Hopper Question

Got an e-mail reply that due to their overwhelming orders that they are not able to reply to any e-mails.

Oh, I wonder if they have any clue how ironic they are being.

Please let us know what they say as I would like to take preventative action if necessary as well.

I finnaly had a miniute to call Alaska today about the hopper. The first thing he asked me is if I had set the draft on the stove and my reply is it was a direct vent and it is what it is. His next reply was "did you read your manual" this is where I felt a little stupid. What is happening is the draft is too low in the stove. Its not low enough to set off the safety switch or set off my co meter but here's what is happening. The hopper is getting some carbon dioxide in the hopper and the coal being high in sulpher is actually having a chemical reaction and making sulphuric acid alot like the corosion you see on a car battery terminal. I know I had read about setting the draft on stoves but thought with the direct vent there was nothing that could adjust it but was proven wrong. There are set screws holding the venter into the back of the stove and you move in or out to adjust the draft while the stove is running at half its firing rate. I know for a fact while typing this I have read this on the forum before but I just assumed that my co detector wasn't going off and all was good. Now I have a rusted hopper after a little over a ton and my own iggnorance to pass things that i have read off as not pertaining to me. I know I can probably find the answer to this but where are people buying draft meters does lowes and the likes sell this sort of thing? We have alot of different types of magnehelics at work but they all read in inches of water collum not broken down inth tenths of inches. Moral of the story read all the directions!!!!!!!!!

Forgot to add that the rep that helped me was very knowledgable and focused on what we were discussing even though my problem is self inflicted. He also asked if I was getting klinkers and suggested that I shut the stove down and sand the surface of the grate to aleviate the temp swings that may be from klinkers wich I thought alot of it was from not having a coal trol or alaska stat. I'm going to try this if we ever get some temps that come out of the - side of the thermometer!!!

I don't like to toot my own horn and I have not tooted it in a long while.

gambler wrote:Are you sure you don't have a low draft issue that would leave your hopper wet all of the time? About 2 weeks ago I had constant moisture in my hopper but never smelled anything. Finally I had a slight sulphur smell and cleaned the fly ash out of the stove collar area and the smell went away and so did the moisture in the hopper.

just funnin with ya

I am glad you are on the right track and getting things straightened out.

Gambler have you ever measured what your draft is toot on!!!!

James Goodine wrote:Gambler have you ever measured what your draft is toot on!!!!

Yes, I have a manometer permanently installed. So I check my draft all of the time. I have noticed before that when I see a slight amount of condensation but no smell I could bump the draft up a hair and the moisture would go away. This last time I was getting some moisture but my draft was good and after a couple of weeks with an off and on slight moisture under the hopper lid I finally started getting a slight sulphur smell. I had some ash build up in the stove collar area. Once I cleaned that the smell and moisture went away and my draft continued to be good. So I guess the moral of this story is when you start getting a slight amount of moisture under the hopper lid you are running on the edge of a marginal draft. whether it be from an improperly set draft or an ash build up.

Where did you buy it?

James Goodine wrote:Where did you buy it?

I got it off of ebay 2 1/2 years ago. Brand new for $18 including shipping.
Do a search for a dwyer model 25 (you want the one with the scale that goes to 3 and not 7 makes it easier to read more precise).
You should be able to find one for $30-$40 bucks

The forum has a loaner manometer program.. PM member Matthaus to use one of the loaner meters..

Greg L

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thanks I just P.M.'d him