What Exactly Should the Ask Look Like After a Perfect Burn ?

After reading the posts and making guesses about why I'm not getting those 30-50 hr burns in my Hitzer 30-95 on a 30# hopper of reading nut coal, I'm looking for clues in the ash.

So what would an anthracite CSI detective tell me to look for in my ash to give me indication of the quality/efficiency of the burn ?

What are the telltale indicators of a good / bad burn ?

I'm assuming that the coal itself is not the problem. Seems everyone on this board vouches for Reading Anthracite.

I'm thinking back to one of your original posts. If I remember correctly, you were cranking the stove, trying to heat a drafty, uninsulated, three story house. If so, I would say you are trying to heat way more than the stove is rated for. Even though the stove is cranking out the heat, it is being over fired, which will give you short burn times. The 30-95 is a great little stove. When you want heat, it will crank it out. In comparison, the 50-93 will hit you with a wall of heat, and not be over firing.

yeah, that was when I was heating the entire 1600 sqft drafty basement.

I've managed to partition the basement into half and I am living in the half that is the least drafty.

Now that im only heating 800 sqft Ive been running the Hitzer as low as possible. Even then it keeps the room at 80 which is too warm for me.

So.. I'm running it with front damper and back draft door shut up tight to make it idel as low as possible.

Still - im getting only 20 hr. from a 30# hopper. My guesses so far have been:

1) maybe its cuase im using nut which lets more aitr flow thru the coal
2) maybe my ash pan door seal is leaky.

Anyway, I was hoping that the anthracite forensics can decipher clues left in the ash to tell me if there is some other factor at play.

I'm jealous of the 110 hr burn guy and I wanna beat his record!

The appearance of the ash will vary depending on the coal. White ash coals tend to burn to a powder, red ash coal has more of a tendency to clinker if you give it a lot of air; the red ash also seems to be more "granola like." Generally speaking, if you are running the stove in the "green zone," you should not have any unburned coal in the ashes. You also shouldn't have any large clinkers (maybe a few if you have coal with high iron content). If I have my hand-fed really dialed in and don't push it too hard, the ash is nearly a powder.

When you have your stove turned down all the way, what kind of stack temperatures are you getting? Do you have a barometric damper?

markviii wrote:The appearance of the ash will vary depending on the coal. White ash coals tend to burn to a powder, red ash coal has more of a tendency to clinker if you give it a lot of air; the red ash also seems to be more "granola like." Generally speaking, if you are running the stove in the "green zone," you should not have any unburned coal in the ashes. You also shouldn't have any large clinkers (maybe a few if you have coal with high iron content). If I have my hand-fed really dialed in and don't push it too hard, the ash is nearly a powder.

When you have your stove turned down all the way, what kind of stack temperatures are you getting? Do you have a barometric damper?

At lowest setting (all damps shut) I get 100-125 deg stacks but I don't have my baro installed.
I'm hoping that if I get the baro right I wont be drafting over the coal as much to satisfy my greedy chimney which pulls very hard.

The Reading ash seems to be in line with your description of mostly white powder with some little pieces of grit mixed in.

Gotta be the baro.. Need the baro to squeeze every BTU out of the load.

I can't agree more: you can't expect to get the best from your stove without a baro damper.

Also, I can't agree that 'everyone on the forum vouches for Reading Anthracite coal' I certainly don't vouch for it.. My experience with Reading coal was not good, lots of ash, lots of clinkers, lots of trash, wood, and rocks in the coal..

If you want to get a long burn, go buy 10 bags of Blaschak coal, and burn them in comparrison.. I'm sure you will see an improvement.

Greg L

I agree, Reading coal is not the best. I had Reading nut last year. There was a lot of wood in it as well as higher-than-normal ash...

LsFarm wrote:I can't agree more: you can't expect to get the best from your stove without a baro damper.
Also, I can't agree that 'everyone on the forum vouches for Reading Anthracite coal' I certainly don't vouch for it.. My experience with Reading coal was not good, lots of ash, lots of clinkers, lots of trash, wood, and rocks in the coal..
If you want to get a long burn, go buy 10 bags of Blaschak coal, and burn them in comparrison.. I'm sure you will see an improvement.
Greg L

I have found wood strips in Reading too. Can I get Blaschak in Pgh ?

Edit: N/M I found their website and shot them an email.

Last winter I drove to a stove dealer looking at stoves . He had a Leisure line Hyfire heating his shop on one side. It burned so clean there were no nuggets. We stuck our hand in the edge of the ashes to get some out and they wernt too hot too touch. Thats my idea of a perfect burn.

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Diesel wrote:Last winter I drove to a stove dealer looking at stoves . He had a Leisure line Hyfire heating his shop on one side. It burned so clean there were no nuggets. We stuck our hand in the edge of the ashes to get some out and they wernt too hot too touch. Thats my idea of a perfect burn.

No surprise since my idea of a perfect stove is a Leisure Line.