Clayton 1600 - New to Coal

hello coal burners.

I am new to coal. I been a wood burner years grew up on it . I am trying coal I hear once I start coal I will never go back to wood. a friend of mine burns coal but his is a auto feed and I have a hand feed so he cant help me . every thing I read is draft ,shaking (when and when not to) , feeding (when and when not to) .

my claton 1600 has a air induce draft and a spin draft on the ash door and a hand damper and a (barometer) damper . my draft is .02 to .04 . I have been keeping a log on what I do when I do it . so I try not to make the same mess up over. I think I am off to a good start .

I can not keep my frie going over night or when I am at work 9 to 10 houres not sure why . I have a good one going during the day when I am here or after work . I will shak it down about 9:30 pm put a layer of new coal on it let the gases burn off I got a nice fire going ,10:00 pm put all my drafts setting back (to where I logged in the best burn is) set the alarm for 2:00am and stumble down to the bace ment knowing the fire is out becuse it dang cold . my settings are 3 spins out on the bottom , air induce is a 1/4 open when I am here during the day thats is a good setting , check the draft and it .03 .

not sure what I am doing wrong . I am thinking it should go for a 9 to 10 hour run . not a 4 . would love for someone to help me get to where I need to be.

thank you
eric.

Do some reading on here, there are many suggestions. Also, what size coal are you using and are you filling it up?

Heres one thread.
Keeping My Stove Going While at Work

forgot that . lol . I am useing nut . yup fill it up layer at a time on a good bed. and thanks for the reply . I just started reading the one were cant keep it going when he is at work. thanks again

what is a good temp for the stack ? mine is 200* to 300* . putting out about 130* house 70* is this about right ?

Hi Eric and welcome to the forum. Well, I'm one of the Clayton 1600 guys here to help you. Here is a few threads that should get you started on the right track. Slow Blue Dancing With Red Dressed Ladies in a Clayton Clayton Furnace Fired on Wood Here is a teaser for you if you ever want to convert it to a stoker. Clayton Furnace With Dual Reading Stokers

Your Clayton should fire very well on anthracite, but you are going to be in for learning a totally different method of firing than wood or bituminous coal. When burning wood or bituminous coal it is fine to use the thermostatically controlled combustion blower, it will burn extremely well doing so, and a very fast hot fire can be obtained. But when burning anthracite, I've found that it will only give you short, hot, clincker results. I've also found that the anthracite burned in the Clayton will be very lazy to start, but will gradually build up heat over a much slower pace than burning wood or bituminous coal. This is where you have to learn patience.

The different size anthracite will also have different heat and firing results. The stove sized anthracite will be harder to get going and if the ash is shaken too much or too often, the fire will cool enough to go out. So I don't use it.

The nut anthracite does much better, catches faster, packs tighter, and should give a fairly good steady fire.

I've found that buckwheat or a mixture of buckwheat and nut anthracite gave me the best results and the longest burn times. The ash was finer and didn't clog up the grates.

But if you want a really hot fire fast, I've found that the Clayton burns best on Wood or Lump Bituminous Coal. The design of the firebox makes the Clayton an awesome performer with these fuels, but maybe as short as four hours and as long as ten hour firings of quality heat before it needs recharged. I've found that the Anthracite Coal does not burn as hot as the Wood or Bituminous without clinkering, but it will supply a very long moderate fire of 12 to 16 plus hours easily.

The key to getting these long results is the draft control. You are going to need at least .05 inches of daft to fire well with this stove, otherwise you will be constantly fighting to keep her going. That's a chimney issue and another topic.

So, I hope this will help with your coal burning experience. I'll be happy to answer anymore questions. DOUG

doug thank you . I went down and closed the air induce turnd the thermostat down all the way . now time to fig. out how many truns on the spin damper . I got the draft at .05 bounceing to .06 thanks again. eric . ps I will check out the sites that you sent.

doug.
I looked at the sites you sent all I can say i, nice! so here is were I am at 9:30 loaded up to the top of the bricks, air induce 1/8 of a inch open, spinner is open 2 1/2 turns . lets see how far that will take me. I printed what you sent and clipped them in to my log book . I am going to let it go and see how long , how warm it keeps the house, what stack temp is. this is a good start point. thanks eric.

you are doing yourself a favor by listening to Doug, he really knows this stove and got me started on mine( thanks man) I burn bit coal and nothing else and have had my fire going for two months now and have never had to relight. take your time to learn with this stove and you ll be big time happy. I found that if you burn bit coal forget about the forced air induction. don't use it!!! I put a shovel of good lump on and open my top draft about half( on the blower) I let that burn for maybe 20 minutes then before I leave for work I shut down the top draft completely or leave it open just a touch, and fill it up with coal. I don't ever let the coal touch the metal sides but I do mound it up in tha center maybe 4 to 6 inches above the bricks. I can easily get 12 hour burns with great heat for 6 to 8 hours. the key is using only the bottom draft. plus remmember, more heat less burn time.