Is There Something up With Blaschak?

Ok. I am getting fed up here. I run my Mark 1 with nut coal from Blaschak.
Last year went without any problems. I was pretty much a 1 match guy. House was always toasty warm, running PEA coal last year. This year is different. I leave my stove at around 1 turn out on the knob. Some mornings are great. Warm house, 10 hours or longer and the stove is still going stong. Other mornings, not so much. God damn stove is out and the house is freezing f'ing cold. I have the same routine every day. Usually shake down once, and I top off the load 3 times a day. I am getting fed up with the in consistancy of the stove output this year.
Now there is a thing or two different than last year. I had 6-8 people living in the house. This year, only 2. I switched to nut coal from Pea but I compensated by turning the knob back from 1.5 turns to 1 turn.
I hope my rambling makes sense, I am ready to freak out.

Bootstrap wrote:God damn stove is out and the house is freezing f'ing cold.

Is the coal all burned up? Or is there unburned coal still in the firebox? I highly doubt there is anything wrong with the coal, you just need to get things dialed in.

I suspect your draft is causing the variability...nut would be more sensitive to changes in draft. Do you have a baro installed?

baro is installed. I also noticed that if I crank it down to less than 1 turn, it dies. It appears that most of the load 95% or so is all burnt up.

I guess I'm not imagining some of the problems I'm having this year, more and more people are posting simular bitches. ??????????????????

Have you tried going back to pea size?

Wouldn't you expect nut to burn up faster? The air flows through it easier. Pea would restrict the flow. Why would nut be more sensitive? I would think pea would be more restrictive and not respond well to changes in draft, particularly a reduction in draft. This is why some mix nut and pea together?

Kevin

Bootstrap wrote:Ok. I am getting fed up here. I run my Mark 1 with nut coal from Blaschak.
<snip>I hope my rambling makes sense, I am ready to freak out.

I don't think it's the coal.

I think you need to try more options, and be patient.
I have had no issues, and have not heard of any locally.
(We are using nut in our Harmans as well.)

You said you have a baro, have you dialed it in with
a manometer, or did you just use the litle numbers
on the slide?
I have found that the settings are a lot more forgiving, if your
baro is opening on the high side, as opposed to low.
In other words, IMO, the stove is happiest at about .06-.08
So it will work great there, or higher, but they get real lazy at .03-.04 for instance.
So if you are just guessing at the setting, you may not be in the "sweet zone".

If you don't have a mano, and want to experiment,
just keep your baro closed for a day or two.
Just a thought.

Dan

KLook wrote:Wouldn't you expect nut to burn up faster?

Yes.

KLook wrote:Why would nut be more sensitive?

See below. By "sensitive" I meant that nut is more responsive to a change in draft.

KLook wrote:I would think pea would be more restrictive and not respond well to changes in draft, particularly a reduction in draft.

Try shaking down twice at 12 hour intervals. You said you only shake once which might be causing the stove to be ash bound.

Thanks Rob, sorry for the confusion. I burned some nut and pea in a horrible hand fed but it seemed you were saying the opposite of my experience with it.

Other then that, I like the above suggestion because I would always like to err on the side of to much draft not to little. To much can be handled by restricting air in, to little just makes the fire die.

Kevin

I would try shaking down twice a day and adding coal twice a day. A good shakedown till you see the orange glow in the ash pan, add your coal and make sure she is catching good, sometimes it is better to add little at a time till she is burning good and you have it filled to where you want it. Sometimes you need a little poke through the grates to give it a little more airflow. You will get it.

My blashak is good this year just like last year . I came home 12 hours and it was still burning strong and the house was in the 70's.

Bootstrap wrote:It appears that most of the load 95% or so is all burnt up.

So the coal and the stove are working, the load is just burning up FASTER than you are accustomed. I tried stove coal in my Mark 1 a couple years ago, and I had to switch back to nut for the same reason -- couldn't keep a good fire for a full 12 hours. Because the bigger chunks of coal don't pack together as tightly, a firebox full of stove coal contains fewer pounds than a firebox full of nut, and even less compared to a firebox full of pea. I estimated that with stove coal I could load about 15% less than with nut, which doesn't seem too bad, but 15% is 1/6 which means a 10-hour burn where I previously got 12.

I ended up selling my stove coal and replacing it with nut. I took a small loss, but it really was very small -- I got several calls when I put the coal on Craigslist and practically had people fighting over it.

P.S. I also agree with the others -- shake thoroughly and reload at least twice a day. When you top off the coal without shaking, there's significant space taken up by ashes which otherwise could be taken up by new coal. Less total coal = shorter burn time.

franco b wrote:Try shaking down twice at 12 hour intervals. You said you only shake once which might be causing the stove to be ash bound.

I second this motion.. Seems you need to shake at least twice.
Maybe the coal you are burning this year has a higher ash content

Lightning wrote:

franco b wrote:Try shaking down twice at 12 hour intervals. You said you only shake once which might be causing the stove to be ash bound.

I second this motion.. Seems you need to shake at least twice.
Maybe the coal you are burning this year has a higher ash content

That's a possibility too. The coal could be burning well but have a higher ash content. Mine seems to be making a good bit this year but it's burning fine (stoves at 450 as I type). I usually empty the ash pans every morning after the 7pm shake and fill from the night before and they are full. I can also say that there are times between the the 12/12 schedule that I peek at the stoves and if I don't see a nice glow I'll shake it a bit or throw a scoop on (usually the cookstove).
Nothing is a hard and fast rule , just a routine you should find and get used to for your stoves optimum performance. Might be less in the fall and spring and more in the dead of winter when burning hard.