Reducing Grate Area for Spring Burning

Devil5052 wrote:Then my Harman wouldn't work that way since there are no end tabs to rest on. The entire bottom of my stove are movable grates.

The entire bottom of the Vigilant is also movable grates. It the flat tabs that let it work okay. The bricks move a little bit up and down toward the back of the stove. That's why I will cut some plate steel to set over them. I could pull the grates out from under the plates but I'll probably keep them in the stove and let the ash move as far as it might as it's no big deal. Keeping them in the stove will also prevent me from loosing them and hunting them down next fall

VigIIPeaBurner wrote:

Devil5052 wrote:Then my Harman wouldn't work that way since there are no end tabs to rest on. The entire bottom of my stove are movable grates.

The entire bottom of the Vigilant is also movable grates. It the flat tabs that let it work okay. The bricks move a little bit up and down toward the back of the stove. That's why I will cut some plate steel to set over them. I could pull the grates out from under the plates but I'll probably keep them in the stove and let the ash move as far as it might as it's no big deal. Keeping them in the stove will also prevent me from loosing them and hunting them down next fall

OK...Got ya now. I'll have to look at my stove when I clean it out. Don't know how much room I have before the "teeth" come into play on the shaker grates.

If you're somewhat handy with metal, you could build a new "connecting rod" for your Harman. I patterned my stove after the Mark III. I just have two different pieces that I can choose from to connect my grates together. One has 3 holes, shaking all 3 grates. The other has 2 holes, letting the back grate sit still while shaking. I stack firebrick as high as I can on the back grate.

Actually, since I built my own grates, I don't actually have two different connecting rods. I just pull the pin that attaches the grate to the connector, and I can use one, two, or three grates. Right now I'm using only 1 grate. During January, I use two grates. I have not found it necessary to use all 3 grates ever.

Steinke

I have been looking at my MarkII. It is the newer style single glass window, about 3 years old. It seems there is enough of a lip at the base of the firebrick to support a frame that would support additional vertical firebrick and a plate to block air flow in the void behind them. It would have enough bottom clearance for the shaker grates to fully rock. The top would be supported to prevent the brick from falling into the void. It would also drop in and hang so it could be easily removed and adjusted by using different sized steel plate on the bottom to block air flow. The coal bed would be centered so a left and right set would be made. I like the idea of a reduced sized coal bed for spring and fall use, do not want to be burning wood with the resulting creosote issues if at all possible.

CapeCoaler wrote: I like the idea of a reduced sized coal bed for spring and fall use, do not want to be burning wood with the resulting creosote issues if at all possible.

This is what started me on the idea of a smaller temporary fire box. First thought of reinstalling the air restricter plate on the Vigilant to be able to burn wood in airtight mode. I had a wood fired Defiant for many years and when the summer humidity settled in, it just plain stank! Remembering that changed my mind. This is so much less work than wood and a lot cleaner.

Okay, I'm a confirmed kunkel head. Who else would be thinking about burning coal when it's supposed to be a record 97 F day here in NW NJ. Maybe it's because I got the central air working yesterday and now it's nice and cool in here sitting next to the stove Damn mouse built a huge nest in the service box of the AC compressor, chewed the insulation off the wires and their urine dissolved the thermostat wire away. Spent a few hours rewiring and I'm back in the cool.

I did work this out back in mid May. Just got around to putting the clips together into a WMA file. I think I remember reading in Richard's info that WMA is supported and if I'm wrong, I'll pull it down. If you watch it, don't view it maximized as I didn't realize that I had the camera set at low resolution. It gets the point across. The video is shot from the front with the two doors open. The Vigilant II is a top loader (see earlier top-down shot) so the front doors are only used for maintenance.

The burn did work and I kept it going for a week or so before it got too hot to bother with it. The fire is so small, I never close the internal damper to keep it drafting. No CO was reported on the monitor that's along side the stove. This size fire was good for 50F nights but not big enough when it dipped closer to 40F. It's modular so I can play with the volume as needed.

Thank you for that video peaburner. I'll be burning Powder River bit in my recently purchased vigilant II pretty soon if this weather continues. Seems like we will be having an early winter in this part of the country. I have a coal insert upstairs and the new vigilant in the basement.

I think this is pretty interesting because the hitzer 82 has two separate shaker grates that operate independently of each other. I could stack brick on one side, and use one grate relatively easily it seems. This is good because i think the 82 may be a bit big for my house.

Here's mine. Works really well. 2nd image has plate slid forward with firebrick setting on top. This is the setup I prefer and I use it twice in a season.

just burn wood.
i have the same stove, i burn wood from mid oct to dec 1 and than about 3rd wk of april or when the coal runs out, that's why i have a cord of wood every year.

I hear ya, nuthead. Do you put the reducer plate back in or do you burn bit? I always have a cord, give or take, ready to go. I've got about another 2/3 of a cord standing dead, or near so, in the woods now. Just waiting for the leaves to fall and sap to drop. I did burn wood on both ends of the season for the first year a while back. It had two drawbacks for me.

One: I'm not home to keep the wood fire up in the small firebox of the Vigilant. I don't have to restart the coal fire like I did the wood. Burning coal allows me to tend it once a day, maybe a little top off with a small shovel or so, running the way the video shows the set up.

Two: going from wood to coal is okay. Going out of the season from coal to wood creates the second point. Shutting down the system after the warmth of spring sets with creosote in the stove system eventually causes an odor problem. The stove is in the main living area and once the hot humidity arrives and penetrates everything, the odor is prevalent. Especial if there isn't a breeze. Not a problem if I burn the smaller thick fire in the spring. Every summer the Defiant let us know it was there for us

I got a little anxious to see how the rebuilt stove, new coal, etc. would work. Plus, I was thinking about this thread, since it's been a bit of a challenge to add a little heat in the fall and spring.

Last night I added four full size fire brick to my fire box and touched her off. These bricks, sit right on the grates, so jump up and down when being shook, but .... seems to work O.K.. The fire made it through the night fine.

i think im gonna try that when my chimney gets built, should be done mid october. (it will probably be cool enough for a full fire by then!) i also have a russo but i think its bigger than yours. we tried making a smaller fire in our stove at our hunting cabin and had some luck but it needs to be fine tuned. its a surdiac so its got a small fire box to begin with. if its burning too small it has a hard time staying lit.

how big is the grate area on the c35? mine is 18x12.

how big is the grate area on the c35? mine is 18x12.

The C-35 just took the 9" long bricks and the width seems to be about 18" (there's a fire in it ) .. so, I'd guess 9" x 18". The C-35 has two grates.

Since blocking off part of my firebox would be difficult while still being able to use my shaker grates (in my Harman TLC2000) I'm going to try this experiment the first cool night when I just want a small, cooler fire: I'm going to just fill my firebox up about 1/3rd of the normal height. I realize I'll have to add a few shovels of coal more often this way, but it'll beat coming up with a "Rube Goldberg" solution to reduce the size of my firebox. During the day, I'll throttle it down as low as I can & then bring the temp up at night again.
I'll report back my findings on how often I have to add coal & if it's worth the anxiety of keeping a fire on the edge of going out!
( This should help http://www.4thegrill.com/mavet73.html )