Still Trying to Fine Tune My D. S. Tending Skills...

I'm doing ok. Yet, I think I'm missing a trick or two. YES, still playing with the D.S. 1600 circulator. Thought I'd give it another year.

The D.S. 1600 fire box is long (deep). Not wide, like my HITZERs. The HITZER hopper drops the coal towards the back of the fire box, and it kind of rolls forward. The D.S. 1600 hopper drops the coal in the center of the fire box.

So, may I ask; What are your D.S. tending procedures? I have read the D.S. Tending post below, looking for ideas.

Sell it & get another HITZER??????????????????? ------sorry Scott!!

oliver power wrote:I'm doing ok. Yet, I think I'm missing a trick or two. YES, still playing with the D.S. 1600 circulator. Thought I'd give it another year.

The D.S. 1600 fire box is long (deep). Not wide, like my HITZERs. The HITZER hopper drops the coal towards the back of the fire box, and it kind of rolls forward. The D.S. 1600 hopper drops the coal in the center of the fire box.

so, can you expand on the issues you are having with the way the hopper feeds ?

steve

KingCoal wrote:

oliver power wrote:I'm doing ok. Yet, I think I'm missing a trick or two. YES, still playing with the D.S. 1600 circulator. Thought I'd give it another year.

The D.S. 1600 fire box is long (deep). Not wide, like my HITZERs. The HITZER hopper drops the coal towards the back of the fire box, and it kind of rolls forward. The D.S. 1600 hopper drops the coal in the center of the fire box.

so, can you expand on the issues you are having with the way the hopper feeds ?

steve

Well, lets see. Things I've noticed.......Lets start with the HITZER 50-93. The hopper drops the coal towards the back. The fresh coal rolls forward a ways, leaving a hot spot near the front. Almost like a hand fed being banked. The intense heat is out front of the hopper, directly below a finned heat exchanger. Should ash build up, it happens on the two sides. Run a poker down each side, and you're good to go. For the most part, the procedure is shake, top off hopper, and walk away. She performs well all season.

The D.S. 1600 Circulator: The hopper drops the fresh coal in the center of the coal bed. The first of the hot coals to be covered are the ones to the sides, below the heat exchanger tubes. Because the shaking needs to continue, the hot coals at the sides get covered deeper. By the time enough ash is cleared, the glowing coals in front, and back of hopper are covered. As ash continues to build behind the hopper, the hot bed of coals gets smaller.

Ash build up on the D.S. is front , and back. Not easy to run a poker along the front, and back. Today, I put a bend in my poker about 10" up from the end. My poker now has an angle in it for poking/raking at front, and back of stove grates.

My next experiment is to run the D.S. without the hopper. Dump the coal in the top, and bank it like a hand fed. With the hopper out of the way, I'd have more exposed hot coals, producing more BTU's for heat exchanger tubes to absorb. Who knows? I may be on to something.......

O P Did you try poking from the bottom up through the opening of the grates ? How much space is there from the top of your ash pan to the bottom of the grates ? Sometimes all you need is a little more air flow from the bottom. Try a poker or steel rod 1/4 " or less and make the L bend on the end so it will fit in the ash door and over the top of the ash pan to the bottom of the grate. Now you can line up an opening of the grate and push up. Three quick pokes in the front and three pokes in the back. Left, middle, right. Maybe you only would need three pokes in the center. Left, middle, right. Takes about 5 seconds from start to finish. Airflow can make a big difference in performance. Give it a shot.

buck24 wrote:O P Did you try poking from the bottom up through the opening of the grates ? How much space is there from the top of your ash pan to the bottom of the grates ? Sometimes all you need is a little more air flow from the bottom. Try a poker or steel rod 1/4 " or less and make the L bend on the end so it will fit in the ash door and over the top of the ash pan to the bottom of the grate. Now you can line up an opening of the grate and push up. Three quick pokes in the front and three pokes in the back. Left, middle, right. Maybe you only would need three pokes in the center. Left, middle, right. Takes about 5 seconds from start to finish. Airflow can make a big difference in performance. Give it a shot.

Thanks Buck24. Yes, I will give your suggestion a try. When I got rid of my Vermont Castings Vigilant, I assumed poking from underneath went with it. .............maybe not.