Question: How do you shut down a Coal Gun in a pinch?

I know how to shut mine down by simply not re-feeding it and letting it burn out naturally, and I also know that I can turn the power off and let it slowly burn itself out, but what if a situation arose where I would want to extinguish my Coal Gun in a hurry. What method(s) would be employed to safely and efficiently accomplish this?

Here we go with the newly requested 'GFL' smilie...first use today!!! If your pants were on fire, what the hell would you do? If your house were on fire what would you do? If you car were on fire what would you do?

Now, we ALL know that an AHS IS A STEEL UNIT, NO CAST IRON IN THE FIRE POT OR BURN AREA. YOU HAVE A SOLID FUEL FIRE...that won't extinguish quickly, HOWEVER you are in fear of burning down your house from a hopper fire.

Would you:
A. Pour gasoline on the fire?
B. Pour water on the fire?
C. Go get a beer at the local watering hole and not worry about it?
D. Go to church and pray for a solution?
E. Call FEMA and ask for a Foam Truck from a local International Airport, or a C-130 Water Drop!
One of those five choices works for me, but I'm guessing you have trouble making that decision. Like the movie "Cool Hand Luke' said in part: "What we have here, is a failure to communicate~!"

You obviously have domestic water in you basement. You probably have a hose bib...and perhaps a hose close by....am I leading you down a path? R U following??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Do you like steam in your face? Perhaps it would be GOOD to protect your face from the steam flash when water hits the molten coal mass. Gonna get steamy, so visibility will be horrible...and warm also. The wife will be screaming about the commotion......are you still with me???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Now all this resolution will only take a couple of minutes...so think quick!~!! I shut the power down # 1 step. Water to the boiler off #2 If panic has encased you, better call 911, and get the hook and ladder rolling.#3 If they are 20 minutes away, better stay with me, because this will be over quicker that it happened. Steam has subsided, no fire danger, no electric hazard with walking in the water on the floor...power is off, you can see again, 'check the 'boys' just to make sure you are OK, then the shorts for lumps(not a good sign). Assure others in the house it was no big deal, they are safe, it was only a hopper fire........Oh, wait a minute, AHS has already planned for the event and it automatically shut down the boiler before anything could short out, and the alarm is under control. OOPS! Too late the C-130 drops 19500 gallons on your rooftop.....and double OOPS!...a pair of KC135's each drop 50,000 gallons on the house from above. No fire danger anymore, but the resulting flood has an auto response from the Army Corp of Engineers to establish a Mote around your residence........AND now just for you: A DOUBLE SET of "GFL".
I sincerely hope this post has 9431 replies and that in some small way, I have clarified and satisfied your questions and laid out some logical responses in case of a "GFL" situation at your home!!! Have a fun day!! Sleep well tonight! All is well!

I was not thinking about an emergency shutdown situation. Merely an expedient one.

If the ash grate motor could be wired to permit non-stop ashing independent of the blower fan (which in this case would be switched off), could the fire be dumped into the ash bucket through over-ashing? Currently my ash grate motor is wired to operate only when the fan motor is running.

Disconnect the flue pipe, cap off the boiler outlet, and lean something against the inspection cover. No draft, no air, should go out pretty quickly.

Just opening the ash door on my EFM and letting the draft bypass the pot will put the fire out in an hour of less.

.....but you could add a switch to make the grate motor operate independently......I like your logic...'thinking outside the box'.
The sand solution would slow the fire, but not smother it I'm afraid.
Ever hear: Necessity is the mother of invention'....well here you go.....again.

Only 9409 posts to go before you complete this thought..................Excuse me while I go do something to myself......

I choose "C" ....

In my case, I have plenty of mud in the basement - I'd toss a few handfulls of mud on it, & that would be that. Frog might not be too happy, but ... I just saved his life!

Here's what I do... All done from the inspection port.

1. Install a specially made steel bar that blocks additional hopper coal from entering the fire column. The inside end of the bar rests on the boiler tube flue path, the outside end rests on a 2x4 prop outside the boiler.

2. Use a bent and shaped small coal shovel as a spoon to remove as much burning coal as possible. Place in metal bucket and then move outside.

3. Spoon in sand to smother the burning coal.

Next ... Activate the bypass switch that runs the grate motor continuously. This will dump the ash/burning coal/sand into the ash tub. Also depending on conditions, I vent the room and/or activate the combustion blower to exhaust the combustion gases and take the battery out of the wailing CO detector.

Don't ask why I'm prepared. I obviously had a need to do it before.

Thanks much Yanche! Great info there!!! Did yours come with the ash grate motor bypass switch for continuous operation, or did you add that yourself?

Rob R. wrote:Disconnect the flue pipe, cap off the boiler outlet, and lean something against the inspection cover. No draft, no air, should go out pretty quickly.

This is my emergency shut-down plan also. I'll also add that this will allow very little carbon monoxide to be released into the structure.

I have a piece of 1/4" steel plate 12" square, staged nearby that will cover outlet after 3 screws removed and flue is raise enough to slide in the plate. Magnets are arranged to hold the view-port closed tight.

lsayre wrote:Thanks much Yanche! Great info there!!! Did yours come with the ash grate motor bypass switch for continuous operation, or did you add that yourself?

I added it. An improvement to the ordinary switch I used would be a mechanical windup switch. That way the grate motor will stop running after the set time. I've forgotten to turn the bypass switch off at least once. I also use the bypass switch to lower the fire in the column. Establishing where the fire burns in the column is important, both height and across the entire diameter. Depending on the season and load it's not always possible to have it ideal.