Can't Stop the Klinkers
- stovepipemike
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- Location: Morgantown ,Penna
It is a Keystoker Kaa2. It has been flawlessly running very hard and long for the last 5 days. I cannot stop the klinkers. I have adjusted down the feed to no event . I have the air cut down to where I dare not cut it any more since the flame is as soft as I can allow. I must take a poker and dig into the fuel bed and slide off the fused solid base of screaming coals and thereby loose half my fire repeatedly. This must happen several times per day. The fuel is Lehigh rice which has been good. My next step is to turn off the switch on the coal and use the New Yorker oil boiler. Anyone have anything to try before going back to the oil man? Thank You Mike
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- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1948 International boiler, EFM S-20 stoker
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Klinkers are a bit#h ! The only way to solve the issue that I know is to get coal from a different batch. If its bad enough even blending will not cure it. Less air does help , but if the batch of coal you have is fusing real bad and swelling it will drive you to drink.
Dave
Dave
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Red ash? I would suggest burning less hot and use the oil to supplement until the weather gets milder or you can get some white ash coal to tide you over the cold spells.
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- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker '81 KA4 (online 1/16/17)
- Coal Size/Type: WAS Lehigh Rice (TBD)
- Other Heating: EFM SPK600
I would try sanding the grates and clean the air holes then see what happens. I'm burning LA rice and it does stick together but still slides off the stoker sometimes in 4" pieces but overall manageable.
- stovepipemike
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- Joined: Sun. Jun. 15, 2008 11:53 am
- Location: Morgantown ,Penna
franco, It is white ash that looks like oatmeal when it burns normally. It was klinker blocked this morning and pushing new unburned rice over the siderails and into the ash bucket. I am making the oil man smile at this point and I have to admit the New Yorker brings up temperature in nothing flat. So much for the coal until things warm up a bit as the klinker machine was only able to achieve 140 degrees overnight and that is clearly not enough in these temps.I will have to do something different with this coal because I still have about 2 tons of this low fusion coal. ugh. Thank you all for your thoughts. Mike p.s. it is 7 degrees here with a wind that will rip your mustache off.
- coalkirk
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- Location: Forest Hill MD
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1981 EFM DF520 retired
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- Coal Size/Type: Lehigh anthracite/rice coal
I'm burning Lehigh rice also and it does clinker as it is going over the edge of the ash ring. It doesn't cause any problems with the EFM though. It just drops off in "cakes." It burns great and the ash is nice a light compared to other coal I have burned. Maybe a complete cleanout and restart may help your situation. Glad you have the oil option to fall back on in this nasty weather and hope you can get the Keystoker restarted and burning properly. Last year I burned oil the whole first two months of the heating season due to health problems. I know its blasphemy to say so but the oil boiler does do a nice job. Luckily the burner on mine has been unplugged so far this year.
- WNY
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Usually when it's really cold and stoves burning really hot, I'll get them too, not real bad, but sometimes mixing a little buckwheat in opens up the air and they break up a little easier. Only had them bridge once off the grate against the door and it overflowed and made a mess in the stove.