it just won't stay burning !!!

fireislander · By: **fireislander** On: Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:08 pm

Oh rich...that's my stove !!! the only difference is that there is soapstone midway down instead of whatever is shown...what model is it ???I'm getting a few new bags of coal tomorrow....we'll see altho it's still from the same coal company...I don't know where else to get coal in brunswick maine thanks for the footwok !!!!

PC 12-47E · By: **PC 12-47E** On: Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:36 pm

fireislander wrote:I'm getting a few new bags of coal tomorrow....we'll see altho it's still from the same coal company...I don't know where else to get coal in brunswick maine

Hi fireislander, If you are buying your coal from B.C.&L. , you will need to find a new anthracite dealer.

We never could get that coal to burn well. What brand is the coal you are burning???

PC 12 ( Eddie)

PS. PM me and I will give you my Cell # if you need more info...

PC 12-47E · By: **PC 12-47E** On: Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:54 pm

Also you could try Alternative Heating Solutions in Freeport to buy your Anthracite.

http://www.ahsfuels.com/Anthracite.html

PC 12

gerard · By: **gerard** On: Wed Dec 30, 2009 8:19 pm

I'll also offer an observation. If you have the ash door open and STILL have cold spots in the bed, then it's an ashbuild up problem in the cold areas. You said you're shakers don't work great. When you shake, bridging can occur in the bed so you can shake all you want, the "bridged" ash isn't going to come down and you essentially get an air pocket in the bed but you can't see it. These are your "cold" spots. Do you have a straight poker?? Just a straight piece of steel rod with ahandle than you can push into the cold spots and break up any clumps. I sharpened my point because it pushes in easier AND doesn't disturb the burning coal as much. Remember one thing - coal does NOT like to be disturbed so the less fiddling you do to it the better (assuming it's burning adequately of course!). Think of it like a little nuclear reaction that needs critical mass to be self sustaining. Let it die down too much and it will go out. Keep enough going with a nice deep bed and it will keep going. (Also using a straight poker now and then will also leave air channels and let the air hit the whole bed. If you do that you should be able to get the entire bed glowing cherry red when you have the ash door cracked)

jrmurch · By: **jrmurch** On: Sun Jan 03, 2010 6:41 pm

Hi fireislander. I get my coal from Downeast energy on Spring st. It's 7.43 for a fifty lb bag of Reading coal.

lowfog01 · By: **lowfog01** On: Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:17 pm

fireislander wrote: There were about 6 chunks of patially burned coal...I had left the dials at the bottom open quite a bit because if we shut them up to tight there's no question but it'll go out. It was as pristine a picture of what the fire should look like when we went to bed, but zilch fire in the AM!

It looks from the pictures that the dials on the bottom are you under fire air control. If this is so, leaving them "open quite a bit" is part of your problem. I think that excess air is causing your fire to burn super hot and devouring all your fuel in a relatively short time for coal. As you know coal burns from the bottom and likes a deep bed, as the fire burns up the coal drops down but when the available coal drops below the minimum depth it will go out - leaving you with the pockets of unburnt coal. What you have to discover is how far you can close those dials on the bottom without having your fire go out. The further closed they are the longer your burn. Once you understand that, you can open them a little at a time to get to just the temperature and length of burn you want. Do you have a stove front thermometer? That can help you find your under air setting. From experience I know my stove front will get to 200* at 2/3s of a turn and that's as low as I can go and maintain the fire. As I add more air, my fire burns stronger and uses more coal. My max air input is 1 1/4 turn which gets me a 400* stove front and maintains my room temp at 75*. Keep playing with it, good luck, Lisa

RMA · By: **RMA** On: Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:27 pm

lowfog01 wrote:
fireislander wrote: There were about 6 chunks of patially burned coal...I had left the dials at the bottom open quite a bit because if we shut them up to tight there's no question but it'll go out. It was as pristine a picture of what the fire should look like when we went to bed, but zilch fire in the AM!

It looks from the pictures that the dials on the bottom are you under fire air control. If this is so, leaving them "open quite a bit" is part of your problem. I think that excess air is causing your fire to burn super hot and devouring all your fuel in a relatively short time for coal. As you know coal burns from the bottom and likes a deep bed, as the fire burns up the coal drops down but when the available coal drops below the minimum depth it will go out - leaving you with the pockets of unburnt coal. What you have to discover is how far you can close those dials on the bottom without having your fire go out. The further closed they are the longer your burn. Once you understand that, you can open them a little at a time to get to just the temperature and length of burn you want. Do you have a stove front thermometer? That can help you find your under air setting. From experience I know my stove front will get to 200* at 2/3s of a turn and that's as low as I can go and maintain the fire. As I add more air, my fire burns stronger and uses more coal. My max air input is 1 1/4 turn which gets me a 400* stove front and maintains my room temp at 75*. Keep playing with it, good luck, Lisa

Hey Lisa,
That sounds like a really solid analysis...I am more curious than ever to learn the solution to this problem...
You think it could be fuel, I was thinking the air was choked-off...but I like your analysis...gotta be one or the other eh?

Bob

PC 12-47E · By: **PC 12-47E** On: Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:34 pm

jrmurch wrote:Hi fireislander. I get my coal from Downeast energy on Spring st. It's 7.43 for a fifty lb bag of Reading coal.

Downeast Energy and (B.C.& L.) "Brunswick Coal & Lumber" are one and the same CO.

The brand of anthracite they sell never worked well in my stoves.

The first coal I tried from them was back in the winter of 1984-1985. Every year or two I will try a few bags but Kimmel's or Blaschak seem to burn MUCH better.

PC 12

beemerboy · By: **beemerboy** On: Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:08 am

Another question, Do you have a barometric damper? Going by your description of your draft, a baro would be a good idea.

My mother has a crane 404 like yours and I keep the the air spinners open about 1 to 1 1/2 turns open and she will get a good 8 to 9 hours before shaking and reloading.

fireislander · By: **fireislander** On: Fri Jan 08, 2010 10:54 am

Hey everyone...I thank you for all the imput...I'M enjoying it all and learning !!! Here's the deal ....One night last week we heard this crash after we'd gone to bed and came down and the rod that holds the grate fingers had broken down and left the fingers in the ash box. Next morning hubby pried the rod back up to (supposedly) the original hieght and I put a thin upright rock about the size of a man's hand under the "U" sprocket of the shaker. we have to rake the coals down rather then use the shaker, but the stove has burned well ever since !!! Maybe the grate was easing itself down to the point where it would be in the ash box too much OR we got it up to it's original hieght??? whatever....it seems to be working good now, I really love the stove and hated to get rid of it. Does any of this make sense??? W e will take it apart in the spring and have the "U" joint welded so perhaps we can use the shaker again....if the rod isn't worn smooth as well !!??

dbjc364 · By: **dbjc364** On: Sat Jan 16, 2010 6:45 am

hello fellow mainer. If you were closer we'd have a look see,but your not. We run a Harman Mark 11,we are in our 1st year of burning coal. Our 1st two ton were Pea coal,from Dysarts in Bangor.We have tried a few different bags from area stores just to see,and they all burn ok. Both Reading and Blashack.We were curious about the Nut coal, as our fires mostly wouldnt last thru the night or be close to be going out, so would have to start over again anyways.And alot of up and down the cellar stairs thru the day makes for tired legs. This nut coal made all the difference in the world for us,I just lov it. It holds a fire thru out the day or night,and I swear kicks off more heat.We know we'll only keep a couple bags of pea on hand,but the rest of tonnage will be nut from now on.The difference is amazing.I also want to try stove coal sometime.Sure sounds like ash buildup to me,also we have a clean out tee on ours,and occasionally empty that of fly ash,and run the brush thru. Have you checked that?

Chuck_Steak · By: **Chuck_Steak** On: Sat Jan 16, 2010 10:32 pm

dbjc364 wrote: This nut coal made all the difference in the world for us,I just lov it. It holds a fire thru out the day or night,and I swear kicks off more heat.We know we'll only keep a couple bags of pea on hand,but the rest of tonnage will be nut from now on.The difference is amazing.I also want to try stove coal sometime.

I agree, the Harmans seem to favor nut coal.

I did try a couple of hundred pounds of the stove, but will stick with the nut size, absolutely...

fireislander · By: **fireislander** On: Fri Jan 22, 2010 6:00 pm

I don't think my stove would take the pea coal...isn't that tiny pieces?? The grate fingers are about 1/2" apart. How big is this pea coal anyway???

lowfog01 · By: **lowfog01** On: Fri Jan 22, 2010 7:20 pm

So - did I miss something? What's the fire's status is it still not burning? It's been a while between postings. Lisa

coal berner · By: **coal berner** On: Sat Jan 23, 2010 1:39 am

fireislander wrote:I don't think my stove would take the pea coal...isn't that tiny pieces?? The grate fingers are about 1/2" apart. How big is this pea coal anyway???

13/16" X 9/16" for Pea Nut is 1-5/8 " X 13/16" Stove size 2-7/16" X 1-5/8" Egg is 2"X 5"

it just won't stay burning !!!

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