Controlling a Reading Lehigh Stove

Okay, I am a newbie with only a month of burning under my belt, so take what I say here with a shaker of salt. I may find I am clueless with more experience. That is what experience can do for you, make you look foolish.

So far I have enjoyed my Lehigh very much and have found controlling the burn rate very easy. The manual states there should be 1" of ash on the edge of the stoker tray, but I have found we can control the temperature very easily by adjusting the feed rate rather than using the stoker fan to increase the air flow and feed rate, as these are tied together. Right now, with temps in the mid 20's I have a 3" - 4" ash at the end of the tray with the motor on low. The actual area burning is four inches deep. My ash content has nearly no unburned coal and what is left in the ash pan seems to be entirely burned. I have yet to attach the Coaltrol I have because we have had the rheostat on the lowest setting and there has been little reason to play with it when the variation in house temperature is negligible. I plan on hooking it up soon as temps are supposedly going to drop soon. We'll see. Hope this helps any reading Stove users.

What you are doing is a manual version of what the coaltrol will do for you..

The manual adjustment of the stove is fine,, and will work great if you don't have a problem with some fluctuation in the house's temperature.. If you want a much steadier temperature, the the coal trol will adjust the feed rate for you.

Take care,, Greg L

The Reading has the feed rate and the fan as one unit so when the coaltrol calls for more air, the feed rate will increase at the same time. I am hoping it does as nice a job as we do manually. I am surprised at how steady the temp satys in the house. When I burned wood, the temp would vary widely, obviously becuase the wood burned hot, then cooled and went out vs. us keeping the stove at a constant temp all day and night. She is just purring away and we are loving it.