Hitzer 503 Installation Photos

One of our members davemich has a 503. He discovered that his coal use was lower if he only shook the stove once a day.. he has a lot of draft, and even with the Hitzer supplied restrictor, he found that letting the ash accumulation act like a draft restriction helped reduce his coal consumption..

Every instalation is different. So this method may not work or be needed with your stove,, but it's an idea and method to share.. Dave was able to save about 1/2 a bag a day on coal use. [if I remember correctly].

Take care,, Greg L

During my short run .. that lasted 2 days, I noticed that only when I closed the flue damper (Hitzer supplied) and cut down on the ash pan air did the unit start to pump put the heat.

With my first (minor) experience behind me, I’m going to wait till the weather is going to be consistently cool before I try and re-light for and extended burn.

Jafadog, I’m very interested and hearing how the hopper worked and what the coal consumption is during your extended burn, please keep us posted.

Tom

tfaath.. this is what a barometric damper is designed to do,, reduce the air flow through the stove,, and keep the heat in the stove longer so it can heat the stove body, and the house..

Unfortunately with an insert it is very difficult if not impossible to install a barometric damper, so the Hitzer inserts have a restrictor, which helps, but if the draft is really strong, it still lets a lot of heat up the chimney..

We have to install our stoves within the restrictions of our house, life style, available chimneys, and spouse's approval.. so there are often compromises with an install or with the choosen stove..

The Hitzer 503 is a great stove, if one would fit in my family room fireplace I'd put one in, even though I have hot water heat, I like a radiant heat source near me in the winter.. and my family room [TV and Computer room] would be much more comfortable with a coal insert radiating heat..

Greg L

FYI - Dean @ hitzer advised me last month that the restrictor should be fully closed pretty much all the time - he has a unit in his house and says he never changes it.

Excellent info gents on how to get the best out of the 503 - Hitzer would do well to collate all the info on this thread and related ones for inclusion in their sparse user manual. Then again there would be no fun in figuring it out via the generous contributions on this forum.

84 degrees inside JafaDog ! now that's some serious warmth !

VB

Greg,

I agree, and I’d love to install a barometric damper. Unfortunately with an insert, it’s almost impossible, there’s just not enough room. We had a difficult time getting the 6 in oval portion of the flue pipe past the fireplace damper.

I am amazed, with the unit. I obviously don’t have much experience with it yet, but for the first time in years, I’m actually looking forward to the cooler weather. I think this unit is going to keep the whole house nice and warm. It will be the first time in years my wife and I won’t be discussing the temperature setting.

One issue that does concern me about any supplemental heating system is getting some moisture into the air. With my furnace (hot air system) I have an April Air unit that keeps the moisture under control all winter long. I’ll have to investigate how well the system distributes the air through the house when only the fan is on. Usually, air distribution systems don’t perform very well unless they have a hot air source (furnace) connected directly to them.


Tom

FYI - Dean @ hitzer advised me last month that the restrictor should be fully closed pretty much all the time - he has a unit in his house and says he never changes it.

Good to know! I thought perhaps as much. I ran mine with it wide open during startup for max draft and then closed it to about 1/3 open (probably about 1/2 of the flue open). Right now it's all the way in (which is probably about 1/3 of the flue open). It's hard to judge how much you're opening the flue up since it's all the way open when pulled all the way out but probably only 1/3 open when pushed in all the way. Some markings on the rod would have been nice. I might actually use a ruler and a pencil to divide the rod up into quarters between fully out and fully in and figure out exactly how much flue each mark corresponds to. Then again, if Dean says run it closed most of the time, why bother?

Excellent info gents on how to get the best out of the 503 - Hitzer would do well to collate all the info on this thread and related ones for inclusion in their sparse user manual. Then again there would be no fun in figuring it out via the generous contributions on this forum.

Yeah, the Hitzer manual isn't the greatest. There are typos (minor), and it doesn't cover certain things. And the diagrams (sketches? drawings?) are serviceable but certainly not the prettiest things. I've seen worse, though. A friend of mine just bought a Leisure Line Pioneer (are you reading this, Jerry?) and no where in the manual does it say what size coal to burn--at least not that I was able to find. My friend was convinced that the installer had told him it burns pea. He was actually planning on buying three tons of pea this week! I had to literally show him on the Leisure Line forum on this site that it's supposed to burn rice. Now we all know that most stokers burn rice, but the manual doesn't actually state that. But almost every page has dire warnings about carbon monoxide dangers, etc. Granted, that's important. But knowing what size coal it's supposed to burn is important too, especially for newbies.

84 degrees inside JafaDog ! now that's some serious warmth !

Too much warmth! It's 46* outside right now, and it's a toasty 78* in the living room where the stove is and still 70-72* in the bedrooms on the far end of the house (farthest from the stove). It's just idling at this point. The blowers have been off since 5:30 this morning, the restrictor is all the way in, and the ash pan damper is about 1/8 open. If this continues, it'll probably last 4-5 days on the two bags of coal I used to fire/load it up. Well, maybe not that long. But I doubt I'll use much of a third bag. The hard part will be knowing when to stop loading so that it won't burn into the warmer weather forecasted for next week. Last time I didn't use the hopper, and it took over 24 hours for it to stop burning.

I also have maybe 1/4 of a bag of partially burned coal from my last burn that I wanted to try and mix in this time around. I was planning on mixing it in 50/50 with fresh coal. I might not get the chance, though. I think it will get warmer outside before I can use it. What will probably end up happening is that I'll have another batch of partially burned coal sitting around. Oh well. I'm sure I'll have an opportunity to use it soon enough.

tfaath wrote:
One issue that does concern me about any supplemental heating system is getting some moisture into the air.

We're going to use humidifiers in the bedrooms and the old-fashioned cast iron tea kettle on the 503. Hopefully, that will be sufficient. They actually make 1/2 tea kettles for inserts--it's basically cut in half vertically down the center and designed to be placed with the "flat" half against the surround. Cool, but it cuts the capacity in half as well.

A friend of mine just bought a Leisure Line Pioneer (are you reading this, Jerry?) and no where in the manual does it say what size coal to burn

I have an older L.L. stove and manual and it states what size coal to use in the specs and also on a sticker on the hopper lid. Maybe they have changed but I'll bet it is there.

I have an older L.L. stove and manual and it states what size coal to use in the specs and also on a sticker on the hopper lid. Maybe they have changed but I'll bet it is there.

You're right, Rick. On page 18 of the manual (PDF version) where the specs and clearances are listed, it does say "Fuel: Rice Coal." We must have missed it. Still, six of the 21 pages mention installing a CO detector. You'd think there would be more mention of the fuel size other than on that one page. My friend must've missed the hopper lid sticker as well. Overall, the LL manual is fine, I think. Very descriptive and thorough. I especially like the "End of Season Maintenance" section--very useful! I was just using it as an example of how user manuals can fall a little short in some areas (as Hitzer's does).

This is like getting a graduate degree at Anthracite U. The forum is great!!

Makes you wonder how we we ever made due before the Internet and the World Wide Web.

JafaDog,

How is your extended burn going ...

Tom

How is your extended burn going ...

So far, so good. I used about two 40-lb. bags to start it and fill the hopper. I've opened a third bag and used maybe five pounds of that to mix 50-50 with the partially-burned stuff I had left over from the last burn. I just put some of that mix in the hopper--we'll see how it burns. I think it's going to be a while before it gets down to the burning layer. Probably at least a day or more.

The hopper system is working fine. I thought the coal might flow over the firebrick under the door, but it doesn't due to the fact that the hopper is slanted towards the back. A few small pieces of coal sometimes make their way on top of the firebrick, but it's easy enough to flick them back onto the pile. The hopper design is pretty ingenious, really.

I've shaken the grates twice and emptied the ash pan once (although I didn't really have to yet). I left the ash pan damper at about 1/4 open overnight and left the blowers on. Room temps were fine (75*+ in the room where the stove is; 70-72* in the other rooms). The bed of burning coal underneath is glowing strong. Stove temps on the side magnetic thermometer are reading 120-150* most of the time.

The wind is supposed to pick up this afternoon (gusts up to 34 MPH). I've been leaving the restrictor all the way in except for a few minutes before I shake/load. During that period I've been opening the restrictor and the ash pan damper up all the way to get things going before shaking/loading. After that I close them down (restrictor all the way in; ash pan damper at 1/4 open).

It got down to 38* last night, and it's currently 45* outside. Things are looking good. When the really cold weather hits, I'm guessing I'll have to open the ash pan damper to 1/2 open or more to compensate. But preliminary indications are excellent that I'll be able to heat the entire house with the 503. Today I'm installing two small (24") ceiling fans on either end the hallway where there are currently two globe lights. That should help circulate the warm air better (or at least keep it from collecting on the ceiling of the hallway where it can't make its way into the bedrooms).

Jeff,

Many thanks for a great report as usual, the quality and detail is outstanding. Sounds like you’re cruising along.

During my test burn, I never got to the point of filling the hopper. Sounds like the 503 is a outstanding heater.

The Temp down here in central CT was cool last evening but not enough to warrant lighting the 503. Temp only got down to the upper 40’s and the house never got below 68 deg. I still have some time before the heating season begins.

Keep us informed, and again, many thanks for your report.

Tom

tfaath wrote:Many thanks for a great report as usual, the quality and detail is outstanding. Sounds like you’re cruising along.

Tom I Notice You Are From Ct Also. Just Wondering Where You Got Your 503. I Have One On Order From Preston Outpost Hitzer Told Me It Is Being Shiped The Week Of Oct 20th I Have My Fingers Crossed Hopeing To Have By The End Of This Month.Also If You Don't Mind Me Asking Where Is Your Source For Coal As I Am Having Trouble Finding A Reliable Source Myself
Thanks
Rick