Hi,
So I just moved into a new place this summer, and there is a coal stove here that I've been waiting to use. It's a European made Surdiac brand, model Gotha 713D, manufactured in 1981. It runs on pea coal and is loaded from a gravity fed hopper (tapered). I've been doing TONS of internet research, reading TONS of forums, etc...but I still have a few unanswered questions:
1) Can the furnace be lit and fired up when the hopper is full, or does it have to be completely emptied? In the process of figuring out this thing, I got a fire going with newspaper and wood, and I slowly added coal until I had a good coal fire going. Then I filled the hopper with coal. Well, I managed to choke out that fire, and now I have the hopper full. Do I have to empty it and try again? I heard via word of mouth that you can light coal with a blow torch. Is this true? I have a torch that uses propane & MAPP, and I tried both gases on the coals. It makes the coals red, and then they don't seem to catch. I hold it there for many minutes, and then when I take the torch flame away it doesn't take. Does acetalyne or some other gas work; or is this method completely bogus? Am I truly stuck draining that entire hopper and starting over from scratch?
2) In the process of learning this thing, I've broken some of the many glass panes in the front. I looked up on woodmans parts plus that they sell the individual panes, and they can make custom panes. Their custom panes are 3/16" thick and these small panes I have are 1/8" thick. I want to order one of their custom panes that is one large piece covering the front instead of the many small pieces that are there now. Will that extra 1/16" of thickness make a huge difference?
3) I have found the only crappy manual online that is available for this thing, and as all other posts indicate-it's not very detailed. I'm having a problem with the thermostat and dial. The wire from the thermostat sensor on the rear of unit is not connected to the cable that goes to the dial and the air intake door (the dial is connected to the door however so I can "manually" open and close it). How do I hook that up, and is there a lot of calibration invovled? I'm guessing I may have to calibrate the positions on the dial too....is this something I should dig into my pockets and pay a tech for?
thanks for your help!
So I just moved into a new place this summer, and there is a coal stove here that I've been waiting to use. It's a European made Surdiac brand, model Gotha 713D, manufactured in 1981. It runs on pea coal and is loaded from a gravity fed hopper (tapered). I've been doing TONS of internet research, reading TONS of forums, etc...but I still have a few unanswered questions:
1) Can the furnace be lit and fired up when the hopper is full, or does it have to be completely emptied? In the process of figuring out this thing, I got a fire going with newspaper and wood, and I slowly added coal until I had a good coal fire going. Then I filled the hopper with coal. Well, I managed to choke out that fire, and now I have the hopper full. Do I have to empty it and try again? I heard via word of mouth that you can light coal with a blow torch. Is this true? I have a torch that uses propane & MAPP, and I tried both gases on the coals. It makes the coals red, and then they don't seem to catch. I hold it there for many minutes, and then when I take the torch flame away it doesn't take. Does acetalyne or some other gas work; or is this method completely bogus? Am I truly stuck draining that entire hopper and starting over from scratch?
2) In the process of learning this thing, I've broken some of the many glass panes in the front. I looked up on woodmans parts plus that they sell the individual panes, and they can make custom panes. Their custom panes are 3/16" thick and these small panes I have are 1/8" thick. I want to order one of their custom panes that is one large piece covering the front instead of the many small pieces that are there now. Will that extra 1/16" of thickness make a huge difference?
3) I have found the only crappy manual online that is available for this thing, and as all other posts indicate-it's not very detailed. I'm having a problem with the thermostat and dial. The wire from the thermostat sensor on the rear of unit is not connected to the cable that goes to the dial and the air intake door (the dial is connected to the door however so I can "manually" open and close it). How do I hook that up, and is there a lot of calibration invovled? I'm guessing I may have to calibrate the positions on the dial too....is this something I should dig into my pockets and pay a tech for?
thanks for your help!