Need help on troubble shooting and how to start and opperate warm morning 414 coal stove

I purchased a 414 warm morning stove last summer to put in our school bus tiny home. I purchased it with the idea of just using it as a woodstove and completely refinished it. Because we have not had much luck keeping a wood fire going all night without having to wake up every hour or two to add more wood. I decided to try burning coal in it which it was obviously designed for. I have never burned coal before. Last night a started a wood fire and got a good bead of coals going then i added a couple pieces of anthracite nut coal. I waited a little while and then added a couple shovel fulls. When the coal lit and started to burn blue flames i added half a bucket full. I had to wait about and hour or longer at that point for it to ignite again then i filled the magazine up to the top of the fire bricks only for it to not ever shoot blue flames out of the four corner flutes. I messed with it and waited for hours. Finally i decided to remove some of the coal after i remove about half of the magazine and waited over an hour or started back up but never really got a good pull. The bottom of the warm morning 414 was really hot but the top was not and my temperature gauge was only reading 200F in the flue. I did get the temperature gauge on the stove pipe to read 600F in the beginning but once i added more coal could not get it to climb back up. I was using the shaker and opening the ash vent but was afraid to shake it to much. Finally after messing with it for 4-5 hours i decided to just close down the dampers almost all the way and go to bed. I worke up this morning and the coals are still hot on the bottom and i have used the shaker a couple of times. I have all the vents open and still no fire. It seems like im not getting enough of a pull on the draft and maybe need to add more chimney. When i burn wood i get a lot of pull but this is obviously a lot different. Need suggestions and any help is appreciated.

Blue flame indicates that the coal is hot enough to start emitting gas and it is hot enough and has enough air to ignite. It does not mean all the coal has ignited.

Next time add coal bit by bit until you have red ignited coal up to the vents in the bottom bricks that lead to the corner flues. Then add a bit more slowly giving it time to get hot before adding more while keeping bottom air open fully. Do this to keep the flue temp up and not cool the fire too much with cold coal. Once the coal is well started and magazine loaded with hot coal, draft should remain high. You can check draft by holding a lit match to a barely open slit in the upper air shutter. How strongly the flame pulls in indicates how strong the draft is. Close down the bottom air to a small opening for a 12 hour burn. How much to close you will have to learn from experience and using flue temp as a guide. Now at shake down time the magazine adds hot coal that quickly ignites and added coal does not cool the fire much. Before adding fresh coal , open the air fully to rev up the fire before adding coal.

How tall is your chimney from stove top to top of chimney and what is it made of? Remember if your bus is tight you might have to add a fresh air source to the stove, and get a CO detector. Remember opening the top door kills draft, so only open for a quick check, or to add coal, and then keep closed.

Well!! How’d it go???

Good thorough post, Franco. I learned a few things about burning a WM in that post.

Would still like to get one. I backed out on the one McGeiver got and wish I hadn’t. Snooze ya’ lose.

Hoytman wrote: ↑

Wed. Nov. 03, 2021 7:38 pm

Good thorough post, Franco. I learned a few things about burning a WM in that post.

Would still like to get one. I backed out on the one McGeiver got and wish I hadn’t. Snooze ya’ lose.

I have an Estate Warm Morning 120. I'm in MA though. I bought it with the intentions of installing it in the basement. Never got around to it. It's in great shape. Might be worth a road trip. Make me a lousy offer. Feel free to PM me. I'd love to see it in use and know someone from the forum has it. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/299302737448785

I’d love to do that, but the timing always seems to be wrong for me...just like at the moment.

Looks like a very nice one too. Dang it!

Hoytman wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 19, 2021 5:56 am

I’d love to do that, but the timing always seems to be wrong for me...just like at the moment.

Looks like a very nice one too. Dang it!

Look at the fire brick. I'm not sure they ever really used it. It's pristine. My intention was to install it in my basement as a backup. But the Chubby upstairs heats the house no problem. It belongs in a big old farmhouse or something like that.

ASea wrote: ↑

Fri. Nov. 19, 2021 9:08 am

Look at the fire brick. I'm not sure they ever really used it. It's pristine. My intention was to install it in my basement as a backup. But the Chubby upstairs heats the house no problem. It belongs in a big old farmhouse or something like that.

I seen them. Look hardly used. Certainly one I'd like to get my hands on. If I had it, it would remain that way and be passed on to my son, which is what I had planned for the 414 that Larry bought. At the time I needed a heating stove rather than one to sit around.

ASea wrote: ↑

Thu. Nov. 18, 2021 10:03 pm

I have an Estate Warm Morning 120. I'm in MA though. I bought it with the intentions of installing it in the basement. Never got around to it. It's in great shape. Might be worth a road trip. Make me a lousy offer. Feel free to PM me. I'd love to see it in use and know someone from the forum has it. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/299302737448785

I have a similar stove, I saw saw your sale post and googled distance. Unfortunately it's 4 hours one way.

waytomany?s wrote: ↑

Tue. Dec. 07, 2021 7:28 pm

I have a similar stove, I saw saw your sale post and googled distance. Unfortunately it's 4 hours one way.

It's a tough one. Not a bad ride if you get bored. I'll be headed to PA most likely for a boiler at some point. Road trip!