I wanted to check in and see if I was getting a complete burn of my coal. How do my ashes look?
Ashes
- sterling40man
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- Joined: Sat. May. 03, 2008 11:52 am
- Location: Northern Maine
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker K6
Looks like you have a little more unburned coal than I do. What type of coal are you burning? It looks like white ash versus red ash like mine. If the temps are warm out, you will have more unburned coal. Less need for heat so you stoker basically idles along. Here's a pic of my ash. Not much different than yours. Stokers will have some unburned coal in the ashes. It's the nature of the beast.
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Yes, I thought it looked like there was some unburnt coal as well. It has been relatively warm, and I have the temp. set to 60 through the day when I'm not home so it just idles for 12 hrs a day too. The coal is blyshak rice coal.sterling40man wrote:Looks like you have a little more unburned coal than I do. What type of coal are you burning? It looks like white ash versus red ash like mine. If the temps are warm out, you will have more unburned coal. Less need for heat so you stoker basically idles along. Here's a pic of my ash. Not much different than yours. Stokers will have some unburned coal in the ashes. It's the nature of the beast.
- sterling40man
- Member
- Posts: 1645
- Joined: Sat. May. 03, 2008 11:52 am
- Location: Northern Maine
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker K6
That's the bad thing about stokers. On my K6 the stoker bed is about 1 1/4" deep. The top 1/4" of coal is what doesn't fully burn. Don't try to sift your unburned coal and try to burn it again. It's not worth it. All the gasses have been burned off. Pick up a piece of unburned coal in your ash and twist it with your fingers. It's should break apart. You'll notice a difference when the real cold weather hits your neck of the woods. Have a great day!duramaxsp33d wrote:Yes, I thought it looked like there was some unburnt coal as well. It has been relatively warm, and I have the temp. set to 60 through the day when I'm not home so it just idles for 12 hrs a day too. The coal is blyshak rice coal.
I am new to burning coal and just installed a K-6. It seemes like I have a lot of unburnt coal in my ashes. You mention that it is the top portion of the coal that does not burn. when installing the stoker unit it looked like the depth of coal could be adjusted with a bar. Has anyone tried making the depth of coal shallower to reduce the amount of unburnt coal?
- sterling40man
- Member
- Posts: 1645
- Joined: Sat. May. 03, 2008 11:52 am
- Location: Northern Maine
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker K6
Never heard that before. I assume it would take a lot longer to heat the water up if the coal bed was not as thick. I have a friend who burns buckwheat coal in his K-6 and he seems to have less unburned in the ashes. The bigger the coal, the more air that passes through and gets hotter I guess. He said that he had to make some adjustments for the bigger size. Rice coal gets packed pretty well on the grates. PM member "gaw". He's been burning coal in a K-6 for a lot longer than I have. Welcome to the Forum!genericx wrote:when installing the stoker unit it looked like the depth of coal could be adjusted with a bar. Has anyone tried making the depth of coal shallower to reduce the amount of unburnt coal?