How to Light a Hand Fired Coal Stove

JLF53 wrote:I place the thermometer on the left front or right front above the door. The left side is cooler due to the fan placed at an angle to the rear left blowing right front.

I have my magnetic stick-on themo on the stovepipe about 12" above the stove. The temp only needs to give you a general idea & show trends. (falling or rising) I find about a 40* temp difference on the 24" stack above the stove (from the bottom to the elbow at top) I just put it at around 12" to keep it at eye level.

Read my response to Jack about shaking down as it sounds like you need to shake a bit more too.

To JLF & Jack......I suggest you both install the Harman "Stops" I devised in "Stops" for Harman Shaker Mechanisms? & make sure you just use short, choppy strokes when shaking down the TLC. If you push/pull the shaker handle too far with a Harman, you can dump to much of your fire & or jam your shaker grates.

Thanks for info devil. I got her coming back now I think. Reloaded more coal too. seems like the more you add the better it responds.I noticed before I started burning that the shaker system could be a problem. thanks for the details.
jack

Hi devil,

Speaking of your shaker blocks, you were right I had it set to tight, not enough throw. So I took it out and put marks on the side of the boiler to train myself on how much throw I needed, thats been working very well along with leaving the fire alone and letting it do its job. Now I shake the boiler down every 12 to 14 hours and getting a pretty fine ash and a nice red glow from the ash door.

Have I told you lately how much I like this coal burning stuff?

I keep the whole house nice and toasty and keep the DHW up to temp. using zero oil!! Ya got love it!!

JB

Fire went out and why ?????
After shaking and refilling the stove I had a good feeling about the fire. The box was full.The stove temp was 275 and the coal was burning good when I left at 1pm. I returned at 9pm to find the fire was all but out. I opened the ash pan and nothing. The stove was 150 degrees . Basically dead fire now what to do?

I have 2 questions about the coal fire. First off,I've lost my fire and was wondering if I need to shake down and try to relight coal that;s left or empty the stove completely and start over ? The second question is what do you mean by over firing of the stove ? Really high temps ? If so at what temps ?My stove pipe has gotten to 400 degrees 4 a short time would that be overfired ? Thanks

Jack Magnum wrote:Fire went out and why ?????

Not enough info to decide that

Jack Magnum wrote:I returned at 9pm to find the fire was all but out. I opened the ash pan and nothing.

How long did you leave the ash door open? (often times you can save an almost dead fire by babying it (not touching it o shaking down....just leave the ash door open for a while (15-30 minutes) & seeing if parts of the fire start to liven up, then add thin layers to the good spots)...Takes a while to do this though.

Jack Magnum wrote:if I need to shake down and try to relight coal that;s

Some people say they can do that but I have never tried & don't see the benefit. Clean it out & start a new fire.

Jack Magnum wrote:The second question is what do you mean by over firing of the stove ? Really high temps ?

Yes....I would say anything above 450* I would consider overfiring. Not sure what Harman says but I never run my stove at anything above mid to high 300*'s

Duplicate post

Devil,
I tried the open ash door for a good 45-60 mins and a couple of lone coals lightly dim and that was it so I closed her up. I guess I'll clean her out and try again. When I first started the coal stove I used the wood to start then match light and The match light stinks and gave me a headache.One last thing. My temp gauge about 12'' above collar read 400 maybe a little more but only for a short time. What will happen to a stove that's overfired ?

Jack Magnum wrote:When I first started the coal stove I used the wood to start then match light and The match light stinks and gave me a headache.

Then just start a wood fire & start salting it with coal after it gets going well, & don't use charcoal at all.

Jack Magnum wrote:What will happen to a stove that's overfired ?

I don't think what you describe is anything to worry about but I guess if you let the stove have a "Runaway" fire for a while (to the point that it goes off the temp scale) it could warp the stove or do other bad things to it!

Help! I have been trying to get my stove burning coal for the last hour. I started up with some kindling, cardboard and paper. I had a little fire and kept feeding it paper and then added some coal. Maybe about 2 handfulls. It sort of crackled a little after a few min but never lit. I keep adding kindling and get it going with newspaper but the coal still isnt lighting... any thoughts?
I have the bottom ash door open.

Jack, When you shake the fire down are you shaking it untill you get a good orange glow from under the grates?

MidnightMadman wrote: I keep adding kindling and get it going with newspaper but the coal still isnt lighting... any thoughts?
I have the bottom ash door open.
Help! I have been trying to get my stove burning coal for the last hour. I started up with some kindling, cardboard and paper. I had a little fire and kept feeding it paper and then added some coal. Maybe about 2 handfulls. It sort of crackled a little after a few min but never lit. I keep adding kindling and get it going with newspaper but the coal still isnt lighting... any thoughts?
I have the bottom ash door open.

Coal wont "light:" like wood. Just keep flames coming up from your original wood fire, salt it with coal, wait 5 minutes & keep adding more coal like that (in layer with a flame showing) until the stove is completely full

Ok. I was worried to add too much without a glowing fire. Also, I have a plate that goes across the top of the stove that sort of blocks the pipe. The guy I bought it from said it was to keep more heat in. Should that be removed. If I don't start it with it in, I am not sure how I could ever put it in when the coal starts to burn.

Ok. I did that, but it seems like it is going to go out. How do I know if it is going to continue to burn or not? What happens if I put more and more in and it never really catches?