dead spot in coal bed

Hello,

I have been burning coal for about 2 straight weeks and I love it (first year burning coal). The high temps. outside have been 45-50 and the lows around 38-40 in NE Ohio. I have a Brunco hand fired fireplace insert. I have been burning a mixture of about 70% nut and 30% pea anthracite.

I have been getting dead spots or ash build up (if those terms are interchangeable) in the center of the very front of the coal bed, about 4 inches in length, 1 inch in depth. I fill the coal in the front up to the bottom of the glass. The rest of the coal bed is to the top of the firebrick. These dead spots come after a good 10-12 hrs. of burn time. Is this normal? When the temps get colder and the draft increases will the dead spots come sooner or will they disappear? Thanks!

I get those dead spots as well. I use a little quarter inch metal rod to assist in the shaking of my grate. I run this rod along the grate by opening my ash door and sticking the rod in on the pivots of each of my 2 grates. This process moves a lot of ash that shaking didn't dislodge. This seems to assist in getting rid of the dead spots.

So you run the rod underneath the grates? I will try this, thanks Dave.

One thing I just realized: I have been shaking in only one direction (middle to back) and have not been shaking from middle to front. Hmmmm...that may explain the dead spots in the front.

My shaking of the grates consists of several jerky back and forth motions of each grate (I have 2). Mine run the length of the fire box. Invariably a lot of ash settles on the grate when I shake and the rod just clears that ash off.