Tending DS Machine Energymax 160

scalabro wrote:Why do you shake with the load door open?

Just convenience I guess, just open it all up.

HillStreet wrote:Now that sounds tricky. Should I be doing that?

Maybe, it certainly wouldn't hurt to try. I can't imagine why you would need to do a clean out every few days other than the coal bed is becoming ash bound. The heaving technique may just be what it needs to evacuate the ash a little better and more consistently. I do the heaving technique a little different now with the stove size coal than I did with the nut size. I use a 4 foot section of rebar. Just jab the front at a steep angle then lift by using a levering motion, work front to back, then shake again.

We still don't know exactly what the draft is doing. Have you considered installing a manometer?

What brand of coal are you using? Are you sure it's good coal? I had a delivery a few years ago that created a lot of debris at the bottom of the fuel bed. It was like shale, rocks and clinkers. I had to do a clean out once a month because it would accumulate over time. But I can't imagine this would be the problem you are having over a few days time.

It sounds like bad coal to me.

where is jremington ??

something is screwy with all this.

corey wrote:It sounds like bad coal to me.

Coal is Blashacks, bought at a hardware store a few bags at a time.

I've been following this, and it sounds like you are dumping your fire. That means shaking too much. Only shake until you see 2 or 3 embers fall into the pan.

HillStreet wrote:

Lightning wrote:What I do in the video is a "heaving" technique. I try to lift the coal which agitates and makes room for more ash to fall towards the grates, then shake again afterwards. I'm careful not to stir or mix ash into the healthy burning coal.

Now that sounds tricky. Should I be doing that?

If you do, give it LOTS of air from the ash pit door afterwards. I have done the heaving in both my Harman and my DS Machine stoves -- but I don't have to do it often. It could easily kill the fire in the Harman where there was only a few inches of unburned coal remaining. Not so much a problem in the DSM with hopper because the coal bed is always deep.

Is it possible that too much air is somehow bypassing the coal bed? Does the stove have any of those cast-iron firebrick substitutes that make an air channel from the ash pit to above the fire?

Pictures (link below), from Messick Stove's web site, show two cast iron air input louvers that appear to direct air to several inches above the grates instead of the normal under-the-grates location. Good for wood burning, not so good for coal??? Is there another path under the grates for input air? Maybe try blocking the air channels through these louvers and make all the air (except secondary tubes) come from under the grates.

Also the pictures/descriptions show a double passage behind the right-side firebricks to channel the flue gasses before they go out the stove pipe when the damper is closed. Are you usually running with the damper closed? Is this channel maybe plugged with ash, so that your CHIMNEY has great draft but the fire does not?

In general it looks like the stove is optimized for wood burning, at least as shown on the Messick web site. Have you tried calling DS Machine and describing your problem to them? Maybe they would have suggestions.

http://www.messickstove.com/products/ds-machine-stoves--furn ... to-20.html

rberq wrote:Pictures (link below), from Messick Stove's web site, show two cast iron air input louvers that appear to direct air to several inches above the grates instead of the normal under-the-grates location. Good for wood burning, not so good for coal??? Is there another path under the grates for input air? Maybe try blocking the air channels through these louvers and make all the air (except secondary tubes) come from under the grates

I couldn't see from the description, any place for 'under fire air' unless the ash door is left open, and the regulator opening closed.

Air will take the path of least resistance, so unless those louvers are completely covered with coal, no air will get under the grates where it's needed if the regulator flap is open.

The Hitzer has the same type of inlet...
on the 82 and 55...
There is a thread about a rebuild of a Riteway...
Apparently every body is using that as a starting block...
And it burns coal well...
the stove has a bypass mode and direct mode...
it will eat coal in direct mode, up and out...
Lite reading on how to engage the bypass mode will yield longer burn times...

the hitzer 82...
McGiever @ QUESTION 2: Hitzer 82FA Lowest Setting on Bimetallic Damper
KingCoal @ DS Anthramax?
teardown good discussion of similar issue...
CapeCoaler @ Tell Me What to Do, Please
Riteway manual...
KingCoal @ Riteway Brochure and User Manual

Do a search for riteway...
What is old is new again...

stove link...
Lots of pics...
http://www.messickstove.com/products/ds-machine-stoves--furnaces/wood--coal-stoves/energymax-extreme-160/index.html

rberq wrote:Pictures (link below), from Messick Stove's web site, show two cast iron air input louvers that appear to direct air to several inches above the grates instead of the normal under-the-grates location. Good for wood burning, not so good for coal??? Is there another path under the grates for input air? Maybe try blocking the air channels through these louvers and make all the air (except secondary tubes) come from under the grates.

Also the pictures/descriptions show a double passage behind the right-side firebricks to channel the flue gasses before they go out the stove pipe when the damper is closed. Are you usually running with the damper closed? Is this channel maybe plugged with ash, so that your CHIMNEY has great draft but the fire does not?

In general it looks like the stove is optimized for wood burning, at least as shown on the Messick web site. Have you tried calling DS Machine and describing your problem to them? Maybe they would have suggestions.

http://www.messickstove.com/products/ds-machine-stoves--furn ... to-20.html

those louvers are correctly positioned, they feed pre heated air straight into the fire bed. the design and function goes way back to the RiteWay days.

people who burned wood in them generally turned them over, facing up.

steve

rberq wrote:Pictures (link below), from Messick Stove's web site, show two cast iron air input louvers that appear to direct air to several inches above the grates instead of the normal under-the-grates location. Good for wood burning, not so good for coal??? Is there another path under the grates for input air? Maybe try blocking the air channels through these louvers and make all the air (except secondary tubes) come from under the grates.

Also the pictures/descriptions show a double passage behind the right-side firebricks to channel the flue gasses before they go out the stove pipe when the damper is closed. Are you usually running with the damper closed? Is this channel maybe plugged with ash, so that your CHIMNEY has great draft but the fire does not?

In general it looks like the stove is optimized for wood burning, at least as shown on the Messick web site. Have you tried calling DS Machine and describing your problem to them? Maybe they would have suggestions.

http://www.messickstove.com/products/ds-machine-stoves--furn ... to-20.html

Thanks rberg,

I am in the process of cleaning the stove now. My wife is helping (thank God for her as I have a bad shoulder--in therapy). I will take photos tomorrow or within a few days. The stove pipe had some ash in it, I'll take a photo of that pile too.

You're right about the fresh air cast iron intakes, I will also examine them for cleanliness. I run the stove with the manual damper closed, and am pretty confident that there is sufficient combustion air.

KingCoal wrote:

rberq wrote:Pictures (link below), from Messick Stove's web site, show two cast iron air input louvers that appear to direct air to several inches above the grates instead of the normal under-the-grates location. Good for wood burning, not so good for coal??? Is there another path under the grates for input air? Maybe try blocking the air channels through these louvers and make all the air (except secondary tubes) come from under the grates.

Also the pictures/descriptions show a double passage behind the right-side firebricks to channel the flue gasses before they go out the stove pipe when the damper is closed. Are you usually running with the damper closed? Is this channel maybe plugged with ash, so that your CHIMNEY has great draft but the fire does not?

In general it looks like the stove is optimized for wood burning, at least as shown on the Messick web site. Have you tried calling DS Machine and describing your problem to them? Maybe they would have suggestions.

http://www.messickstove.com/products/ds-machine-stoves--furn ... to-20.html

those louvers are correctly positioned, they feed pre heated air straight into the fire bed. the design and function goes way back to the RiteWay days.

people who burned wood in them generally turned them over, facing up.

steve

Thanks Steve.