Clayton 1600 M

Hello all
I have a clayton 1600 m , and I have read all the posts on Successfully burning anthracite coal in a clayton.
Eventually I got it to burn it's really picky......... I am a HVAC tech and I understand how to make it work.......it's just I don't have the time or effort anymore
Sometimes it will burn for a week straight other times it turns out over night

Has anybody switched to something better with success?
I hear good things about the Harman 1500a. Any input?

Harman stoves are well built but this is just another batch loading stove that has a better grate and fire box design than what you already have. For the money involved I think you should look at a stoker.

I'm looking for something to hook up to my ductwork
Or I would def buy a stoker
Thanks

What makes the Harman design so much better?

Xwoodburner wrote:I'm looking for something to hook up to my ductwork
Or I would def buy a stoker
Thanks

What makes the Harman design so much better?

You can buy a stoker furnace for your ducts. Just look under furnaces and not stoves. I am sure the Harman has sturdier shaker parts than the Clayton and better dimensions of the fire box.

Ok
I'll peak at them....thanks a lot !

Xwoodburner wrote:Sometimes it will burn for a week straight other times it turns out over night

Hey partner Welcome to the forum! If yer willing to try that Clayton again, I can help.. I've been using a Clayton 1537G for two years burning coal and have gotten it pretty well figured out. There is a couple tweaks needed and they are pretty simple. Firstly, the combustion air has a way to "bypass" the coal bed once ash accumulates on the grates a little. These bypasses are between the front and rear liner of the coal bed and the firebox wall. I simply stuffed some fiberglass insulation in there. This forces combustion air to have no other path than to go up thru the grates and into the burning coal bed... Secondly, a barometric damper will keep the draft draw on the chimney consistent, which in turn keeps combustion air flow to the burning coal consistent which in turn keeps the fire producing consistent heat for 12-18 hours at a time. I lit my fire twice last year.. Once at the beginning and then in January after I purposely shut it down for fly ash cleaning in the flue pipe... These furnaces do work, and work great, if you just tweak a couple things

I am interested in trying for sure
Can u explain where to stuff insulation?
I know there are 2 plates
One in the front and one on the rear. Is it behind those?

Also anything I can do to help it shake better.....it burns fine as long as I shake the heck out of it......and I mean a lot
Sometimes I have to shake it for 20 min to get out the ash

My dad has this same stove with 0 issues,sometimes he barely shakes it at all and it still don't go out. He gets 20 hr burns
He does have excessive draft though. My clayton goes into a new 8x8 chimney that's 2-1/2 stories high
With wood burning it has crazy draft
With coal it starts out great but after a while the ash builds up
Usually the front or back starts to go out

Lastly
I was under the impression that Adding a barometric damper take away from draft
But it makes spence that if it opens it keeps draft on the chimney?? Right
So as the draft decreases on the stove it closes and pulls from the stove
I was afraid the damper would decrease my draft even more.......this won't happen?
Thanks for the help

The barometric damper only controls excess draft.

Lightning has gone all through this and his is the guidance you need, from stopping air from bypassing the coal bed to getting rid of ash.

I don't hav excessive draft
And that's why I never put one on
And I was confused to hear guys saying about it being a must have on a coal stove

I'm thinking it will improve my draft
Rather than starving my chimney when ash builds up inmy stove..... The chimney draft remains constant
So when the ash builds up,it can still draft ( somewhat better)
So actually it will improve draft
Am I correct thinking this?
I was taught that they only limit draft,which is incorrect

Xwoodburner wrote:I am interested in trying for sure
Can u explain where to stuff insulation?
I know there are 2 plates
One in the front and one on the rear. Is it behind those?

I had the same trouble when I started two years ago. It would burn for a few days - maybe a week - and then I couldn't keep a good fire going or it would slowly die. That's when I realized that combustion air was finding an easier way to get from the primary (spinner on the ash pan door) to the chimney which involved it bypassing the coal bed by going between the liners and the firebox wall. The cause of the bypass I would assume was from ash collecting on the grates. So instead of the air being forced up thru, it would just go around.. These bypasses are necessary for burning wood and bituminous coal but make burning anthracite nearly impossible.

I looked up your furnace.. Yes these plates are the front and rear liner. Combustion air cannot be allowed to come up between these plates and the wall of the firebox. Those holes definitely need plugged OR the bypass needs to be blocked below them. My liners don't have the extra air holes like yours. I put fiberglass between the liners and the firebox to prevent air from the primary from seeking the path of least resistance and going around the grates.

Xwoodburner wrote:My dad has this same stove with 0 issues,sometimes he barely shakes it at all and it still don't go out. He gets 20 hr burns
He does have excessive draft though. My clayton goes into a new 8x8 chimney that's 2-1/2 stories high

This is the exact same chimney that I have.. It works great! Trouble is you probably don't know how much draft you have if you don't have a manometer installed. Also, its possible your Dad is loading the coal higher. Some people that are new to coal only put in a few inches thinking that should be good but truth is, a good burn needs deep coal. I load mine 10 inches deep and mound it 12 inches deep in the center. What is excessive draft?? Its hard to tell without a gauge... There are many variables to explain his success while you may not be getting good results. Coal is fussy lol. It needs the right conditions to burn good and at the same time be efficient so that not an excess amount of heat is lost out the chimney.

My draft starts out.06and slowly goes down overnight to .02-.01
I heap the coal. Big time

I took it apart to check the holes to plug
Good news!!!
We know what the problem is. Lol
See pics

The bottom one has a pretty large crack also

My dad woks in a machine shop
I'm going to have him fix these....should I have him close off the bottom as well?
Where it gets air from the ash pan area

Xwoodburner wrote:I don't hav excessive draft
And that's why I never put one on
And I was confused to hear guys saying about it being a must have on a coal stove

I'm thinking it will improve my draft
Rather than starving my chimney when ash builds up inmy stove..... The chimney draft remains constant
So when the ash builds up,it can still draft ( somewhat better)
So actually it will improve draft
Am I correct thinking this?
I was taught that they only limit draft,which is incorrect

Ok lets see where to begin with this lol... Hopefully I can help solve some confusion about the baro damper. In a nutshell the baro helps the draw of the chimney (negative draft pressure) stay consistent. If your draft is already weak, it will not improve it.. If your your draft is excessive (and Im trying to be politically correct here hahaha), it will maintain a set negative pressure in the firebox by allowing room air to enter the flue pipe..

Overall outcome is that by maintaining a set draft pressure, you get consistent heat output until the coal is burnt down quite a bit..

Xwoodburner wrote:The bottom one has a pretty large crack also

My dad woks in a machine shop
I'm going to have him fix these....should I have him close off the bottom as well?
Where it gets air from the ash pan area

They might be cast iron, could be difficult to fix... That's chartering territory Im not experienced enough to advise lol If they can be fixed then yes, modify them to not allow air to bypass from the ash pan area. OR you could still use fiberglass so it wouldn't be so permanent

I actually burned thru the rear liner last season and plan to cast a new one out of refractory cement..

Xwoodburner wrote:My draft starts out.06and slowly goes down overnight to .02-.01

I believe the cause of this could be -
#1 - air is bypassing the coal bed during the night and your fire is starving and going cold (cracked liners and/or bypass passages in the liners)

#2 - your primary air feed is set too low not allowing enough heated air mass up the chimney to maintain negative draft pressure which in turn lowers the amount of combustion air coming in to feed the fire which in turn causes your fire to starve and go cold..

The cracked liners may not be contributing completely to the above condition.

Although a baro does nothing to improve the negative draft pressure in the chimney, it will allow you to run your primary air control a little more open and you won't get the "runaway freight train effect" of a growing fire that is feeding its own draft making it stronger and forcing it to burn hotter.. You can tell by now that I totally believe in my baro damper its saved me thousands of trips up and down the basement stairs tweaking the primary air control. Instead the baro does this automatically by maintaining a consistent negative pressure in the firebox..