USA Stove 30A Burning Nut Coal Seems to Clog My Grates

been a new user to hand fired stove had keystoker self fed but got flooded and couldnt afford the same so tryin my hand at hand fired have a usa 30a burns great at start up for 12 hours then I shake it down and it gos out been reading your forums to leave the ash door open to get it goin first but doesnt seem to get goin enough before shakin to reload it the draft fan is in the back so I know that is for wood got the turn dial damper in the front. when it does go out I clean it and start it all over again

any help would be grateful gunna try stove coal next

I almost purchased one of those before my Clayton. A few years ago the 30A was the Jenson orAshely model. What steered me away was the fire bricks lay in a sharp Vee and it was a little on the small size for my application. It does look like a nice stove though.The Sharp Vee will make it a little more difficult to shake the ashes down and you'll start to build them up some on the ends. It can be done. My first thought is that you may have gone too long on the load at the temperatures you burned. You didn't state what temperature you were burning. I'm assuming that you have a barometric draft regulator installed in the stovepipe. If not, you may have experienced too much draft causing your symptom. I would think that 8 hours on a full load at 550 to 700 degrees will be the most you'll get out of a charge. If you want longer, you'll need to run at a lower temperature. It is difficult to say how many spins out on the ash door you'll need. You will have to experiment with the stove in order to figure that out. I would watch the stove temperatures in relation to how many spins out you use. Just remember anthracite is slow to start, it's not like firing wood.

Welcome to the forum!

richerrr wrote:usa 30a burns great at start up for 12 hours then I shake it down and it gos out

You need to fill it all the way up to the top of the firebrick after you get it going.

thnks for the reply not sure what its burning at doesnt have a gauge other than the limit switches guess in need to install somthin to figure that out and yes the v shape is steep mabey if I poke from the bottom with something it will help

and do you think stove coal would help trying nut seems to create alot of ash

i do have the bar installed used the one from my keystoker the one from us was cheezy

you might be shaking too much. Try to shake a little less, when you feel a little crunching stop, then try to push/poke(don't stir) the steep sides of your firebrick to push the built up ash to the bottom of grates.If you have alot of nut coal try to see if you can make it work,if not try stove size,although it will burn quicker with more heat. Give it a try and see what happens. Dennis

EDIT:
if you are getting alot of unburnt coal in your ash pan you might be shaking too much.I stop shaking when I start to see a few red coals and leaving a little ash on the grates. It seemed to work better for me and saving more unburnt coal in the ash pan.

ty so much will do

Just from my experience with burning stove size, nut size, and buckwheat size anthracite in my Clayton, I really didn't notice any difference in the kind or amount of ash. What I did find is that the different sizes of coal determined the amount of draft through the coal. The size also gave different heat outputs and burn times. With stove size anthracite, I was able to get higher heat output, but it would go out fast if I didn't keep it full. Nut sized anthracite was a nice moderate heat output and would be more forgiving with a longer burn. Buckwheat size anthracite gave me a long burn, but at a lower temperature. Now if I pushed the buckwheat anthracite to try to match the same heat output as nut or stove, it would clinker. I would think that either nut or stove sized anthracite should work well in your stove. You just have to experiment some. It took me a few months to figure out how to burn anthracite coal in my Clayton. I feel that it is a much better wood burner than a coal burner, but it can be done. You just need to figure out how it burns.

well im sorry to hear that it burns wood better I hope I can figure the coal out but I do see why

hope ididnt make a mistake on this ty doug

I don't think that you made a mistake for the price, it is just going to be a little diferent and more difficult to burn anthracite coal with in this stove. I've found that if I burnt anthracite coal at a lower temperature, it will burn better because the ashes would powder instead of clinker. The down side to this is that you may not get the heat output you need though. That is why I now really only burn wood in my Clayton during high heat demand. With wood, I'm able to get about 8 hours of over 450 degree stove temperatures. If I attempt to do the same with anthracite coal, I may be able to run for about 6 or 7 days before it clogs the grates up to the point that I need to let it go out and shovel it out through the feed door and start over.

Here is a post you may be interested. USSC Ashley 24AF Vs. Clayton 1600