Damn clinkers

I almost lost the fire this morning. While shaking it down a few clinkers got stuck in the grates. 3/4 of the coal/ash bed fell through. Took awhile to get it back up to temperature, but its there. Whew!

First time that I had a clinker get stuck in a year and a half of burning hard coal. I have noticed that in the last batch of nut coal I got that there are a few larger/harder pieces of ash than I am used to seeing. Anyone else noticing this?

Yup, I get clinkers all the time as well as larger chunks of ash. I just chalk it up to the coal im burning.

Yup, I had my first one in 4 seasons. Now my shakes are a lot shorter & choppier. Almost lost my fire too. But a little TLC & the old Hitzer manned up & went for the gusto.

Did you fire the stove hotter than normal? I used to get clinkers when I pushed the stove hard. My hand fed boiler used to make clinkers the size of a shoebox.

These rollercoaster tempertures are reeking havck on all our fires. I had to start it all over again a few nights ago due to a fused klinker joining the 2 seperate shaker grates together......

yup ive got them too even with the blaschak, I am having to do some heavy poking every morning. Now I don't almost lose the fire anymore, but I have to show the stove a lot more attention.

Yeah my formerly smooth-shaking powdery-ash Blaschak has become clinker-prone this season. Friggin figures ... because I have 16.8 tons of it now.

my grates just drop them out into the ash pan

I think Rob's right. It's always after a hard burn that I get the ash chunky type. They will stick to the side of the brick and can grow 1/3 of the way across the pot. Now, I just knock any buildup off at regular intervals and it's no big deal. I've got it down to almost zero recovery time on both stoves in the morning if I do it just right. The only thing that can screw it up is I sleep in and the stove gets lower than ideal. Then it's hit or miss on having an hour or two getting up to temp (500).

Some of these clinkers make up some interesting designs. I thought about dipping some of them in clear varnish and using them as art work.

Yeah, I burned a lot hotter than normal Tuesday/Wednesday and backed it off a little yesterday. It was -8 the other night and had to fire the Hitzer a lot harder. Today it is almost 50 (damn fluctuating temps).

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.

My ash is definitely more chunky now that I'm running the stove hotter. I haven't had any blockage as of yet but if I tried to extend my burn time beyond my normal, I'm sure I'd have issues. As it is the forming clinkers just break up and fall into the ash pan. Stay warm, Lisa

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!

First klinkers of the year this week, but I was pushing the stove to 450-500. She was running pretty good, and they just went right through the grates. Had lots more last year, but I was letting it get over fired too often during reloads. Since I learned how to do a better job getting the new coal lit without the over fire, not much trouble at all with klinkers.