Box Stove to Base Heater Conversion Adventure

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Thu. Mar. 19, 2015 2:23 pm

Well, HB, if that Coral Andes beast of yours doesn't bake-out the volatiles in Kimmel's too quickly, I doubt any other hopper, or mag fed stove would.

Paul

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Thu. Mar. 19, 2015 5:54 pm

ddahlgren wrote:I would run the draft a bit higher LOL just don't us a match to see which way the air is going... I would not want the gas in the room as possibly methane or CO.

that is basically just what I did. turned the MPD open from -.01 to -.02 and added a millimeter to the primary opening.

stove used 10 #'s of coal during the 12 hrs. I was away.

i'm good with that,
steve

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Fri. Mar. 20, 2015 2:39 am

KingCoal wrote:
ddahlgren wrote:I would run the draft a bit higher LOL just don't us a match to see which way the air is going... I would not want the gas in the room as possibly methane or CO.
that is basically just what I did. turned the MPD open from -.01 to -.02 and added a millimeter to the primary opening.

stove used 10 #'s of coal during the 12 hrs. I was away.

i'm good with that,
steve

If you can get by with 7000 to 7500 btu/hr. good for you I am going through 40 to 50 lbs. a day in 1400 sq. ft. and 22F outside. The 404 is running at 650 right now and if it goes to -15 it will be all of that and maybe more. If an over fire or not the fire pot will tell the story this spring but has and is a long bitter winter in CT.

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Fri. Mar. 20, 2015 7:29 am

that blasted "sherrick winter" has been a bitter pill for you guys this yr.

holding long as hard as it still is must be kind of tiring.

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Fri. Mar. 20, 2015 9:26 am

KingCoal wrote:that blasted "sherrick winter" has been a bitter pill for you guys this yr.

holding long as hard as it still is must be kind of tiring.

Tiring is an understatement and if I did not buy that ton from TSC I would be out. Previous winter I burned about 2 1/2 cords of wood. So thought ok 2 1/2 tons of coal will do it for this year, wrong. I have about 35-38 bags of Blaschack and a dozen bags of frozen Kimmels left and dipping into that last stack of Blaschack this morning and until it warms up out side. Saying all that I have been warmer that I have ever been too so you pay for being warm nothing changed there. If I was willing to settle for last years heat of 66 and wear thermal underwear and electric blanket on the bed I would have plenty left. Next year will concentrate more on tightening the house up as I blew it off this year when the stove was nearly driving me out of the house. Funny how that changed mid January LOL.

Last night I discovered by accident why I can not slow the stove down below 350 on the stove top. Even though a new gasket if you don't take every last bit of travel in the door latch enough air leaks past the gasket to run temps up. The most I have ever opened them is 1 turn and it has to be below zero to do that. 3/4 normal at night and 1/4 to 1/2 during the day. If in the high 30's or above 1 open 1/8 or both closed and it still will not go out stove top about 275 at 0. I checked that gasket 3 times with smoke a candle a thin sheet of paper etc. This summer there will be a bunch of looking for air leaks as suspect partly responsible for higher than expected for coal usage this year.

rberq · Post by **rberq** » Fri. Mar. 20, 2015 3:49 pm

ddahlgren wrote: if I did not buy that ton from TSC I would be out

Same here, I am used to burning a little over 4 tons, looks like it will be close to 5 this year.

ddahlgren wrote:I checked that gasket 3 times with smoke a candle a thin sheet of paper etc. This summer there will be a bunch of looking for air leaks as suspect partly responsible for higher than expected for coal usage this year.

You’re right, it takes only a couple small leaks to make the stove uncontrollable. I have never had any luck looking for leaks while the stove is hot, because there are so many convection currents all along the sides of the hot stove that my test smoke just swirls away. I’m thinking, with the stove cold in the summer, mount a fan to draw air out of the flue connector, then do the incense sticks around all the suspicious spots. I’ve wondered about propane enrichment like your mechanic uses to find intake leaks in your engine, but I don’t have the courage to blow propane around my hot stove in my living room.

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Fri. Mar. 20, 2015 5:21 pm

If you can still find any these days, I use a piece of smoldering cotton twine.

Sometimes you can find it in hardware stores. Shipping/packing supply houses carry it too. http://www.uline.com/BL_3757/Cotton-Twine?pricode ... &gclsrc=ds

Cotton twine smoke is dense and the smoke stream stays small and concentrated. Far more so than twisted paper, or incense sticks. Hold it very close to all edges as you move it along the edge slowly. If there's a leak that matters, it'll be stronger than the stove's surface convection currents and you'll see the smoke column deflect at the leak, or get sucked in if the leak is really big.

Unfortunately the old mechanics trick doesn't work well. Stoves don't have RPM's that can be easily heard to change with fuel enrichment into the intake system. The only noise you'd hear with a stove leak would be the load boom !

Paul

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Sat. Mar. 21, 2015 9:32 am

KingCoal wrote:
ddahlgren wrote:I would run the draft a bit higher LOL just don't us a match to see which way the air is going... I would not want the gas in the room as possibly methane or CO.
that is basically just what I did. turned the MPD open from -.01 to -.02 and added a millimeter to the primary opening.

stove used 10 #'s of coal during the 12 hrs. I was away.

i'm good with that,
steve

well, that didn't last long

scant inch of snow and several hrs. of freezing drizzle night before last took the wind right out of the OAT warm up sails.

back to base mode. just as well, I was not pleased watching the thimble run over 100*. just not what i'm burning that coal for.

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Sun. Mar. 22, 2015 6:45 pm

i currently have 6,856 #'s of original 12,000 #'s of coal purchased left.

if I burn to May 1st, it's going to be within inches of 6000 #'s or 1/2 the previous heat seasons consumption for this project

BTW, I was invited to let this thread run even if it went to 50 pages so, please hold the applause till the end.

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Wed. Mar. 25, 2015 6:04 am

KingCoal wrote:i currently have 6,856 #'s of original 12,000 #'s of coal purchased left.

if I burn to May 1st, it's going to be within inches of 6000 #'s or 1/2 the previous heat seasons consumption for this project

BTW, I was invited to let this thread run even if it went to 50 pages so, please hold the applause till the end.

spoiler alert

i have found that I have mishandled my logs on several occasions and have had the record of my usage skewed as a results.

that means I've been gloating and extending more personal credit than has been deserved, the thing that should have cautioned me has become a public disappointment and "embarassedment."

fact is I have already USED 6, 888 #'s of nut this yr, not the other way around, and it looks like my final use will be much closer to 8000 #'s.

SO, the savings will be more like 1/3 instead of 1/2.

i apologize for being sloppy and arrogant, hope I can still come by and visit.

thanks,
steve

blrman07 · Post by **blrman07** » Wed. Mar. 25, 2015 6:56 am

Oh not tell me ain't so!!! You mean you only saved 4,000 pounds instead of 6,000 pounds. Oh the humanity!!!

A savings of 3 percent is something to brag about. Your saying your mods saved 30%? How can you go on knowing you only saved 30% compared to last years usage.

GREAT JOB AND KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK AND TELLING US HOW YOU DID IT.

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Wed. Mar. 25, 2015 7:21 am

As your punishment, you got to shovel more coal! Welcome to our world !

Paul

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Wed. Mar. 25, 2015 7:43 am

blrman07 wrote:Oh not tell me ain't so!!! You mean you only saved 4,000 pounds instead of 6,000 pounds. Oh the humanity!!!

A savings of 3 percent is something to brag about. Your saying your mods saved 30%? How can you go on knowing you only saved 30% compared to last years usage.

GREAT JOB AND KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK AND TELLING US HOW YOU DID IT.

thanks guys but, 28 members viewed this after I posted and only 2 replied.

i might not be out of the woods yet

Photog200 · Post by **Photog200** » Wed. Mar. 25, 2015 7:47 am

KingCoal wrote:
blrman07 wrote:Oh not tell me ain't so!!! You mean you only saved 4,000 pounds instead of 6,000 pounds. Oh the humanity!!!

A savings of 3 percent is something to brag about. Your saying your mods saved 30%? How can you go on knowing you only saved 30% compared to last years usage.

GREAT JOB AND KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK AND TELLING US HOW YOU DID IT.
thanks guys but, 28 members viewed this after I posted and only 2 replied.

i might not be out of the woods yet

That's probably because we expected it and was not surprised by the savings. You did an awesome job on this stove and we look forward to the next project.

Randy

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Wed. Mar. 25, 2015 7:51 am

KingCoal wrote: thanks guys but, 28 members viewed this after I posted and only 2 replied.

i might not be out of the woods yet

I knew you would be watching that, so I opened the thread a dozen times

We'll let ya go this time......................but next time.............

You still did real good by saving 1/3rd. Thanks for sharing your experiences.