Successfully Burning Anthracite Coal in a Clayton Furnace

Hats off to Coalcrazy from another US Stoves Clayton user mine a 1600. Burning Chestnut Blashack
Biggest Hat (100 GAL SIZE) off to Greg L for Big Bertha!
I have had the ups and downs of the learning curve of burning coal. I can't say it is the furnace more like the operator and doing to many different things at one time. Many hours of reading on this forum and here now for support for this unit.
I could not be happier, I have shortened the firebox to reduce the BTU output and not overheat us out of the house. Also in my reading here alot of what everyone said is that the sloped sides were a no no. My son picked up from a local glass blower some large firebrick 12x12x2 and with the stepped sides in the fire box these make it not as steep. They also close in the bottom of the firebox to the width of the grates. Shake down is good,I tend to it twice a day and burning 60 to 80 #'s per day. 10 degrees and below we use up to 100#s a day. 22 outside currently, 8 mph north wind coming right off the ice right at us and it is 68 inside. This is the only source of heat we currently have. If this unit were junk as some might think I'd be burning wood in it, It's not and Thank You All for you Knowlage, God Bless Americia and Coal.

Hi Guys ,I too have a Clayton it's the 1600 model.Its been my only heat this winter & it'll pay for itself in the money I'll save from not buying oil this winter.I also went from keeping the house around 66 degrees with oil to keeping the house at 74-80 with coal.I'm burning soft coal though & I really haven't had any major problems.I did break my shaker handle.I emailed US Stove & they sent me a new one in about 4 days no questions asked.I'm on my 5th ton of coal & use only the manual spin out draft.Overall I'm very happy with the Clayton.See you Mike

hey guys, it is good to hear positive news on the claytons and all coal burning to beat those out of control oil,propane, nat. gas, and electric prices. n. candlewood, I noticed your using nut coal. I used to use that size also but the performance was so-so. the us stove manual says to use egg size coal 2 5/8" to 4" chunks for best performance. I know that sounds crazy but makes sense. I now use stove size coal which is one size smaller than egg and it burns so even and shakes easier because the nut coal would get stuck between the grates and jam. I would like to get egg size coal but the guy at the breaker where I buy my coal said he wouln't drop the egg coal into my trailer in fear the large chunks of coal might damage the trailer. but stove size works much better than nut. if you can try the stove coal you may be amazed at the difference. also, are you using a baro. metric damper? I installed mine this year, and what a huge difference it made performance wise. these furnaces MUST have one to operate properly. good luck and keep us informed!
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I have a fire chief that is a lot like the clayton in design. My fire box is 28 inches long and box starts out 18 inches wide and tapers down to grates that are 10 inches wide with a rotary grate in center. I started a topic on the forum how many tons to purchase for the season and have pics of fire box there. Does your forced draft blower blow over the fire or under it? I had some one tell me to block off over fire draft holes by using bolts in the top holes of over draft diverter plate so all the draft will be diverted to the ash pan so I put bolts in the holes to divert the air to ash pan.
here is link for topic I started.
How Many Tons to Purchase for Season?
If you can look at pics and see if my furnace is close in design to the one you have.
Thanks jimbo

Yes, block off any overfire draft to the firebox, anthracite will not like it.

I have a Clayton 1600M wood/coal furnace, my problem is the hot air blower, it comes on and about 20 seconds later it shuts off. I have checked the wiring and return duct size, they all check out good. I also played with the thermodisc and turned it down all the way, still it comes on but for only 20 seconds. Does anyone have any idea what's happening here? I would like to get this resolved before it really gets cold here in Pennsylvania.

I would pick up a fan limit switch. My 1600 came with one. US Stove site has the download (for 16-1800MANUALcomplet..> 26-May-2006 10:58 380k ) that will have the wiring plan.

I have a hotblast and have been burning it for 3 years now.The first thing I did was to get an adjustable fan and limit switch.I have my fan set at 85F-130F what about you guys?My fan runs 24/7 except if I run it very low on coal.If I hear the fan coming on and off that means I gotta load soon.I use nut coal and if you're going to run nut you need a GOOD draft. .1 aint to much in mid winter.With nut .03 wont even keep my fans going.These furnaces aint perfect but every year I buy $2000.00 worth of coal instead of $5000.00 worth of oil.
The secret to these furnaces is PATIENCE,They're finicky but when you learn what they like they make a lot of heat with great burn times.

Isn't the thermodisc also the fan limit switch?

yes for the most part.
This is the part, http://www.grainger.com/product/2E820?cm_mmc=Goog ... ls-_-2E820
Big Beam and I are running.
A close friend has the 1557, we set it up last year as well, he burns wood for the most part. It took time to get the disc adjusted. Part of what we found is we were pulling cold air off the basement floor and cooling the disc rapidly shutting down the fan . We directed supply air towards the return air fans. This helped until the basement got heated up.
Hope this helps.
Big Beam is right with:
"The secret to these furnaces is PATIENCE,They're finicky but when you learn what they like they make a lot of heat with great burn times."

I've been burning nut in mine for 3 years.Is the shakedown much EZer if you burn stove size coal.With nut if you get GOOD coal(superior,sherman ect.) the shake down aint to bad.Will it be even EZer with stove size coal?
DON

i just purchased and installed a clayton 1800. THIS STOVE! I bought a barometric damper, I have the blower {FAD} that came with it, and I manage to get a fire going using charcoal and cut up 2x4's, baby it along, wait for glowing coals , throw a little more on it and 2 hours later it's stone cold. ive had to empty it out once because it went out and I thought I overloaded it. last night I started another fire and got a good bed of coals going and woke up at 3 am and checked it and it was GOOD. then I got up at 6 and checked it and it was cold. just restarted it again and it seems to be going. last night I left the fad off and I thought that was why it was still going at 3. im ready to take a sledge hammer to this thing. I spent a lot of money getting this and the junk you need to get going. I don't have the cash to fork over for fuel oil. this has to work. its getting good draft smoke doesn't come out when I open the loading door. I also have the dialer on the ash door open all the way. ive tried to dial it back to maybe a 1/2 ". if I had any hair left i'd be pulling it out. thanks

When starting the fire leave the ash door cracked open.If there is an air adjustment in the loading door it must be closed at all times.It takes about 1 hour to get a good coal fire going in these things.When the blue flames are about 6" to 8" high shut the ash door but leave the air adjuster in the ash door wide open for another .5 hours.Lots of 2X4 and stuff.

ALL AIR HAS TO GO THROUGH THE COAL BED NOT OVER!!! IF YOUR FAD BLOWS AIR OVER THE FIRE SHUT IT OFF AND TAPE THE AIR INLET CLOSED.

WHEN YOU GET A GOOD WOOD FIRE GOING ADD 3" OF COAL

WHEN YOU SEE BLUE FLAMES FILL THE FIRE BOX TO THE TOP OF THE FIRE BRICK

PATIENCE

DON

well its been a couple of hours and the nice coals that I had are long gone. its doing the same thing it has been doing since I have started messing with it, its going out. is it possible that its the coal? im using anthracite from pa that I got locally.

Does your fad blow air over the fire?If you could post a pic or link that would be helpful.
DON