Tips/Tricks for a newbie!
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- Location: Upper Bucks County, PA
- Coal Size/Type: Anthracite, Stove
- Other Heating: Heatmor 100CB
Reposting this, since I realized I posted this on the wrong part of the forum...doh!
Hi! I am new to burning coal and have read several posts on here to get some tips/tricks. Any and all knowledge is welcome!
My setup: I have a Heatmor100 CB, outdoor coil boiler. My house is around 2200sq ft, stone farmhouse (no insulation). The firebox in the boiler is about 24" deep x 28" wide, I've read that I should keep the coal pile around 8" thick. The boiler has a fan that can blow undergrate or overgrate, with a removeable slide. Put the slide in, air is blown undergrate. Take the slide out, it blows overgrate. It's supposed to be able to slide half out to get a bit of both, but it doesn't like to stay in place like that. For coal, undergrate air is best, right? Once the water in the boiler gets to 185F, the fan shuts off, and banks the fire until the water cools back down to 165F.
What are some good tips and tricks for a newbie? 8" coal bed? Undergrate air supply? Do I rake the coals before adding more? If I have a decent coal bed (ie it hasn't burned down much since filling), it is bad to "top it off" with a few shovel's full, or should I just leave it?
https://heatmor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/22 ... r_Guts.pdf
Hi! I am new to burning coal and have read several posts on here to get some tips/tricks. Any and all knowledge is welcome!
My setup: I have a Heatmor100 CB, outdoor coil boiler. My house is around 2200sq ft, stone farmhouse (no insulation). The firebox in the boiler is about 24" deep x 28" wide, I've read that I should keep the coal pile around 8" thick. The boiler has a fan that can blow undergrate or overgrate, with a removeable slide. Put the slide in, air is blown undergrate. Take the slide out, it blows overgrate. It's supposed to be able to slide half out to get a bit of both, but it doesn't like to stay in place like that. For coal, undergrate air is best, right? Once the water in the boiler gets to 185F, the fan shuts off, and banks the fire until the water cools back down to 165F.
What are some good tips and tricks for a newbie? 8" coal bed? Undergrate air supply? Do I rake the coals before adding more? If I have a decent coal bed (ie it hasn't burned down much since filling), it is bad to "top it off" with a few shovel's full, or should I just leave it?
https://heatmor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/22 ... r_Guts.pdf
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- Joined: Sat. Jan. 06, 2018 9:40 am
- Location: Ellicottville, Ny
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: DS Aquagem 3200
- Coal Size/Type: Nut/Pea
Well I dont have any experience with outdoor boilers but I do use handfed boiler.
Fill firebox with coal(after an established coal bed) up to the bottom of the feed door. Bed can also be ramped or humped toward the back. Coal needs very little to no secondary air(over fire air) . All the air shoukd be coming up thru the bottom of the bed. Do you have baraometric damper in the flue? Draft setting is crittical in keeping hot air inside boiler to transfer to the water.
The difference in my setup between .02"w.c and .06"wc is huge. All the heat goes out the chimney and does not heat the water hardly at all at .06" What meters your under fire combustion air? Pictures speak 1000 words
Coal beds dont really like to be distubed once ignited so dont shovel it around or rake it. Only shake down 1-2 times a day depending on your consumption and refill to bottom of the door. I only tend mine once per day. But i have a well insualted house burning only 30-40lbs per day
Fill firebox with coal(after an established coal bed) up to the bottom of the feed door. Bed can also be ramped or humped toward the back. Coal needs very little to no secondary air(over fire air) . All the air shoukd be coming up thru the bottom of the bed. Do you have baraometric damper in the flue? Draft setting is crittical in keeping hot air inside boiler to transfer to the water.
The difference in my setup between .02"w.c and .06"wc is huge. All the heat goes out the chimney and does not heat the water hardly at all at .06" What meters your under fire combustion air? Pictures speak 1000 words
Coal beds dont really like to be distubed once ignited so dont shovel it around or rake it. Only shake down 1-2 times a day depending on your consumption and refill to bottom of the door. I only tend mine once per day. But i have a well insualted house burning only 30-40lbs per day
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- Member
- Posts: 89
- Joined: Sat. Jan. 06, 2018 9:40 am
- Location: Ellicottville, Ny
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: DS Aquagem 3200
- Coal Size/Type: Nut/Pea
Sorry i missed the part about the aquastst and fan. Mine also has a fan but it seems to blow the heat right up the chimney. Does it have some sport of flapper on the intake to the fan to stop incoming air after fan shuts off? 160-180 is normal aquastat settings. But running 165-185 is fine. As long as it dont ramp up much after fan is shut off.
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If you do not have the shaker grate, you will have to devise a way to slide a flat poker just above the grate to clear ash.
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- Location: Upper Bucks County, PA
- Coal Size/Type: Anthracite, Stove
- Other Heating: Heatmor 100CB
Thanks for the replies! Yes, the fan does have a flapper that closes when the fan is not on. So far I haven't seen the water temp go higher than 185, if it reaches 195, it automatically turns my circulator pump on in the house and dumps heat into the house, to get the water temp back down.Jlinde37 wrote: ↑Wed. Jan. 20, 2021 3:32 pmSorry i missed the part about the aquastst and fan. Mine also has a fan but it seems to blow the heat right up the chimney. Does it have some sport of flapper on the intake to the fan to stop incoming air after fan shuts off? 160-180 is normal aquastat settings. But running 165-185 is fine. As long as it dont ramp up much after fan is shut off.
I will have to resist tending the fire and just let it go. I put my first load in last night at 8:30pm, checked it at 6am and the pile barely burnt down. I threw a few shovel's full on top before heading to work, and it's still a decent pile, hasn't burnt down much. So far, I'm happy!
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- Posts: 57
- Joined: Wed. Sep. 26, 2018 9:03 am
- Location: Upper Bucks County, PA
- Coal Size/Type: Anthracite, Stove
- Other Heating: Heatmor 100CB
I don't have the shaker grates yet...they are an additional $500 so I wanted to see how I liked burning coal first, before spending the time and money to install the shakers. Should I rake the coals back and forth over the grates once a day to get ashes to fall through? I don't want to disturb it too much...
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- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Harman SF360
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Seen a few videos on YouTube of owb’s burning anth. It was a while back. All I remember is it was fully loaded and a raging inferno of blue flame. I bet those things would hold 400 lbs of coal.
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- Posts: 11417
- Joined: Wed. Nov. 05, 2008 5:11 pm
- Location: Kent CT
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: V ermont Castings 2310, Franco Belge 262
- Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood Modern Oak 114
- Coal Size/Type: nut and pea
No. The makers of the boiler are idiots concerning burning coal. With anthracite, and not having the shaker grate, you will have to make several slots, probably three, just slightly above grate level, along with a way to cover those slots when not in use.btarby15 wrote: ↑Wed. Jan. 20, 2021 3:46 pmI don't have the shaker grates yet...they are an additional $500 so I wanted to see how I liked burning coal first, before spending the time and money to install the shakers. Should I rake the coals back and forth over the grates once a day to get ashes to fall through? I don't want to disturb it too much...
Using a flat poker of perhaps 3/16 by 3/4 and three feet long you work it in and out and back and forth through the slots to clear ash and force it to drop through the slots in the grate. This is called slicing or riddling. You will also probably have to clear from above some areas along the sides or front.
If you rake the coals the fire will die, and if you don't clear ash it will also die. Stove coal should be a 9 inch deep bed at least. The idea is to have one fire last all season. One match.
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- Location: Upper Bucks County, PA
- Coal Size/Type: Anthracite, Stove
- Other Heating: Heatmor 100CB
The grates that come with it do have several slots in them, about 1/2” wide. Maybe I will try to take some rebar and make a little poker and see if that works.franco b wrote: ↑Wed. Jan. 20, 2021 4:12 pmNo. The makers of the boiler are idiots concerning burning coal. With anthracite, and not having the shaker grate, you will have to make several slots, probably three, just slightly above grate level, along with a way to cover those slots when not in use.
Using a flat poker of perhaps 3/16 by 3/4 and three feet long you work it in and out and back and forth through the slots to clear ash and force it to drop through the slots in the grate. This is called slicing or riddling. You will also probably have to clear from above some areas along the sides or front.
If you rake the coals the fire will die, and if you don't clear ash it will also die. Stove coal should be a 9 inch deep bed at least. The idea is to have one fire last all season. One match.
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- Member
- Posts: 1137
- Joined: Fri. Feb. 12, 2016 2:36 pm
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Harman SF360
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: T.O.M (Warm Morning converted to baseburner by Steve) Round Oak 1917 Door model O-3, Warm Morning 400, Warm Morning 524, Warm Morning 414,Florence No.77, Warm Morning 523-b
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Clayton 7.1/DS Machine basement stove/ Harman SF1500
- Baseburners & Antiques: Renown Parlor stove 87B
- Coal Size/Type: Bituminous/anthracite
- Other Heating: Harman Accentra, enviro omega, Vermont Ironworks Elm stove, Quadrafire Mt Vernon, Logwood stove, Sotz barrel stove,
I’ve seen some models that have coal shaker grates as an option. Probably pretty expensive. I don’t know if your model has that option or not. Probably worth the investment if you plan on burning coal a lot.
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- Coal Size/Type: Anthracite, Stove
- Other Heating: Heatmor 100CB
Yes it is an option to add on. $500 plus some light machining to install. I was burning wood in the boiler just cause I have plenty of it, but switched to coal to save time. Two kids under the age of three so I don’t have all the time in the world. I bought two ton of coal to try and if I like it I will buy the shaker grates