Coalpail.com Forum

hello everyone, and may I just say right off the bat that this site is great. withthat being said I neee help. I bought a 1557 hotblast USSC with intentions of burning coal. I did everything you guys say, but by the sounds of it, its not a very good coal furnace. now its november, in fustrated, and the fiance is even more . since its already been used I cant return it. the wood burns great, but coal is not the same. so im stuck with it. does any1 have suggestions in making it work better???????? I read on here that a guy mounted a blower fan on the ash door, wont the ashes fly all over the place??? please help and thank you

I don't know about mounting a fan on the ash door, might work. But for a long term strategy if you want to burn coal, I'd limp through this season burning wood and sell it in the spring. Order a good coal burner and never look back. Chalk it up to experience. Also unless you want the ability to burn wood also, I'd get a unit that only burns coal. The multi fuel units don't do as good a job. Too many compromises in design.

Mudman
http://www.usstove.com/index.php?route=cms/articl ... ticle_id=2
11DIKL is the part from us stoves (it is on back order till Dec.) for the forced air draft (FAD) which mounts on the rear of your unit. I have been able to burn without one on the same unit we put in at a buddies home. It was tricky getting going. You could probly mount the kit from usstove for the clayton 1600, 16DIKL is the part number. Check the size of the port on the back, the 1600 port for the FAD looks to be 3.5 inch OD. you may have to sleeve to make it fit. The 16DIKL has other goodies with it.

Mudman, where in western NY are you?

Hello mudman, there are several members on the forum who have managed to get their US Stove furnaces to burn acceptably..
One thread is here: Successfully Burning Anthracite Coal in a Clayton Furnace

Greg L

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thanks for all your help. its roarin heat now, 75 degrees and about to go to bed. but I got draft issues, which I started an new topic. you guys may read it and comment on it if you would like, and thanks!

North Candlewood, do you still have a Clayton 1602? Did you connect a FAD (forced air draft) to it? If so did the blower connect to the secondary air intake? I am considering getting this system and would like to know a little more about how it works. More than the ones trying to sell it to me.

Coal likes a constant air supply thru the bed of coal,forced draft is not an ideal thing with coal. A stoker works with forced air,but uses a small bed of coal. The $$ saved on buying a wood burner & attempting to turn it into a good coal burner is not good for ones health,blood pressure issues,frustration levels,anger management issues, & then the property damage caused by flying objects............ thrown by the frustrated operator,throw in the verbal issues of saying things that don't help,it all adds up to,ain't worth it.Plenty of good quality units out there that were designed to burn coal well,& will save $$ in the long run when the big picture is viewed.

I have a friend that has a similar "combination" furnace. Burns wood great, we tried to get it to burn coal, it didn't work very well.

Eventually he is planning on getting a dedicated coal furnace in addition to the wood burner.

zimcocomp, I sent you a PM with this information also:

Your Clayton 1602 has a plate in the front and rear of the firebox, that has 3 holes in each one. Either block those holes with bolts or something, or pull the plates and insert a piece of metal under them to block the airflow. This will also block all over the fire air because of the way the furnace is designed.

If you put a plate of metal, under the front baffle, over the fire air can be adjusted with the front damper on the stove. Bolts in the holes will completely block all over the fire air.

windyhill4.2 wrote:Coal likes a constant air supply thru the bed of coal,forced draft is not an ideal thing with coal. A stoker works with forced air,but uses a small bed of coal. The $$ saved on buying a wood burner & attempting to turn it into a good coal burner is not good for ones health,blood pressure issues,frustration levels,anger management issues, & then the property damage caused by flying objects............ thrown by the frustrated operator,throw in the verbal issues of saying things that don't help,it all adds up to,ain't worth it.Plenty of good quality units out there that were designed to burn coal well,& will save $$ in the long run when the big picture is viewed.

I would have to disagree with every word in the post, my New Yorker wood coal boiler with a combustion fan has performed very very well this winte, with no mods done to it and no aggrevation.

hotblast1357 wrote:

windyhill4.2 wrote:Coal likes a constant air supply thru the bed of coal,forced draft is not an ideal thing with coal. A stoker works with forced air,but uses a small bed of coal. The $$ saved on buying a wood burner & attempting to turn it into a good coal burner is not good for ones health,blood pressure issues,frustration levels,anger management issues, & then the property damage caused by flying objects............ thrown by the frustrated operator,throw in the verbal issues of saying things that don't help,it all adds up to,ain't worth it.Plenty of good quality units out there that were designed to burn coal well,& will save $$ in the long run when the big picture is viewed.

I would have to disagree with every word in the post, my New Yorker wood coal boiler with a combustion fan has performed very very well this winte, with no mods done to it and no aggrevation.

New Yorker & EFM, to name 2 quality units,both made a wood /coal burner,both of those units are way above the Clayton/HotBlast/ many other names. You disagree with every word ? A stoker uses forced air thru a small bed of coal .... that is a fact. Plenty of good coal burning units available....Fact. With a hand fed unit,forced combustion creates a greater possibility of activating a dump zone then natural draft.... fact.

I also used a hot blast furnace that I never had a problem with, if not for wanting to heat the garage and dhw with just one unit I would prob still be using the hot blast. And yes a stoker uses a combustion fan, a hand fed hot air furnace using a combustion fan does not create the possibility of activating the dump zone, it does not have a dump zone, the poster has a hot air furnace, so it does not apply, and a hand fed boiler with a combustion fan set up with a proper system does not dump as often as one would think.

hotblast1357 wrote:I also used a hot blast furnace that I never had a problem with, if not for wanting to heat the garage and dhw with just one unit I would prob still be using the hot blast. And yes a stoker uses a combustion fan, a hand fed hot air furnace using a combustion fan does not create the possibility of activating the dump zone, it does not have a dump zone, the poster has a hot air furnace, so it does not apply, and a hand fed boiler with a combustion fan set up with a proper system does not dump as often as one would think.

You are correct about the furnace not boiler.... so I looked at my first post,no mention of boiler there.... I must have gotten the boiler idea from some one else's post about their boiler. The fact is,the Clayton is NOT an optimal coal burner.......if a person owns one & wants to upgrade from wood to coal,yes, go ahead & modify the existing wood burner. If buying a unit to use,buy a unit that is better designed to burn coal from the git-go.

They need to do whatever they can afford at the time, we are here to help them make it burn.