Not So Nice Piece of Ash

 
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Ashcat
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Post by Ashcat » Thu. Dec. 18, 2008 8:09 pm

For the first time, today I was unable to crush a piece of ash (clinker? green coal?)that got caught up in my left grate. The more "leverage" I tried to get to crush it, meant a wider space for ash (and fire) to fall through. With alot of ash already in the corner of the ash pan, the eventual outcome was a grate that was frozen in place--unable to be moved in either direction. I never did find the offending piece, despite poking along the margins of the grate. What I had to do was use the poker to spread the ash more evenly in the space that remained in the ash pan, and forcibly pull the pan out of the stove--not easy when that full, and with live fire too. I simply dumped that 1/3rd of the fire, filled the bare grate (and the rest of the box) with fresh coal, and went to work. Fortunately, I still had a nice fire throughout the box when I came home twelve hours later.

If I get a grate that stuck again, I think my first order of business will be to empty the pan of any ash in it at that time, so if I have to completely dump that area, at least there'll be pan space to move the ash/fire to. Any other thoughts about avoiding or dealing with this problem?

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Devil505
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Post by Devil505 » Thu. Dec. 18, 2008 8:14 pm

What coal are you using? (ie..Blaschak, Reading?)

 
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Ashcat
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Post by Ashcat » Thu. Dec. 18, 2008 8:21 pm

It's a mix of "South Tamaqua Coal and Greenwood" nut, according to my supplier. I've burned about a ton so far and like it pretty well. An occasional small piece of of wood but otherwise nice--no rocks that I've ever seen.

 
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Devil505
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Post by Devil505 » Thu. Dec. 18, 2008 8:27 pm

Ashcat wrote:It's a mix of "South Tamaqua Coal and Greenwood" nut, according to my supplier. I've burned about a ton so far and like it pretty well. An occasional small piece of of wood but otherwise nice--no rocks that I've ever seen.
I had a similar problem last winter with "Mystery" coal that was later identified by the dealer as Reading coal. In order to not break my shaker grates I just shut down & cleaned out each time. I have never had the same problem with Blaschak coal.

That's It- Stick With Blaschak!

 
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Razzler
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Post by Razzler » Thu. Dec. 18, 2008 8:28 pm

Next time leave it go come back in four or five hours and try it again. Good chance it will burn the piece out that is causing the jam. :secret: ;)

 
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Ashcat
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Post by Ashcat » Thu. Dec. 18, 2008 8:37 pm

Razzler wrote:Next time leave it go come back in four or five hours and try it again. Good chance it will burn the piece out that is causing the jam. :secret: ;)
Makes sense--unless a clinker is the cause. Plus, work is 12 hours :(

 
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Devil505
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Post by Devil505 » Thu. Dec. 18, 2008 8:40 pm

Ashcat wrote:
Razzler wrote:Next time leave it go come back in four or five hours and try it again. Good chance it will burn the piece out that is causing the jam. :secret: ;)
Makes sense--unless a clinker is the cause. Plus, work is 12 hours :(
Definitely worth trying but unless it's burnable coal it won't work. (My debris would not burn)


 
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tsb
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Post by tsb » Thu. Dec. 18, 2008 10:14 pm

You probably didn't cuss at it properly. The string needs to be long and creative.
No kicking the stove, that's cheating.

TSB

 
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coal berner
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Post by coal berner » Thu. Dec. 18, 2008 11:49 pm

Ashcat wrote:It's a mix of "South Tamaqua Coal and Greenwood" nut, according to my supplier. I've burned about a ton so far and like it pretty well. An occasional small piece of of wood but otherwise nice--no rocks that I've ever seen.
Ashcat Just so you know The Greenwood breaker is LC & N coal co. breaker Which sell there Raw / Mine run coal To South Tamaqua coal Pockets . So you are bruning the same coal . South Tamaqua also buys from a few other Places But For the most part . They Buy alot of there coal From LC & N . The Greenwood breaker has alot of breakdowns When that
happends more of there Raw / Mine Run coal goes to South Tamaqua coal pockets breaker .

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CapeCoaler
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Post by CapeCoaler » Fri. Dec. 19, 2008 12:00 am

Let the sucker sit till you buildup more ash on top of the offender.
Then with the ash pan empty, open the grate just a bit more.
The extra ash will keep the fire out of the pan as the 'rock' drops.
I do a slow but big shake-down in my MarkII, the grates are linked together and do not drop the fire into the pan.
This method gets rid of all the crap that has built-up.
The deeper ash bed is not a big deal; it seems to breathe better because I am getting rid of all the crap that had been building up when I did the short choppy shakedowns!
Blaschak Coal is very consistent and without a doubt a great Coal to learn on.
Most of the coal I burn is the 'Ultimate Mystery Coal' suburban shallow mined!

 
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Post by captcaper » Fri. Dec. 19, 2008 7:12 am

Razzler wrote:Next time leave it go come back in four or five hours and try it again. Good chance it will burn the piece out that is causing the jam. :secret: ;)
I agree. When I first started using my Harman I had 1 permenant jam per week. That was in Nov. I learned quick. I leave it if it binds up. When I shake it again later in the day or night it frees up. I haven't had a permenant jam since Nov. Also I give it short shakes first feeling out how much ash is there. If it shakes easy I increase the shakeing until I feel unburnt coal starting too fall threw the grates. This works for me. I haven't lost a fire since early Nov. and no more permenant jams.

 
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Ashcat
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Post by Ashcat » Fri. Dec. 19, 2008 8:33 am

Thanks all. Another example of how leaving a coal fire alone, and not messing with it too much, problems can often sort themselves out with time.

 
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morrisfamily3098
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Post by morrisfamily3098 » Fri. Dec. 19, 2008 9:39 am

Buy a stoker! that is what I did!

 
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Cato
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Post by Cato » Fri. Dec. 19, 2008 11:13 am

Hi! I'am a Newbee ( althought I burned coal 25yrs. ago) and have a Harman Mark I. I have had a few 'jams' in my grates and followed both routes! The first one I let alone for several hours and it did come free after shaking. The second one was when I got to 'greedy' shaking the stove down and got down to my stove coal and a piece got jammed when the grates were all the way open!! I was going to let it go and load the stove up with new coal and let it burn out when I was scheduled to leave for the weekend. However I was afraid the fire would dump out into the ashpan and I would waste all that coal!! I decided to cut my losses and dumped the little left and start a new fire. The piece that was wedged in there was tough to get out.

I have learned my lesson though and when I shake the stove down now I stop when the ash 'feels' a little coarse and use the bent wire tool I learned about on this forum to clean out the grates from underneath. I burn a mixture of nut and stove coal in my Harman and it works out great. When I shake down I add a layer of nut and get it going good and top off with stove coal. By the time its time to shake down again 9pm or so the stove coal from the previous loading has had time to burn up so that it goes through the grates better and the nut maintains the fire and I begin the process again (nut then stove). So far I have had no jambs!!

Cato

 
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UpStateMike
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Post by UpStateMike » Sun. Dec. 21, 2008 8:07 pm

nothing worse than a bad piece of ash.


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