Too Much Shaking?

Hello all,

Fairly new at this, as some know. Been burning steady for 2 weeks now, absolutely loving coal . Anyway, have a quick question on shaking. I usually shake until I see a VERY bright glow in the ash pan (usually some larger embers falling to get to this point). The Wife shakes until smaller embers just start to fall, but there is hardly any glow. Now here is what's confusing me: When I shake and load the furnace in the AM, the house usually struggles to get to 70 (usually 66-68). When she does it, it is 70-72 consistently (was even up to 74 today, but was also in the 30s outside). My thought was, the more glow underneath, the better the draft (and more heat). I am starting to wonder though if maybe I am shaking too vigorously or for too long. Thoughts?

Also, how often to use the poker?

Thanks in advance, sorry for the "newbie" questions ,

Joe

I would say let your wife take care of the stove then . I think you might be asking a question with no right answer. I shake until the bed stops dropping, then a few more shakes, this only puts a couple of red embers down. This is what works for me

js-your stoves like a good woman,find out what she likes & stick with it--pay attention to the wifey

I too grapple with this. Sometimes I shake until little bits of red drop down and stop. Most times though I feel I do it too much and get a bunch of red coals in the ash pan. Most times though, its the latter.

I have found it depends upon each stove as to how much one can shake the stove. There is a point at which your shaking becomes excessive and will compress the burning coal, closing the air channels up through the coal bed. At this point it will take longer for the stove to recover after loading. The stove now has to develop new air passages up through the coal. So, when your wife shakes the stove she quits when she sees a few hot coals dropping down through the grate and you stop when you see a bright glow above the grate. I can understand why you keep shaking like you do, however, it sounds like you are shaking the coal bed too much. I would suggest to try to shake the stove somewhere around how much your wife shakes. Ideally you should stop shaking when you see some hot coals dropping into the ash pan. I have found stoves with rocker grates can not usually shake a stove as much as a stove with a rotating grate. The rocker type grate seems to compress the coal bed more than a grate that rotates. Through trial and error will you discover how your stove likes to be run and shaken. Good luck and keep us posted.

The snowman.

I find that I will get some that sticks to the sides. If I just strictly shake untill I see a good glow, I probably have made a big hole in the coal bed.

What works for me.
I shake untill I see a couple hot ashes. Then I push evenly on the top of the coal bed with a poker, assist in getting it to settle to the shakers. Then I shake again. Pay attention how the bed settles, try to make it settle even. I shake untill I get a light stream of hot ashes, usually some glow, but most important is the coal bed looks pretty even and I'm not loosing much coal to the ash pan.

I'm shaking too much just thinking of the prospect of going back to my wife and telling her she's right... about anything that has to do with "my" boiler!

Yikes! I would never live that down!

Good luck... I've been burning coal for two years now and I still consider myself a newbie. I spend most of my time on this site just reading old posts to learn as much as I can. This post was very helpful. I currently have a stoker but I'm looking for a hand fed to put in my wife's reading room. I'm quickly learning that a stove is not just a stove... I've got a lot to learn!

Tom

I never shake my stove with the ash door open so it's impossible for me to see any embers dropping. Not having the door open during the shaking process cuts way down on the amount of flyash escaping into the room. When I shake I watch the air intake value and when that is glowing I stop shaking. I also stop shaking if the grates repetitively crunch unburnt coal regardless of the glow around the air intake valve. That's a sign that not all the coal in the coal bed has burned up and I'm putting unburned coal in the ash pan. I just come back later and finish shaking after all the coal is burned. This happens more during an spring idle when the fire isn't so hot. Finally, I watch the coal in the firebox. With my stove, the coal bed will drop 3 or 4 inches as I remove the ash. Watching for those 3 clues shows me when I've shaken enough. Good Luck, Lisa

I shake until I get a good glow in the ash pan as well. I tend to wonder though is she loading the stove differently than you are? I tend to just fill it up most of the time and not in layers so that it catches (once in a while I do 2 layers), but I'm burning stove coal so there is lots of air space and the fire does not get choked out. Do the two of you fill the stove the exact same way?

I found that when I do just fill it up, the stove temp drops more significantly, but it catches and gets back to normal, just takes a bit longer meaning the house will cool down a few *'s while it settles in again.

When I'm ready to shake the stove down I'll give it 5 to 8 short, choppy strokes on the handle and when I feel the first hard piece I stop. It's more of a FEEL method. After a while burning coal you will get the feel of the hard coal starting to go through the grates and you will know that it's time to stop shaking. I then will open the ash door and see if I have a nice even glow in the ash pan and I usually do. This works for me.

I definitely shake too much according to what I've read here. I shake till I feel it grind. Then I shale more. Tonight I'm gonna experiment and just shake till it first grinds. Then I'm gonna stop.

Outstanding buck--I'm with you on this--8 in this kind of weather,5 or 6 normal

buck24 wrote:When I'm ready to shake the stove down I'll give it 5 to 8 short, choppy strokes on the handle and when I feel the first hard piece I stop. It's more of a FEEL method. After a while burning coal you will get the feel of the hard coal starting to go through the grates and you will know that it's time to stop shaking. I then will open the ash door and see if I have a nice even glow in the ash pan and I usually do. This works for me.

I shake my stove down until I start getting just a few hot coals falling through the grate. If you shake until there is a bright glow in the ash pan from the grates, you have all hot coals sitting directly on the grate, which over time will burn the grates up.

A couple possible reasons why your wife is maintaining a hotter fire than you are would be that you are over compressing the remaining coal bed. Also when you (or the hopper if you have one) will put more fresh coal on the top of the fire when you refill it. It will take the surface layer longer to be hot again if the layer is thick.

I shook down my stove at 1800 and I've got to say, less is more. I shook down until I heard crunching of the clinkers being crushed and I stopped. I poured in my hod of coal and walked away. I will more than likely do a little courtesy shake and top-off prior to going to bed later tonight. I didn't get very much hot coals in the pan and it didn't take nearly half as much time to recover.

I thought if you shook it more than twice, you were playing with it......