ALOT of UNburned Coal

Hey All!

I have an Alaska Liberty Rice Coal stove. Over last season when I came up with about 30% of unburned coal. This seems like alot to me and to a friend of mine. He burns nut coal so we werent 100% sure if this was normal or not.

It is definately coal when you break it is shiny black inside.

He suggested that I slow down the auger and turn up the burner fan to see if that helps.

Does this sound right?

Thanks
Joe

Joe, when you are running the stove at full burn, are you getting any hot coals falling of the grate? If not, your feed should be ok. Maybe just increase your air. Thats a good place to start.

Jeff

A hand fired stove will burn it up a lot more. We had a small Franco Belge at one point in the basement to keep a little heat in a further part of it. The same coal from the same delivery burned up to powder in the Franco Belge while it was typically chunky ash from the stoker which is normal. You really can't make a comparison to ash from a hand fired stove. Post some pictures of the ash and we can have a better idea.

Thanks for the quick response,

Yes I do get Hot/burning coal at full butn what does that mean?

Joe

JKinPA wrote:I do get Hot/burning coal at full burn

I'm no expert on rice stokers, but that means it's not all burning before it gets to the ash pan. It should not do that. More air, slower feed should help. By the time it drops into the ash pan, it should be only ash.

What brand coal is it? Sift about a handful of it out of the ash and put it on the burning coal on the grate, watch it and see if it burns up.
A little unburnt coal in the ash on stokers is OK, 30% isn't.

Having a similar problem. Fired up a brand new AA130 about 2 weeks ago. Took a while doing a lot of control adjusting to keep a fire. Have had a fire since last Thurs.(Oct 1) Boiler temp range is from 200 to 240. Ashes are ugly. Also a lot of clinkers. Trying to coordinate the anthrastat so as to get a better burn. I'm not new to coal, so I'm sure part of the problem is an ugly batch of coal. I know when it gets cold, I should get a better burn versus idling. It's one big experiment.

Hi Warm As... I don't want to hijack this post, but thought I should say something.... if you search on here I'm sure you'll find lot's a AA suggestions. Last year was my first year with one. Certainly during warmish weather it's common to have a couple of cups of unburned coal in each ash pan full. I sifted for a while, then did the math....throughing out 2 or 3 cups a week isn't worth the sifting efforts. What are your settings? Ash control temp and boiler control temps? In pre-winter I keep mine down to 160ish rather than let it get up to 220 or so. The clinkers come from: Poor coal, and/or hot running. Mayve start a seperate post and ask.

WARM AS TOAST wrote:Having a similar problem. Fired up a brand new AA130 about 2 weeks ago. Took a while doing a lot of control adjusting to keep a fire. Have had a fire since last Thurs.(Oct 1) Boiler temp range is from 200 to 240. Ashes are ugly. Also a lot of clinkers. Trying to coordinate the anthrastat so as to get a better burn. I'm not new to coal, so I'm sure part of the problem is an ugly batch of coal. I know when it gets cold, I should get a better burn versus idling. It's one big experiment.

IIRC, someone had trouble when he started up his big AA, had a poor burn in the fire pot and a lot of unburned coal in the ash. He thought his coal was the problem too. It had something to do with building the fire too low on the grate. I think you dump a big pile of ash on the grate to start and then build a fire, it puts the burn higher in the pot?

Hi Freddy and Coaledsweat....
Appreciate the help. High limit is 230....relay aquastat high..180...low..165 anthrastat 130. Managed to keep a fire since last Thursday, so I know I'm going in the right direction. Did not move the shake adjuster. My parents heated a large 6 room plank house, no insulation or storm windows with a 130 back in the 50's through the 80's. We were never cold and we used 6 to 8 tons of coal per year. Hope to do the same. Have a lot better insulated house. I'll continue to experiment until it's working like I expect it to. I'll keep yoou posted. Live in Hazleton, Pa. Lots of wind and cold in the winter.

Thanks,
Al