I Think I Messed up

 
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wsherrick
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Post by wsherrick » Sat. Oct. 11, 2014 1:18 pm

A helpful hint for you. First of all, once a coal fire is going, it will not go out. Repeat, it will not go out. Before you get the blue flames sometimes it may take an hour or more. The coal bed has to reach critical mass before it ignites.
Now here's the fool proof hint:
Look down inside the ash pan. If you can see a nice orange glow down there. The fire is golden. It is fine even though the top is black and it looks like it's out. It will work its way up in a little while.

 
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Pancho
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Post by Pancho » Sat. Oct. 11, 2014 1:30 pm

wsherrick wrote:A helpful hint for you. First of all, once a coal fire is going, it will not go out. Repeat, it will not go out. Before you get the blue flames sometimes it may take an hour or more. The coal bed has to reach critical mass before it ignites.
Now here's the fool proof hint:
Look down inside the ash pan. If you can see a nice orange glow down there. The fire is golden. It is fine even though the top is black and it looks like it's out. It will work its way up in a little while.
As I was in freak out mode, I was repeating this to myself (in your voice) as you have written it a million times (and I have read it a million times). But it was so different than the couple of stove coal fires I've built that I wasn't sure.

I did keep looking up through the primaries at the orange glow....I knew that it didn't go out but I've never built a fire where there's stuff going on underneath with no tell tale signs of a fire on top.

Thanks again guys.

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Sat. Oct. 11, 2014 1:40 pm

Good job.. Letting the ash pan door open after shake down and reload until the blues come back is common practice for me. With all the cool air coming in and a lite layer of ash on the grates, they should be fine. Experiment with it. If the grates look like they are turning orange just close the door. Be sure it's not left open without you being close by..


 
KingCoal
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Post by KingCoal » Sat. Oct. 11, 2014 1:45 pm

Pancho wrote:
I did keep looking up through the primaries at the orange glow....I knew that it didn't go out but I've never built a fire where there's stuff going on underneath with no tell tale signs of a fire on top.

Thanks again guys.
this was my experience too when doing low burn experiments with my original stove last yr.

i had it putting out 125* stove top all day and the fire top was so dark there was no way ( other than the presence of constant heat ) that you could believe it was going.

i'm finding that even with the conversion in place I can run it that low in direct mode anytime I wish. it's like I have 2 stoves in one.

 
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Pancho
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Post by Pancho » Sat. Oct. 11, 2014 1:50 pm

KingCoal wrote:
this was my experience too when doing low burn experiments with my original stove last yr.

i had it putting out 125* stove top all day and the fire top was so dark there was no way ( other than the presence of constant heat ) that you could believe it was going.

i'm finding that even with the conversion in place I can run it that low in direct mode anytime I wish. it's like I have 2 stoves in one.
WOW....your stove has a creeper gear. :P
No drafting issues with it that low?.

 
KingCoal
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Post by KingCoal » Sat. Oct. 11, 2014 2:00 pm

Pancho wrote:
KingCoal wrote:
this was my experience too when doing low burn experiments with my original stove last yr.

i had it putting out 125* stove top all day and the fire top was so dark there was no way ( other than the presence of constant heat ) that you could believe it was going.

i'm finding that even with the conversion in place I can run it that low in direct mode anytime I wish. it's like I have 2 stoves in one.
WOW....your stove has a creeper gear. :P
No drafting issues with it that low?.
draft issues, yeah plenty but not on the low side. I have multiple draft diverting features in my hook up to control my chimney :shock:


 
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davidmcbeth3
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Sat. Oct. 11, 2014 4:29 pm

my stove top is at 130F...small amount of red fire at the bottom..been burning that way for days ... wife said "fire's out!" but no, it was burning away slowly.

don't mess with it is the best advice (not including opening up air flow)

 
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Pancho
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Post by Pancho » Sun. Oct. 12, 2014 11:13 am

I let it run at 250 on the barrel all day yesterday....didn't touch it and let it run all night. It went down to the low 30's last night. I woke up and it was still peckin' along at 250 and the house was 70 degrees when I woke up.

Oh, and I didn't have to wake up to feed it. :punk:

 
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ONEDOLLAR
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Post by ONEDOLLAR » Sun. Oct. 12, 2014 12:13 pm

Pancho wrote: Oh, and I didn't have to wake up to feed it.
And that is the true beauty of burning coal. EXTRA SLEEP!!!!! No need to wake up during the night and feed a volcano. It amazes me that more don't burn these black rocks! :D

 
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Pancho
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Post by Pancho » Sun. Oct. 12, 2014 3:40 pm

ONEDOLLAR wrote:
And that is the true beauty of burning coal. EXTRA SLEEP!!!!! No need to wake up during the night and feed a volcano. It amazes me that more don't burn these black rocks! :D
No doubt.

It's also amazing how low you can idle them down. It's in the low 60's here and I've got it just puttering along and we are not being roasted out of the house. You CANNOT do that with wood.

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