Two-Fiddy on the Barrel and a Hundred Less on the Stack

scalabro · Post by **scalabro** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 7:04 pm

Yup.

I find it's quite easy with a tight stove

Simply load a fresh batch on top of nice hot coals (completely cover the fire), close her up tight then after you have built up a really nice rich mixture of coal gas, open the secondary inlets quickly......

When I was playin though, I'd make sure the ashpan was empty....

Pancho · Post by **Pancho** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 7:39 pm

lsayre wrote:
Pancho wrote:I figured out what happened. Disregard that last post. Nothing to see here....move along.
For us who are impaired as to such knowledge (call it 'hand fired challenged'), was the puff because the secondary air was left closed?

It's possible but I don't think so....on the #8's and #6's they have a fire ring with ports below the fill door that are always open and always letting it draw air in at the top of fire pot. Having the secondary open wouldn't have hurt but in my limited experience with this unit (and coal) it's never happened before. The only time I open the secondary is before I open the stove up.

IMO......this puff back happened because some a-hole forgot to down shift out of base heater mode.

I was wondering why it wasn't reacting like normal to the fresh load of coal.
Good help is gettin' hard to find.

wsherrick · Post by **wsherrick** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 7:52 pm

Open the secondary damper on the loading door until you get a healthy crop of blue flames.

Pancho · Post by **Pancho** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 8:16 pm

wsherrick wrote:Open the secondary damper on the loading door until you get a healthy crop of blue flames.

The past few times I have run it I didn't open the secondary thinking I didn't want the vacuum leak.....I wanted to pull air in through the pot to get the fresh load going. Also, I figured the gas ring vents would provide adequate air up top.

What I didn't realize is it was still in base heater mode.

I will try using the secondaries on the next few loads.

Thanks.

Pancho · Post by **Pancho** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 8:50 pm

Something else I found interesting.....while watching William's video again, I noticed his thermometer was at the top of the barrel. Mine was at mid barrel. I moved mine to the top of the barrel and the temp readings were the same.

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 10:08 pm

The best........or worst.........thing about coal, is playing with it. It can get extremely frustrating at times, but then, after a few seasons.......we look back and chuckle a little inside. Especially when you make the same mistakes after the 3rd season or so.

I just had that happen to me tonight (and last night). I lost my draft.............go figure.

This evening when it happened again I thought................some a-hole forgot to clean out the chimney and the pipe going to the stove.

P.S. My draft is almost strong enough to pull a full grown cat up the chimney......................unless the wind comes from the east. I checked the wind direction 3 times today............early this morning was WSW, then changed to NW. That's my strongest draft.

Pancho · Post by **Pancho** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 10:45 pm

SWPaDon wrote:The best........or worst.........thing about coal, is playing with it. It can get extremely frustrating at times, but then, after a few seasons.......we look back and chuckle a little inside. Especially when you make the same mistakes after the 3rd season or so.

I just had that happen to me tonight (and last night). I lost my draft.............go figure.

This evening when it happened again I thought................some a-hole forgot to clean out the chimney and the pipe going to the stove.

P.S. My draft is almost strong enough to pull a full grown cat up the chimney......................unless the wind comes from the east. I checked the wind direction 3 times today............early this morning was WSW, then changed to NW. That's my strongest draft.

Even burning wood I was cognizant wind direction. It amazing how much difference a wind change/direction makes to chimney draft.

So far, with this stove on my chimney, it's been easier with coal than it has been with wood. Granted, I didn't have a check damper on my woodstove (that'd be the kiss of death) but you can take the overdraft away with the check damper.

Pancho · Post by **Pancho** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 10:59 pm

Another observation that impresses me is that with the size of the stove....pure square footage....each time I have fired it with coal, we have been warm 40ft from the heater but we are burning it at very low temps.

Right now it's running at 280ish on the barrel, 120ish on the stack.....40ft from the heater the thermometer says 75F and it's 41F outside and WINDY. The primaries are chopped to next to nothing and the MPD is nearly shut. I have the check damper probably 70% open (windy) and yet we don't have to open windows to stay comfy.

The little black rocks ROCK!.

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 11:03 pm

Pancho wrote: The little black rocks ROCK!.

Yes Sir, they do

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Sun. Oct. 19, 2014 7:17 am

Pancho wrote:Another observation that impresses me is that with the size of the stove....pure square footage....each time I have fired it with coal, we have been warm 40ft from the heater but we are burning it at very low temps.

Right now it's running at 280ish on the barrel, 120ish on the stack.....40ft from the heater the thermometer says 75F and it's 41F outside and WINDY. The primaries are chopped to next to nothing and the MPD is nearly shut. I have the check damper probably 70% open (windy) and yet we don't have to open windows to stay comfy.

The little black rocks ROCK!.

And, don't forget that those little black rocks couldn't rock like that without that monster of a base heater.

Paul

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Oct. 19, 2014 7:22 am

Sunny Boy wrote:
scalabro wrote:Don't fret Pancho...when it's gets consistently below 20*, you will have to learn the routine all over!
This, and as William said, you'll have to experiment. It takes time and making mistakes to learn how your stove and chimney work together, . . and the coal you get.

To throw another factor into the fire, . . I saw a big difference in how the stove acted, and what damper changes were needed, just using a few bags of the Kimmels nut coal from Tractor Supply, instead of the bulk nut coal, that I just found out my dealer always gets from the Mahanoy, PA area breakers.

Paul

Kimmels coal usually has more volatiles...lights easy and puts out great heat, but requires a little more respect when reloading the stove.

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Sun. Oct. 19, 2014 2:08 pm

Paul[/quote]

Kimmels coal usually has more volatiles...lights easy and puts out great heat, but requires a little more respect when reloading the stove.[/quote]
With a Crane 404 how do I show that respect as I have a ton of it and thinking of getting another to raise the total to 4 1/2 on hand and ready for most anything for this year and a good part of next. It is not like you have to keep coal in the refrigerator LOL.. Last year 2 1/2 cords of wood so 3 1/2 tons should be enough and 4 1/2 beyond plenty.

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Sun. Oct. 19, 2014 4:02 pm

ddahlgren wrote:Paul

Kimmels coal usually has more volatiles...lights easy and puts out great heat, but requires a little more respect when reloading the stove.[/quote]
With a Crane 404 how do I show that respect as I have a ton of it and thinking of getting another to raise the total to 4 1/2 on hand and ready for most anything for this year and a good part of next. It is not like you have to keep coal in the refrigerator LOL.. Last year 2 1/2 cords of wood so 3 1/2 tons should be enough and 4 1/2 beyond plenty.[/quote]

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In my use of it, I found that it will light faster, and burn hotter, thus needing less time for how soon to be closing down the dampers. And, when setting the dampers, it required smaller damper openings to keep it in check. Think of it more like burning wood and you'll be safe. Also, you likely need to check on if the stove needs reloading sooner than I found I needed to with coal like Blaschak.

However, for someone with a small-ish stove for the space that is needing to be heated, I would think it would be a help.

Paul

scalabro · Post by **scalabro** » Sun. Oct. 19, 2014 4:14 pm

I'm all for full throttle, windows open, Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirt!

I can't wait to see the reports of your #8 when its 0* and windy.

You are going to enjoy this ride Pancho.

Not to fear Sir William is here with his band of Knights.

Pancho · Post by **Pancho** » Sun. Oct. 19, 2014 8:41 pm

scalabro wrote:I'm all for full throttle, windows open, Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirt!

I can't wait to see the reports of your #8 when its 0* and windy.

You are going to enjoy this ride Pancho.

Not to fear Sir William is here with his band of Knights.

I'd prefer dry and 40.....until March.....but I'm already diggin' the ride so far. I've got some kinks to work out in my routine but I am slowly progressing.

I really need to get the shaking/rotating the grates part figured out. I am not sure that can be done operating it at idle but we should be cooling off soon so I can put some throttle to it. I'm getting a lot of un-burned coal in the ash pan. I didn't have this problem with stove coal, only nut coal.

Work in progress but it is indeed good to have help of the board experts.