I Failed Need Advise

 
Tnguy
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Post by Tnguy » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 10:56 am

Hi yall, for my first night of burning coal I had a good hot fire burning nice had 40# of Anthracite nut coal in there, BUT it started getting to hot in the house so I shut down the draft once and waited about an hour and it was still too hot so I shut it down more, problem is I shut it down too far and it went to a dull red bed of coals by morning and no heat :( I shook it and opened up the mpd and both drafts wide open but it was a gonner, left it go for about an hour and checked it again and it was worse than before, SO I pushed it in a pile in the back of the stove and piled up my charcoal in front and lit it and now that its hot I drug some of the coal back to the front and some on top the charcoal to get it fired back up, now when I get it hot again does anybody know where about to set the controls on this furnace?? picture is below its new so I don't know much about setting it for coal. thank you

PS: the ash door has a spin out draft that comes out about an inch and the feed door has a low med high slide draft on it. also I had the ash door draft shut down to about a 1/4 inch last night when it died and the feed door draft closed and the mpd closed

sorry for the long post

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I'm On Fire
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Post by I'm On Fire » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 11:49 am

You should never shake down a cold fire, it will kill it. You should've opened your MPD and air all the way and waited about 10 minutes for the fire to liven up then shook it down and recharged it. Also, never disturb your coals. They don't like it. Which probably also contributed to it's demise.

As far as where to set your furnace I'm not sure. I'm sure someone with more experience with your type of stove will chime in and offer their opinion.

 
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PC 12-47E
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Post by PC 12-47E » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 12:14 pm

Hi Tnguy, If you open the loading door air control more than 1/16th of a turn, the fire will go out.
All the air for the fire needs ot come through the ash door air control.

Check your PM's

PC 12
Eddie

 
Tnguy
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Post by Tnguy » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 1:36 pm

thanks for the replies and PM's

still working on getting it going again

 
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jeromemsn
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Post by jeromemsn » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 1:53 pm

Where is the shaker handle for the grates? I don't see a shaker handle???? This thing set up for coal? or just wood?

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 1:55 pm

Hi TnGuy.

Get comfortable, and grab your favorite beverage and read through this LONG thread; Successfully Burning Anthracite Coal in a Clayton Furnace

The Clayton furnace is similar to the design of your hot blast 1557.

One very important thing to remember with coal.. it reacts slowly.. so once it was makeing too much heat, it was like a runaway locomotive.. it takes a long while to slow it down.

Have faith, you will get used the the characteristics of coal, and it's long-burning properties..

Greg L

 
Dann757
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Post by Dann757 » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 2:01 pm

Hey man, you didn't fail, you're just in a learning curve! My hand fired is similar, you'll get the hang of it. No apologies for long posts needed here! Post more pics!


 
Tnguy
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Post by Tnguy » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 2:16 pm

jeromemsn wrote:Where is the shaker handle for the grates? I don't see a shaker handle???? This thing set up for coal? or just wood?
its inside the ash door, you have to open the ash door to shake, its the 1557M that says its for wood or coal, thanks

 
Tnguy
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Post by Tnguy » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 2:17 pm

LsFarm wrote:Hi TnGuy.

Get comfortable, and grab your favorite beverage and read through this LONG thread; Successfully Burning Anthracite Coal in a Clayton Furnace

The Clayton furnace is similar to the design of your hot blast 1557.

One very important thing to remember with coal.. it reacts slowly.. so once it was makeing too much heat, it was like a runaway locomotive.. it takes a long while to slow it down.

Have faith, you will get used the the characteristics of coal, and it's long-burning properties..

Greg L
thanks been reading till my eyes are blurry :) and will keep reading till I learn or blow myself up trying LOL

 
Tnguy
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Post by Tnguy » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 2:18 pm

Dann757 wrote:Hey man, you didn't fail, you're just in a learning curve! My hand fired is similar, you'll get the hang of it. No apologies for long posts needed here! Post more pics!
thanks im trying to figure it out, :)

 
cabinover
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Post by cabinover » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 3:28 pm

Keep the faith. If you look at the new posts there's usually 3 or 4 folks going through the exact learning curve you are. Sure some are ahead and some are behind you but we all start there. ;)

 
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the snowman
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Post by the snowman » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 3:34 pm

tinguy:

You stated you pushed the coal that went out to the back of the furnace and started another fire. The coal fire must cover the entire grate system, all air must enter the fire from underneath the grate system. How much coal did you have in the furnace? Once you get a coal fire started, you fill the fire box to the top of the brick and control your burn with the air valve in the ash door. I am familiar with the hot blast furnace. They have a long fire box with high sides. I believe the hot blast requires nut coal for anything smaller would probably fall through the grates. I see you have a mpd but do you have a baro installed? I believe the hot blast also requires a draft setting between .04-.05 which is standard for burning coal. It would be a great help to us if you posted more pics of your setup including pics of your fire once you have it burning. This is just my two cents.

The snowman.

 
Tnguy
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Post by Tnguy » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 4:19 pm

the snowman wrote:tinguy:

You stated you pushed the coal that went out to the back of the furnace and started another fire. The coal fire must cover the entire grate system, all air must enter the fire from underneath the grate system. How much coal did you have in the furnace? Once you get a coal fire started, you fill the fire box to the top of the brick and control your burn with the air valve in the ash door. I am familiar with the hot blast furnace. They have a long fire box with high sides. I believe the hot blast requires nut coal for anything smaller would probably fall through the grates. I see you have a mpd but do you have a baro installed? I believe the hot blast also requires a draft setting between .04-.05 which is standard for burning coal. It would be a great help to us if you posted more pics of your setup including pics of your fire once you have it burning. This is just my two cents.

The snowman.
Hi, I had the entire bottom of the stove covered with about 2-3 inches to start with then when it got hot and ready I added more and in the end I had about 4-6 inches, and it was doing good but I shut the mpd and the air on the ash door to far and snuffed it almost out, I opened the ash door this morning and the mpd and left it for a couple hours and couldn't get the coal to "take off" so I pushed all the hot/cold coal to the back and put in charcoal and when it was hot I pulled the coal back to the front over the charcoal, and had the whole bottom covered again, got that going and then added more coal and now im burning up in the house :) so I closed the mpd and only closed the ash door air about half way and am letting it settle down and see what I need to do next, as for the baro. I haven't got one, I was burning wood before and didnt need it, I looked at the installation book for this stove and they show a 6" solid mpd and a baro BUT when I watched the video they provide showing there tec's installing one in a basement they didnt put anything in the pipe :(

il try to get pictures of it

thanks

 
Tnguy
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Post by Tnguy » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 4:19 pm

cabinover wrote:Keep the faith. If you look at the new posts there's usually 3 or 4 folks going through the exact learning curve you are. Sure some are ahead and some are behind you but we all start there. ;)
thanks im still reading :)

 
Tnguy
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Post by Tnguy » Thu. Jan. 06, 2011 4:45 pm

here is a couple pictures of the stove, they are hard to get because the furnace is in its own little room and its dark in there,

this is with flash

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this is without flash

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now the coals were a lot more red before I shut down the air on the ash door part way.


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