LL Pocono Adjustments and Efficiency

We are just getting into burning coal. We are/were in the process of remodeling parts of our old farm house in preparation for the stove. It is a Pocono TV with a SWG power vent. The stove is on the first floor in a corner of the house. There is only one doorway opening it up to the rest of the house (this will change when that wall comes down in spring). We installed a 6"duct with an in-duct fan to the opposite corner of the house. We also cut a hole in this room to vent it into the stairway to the second floor (also running a in-duct fan). I've attached some pics to give better understanding. The ducts are not working, the rest of the house is cold. I have the fans on dimmers, I tried full and low speeds, don't know which should work? the stove room is also a little on the cold side. I probably have the stove too low. I have been slowing adjusting things and seeing what happens. The slider is moving about 1/4", feed motor at about 75%, convection at about 80%. The ash is lumpy. Is this right? I don't think I have things set right and I really don't know what to do. Any pointers? There is a 1" thick pile of coal, about 2" wide, 3 or 4" up the shoot. Thank You, Luke
Cliff Notes:
-Any suggestion on ducting setups?, what we are doing isn't working
-Should duct fans be fast (I would think this would cool the air) or slow?
-What should ash look like?
-I need help on stove adjustments. How much should slider move in relation to feed/blower motor speed?, Should convection blower be cranked all the time?
-I am pretty sure the power vent is dialed in. Damper is set at 2, fan speed set to 3/4" of damper opening?

What kind of controls do you have on the stove? Thermostat, rheostat or CoalTrol? How do you adjust temperature.
I couldn't see your controls anywhere?

Do you have about 1" of ash at the end on a FULL burn.? The Coal should be burning completely across the grate, from side to side, if not, something is blocking the air flow. You may not have it turned up high enough. Your stove when fully burning should crank out the heat.

Also do you have a Magnetic Temp Gauge, put one on the stove front, that will tell how hot the stove is running. My stove can get 400-500 degrees on the sides when cranking.

Have you calibrated your Power vent vs. Baro Damper with a draft gauge, if not, you are probably sucking a lot of heat out the chimney.?

Your ash looks fine, depends on supplier. Some will be be more brown, some will burn up more. But not too bad, looks like mine.

The convection blower should vary with the heat output, you don't want it too fast, it will just blow cool air.

Without actually hooking up your heat pipes to the stove to move the heat, you won't move that much heat.
Does it distribute the heat out the top/front? A heat jacket or possible a hole in the top of the heat chamber on the top would Definitely help move the heat around or turn the stove up higher.

Something like this may help.
Pictures of Your Stove

What kind of controls do you have on the stove? Thermostat, rheostat or CoalTrol? How do you adjust temperature.
I couldn't see your controls anywhere? All rheostat

Do you have about 1" of ash at the end on a FULL burn.? The Coal should be burning completely across the grate, from side to side, if not, something is blocking the air flow. You may not have it turned up high enough. Your stove when fully burning should crank out the heat. Coal is burning across the grate, I turned it up a good bit last night and burned though almost a bucket. House was warm

Also do you have a Magnetic Temp Gauge, put one on the stove front, that will tell how hot the stove is running. My stove can get 400-500 degrees on the sides when cranking. We have a temp gun, I will need to find it

Have you calibrated your Power vent vs. Baro Damper with a draft gauge, if not, you are probably sucking a lot of heat out the chimney.? It's calibrated to what our coal suppler said. I can touch the chimney, so I don't think it is too hott

Your ash looks fine, depends on supplier. Some will be be more brown, some will burn up more. But not too bad, looks like mine. My ash is lumpy, looks like granola, I was looking through it this morning and saw a lot of black coal pieces

The convection blower should vary with the heat output, you don't want it too fast, it will just blow cool air.

Without actually hooking up your heat pipes to the stove to move the heat, you won't move that much heat.
Does it distribute the heat out the top/front? A heat jacket or possible a hole in the top of the heat chamber on the top would Definitely help move the heat around or turn the stove up higher.Ok, We decided to cut a hole in the top plate, that should definitely work. There is a 6" duct now. Would 3" be better when we do that, or stick with 6"

Thanks for all your help

glowpowered wrote:We decided to cut a hole in the top plate, that should definitely work.

The more you can do to get the air to transfer out of and into that room the better. With the stove tucked into a room with just a doorway to transfer heat it will be very hard to heat the entire house.

We cut a big hole in the wall to get the air moving. We also cut a 4" duct into the top of the stove to go across the house. Both work well. I am concerned about my ash. The tray gets full in about a day and a half. It is very lumpy and coarse. When I go through it, there are what looks like, whole porous coal pieces. What I don't understand is that there is 2 to 3" of ash at the end of the trough, so if the coal could burn more it would?

Sounds like your are on your way, you may want to get a CoalTrol system to control it someday, it works great in keeping the temp right on without messing with rheostats and regulates it automatically.

Yes, you can turn the feed up until you get about an 1" of ash, that is usually a very good burn.

The ash, depending on your coal supplier can vary quite a bit, I do get about a ash pan full in a day and half burning a lot. That is not uncommon. I too get unburnt stuff, I think it either fall off the grate from the sides or something....nothing to worry about.

Check your temps (stove front, pipe, etc..) when you find your temp gun.

Enjoy the heat.

Anything else, just ask!

Temp is between 280 and 300 F. I think I got the stove set pretty good for now. But we will see come tomorrow. I guess I will always be adjusting it with the weather. Thanks for all your help, Luke

glowpowered :

My ash pan looks like this as well. What kind of coal are you burning?

My ash pan needs to be changed about every 3 to 3 1/2 days. I would assume this will vary with everyone's burning habits.....

I too get a full pan of ashes every 1 1/2 days but I usually empty it every day because I am at home in the evenings and it is also lighter to carry.

Below is what I see for burnt coal coming right off my grate of my LL Pocono. In the photo the stove is at idle with a FR of 0. At idle I have about 6-inches of ash sitting on the grate after the burning coal.

Don't know what for coal I'm burning. Comes from up state PA? Looks like my ash is normal then.

Yup, your ash looks very similar to mine, brownish sometimes grey granola. That about how it burns.

If don't like adjusting and fiddling, look into the Coal Trol, just set the temp, and it maintains it almost perfectly.