Coal-Trol Version 3 Tips & Tricks

Hi,

I would love to hear experiences from members who have the latest Coal-trol release. Here is the news that I have on the latest release. How do u like the new features and does anyone use them? Does anyone use the setback feature? If so how does it work for you? Also, what tips can you give members for setting it up and using it for the most flexibility?

I heard the new units with ver. 3 have some new cool features. There is a new feature called max 10. This will adjust the feed to MAX for ten minutes which is great when you want to get temps up quickly in the house. I found the old Coal-trol would take a long time to get the house from say 72 to 77. Almost 3 hours in some cases. Now I can come home and set Max 10 to get lots of coal on the grate for a fast temp[. change.

Also, I was told that if you put the Coal-trol into Min/Max setting you can basically get the feed rate to change immediately. Example: put the unit into Min/Max and then select the Min rate and the unit will adjust the feed rate to that feed immediately and keep it there until you take it out of the Min/Max mode. This would be useful for me when I want to lower the feed rate before I leave for work and keep it at idle all day long. Using the thermostat would take the Coal-trol much longer to react to the temp. changes.

My coal trol that I purchased in May of 2007 with software version 020 has all of these features. It is nice to hit the button and have it feed coal for a few minutes to give a quick temp boost when needed.

Trader,

I have one ofthe first new version 3's that was made and yes it has all those features but The Max 10 as you are refering is a purge for lighting the stove and at the moment I can't recall what the abbrevition on the setup screen is. As far as I know you could alway set the sthemostat to run at either the max or the min by holding the menu button in till you get the setup menu and then toggling it till it says either Max or min. That is how you set the max and min when you setup the thermostat.

Yes. That is a huge improvement. I also read that you can get into the Min / Max screen and set the feed and the motor will respond instantly. So lets say you want to leave in the morning and the temp is at 76 but you want it to go to 68 until you come home. It takes a long time using the thermostat but I was told you could just set the feed to say 4-6 and leave it there until you come home and then do the 10 min max to get the stove ramped up.

Then I would set it back at 76 and leave it there until the morning. Currently I try to guess the feed rate needed. I'm pretty good but sometimes we wake up a little cold or too hot so even if the Coal-trol keeps us comfortable at night and when we wake up I'll be a happy camper. From all reviews I've read the coaltrol does a great job of keeping one steady temp. Have u tried playing around with the setback feature?

It's called Feed 10 and counts down. I think you can set it between 1 & 10 minutes. Are the factory settings good for an Alaska Channing 3 with DV?

Yes feed 10 is it. that is designed for lighting the stove. I don't have a DV so i can't comment on that. I have used the setbacks some with success as far as the temps changing , but could never see much difference in my coal usage so I just use the steady temp setting.

jpen1 wrote:Yes feed 10 is it. that is designed for lighting the stove.

Or for a quick boost.

I've been playing with my new Hyfire II with the Coaltrol for the past few days. I bought the unit in July from Jerry and Karen's store. I guess it is the new control unit. The paperwork says it uses the OEM1 control and a TS2 thermostat. I don't know what software version it is.

I am using both burners because I can

So far I have used the setback feature for 2 nights. It seems to be working well. I was here late last night and it definitely set back the temp when it was supposed to. I do come into work in the morning and it has ramped up. I use a setback of 50* after 4:00 PM and bring it back up to 65* starting at 6:00AM. I'm heating a 3000 s.f. garage. The insulation in this building is not that great. I did notice a rather large overshoot the first morning so I reset the daytime temp 5* cooler and it made a big difference this AM.

The only problem that I am going to have is that I really don't want it to ramp up on the weekends so I will have to just come into a cold shop on Mondays unless I drive by and reset it on a Sunday.

Now all I have to do is rework the duct work and distribute the heat farther into the building.



-------------------------------------------------------


Rick

I have setbacks for both weekdays and weekends on my version X 4 setbacks per day.

Rick. If you set the thermostat 5 degrees cooler then wouldn't the stove eventually settle at that lower temp. There is a HL setting that is suppose to help with overshooting and also you can try lowering your max feed rate. Once u get that suker dialed in it should serve u well. ANy idea how long it takes to move the temp when your using your setback. That is a heck of a temp swing.

Trader,

AS I said I'm still playing around. I currently have the setback from 4:00 PM to 6:00 AM down to 50*. I know that when I came in the other morning around 7:45 it was 75* on the thermostat. I had set it to 68* So I then cut it back to 65* and came in to a 70* shop. I'm not too concerned with the overshoot. Opening doors to get cars inside in the morning cures that real quick. When I do come in I then set the temp for the day.

So now I will start playing with different times to see how well it responds. I will have to come in tomorrow sometime so I think I will just let it set at 50* tonight all night and then I can monitor it to check total ramp up time. I figure using a set down time of 4:00 allows the heat to drain off the unit until leaving around 5-5:30.


Jpen: Thanks for the info. I'm going to have to check with Coaltrol about updrading to weekend setbacks. Also it might be nice to have the 4 setbacks per day. Sometimes I like to let the heat up until 10:00 to help dry fresh paint.



-------------------------------------------------------

Rick