Hitzer 503 Hopper Decay

I have been successfully using the 503 to heat my house for the past several years and it has done a great job. Several years ago, the back of the hopper burned/melted out after several seasons of use. I don't know why this happened and I do not run the stove very hot. I replaced the hopper and things went well again for several years.

Yesterday, while getting my stove cleaned up for summer storage, I noticed the hopper was burned out again (see photo). Have other 503 users had this problem? What do you think is causing it? The only thing I can figure is that when I pushed coal into the back corners of the stove, I might be piling it up around the back part of the hopper that hangs down and therefore making it too hot. I am hesitant to change my practice because I do not want thin parts of the coal bed in the corners as this affects the evenness of the burn across the entire coal bed. Ideas welcome.

Finally, while sticking a shop-vac hose up the stainless connector pipe between stove and terra cotta flue and banging it around to get the fly ash to drop, a metal piece fell down. See two photos of this piece. [Sorry despite my best efforts, I could not get them to load right side up.] Is this something that sits in place (i.e.unwelded) to receive both the end of the manual pipe damper (MPD) and also holds the approximately 4" by 6" flat metal piece that sits under the exhaust connection? I have never seen it before and want to know what to do with it.

How My Hitzer 503 Fared W/Corrosion Issues (Not Good) !

I'm NOT crazy.

The cause? Either a) bad engineering or b) bad material

Since I am starting to have corrosion that is not contained to the hopper only but also the box (see pics in linked older thread above) ... I think its (a) myself.

The part that fell down? Better call Hitzer, It certainly is not something that's on top of the stove.

What year was your stove made? Mine was like 2007-2008 ....

The piece that fell looks like the Fire place damper....

waldo lemieux wrote:The piece that fell looks like the Fire place damper....

That may be correct ... I just took a look at mine and my damper appears to be a simple piece of plate, maybe 3/8" thick by 8" by 10"(guess) that you just push in and out to cover the stove's exhaust.. the piece pictured in the OP maybe on the end of that plate .

Although when I have it fully engaged it has never stopped the stove burning so it may not be designed to fully close the exhaust.

Looks like its replaceable ... I never had to replace that part. One of the few movable/moving parts of the stove.

An update on my hopper decay issue. I spoke with my stove guy yesterday and we concluded the hopper decay on the back portion is typical given that that is the hottest part of the stove as the exhaust passes by and up the chimney. He also thought Hitzer may be now reinforcing the bottom of their hoppers with more steel. One is being mailed to me and we shall see.

My stove guy identified the part shown in the 2nd and 3rd photos above as a bracket welded onto the back of the stove to hold the old style, rectangular baffle plate that sits into it. Without the bracket in place, it is not possible to have the baffle plate in position. I was interested to learn that Hitzer has redesigned the baffle arrangement in newer stoves. The new baffle is bigger, has a gentle bend in it, and is designed to sit on the metal bracket at the top of the rear fire bricks and then to lean forward and against the back of the hopper. [The curved part of the baffle is closest to hopper--curve is up and part that touches the hopper then effectively bends down and toward hopper]. When my new hopper arrives, I will try to position the new baffle and stove guy feels it likely will fit now that the original bracket that fell off my stove is no longer in position. See photo of old and new style baffles.

Overall conclusions are that corrosion, aided by my stove likely being too hot on occasion, contributed both to hopper decay and baffle bracket detachment.

Its clearly a design flaw IMO ... And I have reinforced the hopper's back panel with SS to no avail.

The 503 I have will eventually fail at some point in time, I am seeing corrosion with the interior of the box now that will only get worse. I'm sure I can weld material on to extend the live of the stove but it will, IMO, fail at some point in time.

I expected to get 20 yrs out of the stove but I don't think I'll see more than 10-12, at best.

davidmcbeth3 wrote:Its clearly a design flaw IMO ... And I have reinforced the hopper's back panel with SS to no avail.

The 503 I have will eventually fail at some point in time, I am seeing corrosion with the interior of the box now that will only get worse. I'm sure I can weld material on to extend the live of the stove but it will, IMO, fail at some point in time.

I expected to get 20 yrs out of the stove but I don't think I'll see more than 10-12, at best.

This is why hoppers that extend into a firebox are made of cast iron. Steel no matter the thickness will distort and burn in that environment. Either get one cast or plan on replacing it every couple of years. Take it to a local weld shop and have them make it up for you rather than ordering a new one every few years/

I received my new 503 hopper today. It does seem that Hitzer has redesigned it with more reinforcement steel on back and sides, but, more importantly, it seems like they have made it more shallow. By this I mean it does not extend down into the coal bed as deeply as before. It hangs down to the top of the side firebricks. Should protect it from melt out. See photos.

Also, the new baffle design described in an earlier post fits nicely atop the back bracket holding the rear firebricks, then leans into the back of the new hopper in a secure way. Eager to try the new setup. What happened to the cold weather?

The extra iron has no effect ... I got one and it was eaten away same as older design.

Does Hitzer understand its own stove?

Might the hopper be better protected if it does not hang down as low as before?

I took out my baffle for chimney cleaning. Now I don’t remember which way it goes back in. Anyone know if the angled part should be up/down? Doesn’t it angle toward the fire or toward the back of the stove ?