HD Video: Tending a Hitzer Insert (983)

vernandrews73 wrote:Hi My name is vern andrews from decatur In. I live 10 min from burne Indiana where they make the hitzer 983 . I was a hitzer shop getting some new fire brick. I was talking to Dean the owner of hitzer and he told me about your video. This was a very good video. You nead to get with hitzer and do more of these videos for them. I have been using the 983 for four years now and always find it intersting how other people burn coal .

Thanks alot, Vern. Glad you (and Dean) like the video. I almost lost my fire this AM--revived it with some wood. But if I hadn't revived it, and had to restart, I would have done a Starting a Coal Fire video. I'll get around to it at some point, but there are probably even more variations on starting a fire than there are on tending a fire.

Since you are a 983 veteran and this is my first year, I'd be curious to ask you how your 983 is holding up over the years? Have you done any repair or replacement of components?

Thanks again, and welcome to the Forum!.

Boy, after watching that video, it makes you want to go out and buy one. They sure did a great job showing how to recharge and operate an ongoing great coal fire! Thanks for the video!

Glad I found this video. I have this stove, the double door model. First year I ran exclusively wood. Second year we ran wood and soft coal. This year I finally made the switch to hard coal. Couldn't figure it out until I found this site and this video.

This video helped me out a ton, and I now have a stove pumping and my cathedral ceiling living room space is 86 degrees, even with 3 windows opened and the blower turned down as far as I can!

Looking forward to learning how to maximize this stove, but so far I love it. Even when we just burned wood it kept my entire house toasty warm. The only other heat source I use is an Edenpure in the basement. The rest of the entire house is heated by this insert. 86 here, downt he hallway to the master bedroom it is 78. Perfect winter temps.

Thanks again for the great video!

Welcome to the FORUM Rw yep, there's a lot of info here. Any concerns/ questions, just ask away.

Thanks for the welcome. My chimney guy actually gave me the link last time he was here cleaning. Said it was a great place to learn about how to burn hard coal.

The good news is I woke up to a nice glowing red coal bed, shook it down, added another 20 or so pounds. Didnt touch since 5 yesterday...so it ran 13.5 hours untouched. New record for me!

I wont miss the 2 am wake ups to refill with wood... Or that terrible black smoke of soft coal. No more mask needed to take out ashes or refill the stove.