Having a hard time getting Anthracite to catch

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mstich
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Post by mstich » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 2:41 pm

Bought a Newmac (Brand new) wood/hard coal/oil CL115-170G Multi Fuel furnace.

I am having a heck of a time getting anthracite coal to catch well. Yes I seen videos on it and this furnace is a pain compared to my old one getting it to light.

My old one was fairly easy. I just put my paper and kindling in and got a decent fire going then I put a couple split logs in made a V pocket with the wood and placed the hard coal into the V pocket and that almost always worked. But not with this Newmac furnace.

It has this Blower motor which my old one did not have and supposed to have that running when I try and start it. It really puts out a lot of air across the firebox area fanning it. Seems to me it just blows the wood so hard that it's not flaming and kinda just smoldering all the time cause air is coming down on it so fast.

Maybe I am doing it wrong so thought I would ask in here and maybe someone with a similar furnace can teach me the right way. I have tried turning the blower off and starting it like my old furnace and a few times I got a small amount lite, but could not get the whole bed going. What I end up with is a lot of unburnt coal falling into the ash pan, and I mean a lot.

last time I ended up with two 5 gallon buckets of coal I pulled out of the ash pan and furnace when I did a complete clean out. Does not help tossing more logs onto the bed of coal to get it going hotter. All it does it burn away with out helping much at all for the coal underneath it. Even using blower motor does not seem to help. Seems this furnace was a bad $11k purchase.

Only thing that seems to work well is the Oil part thankfully, but I bought a multi fuel furnace for a reason and just can't get this Hard Coal in PA to burn in the Newmac.

I am thinking of going back to soft coal with it even though more ashes. But not sure what smoke issues I will end up with till I try that cause the draft controls on this unit are not like my old coal furnace.

Thanks in advance for any help :)


 
waytomany?s
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Post by waytomany?s » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 3:59 pm

Holy hell! They're 11G now? I've got the smaller version that my mother purchased 27 years ago, give or take. I gave up running anthracite in it after I realised I sent the coal plate that goes in the front to the scrap heap. If you don't have the plate, the air from the fan doesn't get forced down below the grates. Of course that is assuming the design has not changed. Also the fact that it took 3-5 bags to fill the firebox was unsettling for a newbie coal burner who was afraid of a big puffback. Any idea how many bags/pounds of coal to fill that firebox?

 
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Post by StokerDon » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 4:30 pm

Are you sure this unit is designed to burn Anthracite, not Bit? It sounds like it is pushing a ton of overfire air. You don't want any overfire air burning Anthracite. The air has to come up through the bottom.

-Don

 
mstich
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Post by mstich » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 4:56 pm

StokerDon wrote:
Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 4:30 pm
Are you sure this unit is designed to burn Anthracite, not Bit? It sounds like it is pushing a ton of overfire air. You don't want any overfire air burning Anthracite. The air has to come up through the bottom.

-Don
Yes it is really only designed to burn anthracite coal, was told not to burn soft coal in it, but I do not see what the big deal is if I do other then Hard Coal burns cleaner. I have not tried soft coal yet.

As far as over fire air yes that's all the Blower does. It is designed to create the draft without having the bottom ash door draft or door open. There is no air from the bottom unless I open the draft handle or open the ash door fully which I do do cause it's the only way I can get any of it to lite at all. Manual actual warns you to not leave the bottom door open or the draft handle on the bottom door. So it seems the draft blower is supposed to do it all and it's heat controlled as in it will shut off when the thermostat reaches the temp I have set. So it apparently is designed to fan the fire to make it hotter if temp drops down. Wish I never would of got rid of my other furnace, but I wanted the Oil option this one has.
Last edited by mstich on Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:41 pm, edited 3 times in total.

 
mstich
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Post by mstich » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:01 pm

waytomany?s wrote:
Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 3:59 pm
Holy hell! They're 11G now? I've got the smaller version that my mother purchased 27 years ago, give or take. I gave up running anthracite in it after I realised I sent the coal plate that goes in the front to the scrap heap. If you don't have the plate, the air from the fan doesn't get forced down below the grates. Of course that is assuming the design has not changed. Also the fact that it took 3-5 bags to fill the firebox was unsettling for a newbie coal burner who was afraid of a big puffback. Any idea how many bags/pounds of coal to fill that firebox?
Yeah cost me $11k installed as I did not do it myself.

Well I buy Hard Coal by the Ton and I have 3 ton here right now in my coal bin I had delivered a month ago. As far as how many bags I am not sure, but I had two 5 gallon buckets of coal I pulled out of it when I cleaned it so that seems like the right amount to fill the bed, to bad I can get it all to lite :) I have never had a puff back though with this yet, mainly cause I can't get a real fire going other then with wood and oil.

 
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Post by mstich » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:09 pm

I should mention I did buy a bag of Kingsford Match Light Charcoal to try next time I attempt to start one. As this supposedly makes getting the anthracite going easier, will see :)

 
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Post by Lightning » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:36 pm

How deep are you making the coal bed? Needs a good 8+ inches across the whole grate.


 
mstich
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Post by mstich » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:47 pm

Lightning wrote:
Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:36 pm
How deep are you making the coal bed? Needs a good 8+ inches across the whole grate.
I never get that far as I can't get a couple inches to light all the way across full bed. Usually best I can do is just in the very middle to light about 4-5 inches in diameter. And the only way I can get that much going is by leaving ash door fully open for hours on end. And I only add more coal to it slowly. The bed on this firebox is pretty large in a rectangle, I would have to go measure for exact size.

You did not mean 8" deep did you :) I assumed you meant 8" in diameter, but maybe I am wrong.
Last edited by mstich on Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
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Post by franco b » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:47 pm

There has to be a means of directing the forced air to below the grate for coal and above for wood. Check the manual or better still provide a link here.

 
mstich
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Post by mstich » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:52 pm

franco b wrote:
Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:47 pm
There has to be a means of directing the forced air to below the grate for coal and above for wood. Check the manual or better still provide a link here.
Nope there is none, I looked. There is a draft control knob next to the draft blower motor. But it is only slid to far right side if burning coal/wood or far left if only Oil. Only way to let air under the coal is to have the draft slide on ash door open or open the ash door completely, there is no forced air for under the grates.
Last edited by mstich on Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
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Post by Lightning » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:56 pm

mstich wrote:
Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:47 pm
You did not mean 8" deep did you I assumed you meant 8" in diameter, but maybe I am wrong
Yes... I DID mean 8+ inches deep across the WHOLE grate.. otherwise the combustion air will just go around the coal pile if you have any open/uncovered grate area.

 
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Post by lincolnmania » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:59 pm

need air from underneath, not overhead. have you tried leaving the bottom door open a bit until you get the whole coalbed going?

 
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Post by Toddburn » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 6:05 pm

It’s not like this is your first rodeo with coal... what brand coal did you buy and what size is it?

 
mstich
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Post by mstich » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 6:06 pm

Lightning wrote:
Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:56 pm
Yes... I DID mean 8+ inches deep across the WHOLE grate.. otherwise the combustion air will just go around the coal pile if you have any open/uncovered grate area.
Oh hell hehe, I never get it to fire more then I said those 4-5 inches in the middle. It never seems to want to catch the rest of the hard coal around it to spread over the bed. I once got a pile in the middle going then I spread it around the bed thinking maybe that would work and it didn't.

But my removable side liners along walls of firebox as they call them on this furnace all way around are 10" high, but front plate in front of door is barely 8", that"s my max height.
Last edited by mstich on Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 6:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
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Post by mstich » Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 6:10 pm

lincolnmania wrote:
Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 5:59 pm
need air from underneath, not overhead. have you tried leaving the bottom door open a bit until you get the whole coalbed going?
Yes only way I get any of it to burn is by leaving the bottom ash door wide open, but I have left it open for hours and still I can not get a full bed to burn. The bed is 23"x20". I know this is a learning curve with this new furnace and I get no help from company that sold me this thing :P Manual does say to leave the draft slide or the door open till it's established, but still having a hard time with it.
Last edited by mstich on Mon. Dec. 14, 2020 6:30 pm, edited 3 times in total.


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