Too much ash buildup?

 
btarby15
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Post by btarby15 » Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 8:24 am

I have a Heatmor outdoor coal boiler. I used to just burn wood in it, but the end of last heating season ran out of wood and tried my hand at burning what it is supposed to - coal. I learned a lot from this forum so far! I made changes to my boiler to increase efficiency. I installed shaker grates, filled the box with firebrick so that coal is only directly over the grates (before there was much unburnt coal on the sides), and made some other small changes based on the recommendation of a post I found on here from several years ago, from a guy running the same thing as me.

Anyways, I fired up the coiler last week, having great success for the first few days, came out this morning to a not so great fire, so I shook it down, but there wasn't enough hot coals to start it back up. I shake it down twice a day and empty the ashes everyday to avoid any airflow issues, but I'm seeing ash build up, which is why I think my fire was cold this morning, there was a lot of ash covering the existing coals. The first few days I had my aquastat high limit set to 185, this is the point at which the blower turns off and the fire "banks" until water goes down to 175, then blower kicks back on. Problem was the water was getting up to 195, too hot! The ash system has a tube underneath the firebed that empties out the back, I was leaving this cracked to get natural draft which is why I think it would rise to 195. So I turned my aquastat down to 180 instead, and it would natural draft to 185, then cool down to 170, and the blower would then kick on.

Is my fire maybe not getting hot enough with the new temp?

What are some common reasons for too much ash? I'm burning stove sized anthracite.

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Hounds51
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Post by Hounds51 » Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 10:52 am

Don't know much about coal boilers, but it may be your bed isn't deep enough. As far as ash build up along the firebrick, I don't know much about that, but I use a straight poker and purposely scrape the sides of my firebrick, as it seems that ash buildup and clinkers tend to build up along the firebrick. Dead ash is a good thing, espically on your grate system, but too much will kill your fire. I have a small coal stove, and I only tend to miune once a day, with a couple of top offs during the day. Sometimes I only take out my ashes every 2 to 3 day's, but then my stove has a large ash pan. Coal needs a deep bed. The deeper the better. Also you might try mixing some nut coal with your stove that might keep your fire burn better. But from the pictures, it looks like you are trying to economize your coal usage, and that don't work to well with coal fires. The deeper the bed, the better.
Also coal likes burning up hill, or to a heat sink. That can be done by banking your bed to the back.
You might want to try these ideas.
Maybe someone will be along that has an outside coal boiler that may have some better tips for you.

 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 11:02 am

YES B--you gotta FILL that fire bed up!! :) At least give that a try.

 
Hounds51
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Post by Hounds51 » Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 11:16 am

Build your backside of your firebox a little higher and try banking your bed slope from back to front. The burn kinda will remind you of a glacier as the coal and ash deposits develop in the front, but your bank will slowly move to the front. Just keep throwing coal towards the back and it will move front.
But put another layer of firebrick up in the rear of your firebox and when filling try not to exceed the height of the rear fire brick. At least that works for me. Might be worth a try.
Last edited by Hounds51 on Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 1:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
waytomany?s
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Post by waytomany?s » Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 12:39 pm

Why shake first? Did you have nice fire before shaking? If so add more coal and give it a chance to get going before shaking. If it was already a goner, was it burning to fast? What kind of draft are you running? I'd also arrange brick so there was no air gap like you have. Was the coal to the top of the bricks at the last tending?

 
Hounds51
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Post by Hounds51 » Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 6:08 pm

freetown fred wrote:
Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 11:02 am
YES B--you gotta FILL that fire bed up!! :) At least give that a try.
YEP, Fill that bugger up!

 
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Post by fig » Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 8:26 pm

I had an issue with my Clayton furnace and still do to some degree. The coal will burn to rocks. The rocks won’t go through the grates. They build up and choke the fire out. Are you getting a lot of rock like clinkers?

I might have been causing this by getting the fire super hot before tending. It was just a bad habit I started out of fear of losing the fire.

Now I just open the mpd for a minute or two then start chucking in the coal. I leave the mpd open and cut back the ash door damper then open the load door damper some. Seems to be getting better. Only choked out one time so far.


 
btarby15
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Post by btarby15 » Fri. Dec. 03, 2021 9:50 am

Hounds51 wrote:
Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 10:52 am
Don't know much about coal boilers, but it may be your bed isn't deep enough. As far as ash build up along the firebrick, I don't know much about that, but I use a straight poker and purposely scrape the sides of my firebrick, as it seems that ash buildup and clinkers tend to build up along the firebrick. Dead ash is a good thing, espically on your grate system, but too much will kill your fire. I have a small coal stove, and I only tend to miune once a day, with a couple of top offs during the day. Sometimes I only take out my ashes every 2 to 3 day's, but then my stove has a large ash pan. Coal needs a deep bed. The deeper the better. Also you might try mixing some nut coal with your stove that might keep your fire burn better. But from the pictures, it looks like you are trying to economize your coal usage, and that don't work to well with coal fires. The deeper the bed, the better.
Also coal likes burning up hill, or to a heat sink. That can be done by banking your bed to the back.
You might want to try these ideas.
Maybe someone will be along that has an outside coal boiler that may have some better tips for you.
Thanks for the tip about mixing in smaller sizes! I have been filling the coal to have a 8-10" deep bed. The pictures shown were taken the morning that I came out to a weak fire. I probably shook it down too much then tried adding just a little coal to see if it would get going...it didn't.

 
btarby15
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Coal Size/Type: Anthracite, Stove
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Post by btarby15 » Fri. Dec. 03, 2021 9:51 am

Hounds51 wrote:
Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 11:16 am
Build your backside of your firebox a little higher and try banking your bed slope from back to front. The burn kinda will remind you of a glacier as the coal and ash deposits develop in the front, but your bank will slowly move to the front. Just keep throwing coal towards the back and it will move front.
But put another layer of firebrick up in the rear of your firebox and when filling try not to exceed the height of the rear fire brick. At least that works for me. Might be worth a try.
Can't hurt to try this too! Good idea, I'll add some to the back and build the pile higher in the back.

 
btarby15
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Post by btarby15 » Fri. Dec. 03, 2021 9:56 am

waytomany?s wrote:
Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 12:39 pm
Why shake first? Did you have nice fire before shaking? If so add more coal and give it a chance to get going before shaking. If it was already a goner, was it burning to fast? What kind of draft are you running? I'd also arrange brick so there was no air gap like you have. Was the coal to the top of the bricks at the last tending?
Yeah I try to fill to top of bricks or higher when filling...but I never thought about adding coal before shaking...definitely something to try. This particular morning I came out and the fire wasn't too good. Before that, I did have a good fire going before filling, but I was always shaking first. I'll try adding coal to a good fire, give it some time, then shake. I have a blower on my boiler that turns on when water temp is 170, turns off when water reaches 180 (i can change this differential to whatever number). The ash tube under the fire has a cover on the rear, I was trying to leave that open just about 1/8" to get some natural draft. After the blower turns off at 180, the water would reach about 185, I am assuming because of the natural draft. Or does coal do that?

 
btarby15
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Post by btarby15 » Fri. Dec. 03, 2021 9:59 am

fig wrote:
Thu. Dec. 02, 2021 8:26 pm
I had an issue with my Clayton furnace and still do to some degree. The coal will burn to rocks. The rocks won’t go through the grates. They build up and choke the fire out. Are you getting a lot of rock like clinkers?

I might have been causing this by getting the fire super hot before tending. It was just a bad habit I started out of fear of losing the fire.

Now I just open the mpd for a minute or two then start chucking in the coal. I leave the mpd open and cut back the ash door damper then open the load door damper some. Seems to be getting better. Only choked out one time so far.
I didn't notice too many clinkers, I think my grates were breaking them up decently, but I won't know until I clean out what's there and start a new fire.

 
btarby15
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Post by btarby15 » Fri. Dec. 03, 2021 10:02 am

I also realized that I would shake while the blower underneath was still on...perhaps as I was shaking the blower was sending the fine ash back up into the air. I had a really nice fire going for 3-4 days, but maybe my rookie mistakes eventually caught up and choked the fire out.

 
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Post by waytomany?s » Fri. Dec. 03, 2021 12:39 pm

I'm saying 8-10" in that stove is nowhere near enough. Especially with stove coal. The stove coal will Allow faster recovery, which I don't think is a bad thing in your situation. Get some more depth and then move on to next issue.

 
Hounds51
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Post by Hounds51 » Fri. Dec. 03, 2021 1:01 pm

waytomany?s wrote:
Fri. Dec. 03, 2021 12:39 pm
I'm saying 8-10" in that stove is nowhere near enough. Especially with stove coal. The stove coal will Allow faster recovery, which I don't think is a bad thing in your situation. Get some more depth and then move on to next issue.
Agree Agree AgreeYou need a deep bed. Believe it or not you will in the long run save more coal that way. Deep beds are the way to go, and remember Coal has a lag time, so might be better to put your fresh coal on top of your older coal. But draw up your old coal first so that the new coal catches easier. It takes a feel to getting a coal stove burning correctly but you will.Every stove/furnace set up are different, so you will get a feel for what you need to do.

 
btarby15
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Post by btarby15 » Fri. Dec. 03, 2021 1:49 pm

Hounds51 wrote:
Fri. Dec. 03, 2021 1:01 pm
Agree Agree AgreeYou need a deep bed. Believe it or not you will in the long run save more coal that way. Deep beds are the way to go, and remember Coal has a lag time, so might be better to put your fresh coal on top of your older coal. But draw up your old coal first so that the new coal catches easier. It takes a feel to getting a coal stove burning correctly but you will.Every stove/furnace set up are different, so you will get a feel for what you need to do.
I'll be more liberal with the bed depth, and ramp up to the back, see how it goes. Perhaps my problems are simple than I thought. I'll be sure to "rev" up the existing coal bed a little before adding new stuff.


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