Stratford SC75 design questions.

I've just recently purchased a Stratford SC75. I have a couple of questions about the design and operation of this stove. I just purchased this stove yesterday (Sunday 02/17/08) and hooked it ups as soon as I got home. This stove does very well at heating my 1800 sq. ft. 1st floor main living area. This area consists of 3 bedrooms, living room, bathroom, dining room and kitchen. Just this morning when I woke up it was 83* in my hall way and way hotter in the living room where the stove is located. A little too hot for my taste, but I'd rather be too hot than cold. I can always open some windows. I'm still trying to work out the operation of this stove though. My first question is why is the ash pan tray not a full ash pan tray and there is no back to it? It sort of looks like a dust pan with no handle. When I try to remove the ash pan tray from the stove I have to be ever soo careful not to tip the tray or ashes will slide off the back of this pan. My next question is why does the loading door have to be open in order to get the ash pan door open? There is a 3" lip on the bottom of the loading door that over laps a 1" lip on the top of the ash pan door that won't let the ash pan door open without the loading door being open. I just don't understand the concept of this. If I want to shake the grates and empty the ashes I need to open the loading door completely so I can open the ash pan door to get the ash pan tray out. Does anyone know why this stove is designed this way? Is this stove built specifically for anthracite and are there any concerns with burning bituminous? I've been burning Bituminous in mine and it seems to be doing a good job of burning it so far.

....Rich

Tigermanrich wrote:My first question is why is the ash pan tray not a full ash pan tray and there is no back to it? It sort of looks like a dust pan with no handle. When I try to remove the ash pan tray from the stove I have to be ever soo careful not for any of the ashes to slide off the back of this pan.

My next question is why does the loading door have to be open in order to get the ash pan door open? There is a 3" lip on the bottom of the loading door that over laps a 1" lip on the top of the ash pan door that won't let the ash pan door open without the loading door being open. I just don't understand the concept of this.

Is this stove built specifically for anthracite and are there any concerns with burning bituminous? I've been burning Bituminous in mine and it seems to be doing a good job of burning it so far.

The pan is opened at the end so if anything falls out while the drawer is out it will just scoop it up when you slide it back in.

That is odd, I would not want to do a shake down with the door opened. Some pics of your unit would be nice, maybe we can tell what is going on there with them. I probably would cut the lip off myself if it was causing trouble.

Bituminous likes overfire air and anthracite doesn't. If it has a vent above the fire (usually in the loading door) it will love bituminous. If it doesn't you could add one. Member Berlin is the resident bituminous Guru, he may have some more input.

Hi Rich, to answer your questions, the guy who designed the stove never opperated a stove.. Sort of like a car designed by someone who never drove one.

The way your stove is set up is just the way it was easiest for the designer to make work... Unfortunately it will just be a bit messy to shake... If you were burning anthracite, it wouldn't be so bad, but luckily you usually shake a mature fire, not a fire with fresh smokeing bituminous on it...

Like coaledsweat said, the ash pan is like a dust pan, it can scoop up any ash in the back of the stove, but it also leaves behind a lot of ash too. You'll just have to be carefull, or maybe bend up a new ashpan that works better for you.

A few photos would be nice... 80*+ !! that's nice...

Greg L
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I want to clarify something that may of been taken the wrong way.....you do not have to open the feed door to shake the ashes. The shaker handle is built like a Harman stove where the lever is on the outside of the stove, but it is on the right hand side not on the left. It's just when you have to take the ash tray out you have to open the feed door as well. I've taken pictures to show you what I'm talking about, but will have to download them from my camera before I post them. Last night I've had a different experience burning the stove than the previous night. I loaded the stove at 8:00 p.m. with bituminous and fell a sleep on the couch. I woke up at 3:00 a.m. and it was 59* in the house. I broke up the bridged coal / coke and it started burning again. It was half full with this coal / coke and I filled the rest of the stove with anthracite (nut size) coal. I have 5 bags of anthracite (nut sized) coal that came with the stove. The anthracite took about 45 minutes to catch and was burning a pretty blue flame before I went into my bedroom to lay back down. I went to bed and woke back up at 8:00 a.m. and it was only 63* in the house. The coal was burning red and not throwing off all that much heat. The draft lever was left wide open all night long too. When I closed the draft lever to see if anything would happen it seemed to burn the same with no rise or fall in the flames in the stove? I stoked the stove again at 9:00 a.m. before I came into work and just wondering what I'm going to find when I get home after work tonight? Anybody have any suggestions on what could be going on here? Just this morning I replaced the gasket in the front loading door. The ash pan door did not have a gasket in it and I replaced that with the broken up gasket that was origionally on the loading door. This gasket actually fits the ash pan door pretty nicely. Maybe there may of been too much air coming in from the loading door and canceling out the air coming in from the ash pan door? In the manual that I have it states the following about the type of coal it can burn:

The Stratford has been specifically designed to burn a variety of coals, but because of its high carbon content and virtually smokeless combustion, anthracite(hard) coal is the preferred fuel. The preferred size is chestnut.

So it doesn't say that it is not meant for bituminous just that anthracite is the preferred. Any suggestions would be appreciated!!

....Rich

I'm betting you will find lots of crusty ash or small clinkers clogging the grates... Some grate designs don't grind up the ash real well, or as well as other designs...

Greg L

I think that I got everything figured out with the stove! The gasket around the loading door was in 3 pieces and did not create a tight seal. There was also no gasket around the ash pan door. I went to the hardware store right after work and bought new gaskets and installed them when I got home around 6:00 p.m.. It was 59* when I got home by the way. Installed the gaskets and loaded it up with coal. I set the slide draft control to 2 bars open on each inlet hole. By 9:00 p.m. it was 85* in the house!! AHHHH. Around 1:30 a.m. I stoked the fire and went to bed. I left the draft control set to 2 bars open on each inlet hole. Woke up this moring around 7:30 and it was still 68* in the house, the fire still buring pretty good and about 1/3 firebox of coal left. It's amazing what new gaskets and a tight firebox / ash door can do! Thanks for everybodys help and I'll keep you posted on how it continues to burn.

Thanks,

....Rich

One other note. I think that the door design where you can only open the ash door if the load door is open is so the stove cannot be over fired. That is my take on it anyway.

....Rich

Good point, what is the stove constructed of?? Steel or cast iron plates??

Do you have those pictures ready to post yet??

Greg L

Greg,
I believe the construction is of steel. The pics are as follows:

I don't know how to insert pictures. Every time I try nothing comes up. Any suggestions? I have them downloaded on my pc and everytime I try to drag them over it doesn't work???

Tigermanrich wrote:I don't know how to insert pictures. Every time I try nothing comes up. Any suggestions? I have them downloaded on my pc and everytime I try to drag them over it doesn't work???

Below the post field, you will see an "upload attatchment" button. Click on it, then browse. When you find the file you want to attatch, double click it. Once it loads, click on "upload attachment", when that is done you can then post it.

At last.....the pictures

Fire burning.

I have beeen burning a Stratford SC100 ( this model is slightly larger than yours, it has three shaker grates compared to the two in your SC 75) for 6 seasons now. I love mine, sure it's alot easier to hit a button on the wall but that button doesn't work when the power fails!! Coal is also way cheaper, even with the price increases, $80-$90/ton, in my six seasons. Wood is great also if you don't mind the work. Glad to hear you got your firing or lack of worked out. I have learned that the gaskets have to be kept in good shape to keep a tight seal or you will have the troubles you posted. I replace mine every two years or sooner if needed. The only reason I could come up with the ashpan being like it is would be to allow it it slide back in while scooping (sort of) the spilled ash back in as mentioned by other posters. I fabricated a pan with a back on it which helped a little with spilling ash but the daming effect it created pushing ash to the back wasn't worth it. I went back to the stock pan and just have to be careful getting to and out the door to empty it. I did fabricate a cover for those windy days ( it's flat with a bend to match the angle at the back of the pan). I also find that I ocasionally have to shovel out the spilled ash at the back of the stove. The door constuction??????????? Only thing that even remotely makes sense to me is to try and keep one from over-firing the stove, it's not fool proof though, you can over-fire with the ash pan door cracked open as well........trust me! The door constructions biggest drawback is when tending to the ocasional jammed grate, which always will occur when you are burning the stove hot (Murphy's Law) and you have to poke up from the bottom with the ash pan removed. I have learned that the harder the coal the better it seems to burn,but I'm no expert! I also have a second identical stove for back up! I purchased both of mine used. I'm lucky to have a dealer about 10 miles away that still carries parts for these stoves. Last I knew they were not being imported any longer. One thing I do as a rule is keep a spare glass (Ceramic) on hand with the flat gasket installed. Learned this lesson when I got the " What happens if the glass in the door breaks while the fire is burning" phone call!! Of course the dog got blamed for it I typically will burn wood to start and end the seasons. Don't know if any of this helps....hope so! Fire away if you have any other ???? Joe

Ash pan (big dust pan) picture.