anthracite burn stages

 
fig
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Post by fig » Tue. Jan. 19, 2021 3:01 pm

I’ve been on coal exclusively for a few weeks now. I just got to figure out what I’m not doing now. Hmm. Lol I’m stayin warm though.

 
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Post by gardener » Wed. Jan. 20, 2021 9:32 am

I have been playing with the small Umco No. 28 potbelly.
I have not gotten an overnight burn, and neither did/do I ever expect to.
I can keep it burning through the day though.
I don't have an appropriate sized poker or slicer, often times just have to stir the fire from the feed door, which makes the fire cool off considerably before coming back. Without doing that, those white rock/chunks occupy the firepot.
The grate is bad at breaking stuff up, and I don't have a tool that lets me shake the grate vigorously... going to look into some vicegrips.

If those white chunks still need to be burned further to get them down to fluffy ash, I will stop stirring the fire, but if thats the case I have not had the fire burning long enough to figure that out on my own.

From what I am reading in the responses in this thread, that other brands of coal do not produce so many of those white chunks.

 
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Post by AllanD » Wed. Jan. 20, 2021 2:52 pm

It must be born in mind that "Coal" is a Sedimentary rock and other things get incorporated into it.

"White rock" Suggests to me Calcium Carbonate (Chalk, Limestone, etc) from the shells of small microscopic crustaceans, which can be annoying, but NOT NEARLY AS ANNOYING as some of the other possibilities (Sand/Silica or just as bad Elemental Silicon, which burns to SiO2 in your stove!) this is one of the principle sources of those annoying glassy "Clinkers"

Burn the stove long enough and/or hot enough and the heat drives off the "Water of Crystalization" and reduces the carbonate to a fine Grey/White powder which "shakes down" fairly easily.


 
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Post by gardener » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 8:57 am

lsayre wrote:
Fri. Jan. 15, 2021 9:19 am
Most anthracite inherently has between about 4% and 6% internal water, even when it outwardly appears to be absolutely bone dry. In addition there are also roughly about 3.5% to 5.5% volatiles (flammable liquid and/or gaseous hydrocarbons that are other than pure coal stuff). And lastly, ash can range from about 8% to 16% of the weight of anthracite.
Excellent explanation, thank you Larry!

A few times I had specks pop out while the door was open when I put in a layer. I have wondered whether I should be concerned any could make it through the air control openings and past the hearth. I have been waiting until I hear the sizzling die off before walking away. This morning I heard a loud pop and pinging inside the stove right as I was walking away.

It is probably my eleventh fire now with the UMCO 28 stove and I managed to get an overnight burn. Firepot temperature readings were between 400-500 degrees when I left it, and between 300-400 this morning, about 7 hour difference. Manual pipe damper was fully closed, and the air control in the door was half open.
The last two fires I have been trying to lower the firepot temperatures steadily, rather than significant air control changes I had previously done resulting the big temperature swings.

My first set of fires the firepot temps were much hotter, and the fire would choke overnight from the ash buildup, leaving behind many partially burned pieces, like Holdencoal's lineup earlier in this thread. It is probably too soon for me to comprehend, but it seems that the lower burn temperatures are more thoroughly burning the pieces at the bottom, leaving behind fine ash that falls out while shaking. Before with the hotter fires, when I would shake the grate I would have difficulty with large pieces jamming in the grate and I'd have to break up or use a poker to free it. Yesterday and this morning the grate seems much easier to shake, and almost no chunks fall out into the ash pile.

Why does a lower temperature fire seem to be burning the coal more thoroughly?

 
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Post by Bubbalowe » Mon. Mar. 01, 2021 1:26 pm

My TSC Nut still has blue flames after burning 12 hours whenever I reload. Interesting note is iron ore deposits in PA lie along with coal but the original iron furnaces were fired with charcoal, wasn't until decades later coke was used. Most iron ore blast furnaces went out of blast whenever the surrounding timber was depleted. Kind of ironic.

 
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Post by Hoytman » Wed. Mar. 03, 2021 11:53 pm

You are not alone gardener. I have also noticed that temps from 300 and lower produce much finer ash that also drops easily. I also have the same issues when burning hotter; that is I have to shake hard to break things up to get the stove to breathe well again. Burning Blashak nut. I like it.

I also happen to like the TSC coal and it does seem to have more and longer off gassing of blue flames resulting in more heat I think. They do last longer also.


 
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Post by gardener » Mon. Mar. 15, 2021 1:56 pm

whopper.jpeg
.JPEG | 44.5KB | whopper.jpeg
I have Tractor Supply chestnut anthracite coal.
Yesterday I found this piece, which is 4 inches long, 3 inches at the widest, and almost 2 inches thick.
Is this 'egg' size, or some bigger named size?

 
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Post by McGiever » Mon. Mar. 15, 2021 9:58 pm

Perhaps Stove size...

 
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Post by Hoytman » Sun. Mar. 21, 2021 2:17 pm

I found pieces like that all the down to fine sand type pieces. It is dirtier to shovel in the stove, but I do think it burns well this way.

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