only 1/2 the pot is burning

I usually burn mount carmel coal from the mammoth vein, but on ocassion i'll get some softer trevorton coal, trevorton coal will only burn 1/2 the pot resulting in very heavy ash tubs (1/2 ash - 1/2 unburned coal). my question is, how can i remedy this problem. i have a efm 520 1981 model year dual fuel. any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

The softer coal should burn better unless you turned down the air. And the harder coal burns OK? Doesn't make sense.

Could be the worm is worn out at the bottom of the pot. Are the edges sharp? Are all the air holes in the plates open?

Jay,

I'm curious to know the answer to this question as well. Mine is the same batch of coal but right now the back 50% of the pot burns but the front 50% is very blah and usually results in unburnt coal. It started like this slightly last fall but then worked fine during my "winter settings" but now that I'm scaling back to more "summer" settings because of the warmer temps it's happening again. Maybe I have to shut it down vacuum it out and check the worm in the bottom of the pot.

What does the coal look like in the pot? Is the dark area full of fines? That would be from a worn out worm, especially if the dark spot moves to another area. How old is the worm?

I'll have to look for the lines....but the dark spot says in one place. I'm not sure how old it is....I bought the house 3 years ago....and the house was built in 1995...as far as I know it was the only furnace here. Any luck with yours Jay?

I don't know how old the worm is because I bought the whole refurbished unit in 2004. But I can tell you this, its welded together in 3 different spot and there hasn't been a sharp edge on it since i've own it, and there is plenty of fines, i always thought it was coal dirt. I've never messed with the air settings. As far as spots, it does spot on full burn, but any other time it only burns the back 1/2 of pot. I punch out the grate holes every summer when I shut the boiler down. One of the grates has developed a 1 inch whole in it over the winter, but i dont think that has anything to do with it since it always does this when i burn poor grade of coal. While I'm on the grate subject, where can i find replacement parts for my efm? Thanks for your speedy reply's fellas.

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Hmmm, hole in a grate, excess fines, time to shut it down, do the maintance, and replace what is bad. With those above mentioned problems you will have to pull the raker handle quite often to get rid of the garbage in the air chamber.

RY