Coalpail.com Forum

On my Pocos I noticed last winter (God, does it feel good to say it that way) that the air does not quite seem to roar through the coal bed. I am pretty sure I am getting Hazleton area coal and perhaps Jeddo. I also notice issues with hand fired on other posts that the coal seems to need more air. So, two questions.

The air entry door on my combustion 60W blower is not quite fully open (as it came from the factory) if I open to wide open do I get a little more CFM?

Can a slightly bigger fan be used? I am sure UL says no but nevertheless.....

Yes, I am shut down for the season but newbie is not a freshman anymore and I wish to improve my coal efficiency all I can next year. I understand Jeddo has a few fines (and twigs but no big deal), white,low ash and hot. Any other thoughts for my Pocos.

I assumed you have cleaned out the grates, holes and UNDER the grates good. You will get fines built up under the grates.
Also, air blow off the fins on the fan, keep them clean too. Use canned air, toothbrush, etc...to clean the fins.

YOu could open the intake on the fan a bit, but make sure you monitor the draft with a manometer (Draft gauge) to make sure you are not pressurizing the heat chamber and cause CO to leak out. YOu may have to adjust your baro damper or power vent to accomodate the higher air flow.

My hyfire doesn't even have covers on the intake of the combustion blowers and burns pretty good.

Thank you.

Same with all 4 ll stoves I put in, Found Its the size of the coal as the big pieces only burn in about 1/8 inch and then stop burning. I have used 3 supplys and The one with the biggest pieces had more unburnt coal then the smaller ones. With a hand fired you shake the ash off the coal which we cannot do. I picked a big handful of big pieces, put a hole above the fire and scooped them out and washed them, lots of unburnt coal where the big ones were.

Hope this helps. Stant

Nice experiment and that confirms my observations too. So does anybody know of a combustion motor (Fasco or other) that is say 75W instead of 60W that fits or even better a variable speed. Now that would be an interesting experiment. I have a load of small computer server fans, if I put them say two inches away from the combustion motor air intake would that raise the inlet pressure? Would that be a good initial experiment? The coal bed appears to be a little too thick for air flow. I read of types of stove that burn to a white powder and mine does not do that. Is my clinkering due to an already excessive temperature? If that was so I would not expect to see those few pieces of unburned coal. If I raise the inlet flow and adjust the Dwyer to see in the range of 0.,02 - 4 am I not still pulling all that nasty CO etc. out. What is my limit? Can I melt the stove? I suppose I could hand pick about 10 # of these bits over time (lot of work) and try and light my second Poco with them. I would rather have just simple answers.

I hate to say this but sometimes its best to just leave things alone. Coal here in Ne pa is 8 cents a lb. You pick up. I have used 1 1/4 ton each of the last 2 years. I would guess maybe 150 lbs not burned in 2 years. So at 8 cents = $12.
Do you burn the stove hard? How close to a full grate burn do you get? I have tried air flow and the main thing I have found is the fan cage gets dirty fairly often. A cleaning makes the fire better. I have a few things I have tried but I do not want to burn your house down. Ha ha.
My own is ok.
I used Harmony last Year and getting Jeddo this year.
http://www.jeddocoal.com/ check specs!!!!!!!

Good luck, Stan

Well Stan, good common sense reply. I have burned Jeddo (I think) for a number of years and I am happy. Well at least it is Hazleton coal somewhere I have found out that much at least as I use TT loads from a local coal dealer. I guess the "Aristocrat of Coals " should be good enough for me. Just a series of idle thoughts.