Gonna shut 'er down tonight

davemich · By: **davemich** On: Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:41 am

Well, with the weather turning mild, I decided that I'm going to shut my stove down for the season which leads me to the need for some advice. Other than cleaning the liner with a brush and vacuuming out the stove, is there any other thing I should look at doing? Someone mentioned pouring baking soda down the SS liner and replacing all the gaskets. What does eveyone here do to prepare their stove for the off season?? Thanks in advance for the advice and it has been a real pleasure talking and meeting the folks here in this informative forum. Coalman, a tip of the hat in your direction...Thanks!

Coal Dust · By: **Coal Dust** On: Mon Mar 06, 2006 3:51 pm

Hey Dave.... Just how mild does it get in Michigan in early March that you are going to it shut down completely? I haven't even finished setting mine up yet :lol:

I know what will happen with me. I will go to start up my coal stove this weekend and it will be in the 50's

My timing always did stink.

davemich · By: **davemich** On: Mon Mar 06, 2006 4:55 pm

Coal, its supposed to be 60 on Thursday. I'm almost out of coal but have 2 tons coming this week. I'll save that for next year. As far as your timing goes...not to worry. You can now look forward to next heating season!!!

AL-53 · By: **AL-53** On: Mon Mar 06, 2006 8:41 pm

Dave

If your closing up for the season...get a poly brush..clean out the chimney. Cap the chimney if possible to keep dampness from entering the stove and pipes....get a stiff natural bristle brush ..like on corn brooms and clean and Vac the inside of stove...spray it with rust preventive spray...like wd-40 or CRC rust preventive spray

I take the grates out and pack them in a oiled cloth so they won't rust up over the period of idleness.

I was told to take my stove pipe off..cap the stove and flue pipe to prevent dampness as my stove is in the basement...I spray the inside of stove with CRC rust preventive spray...

come fall everything looks like it did when I closed it down....no rust

the process takes about 1.5hours..chimney cleaning and stove prep....

the worse part of the whole job is cleaning the shop vac..as the ash dust is like talc powder and clogs the filter real good....

I am sure you will do it right...as it saves alot of time in the fall...

Al

WNY · By: **WNY** On: Tue Mar 07, 2006 12:38 pm

Supposed to be in the 50's here too by the end of the week! I have already backed it down some and will adjust accordingly. It still gets down in the 20-30's at night, it was 11 last night. So, probably keep it stoked a little while longer, maybe until end of month. I Still have a ton left of coal!

stokerstove · By: **stokerstove** On: Tue Mar 07, 2006 7:56 pm

No where near ready to shut mine down yet - around 20 degrees tonight. Maybe sometime in April. I tried cleaning my stove and coating parts w/ wd-40 but I don't do that anymore - didn't like the smoke/smell when it came time to fire it back up. After shutting the stove down I disassemble the stove, clean it well, take it the stove pipe off, clean the chimney, and leave the stove open. I keep a de-humidifier running in the basement all summer and haven't had any problems with rust.

SMITTY · By: **SMITTY** On: Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:25 pm

Just used up my last bag. That should last until mid-day tomorrow, then she'll go out. No cash to buy any more... gonna have to burn up what's left of my oil. Hopefully that makes it to the warmer weather, or things are gonna be uncomfortable here!!

Need to put a roof (and probably sheathing too) on my house, so there goes the funds for this year.... :cry:

kirk · By: **kirk** On: Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:56 pm

It's going to be 20 here tonight also. Warmer weathger predeicted by the end of the week but I'll keep burning. I'll reduce the boiler temperautre to 125-130 and the coal will idle perfectly. Can't do that with wood or even with a coal stove so easily. Boilers really are the ultimate way to utilize coal. Even heat and free domestic hot water in the process. When I used a wood boiler, you had to let it go out when it wasn't going to be cold or it would create lots of creosote. Coal really lends itself to varying rates of combustion without a negative result. I'll probably keep it burning most of this month. I've got about 1 1/4 tons left.

billka · By: **billka** On: Tue Mar 07, 2006 9:00 pm

You Guys are lucky, I have to run my stove till around April 15th or so because it is in the basement which is my den. Stays around 60 degrees down there until June sometime so the stoker is backed down to around 100 degrees uses around 40 lbs every two days so not using much coal. Going to be 65 or so here in Jersey this weekend looking forward to that.[/img]

WNY · By: **WNY** On: Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:45 am

It was 9 Degrees this morning!! Gonna keep it going probably till april.

Same here, it uses very little on idle/pilot mode, I even took a couple of timer tabs out to really back it down.

WNY · By: **WNY** On: Tue Mar 14, 2006 6:57 pm

It was 67 Degrees yesterday and 29 Today!! with 40-50MPH Winds! glad I kept it in idle mode and turned it down as far as it would go without going out. it burnt only 50# in a little over 48 hours.!!
Just got my gas bill for Feb....$17.50 !!!! Lowest of the year!

wg_bent · By: **wg_bent** On: Sat Mar 18, 2006 9:16 am

AL-53 wrote:Dave

If your closing up for the season...get a poly brush..clean out the chimney. Cap the chimney if possible to keep dampness from entering the stove and pipes....get a stiff natural bristle brush ..like on corn brooms and clean and Vac the inside of stove...spray it with rust preventive spray...like wd-40 or CRC rust preventive spray

I take the grates out and pack them in a oiled cloth so they won't rust up over the period of idleness.

I was told to take my stove pipe off..cap the stove and flue pipe to prevent dampness as my stove is in the basement...I spray the inside of stove with CRC rust preventive spray...

come fall everything looks like it did when I closed it down....no rust

the process takes about 1.5hours..chimney cleaning and stove prep....

the worse part of the whole job is cleaning the shop vac..as the ash dust is like talc powder and clogs the filter real good....

I am sure you will do it right...as it saves alot of time in the fall...

Al

Al, I have a solution to cleaning a shop vac out...Take the filter out and blow a leaf blower through the filter from the inside.

coalburner · By: **coalburner** On: Sat Mar 18, 2006 1:05 pm

How did that shut down work for you?
It is 29 here today.

LsFarm · By: **LsFarm** On: Sat Mar 18, 2006 2:20 pm

[ ALL in FUN ]

I'm personally blaming Davemich for the latest cold snap. He thumbed his nose at Mother Nature, and she is getting even.

It is supposed to be in the low 20's to high teens tonight. Glad I'm home finally to keep the fire in the boiler going.

Greg L

stokerstove · By: **stokerstove** On: Sat Mar 18, 2006 5:10 pm

Forecast here in N.E.PA is for colder than normal temps thru end of March. Low 20's last night. Looks like I'll be keeping the fires burning a while longer.