What am I doing wrong?

I've got a new Kozy King 300. Started 3 anthracite fires this winter with NO LUCK at all!! (Santa Clause nut coal)
I get 2-4 days and my fire smothers out. Every time I fire up, every 12 hours or less, I poke a little and shake. I've got my air settings on the little draft motor in the right position. It's almost like I'm suffocating it out??? More shake, more poke??? HELP!
Any one keep the bottom spinner vent open a little all the time??? How far open on the little draft motor?

Could you post some pictures of your fire? How deep are you filling it with coal? When you shake ashes, do you shake until you see some red embers fall?

No pics, my fire is out.
I've tried 10", 8" and 4" deep of coal.
I shake it for probably 10 seconds, short and quick like Malard5farmhouse does on YouTube. (Some red, not a lot)
I've noticed that the edges smother out first, ashes up first.

When you all poke, do you stir it up hard, or poke lightly ??

Stiring isn't good for the fire. You should shake the grates only.

Doesn't seam like I get much ash out, hence smothering the fire out, I guess???
How much ash is normal per 40 lb bag of nut coal?

How big is the grate area?

You should get about 5-6 pounds of ash per 40 pounds of coal.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Thu. Mar. 09, 2023 7:50 pm

You should get about 5-6 pounds of ash per 40 pounds of coal.

Lee, stove specs say 6.2 cu. Ft. Firebox. Any guess how many bags/pounds that is?

With my sf260 boiler, I had to "stir" the fire or it would get ash bound in just a few days. I called it the poke and stoke or more accurately, the shake and rake. Once a day, I'd rev up the fire by opening the ash door, poke it down lightly across the fire bed to get rid of any bridging, then shake. Once shaken, I'd run a 3 foot tire iron/ pry bar down each side and down the middle. Then load it back up opening the ash door long enough to catch the new coal. It would be good for another 12 or 24 hours depending on the weather.

If you try this with a weak fire, it'll just go completely out ..

KozyKingOhio wrote: ↑

Thu. Mar. 09, 2023 7:00 pm

I've got a new Kozy King 300. Started 3 anthracite fires this winter with NO LUCK at all!! (Santa Clause nut coal)
I get 2-4 days and my fire smothers out. Every time I fire up, every 12 hours or less, I poke a little and shake. I've got my air settings on the little draft motor in the right position. It's almost like I'm suffocating it out??? More shake, more poke??? HELP!
Any one keep the bottom spinner vent open a little all the time??? How far open on the little draft motor?

You really need to detail your entire procedure from fire start to when it goes out. Do you have a baro? Are you setting the draft with a manometer? How tall is chimney, what type?

waytomany?s wrote: ↑

Thu. Mar. 09, 2023 7:49 pm

How big is the grate area?

16" x 22" is the fire box. The slots, or openings in the shaker grate is probably around 12" x 18", if I had to guess.

waytomany?s wrote: ↑

Thu. Mar. 09, 2023 7:55 pm

Lee, stove specs say 6.2 cu. Ft. Firebox. Any guess how many bags/pounds that is?

That's probably the volume of the entire firebox. We would need to know the length and width and then consider an 8 inch deep coal bed.

Like Nepa said, you can get away with "kind of stiring" under the right conditions.. I call it more of a lifting motion than a stiring. Lifting the coal by running a poker thru it will help convince the ash to fall towards the grate. Rev it up first by opening the ash door, then shake ashes, run the poker thru it with a lifting motion, then shake again. I did this routine with my Clayton hand fed furnace.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Thu. Mar. 09, 2023 8:11 pm

That's probably the volume of the entire firebox. We would need to know the length and width and then consider an 8 inch deep coal bed.

From the pics online, the fire box is one firebrick horizontal on top of a fire brick standing vertical. I bet you could get 6-8 bags in there on startup.

KozyKingOhio wrote: ↑

Thu. Mar. 09, 2023 8:09 pm

16" x 22" is the fire box. The slots, or openings in the shaker grate is probably around 12" x 18", if I had to guess.

also as a helpful piece of data anthracite coal burns nothing like what you might expect, without the right conditions it goes out, as much as wood and paper want to seem to burn coal doesn't. It smothers as quickly as a two year olds excitement and takes about as much to get going as a granny with a broken walker. Patience is key- you have to play the game the way the fire wants to, you can't rush it. If it ain't ready it won't forgive you. Not to scare you but I had a lot of outfires till I figured this out!