pot belly stove

Bkpigs

Member
I have a pot belly stove in my shop that I burn wood in. Just wanting a few tips and experiences from you all. I have been using it for a few years sparingly and have learned some of the tricks but definitely could use some additional tips.

Do you guys adjust your flue damper? I have been leaving it open for the most part but did try closing it a bit to slow the rise of the hot air out the chimney. Any trueth behind that?

How do you set your vent on the feeding door? I usually set it with about a 1/4 inch opening.

I do know that the bottom vent on the ash door is used to control the draft and fire rate.

Thanks for any additional tips!!
 
is the bowl cracked? Friend was sitting beside his potbelly, which had been cracked for years but never been even the slightest problem, when it suddenly burst open & spilled fire all over his garage floor without any warning. Luckily. he was right beside it. He often went of & left it burning. Just a section of the bowl fell out & there was no gasoline nearby. After 20 years of sitting beside it you don't think about something like that happening.
 
It's all going to depend on your stove and set up. Adjust the pipe damper so that smoke isn't backing up but you still aren't just pushing heat up the flue. Adjust the draft so that the fire is burning good. Usually the draft is full open to get the fire going and shut down once the stove is warmed up good.
 
When I was a kid dad used one in his shop and used some coal along with wood. I remember seeing the bottom part glow red, but never had a problem. I'd think it would be more efficient using a fan to move some heat, but not have it too close.
 
Pot belly stoves are often set-up to burn coal. To burn wood - a grilled at the bottom often needs to be added. If not they burn through wood incredibly fast. When we first got our 175 year-old farm-house - it had three pot-belly stoves and three chimneys. Even loaded with the best hickory firewood, damper in the pipe near closed, and air-intake closed - the fire would burn out in less then 2 hours until a added a grille in the bottom. That made it last an extra hour. Eventually, I replaced with a 70s "air-tight" stove and a new wood furnace.
 
I just know I would love to have one in the living room on a day like this. (Another 4" of snow on the ground now) and its still snowing..
 
In my experience it is usually best to leave the pipe damper open. Closing it is a sure way to have the chimney pipe become plugged with creosote and therefore a good chance of a chimney fire. If the stove is not air tight then you should only build a small fire and be careful not to over fuel it.
 
I use one every day in the garage. That is where all of the eggs are stored so I have to keep it warm enough.

I open the flue and the vent to start with. I also put a few rolled up newspapers in it to heat up the flue and get it to draw quick. I close the door when there is a good enough draw that the fire will pull hard when it is closed. I go do some chores and can smell when it is time to close the damper - the smoke smells hot. Then I close the damper down but leave the vent wide open for about an hour or so. Then the vent gets closed down pretty good so that it will burn for about 4 hours loaded. There are usually enough coals left to start another fire for 24 hours.

It isn't the most efficient stove but they are just eggs. It does a good job and keeps that old carriage house about 75 no matter the weather.
 
I've got three pot belly stoves laying around. All worked pretty much the same. One "Royal Oak", one "Round Oak" and one "Warm Morning." If used with just coal grates at the bottom and no grille added - they work as thus. If it's below zero outside (good draft), damper in the 6" pipe near closed, all air intakes closed - and some good dry hardwood - the stove burns so hot the pipe gets near cherry red. Creosote was never an issue with any of mine. They leak so much air they run hot no matter what unless a special grille is added in the bottom. Most of these stoves were primarily designed for coal, not wood. Most came with a "conversion" grille for burning wood and most were lost long ago. I made one for mine with 1/4" plate.
 
I think the first thing to realize, your stove and set up is unique to you, so how you operate it, will depend on the wood you burn, moisture content, draft, how much stack you have, and how well you are able to maintain flue temperatures to keep the stack clean.

However, typically with dry seasoned wood, which is really a "must have" once the fire is going and its burning hot, you should be able to employ the use of your flue damper. You may or may not be able to adjust combustion air coming in through that type of stove, I am familiar with them from seeing many over the years, but have never used one. A simple little device is a magnetized thermometer that you can place on the metal stack, smoke pipe or whatever you want to call it, at least then you can monitor the temperature. You will have to by trial and error, monitor the condition of the stack inside, note any creosote build up, clean, maintain and continue to monitor that until such time you know by what wood you burn, how you have the fire adjusted, what will or should typically happen inside the pipe.

I can sit here and say, well I do this with mine burn that kind of wood, seasoned, semi-seasoned or whatever and this is the results I get, I don't see how that would help you accurately. Hold that thought.

I run an old ashley automatic, the oval one. I do burn seasoned wood, including some pine at start up, and a chunk once in awhile. I have good draft, the smoke pipe rises up, makes a 90 degree bend, and terminates into masory, whereas it transitions to a clay flue lined chimney rising approximately 30 feet. I do have a flue damper, and I have tried both ways, its imperative that I do use it once I have draft, well not too often I do have to establish it, odd weather and southerly winds seem to be the cause, otherwise it drafts very well. Once the stack is warm, I can apply that damper until I smell smoke, then back it off, open it a tad more, then re-check for smoke or combustion gases by odor. I can restrict oxygen if I want but find most times I leave it open fully. This stove and or with the draft, if you build a fire close to the smoke pipe outlet on it, or in the middle of the firebox, can and will roar like a blast furnace or a giant torch, and that pipe will glow orange in no time, that flue damper prevents that, of course I try not to overfire and put too much wood in when first firing it up, seems to do that more then, cold start, better oxygen maybe ???

The result of me doing this with it for many years now, I get very little creosote, most if not all of it is on the last 2-3 clay flue liner sections at the top, I have one that projects a full section, so that is surrounded by cold air, and this is where creosote seems to accumulate, the main part of the flue is clean and requires no cleaning, I have not had to clean it yet, most is gray and soot color, it is rectangular and 8x12. I burn dry wood, don't choke the fire so its smoldering, and try to maintain a regular flue temperature, I don't even have a thermometer on the metal pipe, though I'd like to see how high it was when that pipe did turn orange, I did rig one up to hang down into the flue from the top of the chimney, to spot check, and I think it was around 300 deg F give or take, that will change but I know how the fire has to be, so with all that in mind, its a very simple stove to use with minimal maintenance. It provides quite a bit of heat, I can make the entire basement stay at 70 deg and its large, one half would fit 4 cars, double that and that's about the size.

I noted that with the flue damper closed better than half, 2/3 or somewhere around there, I burn less wood and get more heat, thats really common sense, but I did monitor and still do, these are nothing to fool with, I have a ladder against the chimney all winter and check it monthly or more, the condition stays the same.

These things do apply but your set up is unique to you.

Use seasoned wood, maintain decent flue temps, check, don't close down the combustion air and flue damper to make the flame so low its basically smoldering and smoking, and you are very likely to have a safe stove and pipe to enjoy. I have closed mine down later at night, both flue damper and door damper if you can call it that, bed of coals and a bigger log, and I have seen where that log, often times Black cherry or even a nice chunk of elm will reduce itself to a smolder or small flame because the bed of coals has gone out and is ash. Hard maple and oak won't do that so much or at at all, now even with that, I still don't get creosote, because I do NOT run the stove like that constantly, but that would certainly be a bad practice, and this was with 1 year seasoned wood. Main thing is never take chances if you suspect something is wrong or is not working as should, shut it down and correct the problem until its right, its not worth taking risks with any of this.

Just my take on this, hopefully of some help, a bit drafty, LOL (long winded) but with good intent, they're all different so its really up to you to make sure its right, safe installation and the use of it.
 
A older man told me one time to take and crumple up some news paper every morning and let it roar up the chimney. That way you burn out any build up from the day before. I remember seeing sparks and burnt pcs of paper coming out the top of his chimney.

Bob
 
Once you have used a good high efficiency stove instead of the simple firebox. You will throw out the wood wasting stove.
We ran the high efficiency fire place insert for 3 days without the baffles and brick after a 25yr old weld cracked.
The fireplace was about useless. It now held four chunks of wood but even with the dampers wide open . It wouldn't raise the temperature indicators to halfway . The house was cold but the chimney had never been so hot. The fire would burn out in 2 hrs.
We welded the bracket back in . Now two sticks of wood will bury the temp indicators full scale high if the dampers are wide open. Three sticks of wood will put out lots of heat and last from 10PM to 4 AM and still be a bed of glowing coals.
Anybody using a plain low efficiency firebox is wasting a lot of work and heat.
 
Anybody ever use a "Magic-Heat" hot air blower in the flue, 3 or 4 feet above the stove? It"s like 4 or 5 hair dryers blowing hot air out. Really takes the waste heat out of the flue gasses.
 
We had one for years off the oil fired hot water boiler, flue it did capture and disperse heat, it had been in their since the house was new, 30 years in service it did start to load up, I thought it was a risk to leave it so I took it off, I can hear the damper and know that flue is properly vented, + the wood stove being at the other end of the basement, not really necessary.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top