Newbie Overfire Problems.

Those stack numbers are rather high. Your sending a lot of heat up the chimney and a firebox load of coal will not last as long as it could.

Did you do a smoke test for the entire stove body ? Any other areas pulling smoke in ?

Yes, the TS Kimmel's burns fast and hot in older style stoves. It can be a challenge to get it to burn slowly. I don't use it except when starting a fire, or if I want a really hot fire, quickly. If I mix the Kimmel's about 25/75 with the bulk Blaschak nut, it will finally start to calm down and get as controllable as the Blaschak.

If you can, try another brand of coal. And/or mix in some pea sized coal with the nut. The smaller sized coal will help slow down the burn rate. Another plus for that is it will increase the coal density, thus more fuel for the size of the firebox.

An old time trick to help slow a stoves is to sprinkle some ash on top of the fire.

My chimney always shows some draft - even slightly reading negative pressure on the mano on a summer day. Sometimes chimneys that draft that well need a second MPD installed in the pipe just to help get control of the stove's burn rate. I haven't had to go that route with the Blaschak, but, I would install a second MPD if all I was burning was the TS Kimmel's.

Paul

No it is still going strong, I dumped a new batch of coal in and this time was able to prolong the time it took for it to completely engulf in flames, but here I am about 7 1/2 hours later and it is still off the charts in areas filled with the coal bed. I did the smoke test with confusing results, little to no draw in the ash pan vents and a good draw in the vent over the bed, which this time I closed, except two holes that cannot be closed designed into the door. The bigger of the two is about the size of a pencil eraser. I did not think this would be enough to cause the fire to reach excess of 610°, is it possible it is the chimney draw despite the mpd and baro? Even with the mpd as close to closed as I can go without actually closing it, the baro still seems to be working pretty hard. I am still yet to have installed the chimney cap, maybe if it is the draw that will help deflect some off the wind from pulling hard from the chimney. Beyond that and changing size and brand of coal I am at a loss. Oh, and the smoke test I did covered the entire stove top to bottom no leaks. The only thing drawing was the top fire vent, and that seems to make little difference to my stack temp, it just seems to take much longer for the coal to become completely engulfed with it closed.

jblack5966 wrote:but here I am about 7 1/2 hours later and it is still off the charts in areas filled with the coal bed.

Could you please elaborate? I don't quite understand what you mean.

jblack5966 wrote:except two holes that cannot be closed designed into the door. The bigger of the two is about the size of a pencil eraser.

This amount of air coming in over the coal bed wouldn't make it burn hot.

jblack5966 wrote:I did not think this would be enough to cause the fire to reach excess of 610°,

I agree..

jblack5966 wrote:is it possible it is the chimney draw despite the mpd and baro?

It don't matter how strong the chimney is pulling. You should have total control of combustion air coming in and at this point I don't believe you do..

jblack5966 wrote:Even with the mpd as close to closed as I can go without actually closing it, the baro still seems to be working pretty hard.

You have good draft.. It doesn't matter.. Air is getting in that stove that you are not aware of..

jblack5966 wrote:I am still yet to have installed the chimney cap, maybe if it is the draw that will help deflect some off the wind from pulling hard from the chimney.

Again... It don't matter how hard that chimney is pulling, air is feeding that fire that isn't being regulated..

jblack5966 wrote:Beyond that and changing size and brand of coal I am at a

Don't matter what coal or what size.. There is an an obvious leak into that stove that hasn't been discovered..

Fire needs three things.. Fuel, oxygen and a source of ignition. Fuel is given and source of ignition is given.. The only thing we can control the fire is, is with oxygen.. You still have combustion air coming in that isn't being controlled. An air tight, well controlled stove will starve and extinguish AT WILL. You still have air getting in beyond the primary air controls... Pardon my bluntness.. Been in thje hot tub with a lost count of Keystones..

No worries on being blunt.
In regards to the first question about it being off the charts, I mean that using my infrared thermometer to read the surface temp of the portion of the stoves body that is filled with coal yields a temp reading of over 610°which is where my thermometer ends.
The reference I made to the coal size was based on possible bad information that I had read. Stating that the bed of larger chunks would make for a less dense bed in the same volume of space having larger and more pockets of air between the larger pieces of coal. leaving more space and air for combustion thus a hotter ,more rapid burn. I will disregard that as an insignificant difference if any.
The reason I was concerned about the draw was because I figured the heavier the draw the more likely to add force to the suction drawing in air from these unknown sources.
Maybe I am reaching, but it is out of frustration from finding nothing.

**************************************

Ok, so I just had to eat my previous words. I was convinced it couldn't have been a leak in the ash pan vents, completed another smoke test got the same results and then decided to try a test recommended by someone previously and covered the entire ash pan door with tin foil and closed it with the gaskets still in place
It has only been about 20 or so minutes, here are my results. The bed went from a giant flaming inferno to a red hot coal bed with blue flames dancing on top, down to a mixed bed, black coal resting on top of a lower bed of red hot coals with no flames. Obviously the temp is dropping significantly. From off the scale at over 610° to about 530° at it's hottest point. The best part is the stack, it went from about 270° above the mpd to about 130°. These temps are all still slowly dropping, I am now confident that eventually the fire would starve itself out if left like this.

So that is all the good news, now here comes the difficult part, finding a permanent solution that allows for adjustment. I need to disassemble the ash pan door and find a way to tighten it up and make it airtight while still adjustable. I need to add a small powerful spring or something.

Well, thank you all for your help and patience. It has been greatly appreciated.

Glad you got the leak narrowed down , is it the ash door spinners? Or mating surface of door itself? I've been rebuilding a small round stove with cast front! The ash door mating surface was really sloppy and had some large gaps, I tried to build up the door bust welding with 99% nickle rods got it closer now I will use 800* silicon to totaly seal there is not enough room for a real gasket! So hi temp silicon should help you run a bead around ash door out a piece of Saran Wrap on stove so it will only stick to door let it cure and you should be good!