more if it was a single day or 2 of really low temps.

I will try opening the ash vent a little wider. The stove produces a lot more ash when I do that. Its also pulling hard. I can hear the air sucking through the ash vent even with the #2 pencil opening.

nc, close your damper some more if you're hearing all that.

newbiecoal wrote:I will try opening the ash vent a little wider. The stove produces a lot more ash when I do that. Its also pulling hard. I can hear the air sucking through the ash vent even with the #2 pencil opening.

If your pulling that hard, then you need a manometer to find out just how much draft you have. Hitzer sent me a larger internal damper plate which reduced my draft readings by 1/2, but I got a manometer, so I know it is still 0.07 when I am running.