Hit Me With Your Stove Shut Down Procedures

JohnB wrote:

Lightning wrote: Wow.. $.26 per kilowatt! I thought mine was bad at $.15 per kilowatt..

Does that include all the various delivery, ect charges above & beyond the basic kwh charge. Added to the Ct. $ .126290 per kwh charge are Distr. charge, CTA charge,FMCC delivery charge, comb Public Benefit charge. All per kwh & on top of that is a big fat fixed $19.25 Distr. Cus service charge. Much worse if you have a business. It's $140-$150 a month whether you turn on the lights or not.

I don't care what the reason for the charge as much as what it is in total so total cash out and total kwh used. Who gets the money or the reason why is hard to change my cost is what it is.

wsherrick wrote:

JohnB wrote:As I said the can of fluid film is a bargain compared to the light bulb. Thanks for confirming that. Now can we move on??

Whatever floats your boat. I like using the light bulb and I get good results out of it. A 60 Watt will probably work just as well. I like seeing light in the windows during the Summer months. It's a big world and there is always more than one way to skin a cat.

Yes there is and suspect the cost of electricity and a lot of things varies by location. If I drive less than one hour cost goes down 35%. I was only discussing my local situation. William you are the wizrd of coal stoves and no doubt other things money and costs are generally boring and local and no doubt should have left my thoughts to myself about my local costs.

JohnB wrote:

Lightning wrote: Wow.. $.26 per kilowatt! I thought mine was bad at $.15 per kilowatt..

Does that include all the various delivery, ect charges above & beyond the basic kwh charge. Added to the Ct. $ .126290 per kwh charge are Distr. charge, CTA charge,FMCC delivery charge, comb Public Benefit charge. All per kwh & on top of that is a big fat fixed $19.25 Distr. Cus service charge. Much worse if you have a business. It's $140-$150 a month whether you turn on the lights or not.

Yes that is total bill divided by kilowatts..

I can not stand the chemical stink smell of fluid film,to put it in your stove inside the house

As I mentioned in my post covering my stove prep the Fluid Film does have it's own odor although it contains no solvents. You will smell it right after you spray the inside of the stove but once you close up the stove the odor stays inside. At least it worked that way with my air tight Hitzer. I opened the front & back doors to clear the odor out of the room & never smelled it again all summer. I just ordered a few more spray cans for the stove & other small jobs. Also got a gallon can & an undercoat/rustproofing gun from Eastwood as I plan to start using it on our vehicles instead of the far more expensive Waxoyl.

Brush chimney, clean and vac stove. Spray inside of stove with a good coating of LPS 3. Place a bucket of damp rid in stove. Paint coal hopper. Block off all air sources chimney, coal feed chute , fresh air in take. It's all over intill next fall.

wsherrick wrote: I like using the light bulb and I get good results out of it. A 60 Watt will probably work just as well. I like seeing light in the windows during the Summer months.

Even if only used for aesthetics, when I get my G111 installed, I want to put a red lite, (or 2) under a small pile of coal, also to view it in the down season. Some-one posted a picture of their stove in this condition, and it looked really good to me. If it also has the benefit of dehumidifying, that's an added bonus. But I also wouldn't be against a little liquid protection, or paint protection, or all three. We're talking about preservation of not only a functioning part of our home, but protecting a classic or Antique piece of history. To me, these implementations are only nickels and dimes.

Let my fire burn out in the Locke 120 on Thursday April 16th, the stove had burned continuously from Nov 12, 2014 - 155 days (42%) of the year.

Average burn rate per day 28.13 pounds Blaschak Nut coal, at a cost of $663.00 or 1/3 the cost of LP. Heating two story farm house 1250 sq feet.

I have 11 bags left un burned out of a total of two (2) pallets purchased last September.

Charter Oak #24 - Can This Burn Coal ?

Charter Oak #24 - Can This Burn Coal ?

Clean up was easy, Simply dump the ash grate shovel vacuum out the inside, inspect the grates and fire brick. Open the "Main" air on the ash door and leave the MPD open and the chimney will continue to draw air through the stove. I'll pull the stove Pipe in a few weeks and clean out the fly ash.

I'm very pleased with the way this simple stove has kept me warm all winter and saved a large amount of $ money $.

Thanks to all on this forum who helped me and advised along the way.

Regards: john

I get as much ash out as I can from the stove but don't vacuum, although I used too. then I brush the pipes and my SS chimney really good. Then I burn wood until in May sometime, and try to burn some real green or wet wood, or soft maple to really get the soot buildup in the chimney and stove for protection. I don't brush the chimney again until fall. I open up the chimney on the bottom and put a screen there until fall to let air move. Thats all I do with my large stove.

My Chubby I get as much ash out of stove as I can, then burn wood in it a few times. When it finally warms up outside, I open the bottom draft door to keep air going thru it for the summer. This stove is hooked to a brick chimney and I do nothing else.

So far so good.

This will be my first-ever shutdown. been running the Koker since November. Lots of good info on here, I have saved lots and lots of comments along the way and saved them in sort of a mini-user's manual. So thanks for that, everyone.

I all honesty, I think I am going to let the company that installed it come and service it this year, so long as the tech will allow me to watch and learn, with full disclosure that I want to do it on my own next year. They went through all they do, and I want to see exactly how they take it all apart. Not my forte. And they want around $160 to do this. I see that as a good investment. Maybe others think otherwise.

One big question I have is this? If I leave the SS pipe connected, after they clean it out, what is the best way to "keep" it over the summer? I have about 8 feet total run: 2 feet vertical from the stove, 4 feet angled up to the wall (direct vent system), and then another 2 feet to the outside, including the collar, where there is a T. Do I cover the outside? Will Damp-Rid help the pipes, too, or just the stove?

Ok boys I think I have a one of a kind situation, I have a insert piped directly into the bottom of the clay and removing the pipe without removing the stove isn't a option, this will be my second summer without removal so we will see how the pipe handles the second summer .
I clean the chimney and pipe with brushes, then vacuum it the best I can, then the stove( I gut the stove of anything that I can remove, vacuum and wipe with a rag and vacuum it one more time) I use a mix of Cortex 369 and 325 to coat every inch of the inside of the stove then reinstall all the parts for next fall.
I put (2) 75W bulbs( I only have 40W right now) and (2) large Damp-Rid buckets(recycled from the camper over the winter) cover the baro with Cortex wrap to seal off the stove. I made a plug with wood and 1/4" rubber to fit down the clay liner, I attach my cleaning rods to the plug and push it down until it reaches Its summer home(the 8" steel pipe) then I dump a box of baking soda down the chimney as added protection. The last step I block off 1/2 the screen on the cap with plastic to keep the rain out. I know It sounds like a lot of work but Its only once a year and I can do It in about 3 1/2 hrs start to finish. The pipe looked good (checked with a camera) right before I lit it for the winter.
I added the pics because I know everyone like pic's and my electric rates are $.135 KWH tax out the door for all you number crunchers out there Keepaeyeonit

Very thorough KY, and good job on the Pix.

ChrisS wrote: One big question I have is this? If I leave the SS pipe connected, after they clean it out, what is the best way to "keep" it over the summer? I have about 8 feet total run: 2 feet vertical from the stove, 4 feet angled up to the wall (direct vent system), and then another 2 feet to the outside, including the collar, where there is a T. Do I cover the outside? Will Damp-Rid help the pipes, too, or just the stove?

Chris, is your Tee a cleanout, and located inside? Is your interior pipe connected to a brick chimney, or just pumped outside, because of the direct vent? Sounds like most your pipe is basically horizontal, and inside. I would imagine your installer would have a better handle on your question, seeing he can see it directly. But if it were mine, I'ld find a way to snake a vacuum through your cleanout Tee, and get as much ash out as possible. Or, if easily removable, just separate the pipes and clean them that way. And a little lubricant inside wouldn't hurt, as would some Desicant. And capping off the outside might prevent some critters from getting in, if you're not screened. Good luck.

joeq wrote:

ChrisS wrote: One big question I have is this? If I leave the SS pipe connected, after they clean it out, what is the best way to "keep" it over the summer? I have about 8 feet total run: 2 feet vertical from the stove, 4 feet angled up to the wall (direct vent system), and then another 2 feet to the outside, including the collar, where there is a T. Do I cover the outside? Will Damp-Rid help the pipes, too, or just the stove?

Chris, is your Tee a cleanout, and located inside? Is your interior pipe connected to a brick chimney, or just pumped outside, because of the direct vent? Sounds like most your pipe is basically horizontal, and inside.

Sorry, not a Tee, poor choice of description. Basically a cap on the outside, kinda looks like a chimney cap, only horizontal. Easily removed, I've taken it off to sweep out fly ash a few times. And yes, it is on the outside of the house. Not connected to brick chimney, just out the wall. The installer did a great job, in that the 4' section inside that you would think of as horizontal is actually angled about 30 degrees on the way to the wall. So really there is only about 18" or so of actual horizontal, so my fly ash build-up was minimal. I'll get some photos, if that helps. From the direct vent module, the SS pipe goes up 2', then the angled section goes another 4', and then the collar to the outside it that last 18" or 2'. Pipe joints are all sealed with high-temp silicone, I hate to remove all that, but I guess it is easily re-applied?

ChrisS wrote: I want to see exactly how they take it all apart … they want around $160 to do this. I see that as a good investment

First year, I also had a chimney sweep come and I watched what he did, then I never needed him again because it was so simple. Like you say, a good investment.

ChrisS wrote: If I leave the SS pipe connected, after they clean it out, what is the best way to "keep" it over the summer? … Do I cover the outside?

Unless your stove is in a really damp place, like a cellar, my vote is not to cover anything, just leave doors loose and let the air circulate freely. The only time I have had significant rusting was when I sealed things up so the humidity was trapped.