Successfully Burning Anthracite Coal in a Clayton Furnace

This is a fan control like what is used in the 1600 you can set it to turn on and off the blowers. Mine is set at 100 off and 150 on. The insurtion tube size you will have to measure on the 1557.

Wow Thank You all for help and support with this, you have definitely give me a lot of things to fine tune. I think I am going to hard wire the fans and go ahead and order that switch because I think the fire does better with the fans on and as the fire gets weaker the fans are off giving no help. Tommorrow I am going to shut her down ,clean it out, see if I can't shim that back grate to work a little better, install my baro damper and give it another go! I will keep you posted with my progress and thanks again for all your help!

You can try switching the grates also.The sockets vary a lot( back to front and front to back)It may be better or worse.I bought 5 or 6 grates so I could match them(fit two together with the least amont of slop).I set my limit switch to 120* to come on and 85* to go off but I still find that 24/7 works the best.

The tube on the fan switch is the same size as the thermo disc.Just use self taping screws to secure it.
DON

Wondering if anyone has any tips on keeping my fire going longer. Right now I can keep a nice fire going for about 24 to 30 hours. After that is just smohter itself out. I know it is because of the ash, I am wondering if I am shaking it not enough, too much or what. Whenever I need to add coal (how often should I be adding coal?) I shake it until I see some hot coals fall throug, this works for awhile but after about a day the shaking does not seem to be able to keep up with getting rid of the ash and then it builds up to the point where it can not get any air. I then have to clean it out and start a new fire, this take me about 45min, so not that big of a deal but I have read in this post that some people can keep their fires going all winter. Just wonder what I am doing wrong. When the fire is going it is great and keeps the house nice and warm, anywhere from 69-73F.

Appreciate any tips anyone can give.

Your not shaking enough.The grates aren't aggressive so you have to be.If you shake to much you'll get some big coal stuck in the grates.So it's a balance.These furnaces are finicky so the learning curve is longer than most(if not all ) furnaces.On top of that different coals from different breakers shake down differently.
Before I found this forum I bought my furnace and it took me 3 or 4 months to get the thing to burn ok and the rest of the winter to burn it well.
DON

Thanks Don, Just wondering if it would help if I let the fire burn down more before I add more coal. My thought here is maybe I can keep after the ash if the coal isn't quite as deep. I know that the coal likes to have a good deep bed but I have been adding a shovel full every 3-4 hrs (except at night), should I wait longer and shake it more between adding more coal?

i have a hotbast, a close cousin to yours. I add coal twice a day, mourning and night. I only shake down at those times. like mentioned, it really is a learning curve. now do you poke up from underneath the grates with a poker type of device? I made one out of quarter ince rod and made a 90 degree bend at the end. I poke up from underneath with it wherever I see a "dead spot." that really helps with getting excess ash from out of the fire box. as a matter of fact, my back shaker grate has been broken for a week and a half or so, waiting on my friend to make a custom set of grates from half inchplate steel. and all I been doing is poking from underneath on the back grate, and the fire still goes!

Mudman,Let us know how the steel grate works out.I'm thinking of doing somethong like that also.
DON

Mudman, No I don't have anything like that but maybe I can get my son to make me one. He has a welder and could make one easily. The fire has been going about 28 hrs now in the mist of a brutal snow storm and the house is nice and warm. When I got up this morning it looked like the fire was going to die but shook the heck out of it and eventually could see the glow from underneath and hot coals started falling in the ash pan, so I think I rescued it! I think everyone is right there is a high learning curve with these things and it is more an art than science, but I love the heat they pump out!

Well I'm about three hours into my first coal fire. I blocked the three holes front and back with washers and bolts. I have the baro set to about .06. All would seem to be going well.... but I would like a bit more heat coming out. I have it 8 turns out. My house is an 1840 farm house that isn't well insulated but it has some. FAD flap closed. Filled to the top of the fire brick. Stove coal. House is sitting at about 65-66 degrees. That isn't bad but a few more degrees would be great. I've had wood fires heat the house to about 72 or so. I have the 1800G Clayton.

I would like to thank everyone here because there is no way I would even be this far on my first attempt without your help.

i hear ya coal4u. I live in elba, aint far! just plowed my driveway, parents, grandmas, uncles, and 2 friends up the road in a john deere 3010 open cab. hour and a half! but the house is 74 and toasty. just shook down and put about ten pounds on it for overnight. I will keep all of you posted about the new shaker grates. the slop needs to be taken out, if not, it puts a lot of stress on them and thats what makes the nubs snap in my eyes. I believe the kind hearted north candlewood was also gonna look into a new shaker system, I don't know if he was gonna keep it the side to side shaker or the sliding action like your claytons, but he was looking into something. hats off to this guy, a lot of people, including me, have called him with problems and he solved them. round of applause!

Ok, 16 hours and counting. It is difficult not to mess with the fire coming from burning wood. Still sitting around 68 degrees in here. I opened the ash door for awhile and the fire kicked up and is pumping out heat. I shut the door now but have it ten spins out.

When you throw a few shovels full of coal on the fire does the temp drop in your stoves? Mine seems to take awhile to get back to temperature that kicks the real heat out.

yup, it will do that. think about it: you are covering up the fire. its normal. I usually have to wait aroung a half hour or so, depending on ammount of coal, to get the stack temp to 300 or 350. don't worry, you are ok

blend120
Try and set your baro at .08 and see how much more heat you get.I run mine at .08 a lot and higher when it gets very cold.When I run mine hard the stack temp is about 350* but that's not often.300* is good for a night in the teens or single digits.Below 0* it gets up to 350*.
DON

I'll give you some specs right now
Stack 275*
front of furnace(right over loading door 500*
duct 112*
outside temp 17*
I loaded it about 3 hrs ago with 50# of nut.This will get me through the night(7 or 8 AM)
Baro .08(mesured)

Thanks Big Beam and Mudman.
Right now (12:30pm) I officially saved this mornings fire. It was heading down fast. My house dropped down to 63 pretty quickly. After a series of shakes and loads I am back to a full load and it is burning great. I changed the damper recording the number of turns so that I can get back to my starting point which was set by HVAC guy. I don't have thermometers on everything like I should and the snow here is preventing me from running out to get them.

I changed the damper so that it remains about a quarter of an inch open or so. Does this sound reasonable? It was 4 full turns counterclockwise if you have the Field Controls model B-34tj.

Other than that I feel good heat slowly moving out of the grates but it takes a decent amount of time to get the house back up to temperature. I feel like I may need a more powerful distribution fan or something.