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I received an Old Coal Stove from my father 2 years ago. We got it hooked up and everything seems to be connected well. Yesterday I started it up.. got a nice fire built in it, then added the coal and it gave off a nice warm heat... like i said it is an older radiant heat stove (i remember it when i was in grade school and now i'm in my 40s)... and all day yesterday while the outside temp was in the mid 40s the house stayed right around 70 degrees (the basement was much warmer) and through the night and into the next morning... I put more coal on in the morning and went about my day winterizing the house.
I came back in the house after working in the yard and other stuff about 8pm... went down to check the fire and the coals were burning nicely but the temperature on the stove pipe and in the room was considerably lower... I added more coal and it continued to burn but the temperature did not seem to be recovering.
It is considerably colder today but I'm not sure what to check or do to get the temperature higher.
People tell me that their coal stoves put out massive amounts of heat, to the point of them having to open windows... I do remember in my parents house (back in the day) how hot it used to get and i do remember having windows cracked open in rooms during the winter months...
Could it be something as simple as extending the stove pipe outside? when we installed the stove pipe outside we only had enough stove pipe to go just one 3ft pipe length above the lip of the roof, as to say the stove pipe is not above the peak of the roof, could this be a factor?
I really am at a loss at this point... please any and all suggestions are welcome...
First and foremost, fill the entire firebox with as much coal as you can get into it. The amount of coal in the stove is not what controls the heat output, you control that with the amount of air. Most stoves will easily go 12 hours so most people get on a 12 hour schedule. Shake it down and fill it once every 12 hours, you'll hae to figure out what the optimal air is so you burn up most of it but have enough coal left to keep the fire lit.
The other thing is you should have either barometric or manual pipe damper, which depends on the model of stove. Older stoves are usually not so air tight and the MPD is better, newer stoves that are more air tight should have a barometric damper.
If your stove pipe is strait up, so is most of your heat going strait up as well through the pipe. My own plumbing on a stove pipe is a dog leg configuration double L before the cieling and the damper between that and the stove. The stove pipe is working for you then , and not against you. Usually code requires the chimney to be 2feet higher after the level of 10 feet away from the roof . 1 for the safety of the roof and posible embers. 2 drafts. There needs to be a cap and a screen 1/4 mesh minimum .hardware cloth. It should be an double wall pipe through the roof material with a roof jack to prevent leakage ,rain into the house . One should check local codes for further details .
First and foremost, fill the entire firebox with as much coal as you can get into it. The amount of coal in the stove is not what controls the heat output, you control that with the amount of air. Most stoves will easily go 12 hours so most people get on a 12 hour schedule. Shake it down and fill it once every 12 hours, you'll hae to figure out what the optimal air is so you burn up most of it but have enough coal left to keep the fire lit.
The other thing is you should have either barometric or manual pipe damper, which depends on the model of stove. Older stoves are usually not so air tight and the MPD is better, newer stoves that are more air tight should have a barometric damper.
I shake down the ashes until i see a bunch of glowing embers then i stopped. i poked the burning coals so they dropped down in the fire box, then i dumped in coal until it goes up to the receiver opening.
When you said Manual Pipe Damper... are you talking about the "plate" that goes in the stove pipe? I have that inside the pipe about 2 feet away from the elbow coming out of the stove and i have it set at about a 10 degree angle.
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Originally Posted by arleigh
If your stove pipe is strait up, so is most of your heat going strait up as well through the pipe. My own plumbing on a stove pipe is a dog leg configuration double L before the cieling and the damper between that and the stove. The stove pipe is working for you then , and not against you. Usually code requires the chimney to be 2feet higher after the level of 10 feet away from the roof . 1 for the safety of the roof and posible embers. 2 drafts. There needs to be a cap and a screen 1/4 mesh minimum .hardware cloth. It should be an double wall pipe through the roof material with a roof jack to prevent leakage ,rain into the house . One should check local codes for further details .
My stove pipe comes out of my stove and immediately 90 degree angle straight up, then 3 feet (with manual pipe damper plate, i think??), then 90 degree angle toward the wall.. (slight pitch upward, i'd say like 5+ degree angle up) about 6 feet away from outside wall, then through the wall outside to a T joint then goes straight up to the roof. about 12 feet up there is a section where I had to put in two 90 degree angles to get around the rain gutter. then i went another 6 feet above the rain gutter. My brother in law told me to put in a T-joint instead of a 90 degree angle at the bottom where the pipe exits the house wall.
If your stove pipe is strait up, so is most of your heat going strait up as well through the pipe.
Coal stoves are completely different animals, efficiencies are in the 80%+ range for stoves and and can be as high as 90% for stokers. Because there is no issue with creosote they can take a convoluted path for the flue gases, even if the flue comes out of the top of the stove it's not directly venting out the top. Typically the exit for the flue gases is below the firebox but just above the ash pan door. How the flue pipe is configured is largely irrelevant, if anything some people have issues with getting enough draft. The other thing is you don't have a lot of air going through stove, flue temps are much lower. I can put my hand on my flue pipe unless it just stopped stoking.
Here's cut away of a stoker, I don't have example from a hand fired stove.
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for the safety of the roof and posible embers.
Anthracite coal produces no embers, the only thing it produces is very fine fly ash invisible to the naked eye.
When you said Manual Pipe Damper... are you talking about the "plate" that goes in the stove pipe? I have that inside the pipe about 2 feet away from the elbow coming out of the stove and i have it set at about a 10 degree angle.
First some safety tips, get a CO detector. I'm assuming you have just assembled this? Fly ash is going to accumulate in the horizontal runs on the pipes and in the bottom of the chimney, you need to clean this out and how often depends but at least once a year. If you don't it will eventually block the pipe. 3 screws in each joint for the flue pipe and make sure it's secured well.
As far as the damper goes if you have over fire draft on the stove open it (or the lower draft) fully and the damper before opening the stove. This will pull off all the "explosive" gases, not that dangerous but you could lose some eyebrows. If the damper is of the type that holes in it you can close it all the way after you have loaded the coal and closed the door.
Again get a CO2 detector, a manual pipe damper blocks the flow of gases, you want to make sure you're not choking it off too much that you are losing the draft.
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My brother in law told me to put in a T-joint instead of a 90 degree angle at the bottom where the pipe exits the house wall.
T's instead of elbows is always a good idea becsue that gives you easy access to the inside of the pipe to remove the fly ash.
i do have a co2 detector... bought first after we installed it
could too much ash cause the stove to not draft properly?
i really don't know what i'm talking about ... i do know about draft and stuff but this stupid thing really baffles me...
do you think the height of my chimney could be an issue?? should i try and raise it higher than the peek of the roof?
Also my Father told me that he only ever used chestnut coal in the stove... so that is what we bought also... again this is a very very VERY old coal stove... and beat up (outside shell) not the fire box...
If it's an olde stove you probably have a lot of air infiltration and closing the damper will help fix that. You ca also get pea which is a smaller size coal which will restrict the draft more and burn slower. Chestnut and Pea produce the same amount of BTU's per pound but the nut will burn hotter and faster becsue there is more air going through it. You can even mix the two together. Another trick here is to take some ashes and spread them across the top of the fire, this will also help dampen it off.
Iam learning to burn coal I live MD.my stove is warn morning 460B. It is in gr8. shape how far do I fill it . Iam using nut coal . Please tell me how to get best heat out of it and last long time . What is vent for on fill door . Iam using a 6 inch pipe and damper . Thank for taking your time to help . Open for advice
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I'm assuming you have just assembled this? Fly ash is going to accumulate in the horizontal runs on the pipes and in the bottom of the chimney, you need to clean this out and how often depends but at least once a year. If you don't it will eventually block the pipe. 3 screws in each joint for the flue pipe and make sure it's secured well.
have a warm monring coal stve model 460B .
