Liners?Lightning wrote: ↑Mon. Nov. 13, 2017 10:06 pmThat looks good to me, other than that it's a little shallow. There shouldn't be any problem loading more coal on top of that. Leave the ash door open till the fresh load is burning good, just don't leave it unattended while it's open or forget about it.
I would block the front and rear liners so primary air can't bypass the grates. That's just what I would do lol.
Question About Unburned Coal When Using Coal and Wood
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Jgib4
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- Location: Carroll county maryland
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Fire chief 450
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Jgib4
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- Location: Carroll county maryland
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Fire chief 450
Pretty much lol I have to poke it some to help shake it down.grumpy wrote: ↑Mon. Nov. 13, 2017 10:05 pmThat looks like a coal meatloaf... lol, pile it on until you cant anymore, then keep it under control with air. make sure you can control the air so it don't run away. I know as a newbie myself it's hard to wrap your head around putting in all the coal you can, over time you will understand this..
And it is hard to wrap my head around. I feel like it will smother out
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Sunny Boy
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- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
- Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
- Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
- Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace
That bed looks rather shallow.
If your using nut coal, keeping a firebed going with a depth of up to 10-12 inches should be no problem. Have it less than about 6 inches deep and it's not going to burn well.
Unlike wood, a coal firebed needs to retain high heat in the firebed to keep burning. It does that by having a deep firebed. Get the bed too shallow and the fire cools too much, starts to have incomplete burning of coal and slowly dies.
The other thing that newbies have a lot of trouble with is properly clearing ash. It will kill a coal fire if ash and clinkers are not shaken and cleared well enough each day. It would be like you trying to run a foot race while breathing through a thick bath towel.
Whenever you shake ashes you want to shake until you see some embers drop into the ash pan and there's an even orange glow throughout the ash pan area. Any dark areas mean there's still a buildup of ash above that point. You might need to poke and rake from the ash pan area up through the grate gaps with a right-angle tipped poker to loosen the ash clogs that won't shake clear without over shaking the rest of the firebed.
Paul
If your using nut coal, keeping a firebed going with a depth of up to 10-12 inches should be no problem. Have it less than about 6 inches deep and it's not going to burn well.
Unlike wood, a coal firebed needs to retain high heat in the firebed to keep burning. It does that by having a deep firebed. Get the bed too shallow and the fire cools too much, starts to have incomplete burning of coal and slowly dies.
The other thing that newbies have a lot of trouble with is properly clearing ash. It will kill a coal fire if ash and clinkers are not shaken and cleared well enough each day. It would be like you trying to run a foot race while breathing through a thick bath towel.
Whenever you shake ashes you want to shake until you see some embers drop into the ash pan and there's an even orange glow throughout the ash pan area. Any dark areas mean there's still a buildup of ash above that point. You might need to poke and rake from the ash pan area up through the grate gaps with a right-angle tipped poker to loosen the ash clogs that won't shake clear without over shaking the rest of the firebed.
Paul
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Jgib4
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That makes perfect sense. Does the upper layer of coals not need as much air as the bottom to stay lit? I was concerned with that which is why I was making it so shallow.Sunny Boy wrote: ↑Mon. Nov. 13, 2017 11:10 pmThat bed looks rather shallow.
Unlike wood, a coal firebed needs to retain high heat in the firebed to keep burning. It does that by having a deep firebed. Get the bed too shallow and the fire cools too much, starts to have incomplete burning of coal and slowly dies.
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joeq
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Your Firecheif looks like it holds a fair amount of coal. Once these guys have you honed in on properly burning coal, don't think you'll want to go back to wood. At least in the middle of the winter. If you have wood available, save it for the shoulder months, but the coal will out perform the wood in the cold winters. I can't see you starting a coal fire for night use, and then throwing wood in it, in the mornings, and having to repeat that on a daily basis. Once you fill your stove to the hilt, you'll probably be amazed how hot she'll get, and long she'll burn before needing attention.
