Old Clayton Furnace Issues

 
jibs1723
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Post by jibs1723 » Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 4:31 pm

Good Afternoon everyone,
Been looking at this site for a couple years trying to get my stove to work to my liking and finally decided to ask some questions and see if I can get it figured out. I bought an old clayton furnace a couple years ago when I bought my house and have it installed to heat my 900 sq ft un-insulated garage. I have roughly 6' of single wall pipe up to the roof, and then another 6' double wall pipe above the roof. I am burning stove sized anthracite that i got from a local coal yard. I have done a couple small modifications to my stove with some success but it is still not where i am happy. When i got the stove, it did not have any provisions for air intake on the ash pan door. I cut a hole in it and mounted the inducer fan onto this since coal burns from the bottom unlike wood and put a flap over the upper air intake. This helped, and i can get a good hot coal fire going, except i can't seem to keep it going for more than a day or two. Stack temperature is around 250 degrees when burning well. I try to keep the garage around 45-50 overnight and when i come out in the morning most times i only have a small around of coals still red in the middle of the firebox and by that time i cant seem to be able to revive it. I've tried every shaking, reloading technique i can think of and have read and none of it seems to get me into the 12+ hr burning time. Any questions or tips would be very appreciated.

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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 4:35 pm

First thing you need to do is fill it all the way up to the top of the firebrick. You may want to try some nut coal, it will burn a little slower and be easier to manage.

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 4:35 pm

Welcome aboard. What model furnace is it?

 
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michaelanthony
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Post by michaelanthony » Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 9:00 pm

Lightning wrote:
Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 4:35 pm
Welcome aboard. What model furnace is it?
He's all yours Lee!

 
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Hambden Bob
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Post by Hambden Bob » Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 9:03 pm

You Poor Bastard ! Paging Dr. Lee....Paging Dr. Lee ! Breadman,We've got a Code Blue here ! This Poor Guy needs reviving !

 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 9:10 pm

That’s a healthy fire, but only 1/2 full maybe a little more, as said, you need to fill it! Round it right over so coal is touching the steel sides.

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 9:36 pm

Hambden Bob wrote:
Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 9:03 pm
You Poor Bastard ! Paging Dr. Lee....Paging Dr. Lee ! Breadman,We've got a Code Blue here ! This Poor Guy needs reviving !
Hahaha! Just wondering if this is the single grate model. That fuel bed looks kinda shorter than mine.


 
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McGiever
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Post by McGiever » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 12:05 am

Dr. Lee is your Man to get you set proper.
And all I got is that the OP could add a good layer of nut size on top of his stove size for a slower and longer burn over night.

 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 5:28 am

Lightning wrote:
Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 9:36 pm
Hahaha! Just wondering if this is the single grate model. That fuel bed looks kinda shorter than mine.
I think it is, judging by the 6 I think fire brick deep.

My 1357 was the single grate, was a great little furnace that didn’t need anything but good tending.

 
jibs1723
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Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Old Clayton Unknown model
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Post by jibs1723 » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 10:35 am

Thanks for all the quick replies! I do not know the model. I think its an older model as mine does not have a shaker handle the comes out the side as most i have seen do. I have to put a rod into the bar that connects the grates to shake it down. I do normally load the bed full to the top of the fire bricks one its established. I just happened to have that picture on my phone as i was typing that up. I tried nut coal first and has issues. It seemed better with the stove but maybe that is part of the learning curve. I have around 1000lbs of stove coal left so I'd like to make that work for now haha. I've been wondering if having the inducer fan blowing under the coal bed is causing the fire to burn too quickly due to the lack of air control? I have the furnace on a thermostat and the induced and main blower only come on when there is a call for heat so most of the night the stove should just be idling along. I don't have any pictures of just the stove right now, just of other projects going on with the stove in the background but they might give a better sense of the model and my install.
Thanks again!

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McGiever
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Warm Morning 414A
Coal Size/Type: PEA,NUT,STOVE /ANTHRACITE
Other Heating: Ground Source Heat Pump and some Solar

Post by McGiever » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 10:40 am

You tried nut and you burn stove now...but you haven't burned both together. ;)

 
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Post by titleist1 » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 11:21 am

Welcome to the forum.....Lee, aka, Lightning, aka The Riddler lives for this type thread!!! I can see him doing the happy dance all the way from here! :D I think McG is on the right track with mixing the different sizes of coal. Also the ash door blower may need tweaking by blocking off some of its intake to slow down the burn.

By the way, whats the green machine with the blower on it, a 322?

 
jibs1723
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Location: Eastern PA
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Old Clayton Unknown model
Other Heating: Vermont Castings Intrepid II for the house

Post by jibs1723 » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 11:45 am

Maybe I'll pick up a few bags of nut size and give that a shot. And its a 318 actually. I wish it was a 322 haha. Or even better a 332

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 12:32 pm

Could you get some pictures of the inside of the fire box? Particularly along the top edge of the fire bricks and rear wall. I'm hunting for bypassing air coming up from the ash pan area.

Also, the combustion blower is okay if you want some thermostat control as long as it's not blowing too much air. For the convection blower, I get that you don't want it on all the time but it may need to run more than just during heat calls. Since you seem handy, I would consider using a thermal snap switch to control the convection blower. They are cheap and easy to install, you just need to get the right temp range switch.

 
jibs1723
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Posts: 35
Joined: Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 4:07 pm
Location: Eastern PA
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Old Clayton Unknown model
Other Heating: Vermont Castings Intrepid II for the house

Post by jibs1723 » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 12:49 pm

I don't have any pics of the firebox without a fire right now, but in this pic you can see that the rear cast iron plate is warped and has a piece missing. it was like that when I bought the stove. The previous owner only burned wood and i think he over fired it a bit. This is from when I was first playing with the coal and didn't know i needed to fill it all the way up.

The convection blower is on a thermal switch as well as the thermostat control. I also have an override to allow me to shut the convection blower off while I am starting the fire. I noticed that when starting the coal its much easier to start without the convection blower cooling things down. I also to like to wait until the stove is up to temperature since the garage is routinely in the 20-30s its nice to wait until its warm so its not cycling ever few mins.

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