What Is Going on Here

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 9:08 am

Ok guys, this is the 2nd time this is has happened, when I went to bed at midnight it was running perfect, barrel temp was 400 stack temp was 180 nice glowig bed with short blues I wake up 7hrs later and this is what I have. "I opened the draw center and poked it to take the pic" wtf am I doing wrong here

Pancho · Post by **Pancho** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 9:15 am

Hard to tell from the photo but is there a 'hole' in the ash bed right in the center?.

What time did you load it and did you fill it to the rim?.

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 9:18 am

Pancho wrote:Hard to tell from the photo but is there a 'hole' in the ash bed right in the center?.

What time did you load it and did you fill it to the rim?.

yes the hole it where I poked it after I opened the draw center, I loaded it at 630pm

lowfog01 · Post by **lowfog01** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 9:31 am

I'm sure you shook it before you loaded it but was it thorough enough? It looks to me like you may have had some bridging going on. If so you may not have had as deep of coal bed as you thought. As the fuel underneath the "bridge" burned the weight of the new coal would have caused the fire to collapse on itself. The ash from the bridge would have choked the fire.

This has happened a couple of times with the Marks Brothers. Now I use a 1/4 poker through the fire to the coal bed every couple of days to help to eliminate bridging . Good luck, Lisa

Pancho · Post by **Pancho** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 9:33 am

D.lapan wrote:
yes the hole it where I poked it after I opened the draw center, I loaded it at 630pm

And when you filled it at 6:30 you got a good load of coal in it?.

I don't know what the temps are like in NH but in extra cold weather your draft is stronger so unless you combat that with whatever tools you have available (primaries, MPD, check damper, etc), you will use more fuel quicker than 'normal'.

If it's me, I adjust my routine so I can get a full hod of coal (making sure the pot is FULL up to the top of the ceramic and mounded in the center) right before bedtime (45 minutes is enough time to fully recover on my setup). With the brutal cold we've had, I've even cheated by putting a partial load in so I can make it to right before bedtime (loading around 9pm).

It looks to me your fire burned all the fuel it had.

Lastly, were there any coals left this morning and did you shake it before you poked it?.

Post by **franco b** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 9:36 am

I think Lisa is right in that the previous shake did not get all the ash out.

How much coal did you add at that time?

oliver power · Post by **oliver power** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 9:42 am

If you would NOT have poked it, we could have better diagnosed your situation. Next time take a picture before touching anything.

As of now, we're kind of guessing. So far, I'm going with Lisa as well.

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 9:42 am

its in glenwood hickory, with 2 primary's 1 mpd and a newly installed back pipe, courtesy of Wilson, secondary air was close as was the mpd with the primarys open 1/4'' each, last nights low was -6 this was on blashak nut coal the night before I was running reading stove with the primarys completely closed when I loaded the stove at 630 it only took aprox 10lbs to bring it back up when I shook it down I shook till I had lots of reds falling down and opened the draw center and shook again till I lost a few hot coals

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 9:43 am

It looks to me like it just used up the available fuel sooner than expected.

You don't list where you are in your profile, so I don't know what kind of weather you had last night.

Here, we got down to minus 20 last night. That extreme cold makes the draft strength increase for the same damper settings, which makes the stove run hotter using the fuel up that much sooner.

I did the usual loading, shaking, reloading and setting dampers to the night-time settings. In weather zero to 30 F that will give me about an 11-12 hour burn time. When the temps get above 30 that extends the burn time to 12-14 hours.

But, at below zero temps it really makes the stove draw harder/hotter. I came down this morning and one end of the firebox was half burned out. That was just 9 hours after setting up the stove for the night.

You might need to look at what your night time temps are going to be and adjust the dampers to compensate ?

Paul

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 9:45 am

oliver power wrote:If you would NOT have poked it, we could have better diagnosed your situation. Next time take a picture before touching anything. As of now, we're kind of guessing.

when I poked it, it only dropped about 2''

Pancho · Post by **Pancho** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 9:52 am

D.lapan wrote:its in glenwood hickory, with 2 primary's 1 mpd and a newly installed back pipe, courtesy of Wilson, secondary air was close as was the mpd with the primarys open 1/4'' each, last nights low was -6 this was on blashak nut coal the night before I was running reading stove with the primarys completely closed when I loaded the stove at 630 it only took aprox 10lbs to bring it back up when I shook it down I shook till I had lots of reds falling down and opened the draw center and shook again till I lost a few hot coals

Yes, you need to adjust the timing of your feedings. You need more than 10lbs in there before bedtime and for sure, 10lbs won't get you though the night (particularly when COLD out).

Work your routine backwards through the weekend. Operate/load in a manner that you can get a full hod in for the last feeding of the day.

If you get a good load in the ole gal before bedtime, I am confident you won't see that happening again.

Think like a coal fire.

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 9:54 am

Sunny Boy wrote:It looks to me like it just used up the available fuel sooner than expected.

You don't list where you are in your profile, so I don't know what kind of weather you had last night.

Here, we got down to minus 20 last night. That extreme cold makes the draft strength increase for the same damper settings, which makes the stove run hotter using the fuel up that much sooner.

I did the usual loading, shaking, reloading and setting dampers to the night-time settings. In weather zero to 30 F that will give me about an 11-12 hour burn time. When the temps get above 30 that extends the burn time to 12-14 hours.

But, at below zero temps it really makes the stove draw harder/hotter. I came down this morning and one end of the firebox was half burned out. That was just 9 hours after setting up the stove for the night.

You might need to look at what your night time temps are going to be and adjust the dampers to compensate ?

Paul

unfortunately, not only is this stove new to me as of 3 weeks ago but Ive only been playing with coal for maybe 6 tops, so Im still learning EVERYTHING about it and what air settings need to be where just to make enough heat to keep my house warm

Pancho · Post by **Pancho** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 10:09 am

D.lapan wrote: unfortunately, not only is this stove new to me as of 3 weeks ago but Ive only been playing with coal for maybe 6 tops, so Im still learning EVERYTHING about it and what air settings need to be where just to make enough heat to keep my house warm

Ah yes, baptism by fire.

Something that will help you in this learning curve is TWO magnetic thermometers. Place one towards the top of the barrel (If I recall, you stove has a steel barrel, no?.) and one on the stack. These will not be exact measurements of what is going on but will be a benchmark of where you want to operate the stove under certain conditions. It's as simple as "it's 30 degrees outside, I am warm, what are my temps on the stove?". File that in the back of your mind and you adjust to compensate for warmer or colder outside temps.

Also, this will help you monitor what phase of burn your fire is at. Your fire will, for the most part, evenly maintain heat output. When your temps drop on the thermometers, either your fuel is spent or the fire is ashing up and choking the air supply.

Hope this helps.

D.lapan · Post by **D.lapan** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 10:22 am

Pancho wrote:
D.lapan wrote: unfortunately, not only is this stove new to me as of 3 weeks ago but Ive only been playing with coal for maybe 6 tops, so Im still learning EVERYTHING about it and what air settings need to be where just to make enough heat to keep my house warm
Ah yes, baptism by fire.

Something that will help you in this learning curve is TWO magnetic thermometers. Place one towards the top of the barrel (If I recall, you stove has a steel barrel, no?.) and one on the stack. These will not be exact measurements of what is going on but will be a benchmark of where you want to operate the stove under certain conditions. It's as simple as "it's 30 degrees outside, I am warm, what are my temps on the stove?". File that in the back of your mind and you adjust to compensate for warmer or colder outside temps.

Also, this will help you monitor what phase of burn your fire is at. Your fire will, for the most part, evenly maintain heat output. When your temps drop on the thermometers, either your fuel is spent or the fire is ashing up and choking the air supply.

Hope this helps.

definitely a whole different world from the wood Ive burnt for the past 20 years, I have one mag thermometer on the steel barrel and I have a inferred one that I use on the pot and the stove pipe..
after this cold snap breaks Im going to tear it down and put in a liner in the pot as stove coal seems to burn hotter and makes the pot start to glow with a temp of 950* and I don't want to crack it. maybe that will help the fire last too

Pancho · Post by **Pancho** » Sat. Feb. 21, 2015 10:34 am

D.lapan wrote: definitely a whole different world from the wood Ive burnt for the past 20 years, I have one mag thermometer on the steel barrel and I have a inferred one that I use on the pot and the stove pipe..
after this cold snap breaks Im going to tear it down and put in a liner in the pot as stove coal seems to burn hotter and makes the pot start to glow with a temp of 950* and I don't want to crack it. maybe that will help the fire last too

I was a life long wood burner as well....TOTALLY different beast, but, with some time, you'll get it figured out.

What temp does your barrel thermometer say when the pot is glowing?......you want to avoid glowing metal...anywhere...if you can.
What is the stack temp when the pot is glowing?.

I was running my stove yesterday at 700F on the barrel and there was no glowing so you may be running it a bit too hard.

What position is your MPD and primaries set at when the pot is glowing?.

What Is Going on Here

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