My New Coal Stove

I have recently purchased a energy king coal-wood stove with shaker grates and I am having problems keeping the fire going hot after a day or two. I purchased stove coal and the manufacturer recomends nut coal. Could this be my problem? I have burned some coal in the past and I shake the grates more then I think would be nessesary. Although not to the point it kills the fire by any means. Please advise.

Welcome Mike,

First I would recommend switching to the NUT size coal your stove company recommends for your stove. This thread How to Light a Hand Fired Coal Stove has many good tips from members on how they shake down their particular stove. While every stove is different, there are some universal practices that will work in all hand fired stoves.

mikecelotti wrote:I shake the grates more then I think would be nessesary. Although not to the point it kills the fire by any means. Please advise.

Without knowing your stove in particular, I think most stoves work fine if you shake them down twice a day. In the real cold weather, when your stove is cranking, you may have to do it three times a day.

Over-shaking can definitely pack the coal bed to tight & restrict airflow & can even make you lose your fire.

Good luck & let us know how you are making out!

Given the mild temperatures we've been experiencing, it is possible that your boiler isn't buring hot enough to completely burn the large pieces of coal. If that is the case, you probably have a lot of partially burned coal sitting on the grates that won't shake through the grates. You might try poking up through the grates with a piece of heavy wire or something to allow more airflow.

One other thing, mild temps = weak draft. If your boiler uses a natural draft with no combustion blower a weak chimney draft would cause lower firebox temperatures.

I found the rpoblem. The stove is a furnace and it has a bipass damper which diverts the draft through the front top of the stove to catch more heat when it runs accrross the top of the stove before it raches the flu and when IOpened the baffle to allow more draft directly to the flu it took off like crazy.

Thanks for the input !