First Burn in Mark III

Well I lit the stove this morning for the first time so I can heat up the basement for the Superbowl Party. It took a little while to get going but it was my first time. I have it filled up with coal with draft knob about 2 1/2 turns open. Pipe temp is around 175. Its putting out some heat but not as much as I thought it would. I think the baro is out of adjustment and heat is going up the chimney, but this is just a tempoary set up until I build a new chimney for the stove. For today I just unhooked the furnace and put the coal stove to that chimney. I have learned a lot from this site. Thanks.

Do you have the optional blower installed on your stove?

Yes I have the blower. It putting out some heat now. I guess it just takes a little while to get going being there was no heat down there and it's all cement block. I still have the pellet stove going upstairs but I am thinking in a couple of hrs (once the basement heats up entirly) the pellet stove will be turned off.

How are you measuring the "pipe temperature"? Do you have a probe inside of the pipe? Keep an eye on it, if you filled that with coal it will take a while for the entire bed to "catch" and for the stove temperature to stabilize.

It has been burning since about 10am. Red bed of coal with blue flames. Pipe temp is between 175 and 200. The stat is a magnetic one that sticks to the pipe. Stove room is around 80. Other room in basement is 71 and upstairs is 70. It is 50 out side though. Also my three basement windows are really old and drafty so I am sure I am losing a lot of heat there.

Good news coal stove worked great bad news when I went to relite the pellet stove the auger no longer works.

cowentz wrote:Good news coal stove worked great bad news when I went to relite the pellet stove the auger no longer works.

You'll be replacing the pellets with coal soon.

cowentz wrote:It has been burning since about 10am. Red bed of coal with blue flames. Pipe temp is between 175 and 200. The stat is a magnetic one that sticks to the pipe. Stove room is around 80. Other room in basement is 71 and upstairs is 70. It is 50 out side though. Also my three basement windows are really old and drafty so I am sure I am losing a lot of heat there.

My cellar is very drafty and I cannot believe the Alaska heats it so well and a low burn. That Mark III should roast you out of the place.
In my opinion the 2 biggest factors affecting stove performance are the proper amount of draft and the quality of the coal.

That was my main goal to remove the pellet stove after this year.

i have a mark3 in my basement,when I first got it I ran the draft at 2-2 1/2 turns open,seemed like it was sending heat up the flue.
I have a magnetic thermometer on the stove pipe about 10-12 inches above the elbow on the back of the stove. I try to keep this between 200-275 degrees depending on the outside temp,i now run my draft between 1-1 1/2 turns open,depending on temps and find my house is alot warmer than last year running the draft more open. I have a baro installed,heating a 2100 sq ft house including the basement.
temps here in central maine was in the high 30's yesterday and I run the draft at alittle under 1 turn my house was 78 all day,last night I backed my draft knob out to 1 1/4 with temps in the low 20's my house was 75 this morning,its been 14 hrs since I filled it too.
I never run my blower anymore,seems with my setup anyways,the blower was keeping my cellar warmer,shut it off and more heat comes upstairs,my stove sits kitty corner in the southwest part of the house with the cellar stairs about 8 feet away comming down just off to the side of the stove so I get most of my heat up the stairs.i have a vent in the living room and middle bedroom and hallway(ranch home). I have a vent in the entry way on the south end of the house which serves as my cold air return and pushes the heat upstairs. we did have some 10-15 below zero mornings and I did run it @ 1 3/4 turn open and kept my house 72-73 with stack temp around 300.
that seems,in my setup anyways is the cutoff point...if I get to 300 or over,most heat goes up the chimney but each setup is different depending on chimney hight,how the air moves in your house and so many other things. you just gotta try different things and make a note of all the variables.
there are alot of helpful and knowlegable people on this site that will be very helpful,we all seem to like to experiment and fiddle with things and build and work on stuff. read some of the other post's on here like I did and you will pick up a wealth of info.

Bugize, I had a similar experience with my stove (Estate Heatrola). When I first started using it, I was running the draft about 2-3 turns open. The coal bed was very hot, but I was disappointed with the heat output and the short burn times. I now run the stove with the draft about 1-1.5 turns open, and adjusted the baro. I get more heat than before, and increased the burn time by about 40%.

thats actually good to hear,i kinda thought some may think I was crazy
I am kinda surprised at the difference in the amount of heat I get upstairs without running my blower.

My stove sits beside the stairway that leads into the basement. I have a large box fan that gently blows the hot air into the stairway, it seems to work very well.

Once I build my chimney the stove will be about 10' directly in front of the stairs, so the fan should blow the heat right up to my main floor. I was very surprised at how long the coal lasted until it completely burned out.