Damn clinkers

I've had a number of large clinkers, but the AHS S130 seems to spit them out without a whimper.

lsayre wrote:I've had a number of large clinkers, but the AHS S130 seems to spit them out without a whimper.

This weather will do it everytime...the boiler might sit around idle for 12 hours and then have to run for an hour straight very hard if a cold wind suddenly picks up. I talked to someone last year that was replacing two S500 Coal Gun's with a different brand of stoker boiler for this very reason. The boilers were heating greenhouses, and they would sit idle for 12 hours and then run wide open all night. The ash drawer kept getting jammed with clinkers...sometimes requiring intervention with a big steel bar to bust them loose. Perhaps other changes could have been made to remedy the problem, but apparently the owner was fed up.

I am with you guys. These crazy temps are making it hard to keep the stove and house steady. I tend to get more clinkers when I burn hot and fast. On those slow burn days, the coal tends to burn more completely into just fine ash. So far, I have not had any problems with clinckers. knock on wood.

SteveZee wrote:

Short Bus wrote:Smokeyja,
My father talks of taking clinkers, setting them in a bowl of salt water, and watching salt crystals grow. I'm sure sidwalk salt would work and still be usable on the road when done.

That's pretty cool Shortbus! Bet they could make some cool sculptures!

I never tried this, but I guess it would, probably takes some time for the water to wick up the clinker, evaporate, leave some salt, and then do it some more. I wonder if you added some food color to the water if the crystals would be colored.

I can't seam to raise him on the phone this morning.

Short Bus wrote:

SteveZee wrote:

Short Bus wrote:Smokeyja,
My father talks of taking clinkers, setting them in a bowl of salt water, and watching salt crystals grow. I'm sure sidwalk salt would work and still be usable on the road when done.

That's pretty cool Shortbus! Bet they could make some cool sculptures!

I never tried this, but I guess it would, probably takes some time for the water to wick up the clinker, evaporate, leave some salt, and then do it some more. I wonder if you added some food color to the water if the crystals would be colored.

I can't seam to raise him on the phone this morning.

This would be a fun idea for a kids science project! I would have loved to have done this as a kid, and of course I'm going to try it as an adult as well

Sorry, folks. I wish I could relate to you with the clinker problem, but my stove must work differently. I do get some here and there, but I guess the way my FB is designed, I don't have as many. I know that when I'm shaking my grates (They are circular and rotate, not twist), it will get "bound" sometimes and not want to rotate, but that's usually a sign for me that it's time to stop shaking. I just wait four hours or so and then shake again and whatever was there falls through as ash.

Don't mean to rub it in. I"m sure it's a real pain in the rear for you.

musikfan6 wrote:Sorry, folks. I wish I could relate to you with the clinker problem, but my stove must work differently. I do get some here and there, but I guess the way my FB is designed, I don't have as many. I know that when I'm shaking my grates (They are circular and rotate, not twist), it will get "bound" sometimes and not want to rotate, but that's usually a sign for me that it's time to stop shaking. I just wait four hours or so and then shake again and whatever was there falls through as ash.

Don't mean to rub it in. I"m sure it's a real pain in the rear for you.

It's not so much true clinkers for me but more like ash that fuses together a bit and builds up. If you touch it with a poker, it will fall right down and shake out. But if you don't, you can shake and it won't move/fall and after a while takes up a good part of the pot like a bridge. You think you have a full pot of coal and leave it for 12 hours and come down and WTF? It's nearly burned out! Took me a couple of those before I found the culprit. It's usually after a good hot burn. Now as a matter of the last shake/fill of the day I run the poker round real quick and check. Then shake out and fill. Morning comes, Happy!

SteveZee wrote:

musikfan6 wrote:Sorry, folks. I wish I could relate to you with the clinker problem, but my stove must work differently. I do get some here and there, but I guess the way my FB is designed, I don't have as many. I know that when I'm shaking my grates (They are circular and rotate, not twist), it will get "bound" sometimes and not want to rotate, but that's usually a sign for me that it's time to stop shaking. I just wait four hours or so and then shake again and whatever was there falls through as ash.

Don't mean to rub it in. I"m sure it's a real pain in the rear for you.

It's not so much true clinkers for me but more like ash that fuses together a bit and builds up. If you touch it with a poker, it will fall right down and shake out. But if you don't, you can shake and it won't move/fall and after a while takes up a good part of the pot like a bridge. You think you have a full pot of coal and leave it for 12 hours and come down and WTF? It's nearly burned out! Took me a couple of those before I found the culprit. It's usually after a good hot burn. Now as a matter of the last shake/fill of the day I run the poker round real quick and check. Then shake out and fill. Morning comes, Happy!

This is the same problem I have Steve. My grates are circular as well and rotate and never get clogged by clinkers as to the point it's stops working but they will cause build up of ash if you don't poke and then you get lower burns times until a fire dies. I was getting a week of good burn and then One day would come home and the fire would be out and all ash and I was like WTF as well. I figured out the hard way too.