Question for DS Machine Owners

We're thinking of upgrading our stoves, and have been looking seriously at DS Machines.

I've talked a couple times with Dave Jr. at their facility, and I'm thinking about a boiler for the basement, and a small unit for upstairs.

Are you happy with their stoves?

How dusty are their ash cabnets/pans to clean?

Are any of you using their models with the passive heat circulation tubes (no blower), and are you happy with the results?

I'm using the DS 1500 circulator. The stove puts out a very generous amount of heat. It keeps my 90 year old house in the mid 70°s on the coldest days of winter with ease.

I wanted this stove because I don't like to hear fans or blowers running. Overall I am very pleased and would recommend it to anyone.

As far as ash handling, there tends to be some ash buildup in the corners of the firebox, I usually poke the corners about once a week. In the ash pit itself, the pan catches almost all of the ash, but I will shovel out what little misses it, probably once every 3-4 weeks.

My only real gripe is that the bi-metal tstat can be too slow to react at the higher settings. After shaking down a hot fire, the bimetal tstat will open up wide from the new coal on the fire, and will then overshoot before closing the air back down.

Same here, DS 1500 WH since mid-January '13. Bought it because the circ tubes were perfect for my setup, with a collector hood pulling the hot air into my heat pump blower system. We have a two-story home with partly finished basement and using registers etc. to circulate isn't an option. The circulator tubes work as advertised, especially at higher temps, you can feel the hot air rising out of them. Don't have an exact measurement, but by laying my hand on the duct that carries the heat from the hood into the heat pump blower, it's way warmer to the touch than with my old stove.

I'm very pleased with the quality of the stove so far, and with the heat output. Ash pan is relatively large on mine, 15-1/2" w by 16-1/2" l by 3-1/2" deep. Burning Blaschak white ash anthracite, it would easily hold two days' worth of ash, but I empty it every day. My only nit with the pans is that my ash cans are too small to put one side of the pan down inside to dump--sorta keeps the ash down if you can do that. I'm looking for a different kind of receptacle for next year.

You do get some residual ash on the floor of the ash compartment, and in fact the bottom edge of the ash door opening collects a bit of ash when shaking. Then when you pull the ash pan out, unless you're very careful a small bit of ash will fall outside the door. No big deal for me as I keep a shop vac nearby to clean up around the stove and coal bin. And it's no worse a problem than my previous two stoves (Franco-Belge).

Bottom line, their stoves are well-built and once you get them dialed in to your setup, they just burn without a lot of fuss. I'm sure within a day or so you'll have several positive responses. DS Machine owners here really like them.

LDPosse wrote:I'm using the DS 1500 circulator. The stove puts out a very generous amount of heat. It keeps my 90 year old house in the mid 70°s on the coldest days of winter with ease.

I wanted this stove because I don't like to hear fans or blowers running. Overall I am very pleased and would recommend it to anyone.

As far as ash handling, there tends to be some ash buildup in the corners of the firebox, I usually poke the corners about once a week. In the ash pit itself, the pan catches almost all of the ash, but I will shovel out what little misses it, probably once every 3-4 weeks.

My only real gripe is that the bi-metal tstat can be too slow to react at the higher settings. After shaking down a hot fire, the bimetal tstat will open up wide from the new coal on the fire, and will then overshoot before closing the air back down.

Thanks for your insight.

Concerning cleaning the ash pit, about how many lbs. or hods do you burn a day?

When you say 'the coldest days of the year', about what temperature do you think that is?

What type of coal do you burn?

With the passive circulation, do you use a fan near the stove, or any other type of circulator?

I only ask again, because I having trouble grasping that passive circulation can really work (I know it can, but it's hard to imagine).

MarkV wrote:Same here, DS 1500 WH since mid-January '13. Bought it because the circ tubes were perfect for my setup, with a collector hood pulling the hot air into my heat pump blower system. We have a two-story home with partly finished basement and using registers etc. to circulate isn't an option. The circulator tubes work as advertised, especially at higher temps, you can feel the hot air rising out of them. Don't have an exact measurement, but by laying my hand on the duct that carries the heat from the hood into the heat pump blower, it's way warmer to the touch than with my old stove.

I'm very pleased with the quality of the stove so far, and with the heat output. Ash pan is relatively large on mine, 15-1/2" w by 16-1/2" l by 3-1/2" deep. Burning Blaschak white ash anthracite, it would easily hold two days' worth of ash, but I empty it every day. My only nit with the pans is that my ash cans are too small to put one side of the pan down inside to dump--sorta keeps the ash down if you can do that. I'm looking for a different kind of receptacle for next year.

You do get some residual ash on the floor of the ash compartment, and in fact the bottom edge of the ash door opening collects a bit of ash when shaking. Then when you pull the ash pan out, unless you're very careful a small bit of ash will fall outside the door. No big deal for me as I keep a shop vac nearby to clean up around the stove and coal bin. And it's no worse a problem than my previous two stoves (Franco-Belge).

Bottom line, their stoves are well-built and once you get them dialed in to your setup, they just burn without a lot of fuss. I'm sure within a day or so you'll have several positive responses. DS Machine owners here really like them.

Thank you, you posted this just as I posted my reply.

A little bit of extra ash isn't a problem - what we're dealing with now is. Thanks!

Kielanders wrote:
Thanks for your insight.

Concerning cleaning the ash pit, about how many lbs. or hods do you burn a day?

When you say 'the coldest days of the year', about what temperature do you think that is?

What type of coal do you burn?

With the passive circulation, do you use a fan near the stove, or any other type of circulator?

I only ask again, because I having trouble grasping that passive circulation can really work (I know it can, but it's hard to imagine).

So far this year, I have burned the following in my DS....

Superior - white/red ash mix
UAE - red ash
Somerset bit
Georges creek md bit
Broad top bit
Mammoth materials - red ash anthracite

Of these coals, i like the mammoth for anthracite and the MD coal for bituminous.

I have no fans for circulation. I do have a floor register directly above the stove, the air circulates up there then back down the basement stairs. Coldest temp this year was only 8° tho, if I lived somewhere that regularly saw temps below 0° F I would probably opt for the 1600. During the cold snap in Jan, i was probably using 75 lbs per day, I was also sick at that time and was keeping it in the upper 70s and sleeping in a hammock by the stove . I ran the mammoth coal from mid feb till mid march, 1000 lbs lasted 28 days, averaging 35-36 lbs/day.

LDPosse wrote:

Kielanders wrote:
Thanks for your insight.

Concerning cleaning the ash pit, about how many lbs. or hods do you burn a day?

When you say 'the coldest days of the year', about what temperature do you think that is?

What type of coal do you burn?

With the passive circulation, do you use a fan near the stove, or any other type of circulator?

I only ask again, because I having trouble grasping that passive circulation can really work (I know it can, but it's hard to imagine).

So far this year, I have burned the following in my DS....

Superior - white/red ash mix
UAE - red ash
Somerset bit
Georges creek md bit
Broad top bit
Mammoth materials - red ash anthracite

Of these coals, i like the mammoth for anthracite and the MD coal for bituminous.

I have no fans for circulation. I do have a floor register directly above the stove, the air circulates up there then back down the basement stairs. Coldest temp this year was only 8° tho, if I lived somewhere that regularly saw temps below 0° F I would probably opt for the 1600. During the cold snap in Jan, i was probably using 75 lbs per day, I was also sick at that time and was keeping it in the upper 70s and sleeping in a hammock by the stove . I ran the mammoth coal from mid feb till mid march, 1000 lbs lasted 28 days, averaging 35-36 lbs/day.

Do you load using a coal hod?

On an empty clean stove, do you know how many hods your stove could take in one full load before lighting?

I think it would be difficult to light a DS stove that is full of coal. I start it using about 20 lbs of match light charcoal, then add coal about 10-15lbs at a time until the firebox is filled to the top of the firebrick. Once all of that coal is burning, Ifill the hopper.

I don't use a coal hod. I use a "Tidy Cats" litter bucket, it's a 5 gallon bucket that's square, and it pours nicer than a round bucket or a coal hod.

LDPosse wrote:I think it would be difficult to light a DS stove that is full of coal. I start it using about 20 lbs of match light charcoal, then add coal about 10-15lbs at a time until the firebox is filled to the top of the firebrick. Once all of that coal is burning, Ifill the hopper.

I don't use a coal hod. I use a "Tidy Cats" litter bucket, it's a 5 gallon bucket that's square, and it pours nicer than a round bucket or a coal hod.

Thanks for your replies to my questions on this and other threads, and thanks for your YouTube video.

I've got a method for lighting and controling our bit-coal up here in our present stove that's pretty effective, that I think will translate well to the DS Machine (always room for improvement, however).

I'm not for a second thinking that I've everything figured-out; and if I move forward with the DS, I'll definitely be re-reviewing your comments and video.

My main goals, are to find a stove with primary and seconday dampers that will truly control and shut-down the stove, an ashpan that will actually catch >95% of the ash, and a firebox size that can handle a 75-100lb load. This will give me an easy to maintain and clean stove that needs tending only once a day, with our coal.