i have my 1557m installed and working now by a month or so. i appreciate all the info from the replies previous to this , a question tho for lanes69 or anyone who may know from experience...the forced air draft pug in the rear, i just today removed it to see how the stove would burn and i have to say my firebox temp as well as flue temp went up as well as heat output. im watching now to see if there is also an increase in wood consumption ,as it has only been a couple hours since removing the plug. the question to lanes69 is,do you leave the forced draft hole open or do you regulate it somehow as if you would draft intake ? and anyone who may know , what is a good way to determine as to wether i need a baro. damper or not . i know i do have good draft , but how much is too much ?
US Stove 1537G Improvements. Newbie?
- Thread starter Racerboy832
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laynes69
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Sorry for the last reply, been busy. I keep the rear open all the time. All the way on the fan. You won't necessarily see an increase in wood consumption if you load it right. Let it go through the cycles, and reload when the coals have burned down to reignite the new load. A baro is needed in an overdraft situation, a manual damper would work just fine also. I have both, but only use the baro. If you have a tall chimney you may have an overdraft. I would start with a manual damper and see if it helps you out. About burn times.. You may use a little more wood with that plug open, but you will gain more heat, and have a cleaner chimney. Hope this helps.
Racerboy832
ArboristSite Guru
Rear plug removal
How are you guys making out with the rear plug removed? I have the 1537G and thinking of removing the plug. I Do not have the blower back there for that plug. Is there any chance of smoke coming out of the plug or fire danger. What is the difference between using the plug in the back or the ash pan dampner? I just got the stove a month ago and try to get a handle on consistent heat.
How are you guys making out with the rear plug removed? I have the 1537G and thinking of removing the plug. I Do not have the blower back there for that plug. Is there any chance of smoke coming out of the plug or fire danger. What is the difference between using the plug in the back or the ash pan dampner? I just got the stove a month ago and try to get a handle on consistent heat.
laynes69
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No chance of smoke coming out of the open pipe, or chance of fire. The pipe is protected. If I put my hand over the rear of the fan, w/o it running, it sucks my hand in with the draft. I keep the back open instead of using the main loading door damper (which is junk). Then I can regulate it with the spin damper on the ash door. If smoke comes out that pipe in back, then it will come out everywhere from the unit. Only if the chimney would fill up with creasote.
Racerboy832
ArboristSite Guru
I just removed the plug on mine. Seems to run hotter. I guess I will see how it fairs with the wood consumption. Anyone out there make a threaded collar to regulate airflow from the back hole?
Some people have used pipe reducer bushings....
I have a ball valve on mine... works great.. can open or close as I like.
just a brief reply here , when i took the rear plug out my temps were alot hotter , in the range where they should be , but wood consumption was increased , although i added more wood when i had a hefty load of coals instead of letting the coals diminish a bit , when i did add the wood my flue temp had already decresed with just the coals burning tho. been a little warm to be running the stove , so its been a couple days since the little experiment but will deffinately check it out thoroughly as soon as the weather allows.i think i will also set it up to where i can regulate the rear plug air flow with a 1.5 in. nipple ,an elbow and a straight piece with a valve.
Racerboy832
ArboristSite Guru
I ran the stove with the plug out. The blower never shut off. I filled it 3/4 at about 11;30 pm and at 6am is still had a glowing log in it. I closed both the ash and the door damnpner. So far so good. Now i'm going to get one of those ball valves and try it.
wdchuck
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Cool, maybe I'll core a hole in the back of mine and see what happens, can always plug it if it doesn't work out.
Love the ball valve idea, exactly the kind of things that make this forum what it is.
Love the ball valve idea, exactly the kind of things that make this forum what it is.
i wonder what the difference is between using the forced draft hole ( without the blower ) and just using the feed door draft ? dont either of them allow air in over top of the fire for the secondary combustion ? granted ,the feed door is in the front , and the forced draft hole is in the rear , seems like they would serve the same purpose tho . just trying to understand why one seems to work differently than the other . anyone have any insight into that ?
laynes69
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The path of secondary air. The feed door is in front, above the feed door is a large void in front of the baffle. The air would have a better route to go up and out. On the back, the air comes in underneath the baffle. Where it can combust smoke at a higher temp, while its traveling across the baffle. It works better, I have done it both ways. Better combustion when the air is from the back top of the firebox.
i went out today and got some pipe stuff , to rig up my rear air . just a 6 inch straight piece , an elbow and a 2 inch nipple . 6 " straight piece into rear plug hole ,then elbow, then nipple facing straight up . i was gonna get a ball valve too , but for $31.99 , i figured i could make some tin foil partially cover the nipple hole for air regulation . would serve the same purpose but cost a lot less . i can get a whole lot of tin foil for $31.99 . anyhow , the house was about 80 deg when i came in from working outside , imagine that . yeah ,it uses a little more wood ,not significantly tho, but gives off alot more heat . i think the trade off is well worth it . would like to know if anyone has ground off the ashpan door draft intake nobbies , so it closes tight , and use the rear draft intake , and how does the stove burn like that ?
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I ground the knobs off mine but don't use the rear draft. We use the spinner to control the air intake. Gives us longer burn times and saves wood. Always too hot anyway.
i just recently, thru the course of this past week, have been doing some experimeting with my 1557, that alot of people may be interested in . i bought some firebrick from tractor supply to get me started . so far , i have tried 4 different configurations with the firebrick , and i think i may be leaving my 1557 with the latest config. i will describe the latest config only , unless anyone would like a desciption of all 4 . here is my latest and probably last config. a total of 10 firebricks will be needed . on the baffle ,what i call the baffle is the partial ceiling that extends from the top back of firebox to 2/3 to the front , i placed a row of 3 firebricks beginning from rear to front , the length of the brick is side to side . then i placed 4 bricks lengthwise , from side to side on baffle front edge , 3.5" of the brick will overhang from the baffle . then i placed 2 bricks , laying flat , on the backs of the overhanging 4 bricks to weigh them down . these 2 bricks wont fit butted up against each other , so i placed mine in an arrowhead fashion pointing towards front of stove . with the left over brick you will need to break off a chunk that will fill in the approx. 1" gap left over on the side . i hope my description makes sense . so what this has done , to my stove is , it has facilitated an awesome secondary burn with no other mods !!! no drilling, no fabrication , just $32.99 for 10 firebrick . operation wise, you will NEED to use the feed door draft to facilitate the secondary burn . i know some use the forced draft to facilitate this, but believe me, with this config you NEED to use the feed door draft ! the ashpan draft can still be used as needed for a hotter fire , with this config , it reduces the stoves natural draft , which means you can have a not so hot of a fire and still be comfy in the house when its 40 deg outside(and still have secondary burn) . when a hotter fire is needed , adjust the ashpan draft for the increase . this config, sets up a circulation in the firebox that pulls in air from feed door , brings it across the fire and up the back , across the baffle , down the front , acroos the fire and round and round . of course some of this peels off and goes up and over the baffle and up the chimney , but the secondary burn is definately there, there is no doubt . when i go outside and look at my chimney, i see a huge difference also . i am very pleased with this setup and i hope it helps other people as well . i hope it works as well for other as it does for me . good luck .
Racerboy832
ArboristSite Guru
How is the bricks working out? I was thinking of doing something similar
the brick thing is working out pretty good . i was thinkin of replacing the baffle itself with firebrick , placed on angle iron , and extending the baffle . as to how far it can be extended , would have to be experimented with . so far i have extended the baffle 7 inches beyond factory . i ,fortunately , work in a metal fab shop , so doing some experimentation like this is pretty easy for me to do . i do know that with what i have done with it so far , my above the feed door thermometer , can read as low as 250-275 and i still can get secondary burn .
smokinj
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I know this may be hard to show but can you get a pic of the way you set up the bricks?
i am lettinh the stove burn out this morning , as it will be in the mid 50's here today . i will try to take a pic . meanwhile , here is a pic i "tried " to draw , in paint. the red writing in this drawing says..no firebrick this area. the red rectangles are counterweight bricks , to more securely weigh down the bricks that overhang the baffle.
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