combustion fan

Is this set to run high speed all the time or should it slow down when temp is satified?

Thanks, Stan

It always runs full tilt.

I was wondering the same thing. Why does it run all the time?

If coal doesn't have air it will not burn. I guess you probably could tweak the amount of air but stokers control BTU output via the feed mechanism. Manual stoves are different but I don't have one so I''ll refrain from making comments.

Maybe so that no ashes fall down the holes in the grates and clog them up?

The ash "FINES" will still get in the grates and have to be cleaned out every season.

The Combustion fan should run all the time. Some of the older stoves and tri-burner setups, would vary the feed and blower with a rheostat, but you may not get complete burn when it goes slow. Many have udpated those setups to full combustion fan all the time regardless of feed.

Thanks. It makes sense that the fan runs to provide air for combustion. I guess I figured there would be some sort of sensor there to control the fan. After all, the manufacturers and dealers are very concerned about proper draft, which also influences burn. So we have good draft AND the fan running full tilt all the time - is that overkill? (Yes, I know that draft has as much to do with removing bad air as it does providing good air.)

Is there a way to slow the combustion fan down with the coaltrol? People have added ceiling fan speed controllers to slow down the combustion fan on Harmon and Keystokers. Do we have to do it this way on the Leisure Line too? Seems like the coaltrol should be able to do this.

The Coaltrol doesn't control the combustion fan. It runs full tilt all the time.

Nope, the combustion fan runs all the time, Not sure if you change the Coaltrol Setting to TRIBURN if it would control it differently?? The CoalTrol guys can probably answer that.

BUT, you will get the most complete burn if it runs at full. If you slow it down and you need more to heat up your house when the thermostat is calling for heat, you may get unburnt stuff and/or not enough heat output if you slow it down.

The blowers are sized properly for good complete burn, if you replace it with a higher flow (CFM), you would get it TOO hot and fuse the coal and make "Clinkers" (been there, done that!), if you get it too low of flow, it may not burn completely or produce good heat. Only reason to SLOW it down if it was the wrong size (CFM) blower.

In both triburn and non-triburn mode the combustion output runs all the time at full speed. We turn if off for HITEMP and some times during an ignition or burnout sequence (ignite mode "M").

HITEMP meaning if the stove hits 90 plus. I love this feature. Suggestion: Put on your to do list to have the user be able to set the max temp that starts a Chernobyl shutdown of all the motors. I would probably like it to be around 85. While I know that my stove could handle a full burn I wouldn't want to over fire the stove and maybe warp my grate. A better tweak would be a way to control the output of a DV motor but for safety reasons I guess that would be a no-no.

But does it make any sense to run the combustion fan full speed all the time? I mean when thermostat is satisfied and the stove is just idling and feeding the minimum coal every few minutes, im sure it can run slower and QUIETER. That fan is loud when running full speed. We could slow it down with a rheostat, but isn't that what the $300 coaltrol is for??

Markster: A few members have tried and have gotten unburnt coal. Maybe you'll have more success. The Coaltrol doesn't do anything with the combustion motor. Like you said you could always put in a rheostat and play with different settings. I would be interested in how that plays out.

markster wrote:But does it make any sense to run the combustion fan full speed all the time? I mean when thermostat is satisfied and the stove is just idling and feeding the minimum coal every few minutes, im sure it can run slower and QUIETER.

If you pipe an outside air source directly to the combustion fan it will cut down the noise considerably.