Anthracite Heater MADRAS?

 
AlanH
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Baseburners & Antiques: MADRAS ?
Coal Size/Type: small anthracite

Post by AlanH » Wed. Jul. 15, 2020 2:38 pm

Hi all,
New here and need some insight please.
I have this anthracite heater that I am currently battling with so it burns for longer periods.
Firstly I do not know what make or model it is. I was told that it is a larger unit to heat larger rooms which I need as the main room to heat is about 280cubic meters (9888 cubic foot).
The heater has three doors, top for access to fire itself, middle to grid and bottom to ash pan.
It has two vent sliders about 75mm x 35mm (3x1.5") and a lever to activate the chimney slider from 0 - 3. On setting 0 it seems to direct the chimney outlet back to the back of the ash pan. The chimney outlet is about 90mm (3.5").
I just had a new chimney fitted which is 120mm (4.75") and about 5m (about 16') high protruding about 1.6m (5') above the flat roof.
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So with that input I'm hoping to get the following answers:
1. What make and model is that Heater since I cannot find anything on the www.
2. Is my chimney speced correctly or is it either too large/short/small to keep my heater burning optimally.

I know the quality of anthracite makes a difference and have tried different anthracite which improved burning but the same worse burning anthracite worked well in a friends heater (Dovre).

I'm desperate, as it is currently very cold here in normally sunny RSA and am contemplating changing to something known to work.

PS. I did run the heater for about 4 years with minor issues but that was with a 100mm chimney. Installer said larger is better?
Please do not hesitate to give criticism/advice that will help me further.

Oh yes, before I forget. I did clean out the heater properly by stripping and re sealing all joints with fire clay.

Looking forward to some insight.
Alan


 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Wed. Jul. 15, 2020 3:03 pm

Draft is critical with an anthracite appliance, do you know what yours is? Too little and the fire dies, too much and all your heat goes up the chimney, along with the fire itself. Does your chimney have a barometric damper and if so, what is the draft? Your fire looks like it is very healthy, maybe it's just blowing heat up the chimney.

 
AlanH
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Baseburners & Antiques: MADRAS ?
Coal Size/Type: small anthracite

Post by AlanH » Wed. Jul. 15, 2020 3:27 pm

Hi Coaledsweat,
No idea and I don't have a barometric chamber that I know of.
The fire starts well and it seems I have a good draft, maybe as yuo suggest too much. I have closed the bottom vents by about 80% and left the chimney slider on setting 2 to try get it to burn through the night.
If I leave the bottom door open it definitely goes out the chimney. I felt that this evening when I closed the door suddenly I had lots more heat coming of the heater.

 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Wed. Jul. 15, 2020 3:44 pm

Your fire appears to be raging in that pic. You really don't want the fire on the surface like that, it should have plenty of raw coal on top. One thing with anthracite is you MUST FILL IT ALL THE WAY up no matter whether you are burning low or high. Once the fire burns through the top your troubles really begin. How often do you shake it down and reload?

 
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Post by franco b » Wed. Jul. 15, 2020 3:46 pm

I think your chimney is fine.

That is a small stove with a 90 mm breech. how many pounds or kg does the fire box hold exclusive of any hopper if it has one?

Experiment with that chimney slider in various positions. Hold your hand on the smoke pipe to judge stack temperature differences.

 
AlanH
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Baseburners & Antiques: MADRAS ?
Coal Size/Type: small anthracite

Post by AlanH » Thu. Jul. 16, 2020 1:17 am

OK, so last night I made sure the hopper is full and I scratched ashes under the coal before going to sleep. It was burning well. Setting at 2 and air vents closed 80%. By 02h00 in the morning I woke up and went to check - dead and cold.
The hopper is always full and when I scratch I also make sure coal has reloaded from the hopper. The fire box is about 410x150x80mm (16"x6"x3") If the coal is not glowing on top it is sure to die very soon, thats why I try keeping it lit well, which is obviously detrimental. This season and probably with the extra heat it does seem to erode some of the cast iron parts (bottom directional plate on the hopper) which is directly above the fire.
There are definate temperature differences on the slider. On 3 it gets hot to the extent it cannot be touched, the lower it gets the easier it is to touch. Also the lower it is the quicker it dies.

 
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Post by franco b » Thu. Jul. 16, 2020 7:58 am

The fire box is very shallow. If the hopper height is adjustable, raise it up to increase the bed depth.

You should be burning pea size coal, about 20 mm in size.

Shake down every 8 hours and do a thorough job of clearing the ash.


 
AlanH
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Baseburners & Antiques: MADRAS ?
Coal Size/Type: small anthracite

Post by AlanH » Thu. Jul. 16, 2020 8:33 am

Ahh, now we are getting some interesting info.

Yes the bed is very shallow and there is plate that makes it shallow. I could remove that and see if that makes a difference.
Also I am using small coal and some of the chunks can be just smaller than my fist which is obviously no longer small.

I will defiantely try to get some pea size and try it out without the plate. Thanks for that.

Anyone have any idea what make/model and kW rating this heater has? I believe this was a populat heater in the '60's/'70's but yet cannot find any reference anywhere.

 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Thu. Jul. 16, 2020 8:47 am

Kinda almost looks like a Warm Morning/ Sears design--I wouldn't stake my life on that but worth checkin out. Are you in S. Africa?? I just put a get alerts thingy in "JunkMail.com" who I believe are in S. Africa & elsewhere. For MADRAS2 coal stoves. Who knows if anything will pan out.

 
AlanH
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Baseburners & Antiques: MADRAS ?
Coal Size/Type: small anthracite

Post by AlanH » Thu. Jul. 16, 2020 9:15 am

Yes, I'm in RSA or whats left of it.
And yes, Junkmail is an online market place here running in parrallel with OLX as well.
Let's hope something pops up, would be good to know.

 
AlanH
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Baseburners & Antiques: MADRAS ?
Coal Size/Type: small anthracite

Post by AlanH » Fri. Jul. 17, 2020 3:11 am

This morning the heater was again dead and cold. This gave me the opportunity to remove the plate. Unfortunately the screws were too tight to unscrew so I had to employ a grinder. Will tend to the studs at a later date. It certainly made the whole firebox bigger.
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I have now started the fire again and will monitor the performance. Unfortunately I don't have pea size anthracite yet but that is the next step. Possibly I might have to replace the plate for the smaller coal?
Holding thumbs.

 
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Post by franco b » Fri. Jul. 17, 2020 10:07 am

If the smaller coal wants to overflow the fire box at the front, put a piece of one inch angle iron across the front to prevent that. Angle pointing up.

With a deeper bed and more coal burning, you should be able to reduce the burn rate and get longer burn times.

 
AlanH
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Baseburners & Antiques: MADRAS ?
Coal Size/Type: small anthracite

Post by AlanH » Sat. Jul. 18, 2020 2:39 am

Thanks franco b.
It took me the whole day yesterday to get it started with. First made small wood fire and placed coal on top piece by piece and it died. Then I made a wood fire with charcoal outside in a small firestarter drum. When coal was glowing added anthracite until I had about 2 shovels worth of glowing anthracite and placed that in to firebox and added some wood on top to warm chimney.
Again it nearly dies with all vents open, by about 16:00 I added more anthracite on top but this time from another batch and by 18:00 it was eventually lit.
This morning it was still glowing faintly and I shook it and made sure the hopper is full again. It is now recovering sloooowwllyy.
I suspect my coal is also of dubious quality. Problem is I have been trying to get someone responsible to talk to at the supplier without success even after leaving numerous messages. T.I.A. (This Is Africa)

 
AlanH
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Baseburners & Antiques: MADRAS ?
Coal Size/Type: small anthracite

Post by AlanH » Sat. Jul. 18, 2020 6:09 am

Some update.
This morning I eventually got to speak to the Depot manager of the supplier and he confirmed he hae a lot of complaints about the coal he sold. So I may now load my coal and exchange it.
I also managed to get the heater glowing again after placing a firelighter and some of the "good batch" coal on top. Let's see how long I can keep it burning without interfering. Then next week I will see a difference hopefully.

 
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Post by freetown fred » Sat. Jul. 18, 2020 7:09 am

Hopin for the best A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Keep us posted.


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