Outside Temps a Little Warm, House Too Hot
The intakes on the front are definitely the key. I ran for 24 hours on a single load earlier this week when we had a warm snap, and the coal at the top was still unlit and black. Opening them up all the way before loading new coal had it nice and hot in about 20 minutes. The new coal that went on top of that was about 25 pounds worth, so that's about how much it went through in the 24 hours it was burning. Also, I used the small shovel to tamp down the coal at the beginning of the burn to make smaller air pathways. Worked great.
You indicated that not all of the shakers have to shake. If you can shake one section of the bed while letting the ash stay in other areas it does the same thing as using bricks to make a smaller fire box. The up side is that you can get back to bigger size by just shaking more ash out. The reason for doing this is because a small hot fire burns the coal more completely than a large smoldering fire that is being starved for air.
- DennisH
- Member
- Posts: 336
- Joined: Mon. Feb. 21, 2011 8:35 am
- Location: Escanaba, MI
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Yukon-Eagle Klondike IV
- Other Heating: Propane
Last month I was bemoaning that my bride wouldn't let me fire up the coal because it was too hot in the house with it (outside temps in the mid-40s). She made me stay with a lower intensity wood fire instead. Now that it's SEVEN BELOW outside she's just as happy as can be that the furnace is happily cranking out BTUs on coal, keeping a very open and spacious 2500sqft ranch house a nice 74degF on the inside! Gotta love coal!!