Woodstock Progress coaling

Hello,
I'm ready to be beat up here. I'm not new to the stove or the forum but I read considerably more than post. I'm a follower from the old site. I've had a progress from the initial sale and am happy with it. It heats pretty damm good, now I don't get the results of some but I'm not complaining. My questions regards to coaling, mine coals a lot. I'm trying to figure out how to minimize this. I'm on the three year plan yet continue to have this issue. I believe I can split and video a moisture reading and still have issues. I have an eight inch oval chimney liner, inside a chimney. I have a damper on that as well. I have spoken to Woodstock and they said they didn't think it would be worth the cost to switch to a six inch round. I've normally left the air open less than a quarter on the back control arm but recently have opened it more and no luck. I've also read how others are able to burn the coaling down in 30minutes or so, currently I'm at an hour, after throwing in some small pine kindling and I still have a ways to go. I'm open to all responses, I expect my wood to be questioned but I don't see that as an issue. I've learned a ton here and have helped others from what I've learned. I appreciate the forum. Feel free to let me have it if you think I'm doing something wrong. Thanks for taking the time to read this long post.
Mike

 

calling Backwoods Savage the Woodstock expert.. I believe it probably has to do with draft what's your chimney setup?

 

Roughly 26 foot outside wall chimney. 8 inch oval liner, not insulated. I appreciate you trying to help me.

 

My answer to coaling issues with a 2.2cu.ft secondary stove is similar-- open the draft towards the end of the burn And!!!---This is where pine/willow comes into play--Toss on a split of seasoned pine and you'll burn the coals and get heat during the process.
I also take ashes out at least once a week or when built up to the ashlip--- this helps get a complete burn.

 

Backwoods, I will try that. I recall Woodstock saying to never open the draft fully, maybe that's why I never have. When it gets real cold. Like it will be here in a day or two it definitely becomes an issue. I love the stove but hate the coaling.
Buckthorn, I'll continue to try and throw a split of pine on as well.
I expected more grief than this to be honest. I'm no where near where you guys are yeti try and stay ahead but it just doesn't seem to help. I appreciate the responses I've had. I appreciate the time it takes to respond.

 

We typically so the same as BS does. As the load falls apart and begins to coal, we open the draft to full open for the last 2-4 hours. I haven't added any splits of pine yet, I may try and experiment with that if time becomes an issue

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

As noted above, blast those coals with some air and "melt" them away. We will "fluff" the coals, especially if there is a layer of ash on them, to increase their burn rate. Working ash down through the grate also helps reduce insulation around the coals and lets the air get to them. With the PH we seldom bother to add a couple of small, fine splits, but found that helped with both the IS and AS. The PH has a more vigorous primary air feed, making it much easier to get rid of coals. It still takes time, but seldom more than half an hour. Increasing the air in the last quarter of the burn helps cut the coal stage for us, too. No worries about opening the air completely (assuming you don't have a creosote issue).

 

Still learning about my progress hybrid (2nd winter) but I completely agree with Backwoods Savage and Flamestead. I can burn down a 6" pile of coals in roughly an hour and increase my stove top temp by
1) raking the coals around to get ash into the pan and push the coal to the front of the stove (air inlet)
2) putting 2-3 small splits on the bed of coals
3) engage the cat and open the air wide open

The limited amount of wood will burn hot and fast. I'm not worried about over firing the stove with this setup.

 

Make your splits smaller. Try loading north and south.

 

I also say try smaller splits.

 

This morning worked better with that and I neglected to open my damper on the rear of the stove. I don't have an ash pan on my unit, regretfully I didn't have the clearance for it. I don't know if it was in the manual or on the phone that I was told to never open the air control fully as you'll just lose all the heat but this morning in didn't see real loss other than the coals burning down. We shall see what happens over the next few cold days. I appreciate every ones response. Thank you.

 

I've been experimenting on the IS with simply leaving the primary air open more. I'm getting longer burn times than is helpful anyway since it is still going when I leave for work so I haven't been able to reload. I know I won't get much sympathy for this but I have to figure out a way to get burn times DOWN to 12 hours. I'm sure the very cold weather that's coming will help.

 

Never opened the intake all the way? That's like not going into 5th gear! Woodstock never told me that and I use that option to get her going (she's a she I've determined - she's hot) and like others have pointed out to reduce the coals and re-fire in the morning. I could imagine however, in certain situations that the draft would be such where leaving it open could lead to over firing?

 

oh mine would over fire but only in first 4 to five hours i have very good draft! after I got coals only it wouldnt!

 

It might help to understand exactly what you mean by "coals a lot". If you fully load the stove, get it up to temp (250F stovetop) and then snuff the air closed, what do you see in the firebox 12 hours later? If it's a big heap of coals 6" deep then I agree, that's a coaling problem.

How long are you burning down your load before you expect the coals to be nearly gone? Perhaps you are trying to push more heat out of the stove and trying to reload too often before the stove's natural burn cycle is complete. I had a Fireview which was too small to heat the house. I was trying to reload too often before all the coals were gone to keep the house warm. The solution was to replace the Fireview with the bigger Progress - no more coaling problems.

How big is your house?

 

I'm running a Keystone so not all of my experience will translate to the PH, but some will. As Dennis said, I open the air up as the load gets to the point where the coals are collapsing. Up to that point, I've usually been running with the air at maybe .5 or so. I don't open the air all the way, only to maybe 1 or 1.5. That seems to be where the stove top will hold temp at 250-300, and unless it's down in the teens and windy, room temp will hold around 70, with our marginal insulation and air-sealing. Opening the air more might burn down the coals faster but as long as I can hold room temp, I'll string out the coal burn as long as possible with the least air I can use. I might pull the coals forward once but there are a couple things that help the Keystone burn 'em down without much help. One is the ash grate, like Flamestead said...the ashes fall away as I pull the coals up so plenty of air can get to them. Also, the Keystone has a small hole in the ash pan housing which feeds air to the coals through the grate. I haven't had a lot of luck putting small splits on to reduce the coals but I haven't experimented with it much. I will, next time I get into a jam with too many coals and not enough heat...
I loaded about 6 hrs. ago, opened the air to about .75 a couple hours back, and still had 380 maybe 20 minutes ago...has started dropping now so I opened the air to 1.25. I might be cheating a little...I had a couple splits of Black Locust in that load.

 

My house is small, maybe 1400 feet, two story as well so a rectangle. Not trying to push air to a far back corner on a ranch or anything. My air is not opened all that much, it all depends. I don't think I'm pushing the stove too hard. My attic floor is insulated I believe to 14 or 16 inches of blown in insulation. The walls are not insulated but the house is small. Mainly locust seems to coal much more than the other woods. I do try and leave it large mind you, but if not burning it for three years I thought that was the purpose of the three year plan? It heats my house fine, but the coaling is a lot. With the temp going to almost zero here I'm just trying to have more room for wood. I'm not complaining about the stove but trying to get better results from it. I appreciate all the replies and the time to respond

 

Locust is notorious for coals. It makes great heat but definitely makes coals. I would burn with a higher draft setting so there is more air.