Successfully Burning Anthracite Coal in a Clayton Furnace

Hi Charles,
I finally found the best way to regulate my heat. By simply closing the dampers almost all the way and fine tuning the Limit switch on the blower has got me at a consistent temp. of 70-72 degrees plus my coal lasts a whole lot longer.
Pretty much what you were trying to get me to do a few weeks ago, but I was to thickheaded to understand. Thanks for responding, I think I've got it now.
John

I have a claton 1800g and cannt get the coal to burn more than about 3 hours. I have a fan on the front and tried to leave it open all the way is this over drafting it therefor blowing out me fire??should I have the fan run all the time or just to start then open the manual draft by the ash pan?? How far?? I also plugged the round holes below the loading door.For the first couple of hours it runs great I just want to get it to all the time!!!

thistieturtle:

Build a wood fire first and let it get to the point you have a beautiful bed of red glowing coals with blue flames. The draft controls to achieve this would be ash door spinner closed and fan flap open almost all the way. It will take a while, maybe a few hours depending on how much wood you loaded. Rake the wood coals evenly over the grates. Now you are ready to start adding coal, a little at a time over the whole bed, leaving some red glowing embers showing. Close the doors and adjust the fan flap almost closed and the ash door spinner open almost all the way. Count how many turns out on the ash door spinner out from closed. I have found that when burning coal in the clayton, the thermostat that controls the draft blower fan will not be used. It only works for a wood fire, so shut the fan switch to the draft blower off. If you use it it will only clinker the coal up and the fire will go out. The draft blower fan introduces air through the front holes in the cast iron baffle plate at the top of the fire. This is good for wood but not for coal. Coal needs the air from under the fire. Continue to add fresh coal until it is to the top of the fire brick, but not over them. Once this is done and you have blue flames flickering above the coal, you are pretty much set. All you need to do now is adjust the ash door spinner out until you reach the desired temperature in the house. Adjust the ash door spinner slowly, in or out. Coal does not act as fast to draft changes as wood does. Be patient. You may find only spinning out two or four turns is all that is needed during moderately cold weather and six, eight, ten or more for colder weather. You may find by running the circulation blower on a lower speed constantly with a smaller fire will be more comfortable than a hotter fire cycling on and off all the time. This will give you something to play with. Using the same size of coal, the number of spins out on the ash door, should always be the same and will be able to be repeated. Make sure you installed a barometric draft regulator in the stove pipe or nothing you do will ever work right. You will probably only need to add fresh coal and shake the ashes twice a day. Remember, if you run too hard, you probably will clinker up and the fire will eventually go out. Then you got to shovel it out from the feed door and start all over again. The clayton is a great furnace and will serve you well. It just takes a little time to get to know. Once you now it, it will be a good warm companion.

Tnanks Doug I have no ploblem getting it going and it looks great? My problem is it don't last but ive been running the draft motor all the time,However I plugged the hole that allow air the over the coal. So I will try only useing the spinner on the ash door. Also im getting a bar. damper today I don't have one on there yet

thirstieturtle:

I did notice that the draft holes in the cast iron baffle do serve a purpose when burning coal. They allow secondary air over the fire to mix with the coal gas emitted during initial start up. This will prevent any possible explosions of the coal gas if you loaded too much coal at one time. After that I usually close the draft fan flap all the way. But you can experiment with that. Depending on how you set your barometric draft regulator will be a key part of controlling the fanning of the fire. Setting it should be done with a hot fire and a draft gauge. But it can be done with a good hot wood fire and adjusting the weight on the barometric draft regulator so you don't over fire the stove. It is a crude way of calibrating it and a little more experimenting is needed, but it should get you close to where you want to be. The barometric draft regulator should be placed at least 18" away from the flue outlet on the stove. If this can't be done, you can tee off using a small extension of straight and capping off the other end of the barometric draft regulator. Read the instructions and I think you will understand by the diagrams. Some people may not agree totally and every installation is custom. But they work and I wouldn't burn without one. It makes burning so much easier and not a chore. You'll be happy you did. Keep us posted. DOUG

Okay Ihave now installed the bar. regulator but have no gauge and didnt have wood on hand is there any way to get it set now? the fire is good but no flame till I open the door. is this good bad? plus when I shut the door the reg. opens a little bit but shuts when the load door is open. What does the reg. suposed to look like during normal operation?I know you told me but want to make sure the only thing I need open for draft is the ash pan spinner(rite now open 8 full turns)and my flue handle pushed in on the top front?!

thirstieturtle:

Okay, good so far. The barometric draft flap will swing open and closed according to the draft. That is what it's supposed to do. During normal operation the draft flap may be shut or partially open or maybe swinging also, according to the outside wind. It is preventing the fanning of the flames to achieve a constant burn by controlling the air into the stove. What kind of coal are you burning? Anthracite or bituminous coal? Either way, once you get a nice bed going, the fire does not look like a fresh wood fire. More like a glowing reddish orange mass with blue flames. You don't want to poke it like a wood fire, that will only fuse the ash and cause clinkers to form. How is the heat output and the duration time of your burn? It should be nice even heat and between 8 to 12 hour burns running at 8 full turns. When shaking the ashes, short choppy strokes are best until you see the fire in the ash pan or the first sign of glowing coals fall into the ash pan. Keep me posted. DOUG

Doug thank you so much for the help hopefully we got it!!! It has been going for about 4 hrs now got great heat comming out still. the only other qu. I have at this point is how do I load it without it going out,and at what point should I load it? I don't have to build a charcol fire every time do I?

Have you loaded the unit all the way up covering the firebricks?
Get it full at this point if you have not done so.

Just noticed that you said you get flame when you open the door. This would indicate that the gases are not burning and you are losing 10 or 15 percent of your heat. Doug pointed out that you should open the fan flap a small amount to supply secondary air. You don't need very much so experiment. You only need this when fresh coal is loaded. If those gases are allowed to accumulate there is also the danger of a small explosion when they eventually get enough air to ignite.

Richard

thirstieturtle:

This fire could be kept going all winter if you would like, but I wouldn't. I try to schedule monthly shut downs to clean out all the soot and fly ash that has accumulated in the stove pipe and chimney. If you tap on the stove pipe right now, you will notice it has a ring sound to it. When you fire continuously, the stove pipe accumulates a lot of fine powder from the fly ash settling in the pipe and when you tap on the stove pipe a month from now it will sound like a thud. That is when you know it is time for a cleaning. As for when to add more coal, when you started out with the firebox loaded up to the top of the bricks, when it burns down to about one third to half the fire brick showing is when to add more coal. The procedure is to open the ash door and get the fire going for a minute, don't poke at the coals, add some coal, remembering to leave some hot coals showing, and repeat that until the fresh coal is at the top of fire brick again. Then you can shake it during the loading, after you know the fire is caught. Shaking the fire this way, the fire won't be put out by the excess air or dropped into the ash pan before it has a chance to ignite the fresh coal. You should get a good 12 hour plus burn with the unit. I always did and I just worked it into my schedule. By the way, don't add wood to your coal fire, the ash it leaves fuses and creates clinkers. If you are going to use wood, burn only wood. Unless you are going to start the coal fire. It doesn't work in reverse too well. I'm glad to help and keep me posted. DOUG

Yes Ive loaded it up till about 1ince from the top of the fire brick around 12:30 have not put more in since im tired of digging it out when the stove goes out.But I just peeked in there and it still is glowing brite this time hopefully it stays this time or Im about to throw this thing out the window and burn wood again.I don't want to though because the coal heats great when it goes I just cant live by the thing to keep it that way or shovel it out ever three or four hours.

Can you tell me what the temp differance is on either side of your baro damper

thirstieturtle:

I started out burning only wood and it really took me some serious adjusting to my burning style and a lot of start coal fires and shovel them out for not staying lit. Some swearing too! I thought I was a professional wood burner, so how hard could it be to burn coal? Well it was a big adjustment for me to burn coal from only wood. Wood gives you instant fire, hot now. Coal on the other hand gives you just as much heat, but over a slower build up time and a much longer burn cycle. Be patient and don't get all frustrated. It is a learning curve. Once you got it down, you'll be even a better wood burner. : Glad to help. Keep us posted. DOUG

Now that I have been burning coal for about a month, I am concerned about shutting it down and cleaning the furnace out , so, what do I need to clean? what is fly ash? and Why should I be concerned with it?