Successfully Burning Anthracite Coal in a Clayton Furnace

I purchased the draft inducer from US STOVES, I got it all installed and now the blower stays on for as long as I want since I have the limit switch set all the way down(around 80), That fixes my problem.
But now I have another problem that maybe I am causing. When I start a fire it gets burning some real nice red embers but never really gets hot enough to turn the blower on when the limit sw. is at 100 and 150. I now have a bunch of semi-burned coal that I am waiting to get cooled down so I can clean it all out and try to get the fire burning toward the back, hopefully this will keep the limit sw. hot enough so that when it's set at 100 it will start blowing hot air into the house, not the cool air it's been.

dear coalcrazy,
First I would like to thank you ahead of time for any help you may give me in this nightmare.We bought a model 1600 Clayton coal/wood furnace last year. Since then I have basically slept in my basement battling this thing.We have a forty foot interior brick chimney which gives me outrageous draft and protects 90 percent of the chimney form the elements. We are burning good quality anthracite coal. We have tried two different sizes, pea and nut coal.We have managed to get a good bed of embers using hard wood and have applied the coal in 20 different ways. Initally it looks great .Blue flame everywhere.It might stay lit for a good 12 hours even. It also may only stay lit for 4 hours. Even when it does stay lit for a good amount of time the heat coming of isnt enough to kick the fan on. I am integrated to my existing plenum of a gas furnace. I do have a barometric damper. I have tried every damper setting/combo possible and still cannot keep this burning or produce any heat when it dooes burn. US Stove says I need a high cfm fan in the fire door but im not so sure.At this point I am thinking of going to wood for the winter out of pure frustration. This thing is a wood burning monster at a rate of a cord a week so not really economically feasible but it will work.Tried this last year and while it did provide some heat the air was only moderately warm coming through the vents. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. If photos will help you in helping me they can be provided.

Jon Bishop

I'll get you started Jon
3 things all these US Stove clones need.
1) good coal
2) good draft.If you use nut coal this is very important.Stove coal won't need as good of a draft.
3) ALL the combustion air must go through the coal bed.Most of these coal/wood furnaces have provisions for draft over fire(sometimes in the loading door and sometimes they split the air in the ash door to over and under fire and most do both).You want ALL the air to be under the fire and through the coal bed.

I've been burning nut coal in mine for 3 years,but my draft can be as high as .1 and most of the time it's .05-.06 or so.
Being that they need such a good draft they are hard to start when the outside temps are above 55 or so .
To me pea coal would be out of the question.

Could you please post pics of how you connected the feed from the coal furnace to your exsisting plenum.

Good luck
DON

I spoke with Johnstar earlier and I think we have him in the right direction. Good talking to you John!
Sounds like bishop0302 has a lot of draft to deal with! If I can help we are here!
1howardo how are you making out?
Bishop check your PM

A big THANK YOU to North Candlewood, He got me going straight, I never would have been able to get the furnace burning so well without him. By putting more coal on every 15 minutes or so and filling it up to the top of the bricks got my house up to 73 degrees in less than two hours. He spent a lot of time with with me talking me through it all. Thanks Again for all your help.
John

Can I throw into the fire any of the semi burned coal I cleaned out or should I just throw it all out?

Burn it John!

First off would like to thank North Candlewood for the time spent last night trying to help me. I am suffocating my furnace right now to start the entire process again as it went south on me last night. Charles ill be talking to u again very soon. Thanks to every one for responses.
Jon

Well it sounds like N candlewood has you guys off and running.
HAPPY BURNING! your going to have a WARM winter.
DON

A WARM WINTER?? You bet!! just a few days ago I was so frustrated I wanted to rip this thing out and give it away.
My wife and I laugh, now that We (NORTHCANDLEWODD an I ) got it going, I wouldn't trade it for anything, I just wish I made the leap into using a coal furnace years ago.
Today I came home to a 76 degree house so I need to learn how to damper it down to regulate the heat output better. Currently it is about 32 outside and it is now 78 inside.

I use a U.S. Stoves Clayton 1600M, I was wondering If I could replace the coal door with one that has a window in it? The manufactures website doesn't show one but I was wondering If anyone knows If there Is another company that has one that would fit.

I'm pretty sure you would have to make a new door.. I'd check out a local welding shop for an estimate..

Greg L.

Here is a picture of the front and back of a CLAYTON cast iron door.If you try to modifiy the door I feel it may be pretty difficult to do without cracking it. The brand new replacement feed doors from the U.S.STOVE aug. 2006 price sheet go for $175.87 and that is without the handle. If you want a door with a viewing glass, you are going to have to have it fabracated out of steel. They can do wonders with these new cutters. But expect to pay well for it. Don't forget the smoke curtain hanging on the inside. It takes up half of the door. There is no air wash inside the stove to help keep your glass clean. So, I wouln't expect your glass to stay clean very long. Especially, if you don't run hot enough or are using moist wood. Just something to think about.

I didn't think about the metal that hangs down inside. I was hoping to have a way to see whats going on inside but not for over two hndred bucks!! thanks for the info.

What else can I do to regulate my heat? I tried closing the draft control on the ash door, closing the flap on the draft inducer going into the burn area, I'm also driving myself nuts trying to adjust the limit switch that controls the blower yet my house ends up being 76- 78 degrees. I tried burning a smaller fire with little success keeping it going. What else can I do?