Hotblast 1557M

Hi, I'm a newbie at this and I'm having trouble keeping my fire at an even temp. for a long period of time. I have a good draft for the chimney but still have to fool around with the spin draft.
Also, what temp. would be considered in the dangerous zone? I have the thermo. on the front just above the loading door.
I just received a Honeywell limit control and need to know the wiring specs.
Help.

Hi I have one of these also. I have a lot of trouble keeping the house under 90..

I found that once I get a good bed of hot coals going I just put in what I want and close the spin draft. I also close off the drat in the feed door. it seems to leak just enough around the door to let it burn real slow..

My house stays around 81 if it is under 40 outside. Over 40 like today 90+ is easy. I just open the windows lol..

I too have the Honeywell limit control that came with the draft kit and if I can find the book I will let you know..

okay thanks

I took my loading door damper right out and sealed it shut and only use the ash pan screw damper. When I load, I put 2 logs side by side front to back with about a 1/2 inch gap in the middle and the flame burns slowly up the middle. For longer burns, I will also put a large round on the right or left on top of 1 of the bottom logs, but against the wall instead of the middle. This way, once the middle pieces crumble, the one against the wall will fall to the bottom and burn. These things are drafty, if I have a hot bed of coals, I load it and shut the screw damper all the way, and it still keeps burning, but very slow. I had to install a damper in the chimney as well so I can shut that if I ever needed to put the fire out in a hurry. If you install the forced draft kit, I think it would let even more air in, even when the blower isn't running, so this may add to your problem. I took some pics because I just loaded it and I have some time on my hands ;-) The fire looks raging, but it's because the door is open. Hope this helps.
Matt

I have the forced draft. It never runs, but I keep the flap open on the blower on the back. This allows for secondary air. I have a thermometer above the door and I can burn mine at 500, had it to 600 when real cold. 400 would be about normal. I load mine up, open the ash pan damper all the way for about 20 minutes, then I close it to 1 turn open. It will burn with no smoke at all from the chimney all night, and run around 400 to 500 through the night. Right now its 23 and windy, the house is 78 degrees. It takes alot of getting used to. If you don't have the rear plug open, I wouldn't recommend to damper it way down. It wastes fuel, and creates a dirty chimney. I get a nice clean 8 hour burn at night. Rather do that than a slow 10 hour burn, with not enough heat to keep the demand, and a dirty chimney. You'll learn how to regulate the temps. When its real cold out is when they operate the best.

There is a huge learning curve with these. I have to damper mine down because my chimney is packed double wall with no bends, so my draft is probably more than a masonary chimney would have. If I did anything more than 1/4 turn or so, it would be almost 80 in here too and we wouldn't be able to sleep or be comfortable. I'm burning at 73-75 most all of the time...see pic with low and high for the past 24 hours. Just keep messing with your damper until you're comfortable. Check your chimney if you are worried about it, but I haven't needed to sweep/clean mine in 3 years of heavy use.

Ok here is where I'm at with mine, Last year was a total waste of wood. The drunk guy that did the install knew less then I did. Over the summer I did try to fix his mistakes as best as I could.

Fist this is not a outside stove Well it is now.. I did need a cold air return I don't now but I did. He also removed the thermodisc and ran it off the thermostat. It blew in a lot off cold air inside last winter.. I installed the draft blower kit this past spring..

Right now it is 27 outside and 78 inside.. Burning maple with the ash door screw damper one full turn out..

Southbound,
Are you saying a drunk guy came out and installed your wood furnace outside, removed the thermodisc and has the blowers come on and off based on the house temperature, even if there's no fire going? Did you reinstall the thermodisc?

Yes that is what I am saying..

When I installed the draft kit it came with the Honeywell set up..

thanks everyone. I'll be working on this system in the next several days (have lots of other time sensitive projects going on). I just received a honeywell to replace my thermodisc. I'll let you know how things turn out. I do appreciate the help. thanks.

I also eliminated the loading door damper. I took the plug out for the draft blower and bought several reducer bushings and a small plug. I also took the spin draft off the ash door and ground it flat so I can close it all the way. Gives me lots of control, and I don't get the house to 90 any more. Works for me, but my fuel supply is 100% white ash, and it all burns very consistently and predictably.

Mr T,
I've been thinking about grinding my ash damper door down also. I shut it completely down and can just hear the air rushing in still because of those little bumps on the back not letting it close tighter. COuld you post a picture of the plug you modified in the back? Mine burns very well by closing everything down, but I'd like better air control if I ever had to put the fire out in a hurry.

I have been doing this for the past two days.
It really has helped with the consumption of my wood and also with the temps in the house..

Thanks!

Glad to hear it! How far down did you damper it down to get a nice controlled burn?

I have the draft kit which was a waste of $$$ and still have the damper in the feed door. Now if I run the ash pan screw damper all the way in it won't make enough heat. So I am trying it at a half turn out right now..

Good luck...

I also have the 1557m and it does heat nicely. However, I almost always have my feed door damper opened at least some to keep a nice flue temp. I usually have it set just above "low" and the ash door screw opened one turn. This gives me good heat but does last only 4-5 hours max with oak in the firebox. Do any of you check the temps at your flue pipe or do you just trust it by looking at the chimney? I try to keep it at around 300(at least) to keep the creosote in the chimney down. But I know this limits the length of my burn times.

I am getting 8 hrs burn time out of soft maple.And any body not using there draft inducer a good way to use it is a programable thermostat have it run about hr. before its time to get up works great!

300 is low with a 4 to 5 hour burntime. I load at 9:00pm and reload at 5:00 am. Plenty of coals for the morning. I have a thermometer above the loading door, and when I damper down for the night, I usually am at 450. It will burn between 400 and 500 most of the night, with coals to spare in the morning. I found for us, the draft inducer cools the firebox too much. I have a digital thermometer on mine also that programable. I only use the forced draft when its below zero for an extended time at nighttime.

i set it to run 45 min starting at 4 am and shuting down at 445 other than that i would say were running almost the same! i load at 10 pm and the wife refuels at 6 am

The 300 temp is the lowest I like to run but I'm usually around 350 or so. And keep in mind that is also with a thermometer on the flue pipe 18 inches off the back of the firebox. I'll try another magnetic thermometer just above the feed door on the firebox to see what I'm running temp-wise.

I don't have the draft inducer yet and I doubt I'll get it because I don't have any problems getting heat. My problem is that I can't get a long enough burn but that may be because I'm not loading enough wood! How much and with what size and type wood are you guys loading up with at night?

Right now Iam using soft maple in big squares 8 hrs and I will still have enough coals to get running again pretty eazy

I'm burning wild cherry and maple. They are larger splits, around 6 inches. When it gets super cold, I burn the locusts at night, and I choose only rounds. Try something, remove the rear pipe plug and keep that open. Then keep the door damper closed, and regulate with the ash pan. On my unit there are 2 or 3 little holes on the damper in the door. I peek through those to make sure I have a solid flame at the baffle. Instead of burning the whole pile at once, It will slowly burn at the bottom, and I get flames above the wood. It will burn for 2 to 3 hours before the wood on top will start to catch fire. Meanwhile it will have a temp of 400 to 450. Once you have a good coal bed, I would load, then run the spin damper open for about 15 minutes. From there, you can shut the ashpan damper down to around 1 turn open. By almost closing the ashpan damper, and having the door damper closed. It will force air from the back of the firebox right below the baffle. This is where you will have your primary combustion. It works well for me. Took a few years to figure it out. I was going to put in secondary burn tubes, But I might not because I get the same effect by closing the ashpan down. One thing to keep in mind is I need around 350 on the front of the furnace to keep a good secondary combustion.

secondary burn tubes where have you found this at?

I was going to fabricate some. I have it all thought out, but haven't got the materials yet. I rebuilt the whole inside of my furnace 2 years ago. It would be nothing to run some rectangular tubing on the back and sides, and put a few tubes across the tubing. I have some 1/4 wall 1" tubing I was going to use for the tubes. Just drill the tubing for the tubes to slide into place. Air could stay open in the back, or a flap could be put across the pipe in back to regulate. Nothing would be changed, except for you would reroute the air coming in across the baffle.

The plug in the back is a 1.5" pipe thread. I just went to the hardware and bought some reducer bushings. I usually run a 3/4. I suppose if you want to get fancy, you could get a short piece of pipe and a gate valve.