Clinker Help!

Any suggestions on keeping down the amount and/or eliminating clinkers?

Clinkers are formed when the high heat of the fire reaches the melting point of the coal's minerals. The minerals tend to fuse together when these conditions exist in the fire. Mineral content in coal types vary and so does their tendency to form clinkers at a high temperatures. Reduce clinker formation by burning at a lower temperature or keeping the burn across the coal fire uniform and avoid hot spots. That can be caused by a lot of things. Could be too much poking thru the fire, too much draft, too much air or uneven shaking/ash distribution across the grates. These are just a few causes. There's a lot on this forum about clinker formation.

Try using the search functions in the upper right and search on any combination of words containing "clinker". Greg L, aka LsFarm, has posted some good pictures Penn Keystone Coal Co

The above answer is right on the money.. Burning at very high temps will cause clinkers.. but poking a very hot fire will almost guarantee to push some soft hot coals together and they stick, creating a clinker..

If you don't poke your fire at all, then just try burning a little cooler,, try washing more heat off of the stove body with an additional fan so you can have a cooler burn but more heat in the house..

Greg L.

White ash coal doesn't clinker but it doesn't have the BTU's of red ash coal.A mix of mostly white ash and a little red ash for heat might work well.Superior coal has a very high fuzion(sp) temp and doesn't clinker that much.This year I tried a mix of 50% superior and 50% white ash coal I got from Sherman and it was great.I think the white ash from Sherman was a fluke but you could try some Hudson and Superior and see how that works.
Just my .02 BTW I love to try mixing coal to see if I can get it to clinker less.
DON

HeatKing wrote:Any suggestions on keeping down the amount and/or eliminating clinkers?

Also the brand of coal you use is a factor. What coal are you burning?

Also the brand of coal you use is a factor. What coal are you burning?

Hard nut coal. I was told it burns hotter and has less dust. It burns hot for sure. The dust is more than I was expecting. The clinkers are speratic but annoying when they occur. I don't know they're there until I my stove burns out and I have to start over. This is my first year so Im learning alot.