First Year Coal User. Question About Maximum Heat Possibili

First I would like to thank everyone for all of the great discussions. I have been actively reading for a month on this site. I have learned so much, but still have a few questions. I am really new at this coal stove stuff. First year with one. I have a DS circulator 1300 I believe is the model #. It's rated for 1200sf. We have a small 2 br house which is under that footage. I got the stove new this February after we purchased this house. I had a hard time getting it figured it for the first few days but eventually read enough posts and got that part down pat. Only had to lite it 2x so far. It went out the second day on me as I was afraid to fill it up or get it going too hard due to all of the runaway stories and ppl saying how hard it is to get them to shut down if out of control. With that said, now I just have to learn the ins and outs of these weird warm/cold spells. I live in Kentucky and the weather is so weird this year. 70 degrees one day and 20 the next. This week it's been running 20-30 at night and 45-50 in the day. I seem to be going through a lot of coal it seems. I have not calculated I out but likely averaging 1.5 40# bag per day. That seems like a lot. Possibly I am not getting the most heat extracted from the stove. I have read forums about pipe dampers. Some say yes, some say no... depends on who you ask it seems. Lol. At any rate, I am keeping the stove top around 300-325 degrees usually. Which seems about half of the possible output. Stove pipe seems to be 175 just above the output and around 120 before it exits at the chimney. Pipe temps measured with a infrared thermometer on the outside of the pipe. I have tried the MOd at around half closed and full open. Neither seem to really make a difference. I don't have a draft gauge, however when we were putting the pipe together the chimney would pull a piece of tissue and suck it inward if you held it up to the opening. So it does have a good draft going. Is there a way to gain more heat by doing something different and using less coal? Or are my coal amounts about right for this location and weather? I am open to suggestions or comments, even if someone says I'm doing it right and that's a good number. Just looking for some general advice . Thanks in advance. Also, I believe I'm using what's called it coal. The bags say franklin anthracite on them and don't have a size listed. The pieces range from quarter to half dollar with some larger and smaller. Smallest being nickel size and largest being gold ball size possibly.

I'll let those that have your stove help you more, but yes, you are using a lot of coal. I would guess you should be at around 30 +/- a couple pounds a day with those temps. I use 60 pounds on a -10 degree day with a LOT of wind here on the prairie. Im keeping about 1000 sq ft at 75 degrees and another 400 sq ft in the 60 degree range. You have a lot of heat going up your chimney the way it sounds. Hang on for more advice from others.

Ok. Thanks for the reply. I was guessing I needed to get more heat but I don't know how. And the size is nut coal. I found a typo in my original post.

I would think that the coal usage appears normal ... if its averaged as stated ... last couple if weeks have been weird ... windows to the rescue ! (Not Gate's Windows that don'tz)

It also depends on the temp desired to be reached.

If you are OK with 70 v 74 .. you'll conserve alot IMO ...

Right now I am heating hot ... to keep temp at 72-74 ... paying for that in coal .. but that's what its there for.

My D.S. 1600 Circulator: I have all but 2 holes plugged in my over fire air vents. Drop bolts in the holes to adjust over fire air. Install a Barometric Damper. Set it at -.04. No Hopper. I pulled my hopper out. Seems to run much nicer with the hopper out. Try it. Give us feed back.

You are burning more coal than me, and I have nearly twice the sq. footage much farther North. Something does not seem right.

Is your stove installed in the living area, or in the basement?

With 120* at the thimble,i don't see how anyone can claim that there is heat going up the chimney.
What condition are the windows & doors,how well built is the house,is it insulated or just a tin covered frame ?

If all else fails, maybe he should try some different coal. I heard some horror stories about that Franklin coal a few years ago.

Rob R. wrote:If all else fails, maybe he should try some different coal. I heard some horror stories about that Franklin coal a few years ago.

Could it be half charcoal ?

The house is single level. It is 2 rooms wide and 3 rooms long if that makes sense. Living room, kitchen, and then back room on one side. Then on the right is a bedroom, bathroom, bedroom on the right. Bathroom and bedroom are the same length as the kitchen in comparison to the left side. And that backroom is a rectangle that spans the distance across the whole backside of the house with a door way on each side that enters the kitchen and back bedroom. Each side of the house has straight view of the back room. The stove is in the back room. I have a box fan strapped to the ceiling blowing hot air through the kitchen and straight to the living room. That works really well honestly. You can stand in the living room and feel warm air being pushed towards you. It started out on the floor but was only pushing cold air. It looks a little jacked up but it works. Windows are single glass old style windows. Somewhat leaky. Roof has nice blown in insulation. Walls are unknown. House built in the 50's.

If your walls are like ours were (same vintage house) they may have 1" foil backed insulation that doesn't hold up well to mice! We also had single pane windows for the first winter here that were very drafty - gusty winds could make the sheer curtains move! Our attic insulation was poor too. All that added up to running the Mark III BTTW that first winter and using the most coal in the 25 years we lived here. At that time we had 900 sq ft first floor and 900sqft basement, stove was in basement. After rehabbing and upgrading insulation, windows & doors in the original house and a couple additions later we are now heating twice the sqft with same amount of coal.

The description of the coal seems small to me to be 'nut' size. The smaller size may lower your heat output compared to more regular 'nut' size. Others with the same stove may have some tips for you on getting more efficiency out of it.

It's hard to see the size in the picture. But that's the coal. And stove also. Excuse the back room. We just moved in about 1.5 weeks ago and this is non living area for the most part and we haven't done anything in here yet. Same as last person left it.

I just rough measured the house real quick and it's around 1075-1100sf.

I'd remove the air conditioner out of the window as a first step.

the clay thimble you have your pipe going into is that sealed off from suckin room air up the chimeney , and the coal looks a bit smallish . [range coal ] and franklin is or was blashack if I recall .are you keeping fire box up to just below the top of the fire bricks ? how are the gaskets on the entire stove ? one dollar bill test may be needed. does not matter if its new or not it may have sat a long time or just shitty craftmen ship where do you have your regulator set and do you leave it alone once you have it up to where you are comfortable.are you poking the fire or just shaking ? what is your tending schedule there is a lot to look at here !!!that stove should do more than what you are getting out of it and that is a lot of coal as the guys have said .