Stoker Stove Hoppers

[prinefan]

Can anyone tell me if a coal stoker stove hopper should be lined(dual wall construction)? This goes back to my previous post about "coal stove odor". The the hopper on the stove that I acquired is corroted and has holes and there was some very thin gage sheet metal in the hopper to keep the coal from falling out. I pulled this sheet metal out of the hopper and it almost appears as though this was originally a dual wall construction.

Currently the hopper is hot and the coal in the hopper is very warm when running the stove. Could this be contributing to the odor?

Thanks for any info.

Mark

 

[Corey]

Just looking at the "no post left behind" thread and saw this. Sorry I can't answer your questions about the hopper, but I would say that anytime the coal warms up substantially in the hopper, it will have a chance to give off an odor (ie- outgassing). I have only had the experience of burning a couple of 5 gal buckets of coal so far, but I would offer that it seems there would be a difference in the smell of "coal warming in the hopper" versus "coal burning in the stove". If you can make this distinction, it may help you isolate and eliminate the odor.

Good Luck,

Corey

 

[prinefan]

Thanks for the reply Corey. I now have a odorless, heat-throwing, lava bank of coal ripping from the stoker stove!!

After spending a few nights troubleshooting this issue, the odor issue has been resolved.

1.) The hopper was right up against the back of the stove causing the coal in the hopper to heat ,so I slide some angle iron between the stove and rusted, corroded, hopper creating 1.5" gap. Turned the stove on. Still stinky, but the hopper was definitely cooler.

I then spoke with the local coal stove dealer and he seemed think I was getting poor draft possibly caused by the chimney. (I also looked at new hoppers and they are 3/16" thick. The corroded hopper on my stove is no more than .100" thick)

2.) I then installed a power venter, running it into the chimney. Hoping it would assist the chimney(The power venter came with the free stove) I then fired up the stove with a window open.

and woohoo It passed the wifes sniffer test.

3.)I then removed the power venter and ran the stove with a window open with natural draft and woohoo still no smell. But I was melting all the snow outside caused by the heat loss out the window

This told me that my house was very tight.(electric ba$eboard heat).

4.) I ducted a fresh air inlet from outside directly to the combustion fan with natural draft.

Problem solved!

Hopefully, after spending the time to write this, it will help someone in the future.