The Shakedown

 
HillStreet
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Location: Maine
Hand Fed Coal Stove: DS EnergyMax 160
Coal Size/Type: Nut/Anthacite
Other Heating: Radiant in floor

Post by HillStreet » Fri. Feb. 12, 2016 7:42 pm

The DS EnergyMax 160 really heats the house nice, sometime it is too warm. It burns fine all night but I come close to losing it in the morning.

I open combustion air, open the damper, and open the ash pan door. Maybe I open everything too much because it does not seem to liven up much, perhaps it might begin to go out. Can I open it up too much?

Then I shake the grates quickly but in short strokes. The coals go down and there is a red glow in the ash pan. Then I add coal slowly, and it takes quite a while to get full again but it does turn out good.

There are dead spots in the coal bed--- very difficult to remove because glowing coals are hot, and too much shaking will put the fire out. How do I deal with dead spots? Thanks.


 
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Rich W.
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vermont Castings Vigilant Multi-Fuel (coal for me); Vermont Castings Vigilant 2310 in the shop
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Other Heating: System 2000 Oil Burner; VC Resolute Woodstove (sold) Jotul 8 Woodstove (sold)

Post by Rich W. » Fri. Feb. 12, 2016 7:47 pm

Try putting some coal on before the full shakedown to re-establish the hot fire before you drop the ash. Then you'll have a better staring point for the new load.

 
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blrman07
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Post by blrman07 » Fri. Feb. 12, 2016 7:58 pm

Fill before you shake. Fill then open the ash door for about 10 minutes. Get the new coal going good, then deash.

 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Fri. Feb. 12, 2016 7:59 pm

Ya might want to poke the edges of the fire box--sounds like ash building up. I know w/ my HITZER I been idling a lot & that will let it build up. :)

 
Candyman
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Post by Candyman » Sat. Feb. 13, 2016 5:16 am

I was having the same thing with my Chubby stove, seems I wasn't cleaning the ash out properly and letting the coal get to low. Now with the colder weather I'm tending it three times a day and letting the fire got hot before shaking and reloading. Everything is fine now, I also added coal before shaking when it was real low to help get it going good.

 
HillStreet
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: DS EnergyMax 160
Coal Size/Type: Nut/Anthacite
Other Heating: Radiant in floor

Post by HillStreet » Sat. Feb. 13, 2016 5:19 pm

Candyman wrote:I was having the same thing with my Chubby stove, seems I wasn't cleaning the ash out properly and letting the coal get to low. Now with the colder weather I'm tending it three times a day and letting the fire got hot before shaking and reloading. Everything is fine now, I also added coal before shaking when it was real low to help get it going good.
Yeah Candyman,

I might be waiting too long to tend it; sometimes 16 hours. I am pretty attentive, but I don't live there yet so time does get away.

 
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davidmcbeth3
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Sun. Feb. 14, 2016 2:49 pm

Usually dead spots = clinkers & ash

When the fire is low, dig that area out.

Use caution, its hot !

A little messy job...


 
HillStreet
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: DS EnergyMax 160
Coal Size/Type: Nut/Anthacite
Other Heating: Radiant in floor

Post by HillStreet » Sun. Feb. 14, 2016 5:46 pm

davidmcbeth3 wrote:Usually dead spots = clinkers & ash

When the fire is low, dig that area out.

Use caution, its hot !

A little messy job...
Thanks all for your responses. I learned that I should tend on a regular frequency, 10 to 12 hours. I will open up the stove, load new coal, then shake down when it is burning well. That should work.

 
coalder
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Post by coalder » Sun. Feb. 14, 2016 7:06 pm

Before ya load & shake, poke & rake the hell out of it. That will make the ash settle so when ya shake szhitz will happen. My Harman is very reluctant to respond just to shaking. Ifn there were laws against stove abuse, I'd be in for life!! :D
Jim

 
corey
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Post by corey » Sun. Feb. 14, 2016 7:45 pm

I agree about the poker I use my L shaped poker to grind some of the ash before dropping them

 
Waswood
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Post by Waswood » Sun. Feb. 14, 2016 8:43 pm

I also have the DS 160 . I also had problems with mine but have found a method that works for me. I tend every 12 hrs if poss sometimes it goes 16 hrs if I'm working a lot. I was having dead spots and would lose the fire after about a week . Here's what I do now. Shake with short fast strokes about 15x then about every other day ( or 1x a day if you want) I take a poker and posh it to the grates at the front of the stove and push it directly on the grates to the back of the stove then pull it out . I make 3 passes 1 on each side and 1 down the middle. This is getting the fine ash loose so you can get better air through . If not it over ashes and get the dead spots until it's all dead. Then I add coal and shake again 10-15x . You will get a lot more ash with this shakedown. I give it a few sec to let the dust clear then open and remove ash pan and dump. At this point I'm usually in a hury so I leave a small area with hot coals showing and close up . That's prob not the best but it works for me. If you have time leave the ash pan door open as well as the door cracked until you get flames before closing up. There's a lot of debate about the bio damper with these style stoves but I can tell you I added 1 to mine and my burns are very even ( quite a bit more then before the bio) On warm days I can go 24 hrs between tendings. Extreme cold 12 hrs easy. Actually I'm just getting home from work now and it's been about 14 hrs and still a nice hot coal bed. Today's high was 19. I'm no coal burning expert but I think they could use grates with a little larger holes to get more ash out with just a shakedown. 1 more thing I leave my top air almost closed. The only reason it's open a little is to help keep the glass clean but it still dust up over time.

 
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davidmcbeth3
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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Mon. Feb. 15, 2016 11:52 pm

blrman07 wrote:Fill before you shake. Fill then open the ash door for about 10 minutes. Get the new coal going good, then deash.
Not really a good suggestion IMO for 2 reasons. only my 2 cents mind you but I my opinions are strong in this post..

First, filling before you shake just makes it harder to shake and puts stress on the shaker system that it really was not designed for.

Second, forget to close that ash door and we know the dangers and catastrophic risk associated with doing so. Who knows you may get a telephone call that Auntie Em just died and you then forget.

Shake then add coal ... does not take long for heat to get back up and running (unless you really have only a few hot coals left).

 
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blrman07
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Post by blrman07 » Tue. Feb. 16, 2016 7:02 am

This comes down to personal preference. Like James Bond wanted his drinks "Shaken, not stirred." :D

Try both ways and see which works best for you. I believe the key here is decrease the gap between the tending times no matter which method you use.

 
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Rich W.
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Other Heating: System 2000 Oil Burner; VC Resolute Woodstove (sold) Jotul 8 Woodstove (sold)

Post by Rich W. » Tue. Feb. 16, 2016 4:18 pm

Re..."forget to close that ash door and we know the dangers and catastrophic risk associated with doing so. "

I ALWAYS have a countdown timer with me when loading/reloading a stove. I cycle it through a ten minute countdown over and over again, looking in on the progress each time the alarm sounds, until the stove is set to cruise control.

I have done this for many years, and have never had a runaway stove situation. Unless you are sitting right next to your stove through the entire reload process, I HIGHLY recommend this or some other tactic to stay connected to the fire.

Before "phones" had this timer feature, I used my cheap Casio watch with the countdown timer to do the reminding.

 
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lowfog01
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Post by lowfog01 » Tue. Feb. 16, 2016 4:43 pm

I used to add coal, shake and leave the ash door open until the blue ladies were dancing but I don't do that anymore. I always set a timer I pinned to my shirt or hung around my neck but my new way makes that unnecessary.

Now about 30 mins before I'm going to shake I open the air valve a little and add fresh coal. Then I go do something else like make lunches or get ready for work. After 30 mins I'll come back and shake. The coal I added has warmed up and the influx of air due to the shaking lets the fire take off. I very rarely see the blue ladies dancing but the stove front thermometer and the glow in the ashpan tells me the fire is just fine and will recover quickly. I close the air valve to the desired setting and go about my business. I know longer worry about leaving the ashpan door open.

It's been working well for me this year. Lisa


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