Coal Ash - Doesn't Look So Good to Us

At the start of the season I was complaining about the lack of heat from our Hyfire 2. We had to run both burners to keep the house warm in weather that we only had to use one burner for last season to keep the house warm. Last season, with temps in the 20s and low- to mid-30s, we used one burner. We only had to go to burner 2 when it was in the teens and lower. This season, we've had to run the Hyfire with 2 burners with temps in the 20s and the 30s. Someone had mentioned perhaps it was our coal. I've posted pics of our ash, and I don't remember the ash looking like this last season. There seems to be a lot of junk in it, including blue stone. Does this ash look good to you guys? We're thinking of finding another coal supplier. Our neighbor has already found another source, and he swears that the quality is much better. He absolutely refuses to purchase coal from the place we're getting ours from any longer.

There's your sign--does his ash look like yours? (with the old stuff) I know my ash just looks like burnt up coal--no particles of anything & a light grey

How does the fire behave on the grate? Do you have hot coals falling off the end of the grate? If the fire looks normal, I suggest you take your neighbor's advice and try a different supplier. If it still doesn't look right it is time to clean and service the stove.

freetown fred wrote:There's your sign--does his ash look like yours? (with the old stuff) I know my ash just looks like burnt up coal--no particles of anything & a light grey

That's how I remember our ash looking last heating season, light grey, but with what looked like some klinkers (but in hindsight, it may have been some blue stone too), not this sawdust colored stuff we have now. In person, it looks the color of wet sawdust, with some rust coloration, nothing like last season. This season it's junk!

markviii wrote:How does the fire behave on the grate? Do you have hot coals falling off the end of the grate? If the fire looks normal, I suggest you take your neighbor's advice and try a different supplier. If it still doesn't look right it is time to clean and service the stove.

Fire behaves on the grate, looks perfectly normal, no hot coals falling off at all. Time for a new supplier.