Fire Burns Out, Good Coal Left, Relight Without Dumping?

Smokeyja · Post by **Smokeyja** » Sat. Dec. 24, 2011 12:53 pm

wsherrick wrote:
Smokeyja wrote:well this brings me to another question then. What should my ash look like if I am burning anthracite? there is some fine ash but there is also some small chunks/bits that makes it through the grate, that maybe could be burned some more? Maybe this is just the nature of an older stove and these newer more efficient stoves burn better in reality. I am also leaving Base Burners out of that last statement because I understand they burn super efficient .
Two things. A Warm Morning is made for Bituminous and so its design reflects that. If you do much reading here you will find that the newest stoves have the same problems if not worse.
A lot has to do with how you do the shaking. Most people tend to overshake their grates. Less is more. There is a right way to tend your fire, patience and experimentation will reveal it to you. Don't be upset with your self as you are still somewhat new to this. There is nothing abnormal about a burnt out fire having some unspent fuel in it. Once the fire bed drops below the ignition point of the coal, the coal that has not burned yet will obviously still be there. You just have to pick it out of there and start another fire.

As far as shaking, I am using the suggested method from the warm morning manual.

"To shake down ashes, first be sure hand turn-damper in flue-pipe is wide open. Do Not Open The Ash Door, but insert shaker handle through draft slide opening in ash door --- then shake grate back and forth. Stop when the first red sparks appear in the ash pan. Leave some ash on grates to protect them from intense heat. Always Empty Pan When Level Full. The space between the ash pan and the grate is needed for circulation of air to prevent burning out or warping the grate castings."

does that sound right?

I just purchased a few bags of bit coal today from a local supplier that just came to light so hopefully it will work out well

lobsterman · Post by **lobsterman** » Sun. Dec. 25, 2011 7:32 am

grumpy wrote:
franco b wrote:Shake down thoroughly then make a hollow in the center and make your new fire. I don't know how well it will work with a very deep bed,but with 4 or 5 inch bed of old coal it will work.
That's what I do and it works fine, I have even started a wood fire on top of the coal and sooner or later it all gets going, that way takes longer thou..

Yep, same thing happened to me, warm day, got delayed, etc. Actually, I thought it was not a problem, I still had a few hot coals. Filled it up with wet nasty coal and smothered the fire. Took me a long time to notice it. The gooey black mess was not coming out. Grabbed some sticks from the back yard and made the fire on top of the coal bed and it took off. It helped that the coal was warm. I have some coal that I do not like but it is almost burned up now. It was so nasty I did not want it in my hod.

Smokeyja · Post by **Smokeyja** » Sun. Dec. 25, 2011 7:48 am

I ended up dumping the coal through the grate that I could by pulling the fork out and then I grabbed all the coal out from the top by hand. I actually vacuumed the remaining ash out and cleaned it real good, then I started the bit coal fire.

homecomfort · Post by **homecomfort** » Sun. Dec. 25, 2011 11:11 am

I installed a turdlund, "lost the spelling" draft inducer in the smoke pipe of my hopper fed franco, and a temperature snap switch set to come on about 150f,stack and off at 200f. as the fire dies out, the draft is lower, along with stack temp, draft fan comes on, coals heat back up, fan turns off. never lost a fire yet.

Post by **Lightning** » Sun. Dec. 25, 2011 12:25 pm

Homecomfort, thats awesome

I have that same inducer but haven't installed it yet. Where and what kind of temperature snap switch and do you ever worry it won't turn off causing an over heat?

homecomfort · Post by **homecomfort** » Sun. Dec. 25, 2011 2:58 pm

to: Lightning, I tried several temp. ranges. since my stack temp a foot out of the stove connection is very cool, . did not want fan on all of the time, just when normal stack temp drops. I use a 160 degree right now, but can adjust by moving closer or further away from breech, stove outlet.

SteveZee · Post by **SteveZee** » Sun. Dec. 25, 2011 6:35 pm

echos67 wrote:
Smokeyja wrote:well this brings me to another question then. What should my ash look like if I am burning anthracite? there is some fine ash but there is also some small chunks/bits that makes it through the grate, that maybe could be burned some more? Maybe this is just the nature of an older stove and these newer more efficient stoves burn better in reality. I am also leaving Base Burners out of that last statement because I understand they burn super efficient .
I don't have much experience here burning coal yet, but what I have noticed is the style of grate seems to make a difference. On my Summit that has the round grate with the fork through the middle, I get a finer ash but it is also more tempermental than the prismatic grates on the Glenwood 6. On the Glenwood I get larger chunks of ash but it is very easy to shake down. I just replaced my center grates on the Glenwood because they were pretty worn, once I start it back up tomorrow I expect to get smaller chunks of burnt coal because the gap between the grates will be smaller, but I don't expect it to be anything like the dust that the Summit grates prduce that are very tight.

That's been my experiance too Keith. I have both type grates and the cookstove are brand new this year. It's just the nature of the beast. The Glenwood shakes down fast and easy but does drop some embers no matter how you "rattle" the grates. The Herald with the drawbar round dumpers is more temperamental in that it takes allot more shaking to truely clean up the firepot. But it's powdery ash and not much more. It also loves the seconds of coke out of the Glenwood! Burns em hot!

Post by **Lightning** » Mon. Dec. 26, 2011 1:58 am

homecomfort wrote:to: Lightning, I tried several temp. ranges. since my stack temp a foot out of the stove connection is very cool, . did not want fan on all of the time, just when normal stack temp drops. I use a 160 degree right now, but can adjust by moving closer or further away from breech, stove outlet.

Where can I find one? What model? How much is it?

ValterBorges · Post by **ValterBorges** » Mon. Dec. 26, 2011 12:51 pm

http://www.tjernlund.com/