Light Off 9-21-2015
Well I lit off the Vig 2310 on coal for the first time this year. I had little spot fires with wood to knock out the chill in the evenings and early mornings. Last year we fired off on Sept 15. This year I waited 6 days later and when Momma started wearing sweaters around the house I decided that was my non-verbal clue to light up the 2310.
I started it on wood and could not for the life of me get the coal to fire off? It would flutter and then go out and it didn't seem to matter what I did, I couldn't get the coal to fire off. I got a free ton of nut from a basement mine and decided to start the season with it. I wondered if that free ton of coal was c rap coal. Then after about an hour of fussing with it, I had a forehead slap moment.
Forgot to open the ash pan door. Doooh!!!
Opened ash pan door......Fired right off.
The cat is happy again, Momma didn't put on a sweater last night so my timing appears to have been just right. I got the stove settled in at idle with 250 on the griddle and 135 on the stove pipe three feet up 9 hours after light off. It burned about 10 pounds in 9 hours. No I didn't weigh or measure it. I estimated it at a little less than 1/3 a five gallon bucket added this morning to the left side of the firebox.
30 minutes later there is a nice red glow below the surface on the right side of the firebox. Black and cold on the left side.
Just right.
Now watch the temps go up to 80 today, loose the draft, and the fire goes out. That would be typical.
I started it on wood and could not for the life of me get the coal to fire off? It would flutter and then go out and it didn't seem to matter what I did, I couldn't get the coal to fire off. I got a free ton of nut from a basement mine and decided to start the season with it. I wondered if that free ton of coal was c rap coal. Then after about an hour of fussing with it, I had a forehead slap moment.
Forgot to open the ash pan door. Doooh!!!
Opened ash pan door......Fired right off.
The cat is happy again, Momma didn't put on a sweater last night so my timing appears to have been just right. I got the stove settled in at idle with 250 on the griddle and 135 on the stove pipe three feet up 9 hours after light off. It burned about 10 pounds in 9 hours. No I didn't weigh or measure it. I estimated it at a little less than 1/3 a five gallon bucket added this morning to the left side of the firebox.
30 minutes later there is a nice red glow below the surface on the right side of the firebox. Black and cold on the left side.
Just right.
Now watch the temps go up to 80 today, loose the draft, and the fire goes out. That would be typical.
- freetown fred
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I'm not gonna be far behind ya Padre. Temps in upper-mid 30's last couple nights. Gonna wait & see what these next few days bring. Hell, I was lit Labor day last yr.
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He's not interested drinkin habits ya old goat!freetown fred wrote: Hell, I was lit Labor day last yr.
- Sunny Boy
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Don't feel bad Rev. 40 F degrees here yesterday morning so I fired up the range. Had to stop a few times and think of what's next to do. This old age stuff ......... I keep forgetting how bad my memory is getting.
Amazing that after only a few months time off, how easy it is to forget parts of a routine that we'd been doing for many months before that !
Paul
Amazing that after only a few months time off, how easy it is to forget parts of a routine that we'd been doing for many months before that !
Paul
Hey Rev....I appreciate the early light off which is sure to trigger warmer 80* temps!!
A sweater as a non verbal hint.....just be glad it wasn't a stick of wood to the back of the head!!
With propane as cheap as it was to refill ($1.29/gal) I'll probably use the furnace in the morning to knock the chill off until we get some steady cold before lighting up the stoker.
A sweater as a non verbal hint.....just be glad it wasn't a stick of wood to the back of the head!!
With propane as cheap as it was to refill ($1.29/gal) I'll probably use the furnace in the morning to knock the chill off until we get some steady cold before lighting up the stoker.
- freetown fred
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Damn--caught again!!!
waldo lemieux wrote:He's not interested drinkin habits ya old goat!freetown fred wrote: Hell, I was lit Labor day last yr.
- deepwoods
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I re-lit the baement DS Machine yesterday @ 12 noon. Lots of room down there to absorb any excess heat. I have rigged up a heat capture bonnet on the stove and connected it to the main forced air trunk. Still havent had a good chance to try it out with the stove idling along in the 300* range. Rest of this week is 40's overnight and low 70's for daytime. May have to open some windows which is wasteful but I like those 72* readings in the house at 5 AM.
I have a damper on my connector pipe from coal stove to the main forced air duct and it is closed at present. Hoping with the ability to send heat upstairs from the basement stove I can go farther into the cold months before I need to light the upstairs stove. Time & temperature will tell eventually. The other bonus I want to utilize by lighting the basement stove, my water tempering tank goes to work saving propane. 20 gallons of 100* water ready to enter the propane water heater.
I have a damper on my connector pipe from coal stove to the main forced air duct and it is closed at present. Hoping with the ability to send heat upstairs from the basement stove I can go farther into the cold months before I need to light the upstairs stove. Time & temperature will tell eventually. The other bonus I want to utilize by lighting the basement stove, my water tempering tank goes to work saving propane. 20 gallons of 100* water ready to enter the propane water heater.
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I felt a chill in the house the last couple days. Wife mentioned it this AM first thing. She knows the rule, 3rd time she mentions it equals a coal fire.
- SWPaDon
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I lit my coal furnace yesterday also. It never got above 51 outside, and the house was getting rather chilly. 62 outside currently.
- Stoker6268
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Been in the 40's at night in the mid to upper 60's in the day here in central New Hampshire. Turned the oil furnace on the other night to take the chill out when it got down to 34. Supposed to be a nice warm week of 70's coming up.
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I'm waiting until Halloween this year. Starting earlier is a waste of coal, for me. Oct. is cheaper to burn oil at current prices.
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i honestly don't expect to have to light up till the second week of Nov. here.
that's about the norm. it has been the week of Thanksgiving many times.
if I was having to heat at this time on a regular basis i'd already be further south for sure.
that's about the norm. it has been the week of Thanksgiving many times.
if I was having to heat at this time on a regular basis i'd already be further south for sure.
For oil to be cheaper than coal to burn for me the price would have to be under a buck a gallon.scalabro wrote:I'm waiting until Halloween this year. Starting earlier is a waste of coal, for me. Oct. is cheaper to burn oil at current prices.
- CoalHeat
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No!!! Not yet!!! It's too soon!!!
- 2001Sierra
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1 more month Padre's. 10/2014. I due have a real excuse going to Nascar race around 10/8 in Charlotte and then a short trip to Florida to spread Mom and Dad's ashes where they enjoyed their later years in Florida.