Why isnt my Reading nut burning completely to ash?

Hitzer 30-95 burning Reading Nut Anthracite. After the hopper burns to completion I'm left with a shovelful of chunks that will not burn anymore.

Is it reasonable to expect that Reading Anthracite nut should burn completely enough to pass thru the shaker grate as ash ?
Would this unburned residue burn to completion if were to continue the burn by piling on more coal and keeping the fire going ?

From the posts in this forum I was expecting that Reading anthracite would always burn to the point of passing thru the shaker grate and that I should not ever have enough left to have to shovel it out of the stove.

I am a rookie so I'm assuming I'm not operating my stove correctly to have unburnt coal remaining.

Is it reasonable to expect that Reading Anthracite nut should burn completely enough to pass thru the shaker grate as ash ?
Would this unburned residue burn to completion if were to continue the burn by piling on more coal and keeping the fire going ?

From the posts in this forum I was expecting that Reading anthracite would always burn to the point of passing thru the shaker grate and that I should not ever have enough left to have to shovel it out of the stove.

I've been burning Reading for 25 years. It does burn to ash. Are you burning and letting it go out or burning continuously? If you just let it go out there will be some unburned coal left.

sounds to me that he is letting the stove burn out.in which case you will have some unburnt or half burnt pieces on top.i just pick them out and throw them in when i restart the stove.

New Hope Engineer wrote:sounds to me that he is letting the stove burn out.in which case you will have some unburnt or half burnt pieces on top.i just pick them out and throw them in when i restart the stove.

Yep - that's it. I let it burn out instead or dumping more on and continuing the burn.

Thanks!

glad we could help.

Moving this to the Hand Fired Stove [Anthracite burning stoves] forum

Greg L

Each vein of coal is different, and the mix of coal-to-shale in the retail product is different. Some breakers sell coal that is 7-10% ash, some sell coal that is 10-15% ash.
The weight of the new coal on top of the ash, with a layer of burning coal in between, creates a heavy 'sandwich' of coal layers with the grates at the bottom. With the weight of the coal above, the grates will grind up the ash, then it will drop into the ashpan. Some coal has harder-to-grind ash than others.. In my experience from a few years ago, Reading anthracite had the hardest to grind up ash. Blaschak coal had the softest, most powdery ash.

Your Stove has a hopper feed above the fire, right?? Why not fill up the hopper, and let the weight of the column of coal help you grind up the ash?? Control your heat output with the air controls.

Greg L

In the 30-95, the back wall of the firebox is slanted, and will allow clinkers to build. When running my 30-95, I simply leave the clinkers build on the angled part of the fire box(behind the hopper). What drops down out of the hopper, and burns on the grates is what counts. This helps put the heat out front, which transfers up through the finned heat exchanger. At the same time, gasses have to travel around the clinkers/hopper before going out the smoke stack. Are these the unburnt coals you are talking about? Or are you talking about the unburnt coal from letting the fire go out? I clean out ALL clinkers when fire goes out.

oliver power wrote:In the 30-95, the back wall of the firebox is slanted, and will allow clinkers to build. When running my 30-95, I simply leave the clinkers build on the angled part of the fire box(behind the hopper). What drops down out of the hopper, and burns on the grates is what counts. This helps put the heat out front, which transfers up through the finned heat exchanger. At the same time, gasses have to travel around the clinkers/hopper before going out the smoke stack. Are these the unburnt coals you are talking about? Or are you talking about the unburnt coal from letting the fire go out? I clean out ALL clinkers when fire goes out.

I think my problem has been mostly a result of letting the fire go out cold. I guess everyone has to deal with this if they don't keep a continuous fire.
What I've been doing to burn off the clinkers left after a cold dead fire is to burn a hopper of nothing but dry wood at high temp. The heat from the wood is enough to consume that thin layer of cold clinkers that is right over the grate.

Then with a little layer of hot coals at the end of the wood burn start my next coal-only fire.

I have not noticed any accumulation on the slope so in that respect I may be OK once the hawk of winter kicks in and I can burn coal continuously.

Thanks for taking the time to help me out!