Crane Coal Cooker 88

Well I did it!! Finally fired her up. Has taken me most of the day to warm the house up but I was nervous because I haven't used the stove in so long. I only filled her halfway but it's glowing beautifully. Keeping an eye on the temperature as it's slowly been climbing. Has that wonderful burnt dusty metallic smell working.

Hi and welcome to the Forum! That's a great looking stove you've got. You need to fill it up. Coal likes a deep bed and it will extend your burn time. You could expect a minimum of a 10 hour burn from a full load. That means not having to get up in the middle of the night to load the stove so fill her up. Take care, Lisa

lowfog01 wrote:Hi and welcome to the Forum! That's a great looking stove you've got. You need to fill it up. Coal likes a deep bed and it will extend your burn time. You could expect a minimum of a 10 hour burn from a full load. That means not having to get up in the middle of the night to load the stove so fill her up. Take care, Lisa

ditto!

Welcome and looking good! Load her up and buy a bunch of time between tending! Don't forget the CO monitor with alarm to keep safe...

Nice Maine Coon

Hello Crane Girl, welcome to the forum. Be sure to load up that nice stove of yours!

Plus tending every 12 hours never hurt a soul!

Looking for some guidance. I've been having trouble keeping the stove going. I can get a couple days of burn but then I loose the fire. I admit that I've only been filling it halfway with coal. I'll maintain a stove top temp of around 300-350 degrees. When it's time to add more coal, I open the bottom damper for a bit, heat things up then give the grate a shake (or 2 or 3) I notice I only seem to be dropping ash from the front of the barrel but not the back. I'll get a nice glow and blue flame in the front but again nothing on the backside. It's been the 3rd night that I'll loose the fire. I work nights and tend to damper down when I leave the house for the night (1 1/2 turns).

Should I be running the stove hotter? Is that part of the problem? Is the stove top the right place to monitor the temperature? If I fill'er up (which I WILL do the next time) what do I look for to tell me it's time to shake and refill?

scalabro wrote:Nice Maine Coon

Thanks! My favorite breed.

If the ash is only dropping from certain areas, it sounds like you need to get a poker and help loosen things up. The ash can bridge and not settle when you shake the grates. Some people make a poker that can be inserted through the ash door and poked up through the grates.

Also, quit trying to run the stove 1/2 full of coal. That is only adding to the problem above.

Two or three shakes is not enough for the Crane. You need to shake it down a lot more than that. Also are you pulling the dump slide out far enough when you do shake it down? As already mentioned fill the fire pot to the top.

I just bought a Crane 44 Coal Cooker. I should use nut sized coal too? How do you know what size grate you have? Thanks for any help.

All the 88's I ever saw go out had nut coal grates (not that a pea grate wouldn't fit). If you post a picture of the grate we could tell you for sure... but again, every 88 I ever shipped had a nut grate.

Good to hear from ya D.