What to do with the old lumps

Hi everyone and thanks for this forum.
I am new to coal burning as I previously only burnt wood. However, now that I am burning anthacite I have a question from some of my first burnings. The following morning I clear out the ashes but also find that there are numerous lumps of semi burnt anthracite. My question is, do I try to re use these semi burnt lumps or does the burning process make these less efficient? Should I re use them or ditch them?
Thanks for your anticipated answers
Rollers

HI! Welcome to the forum Normally the little bit of unburnt coal is discarded with the ashes. I don't think it hurts the fire to put them back on, but its probably more trouble than its worth.. Sometimes if I have to shut down and clean out for maintenance, I'll separate out some unburnt to put back in, but overall its not really worth the fuss.

Hi Lightning,

Thanks very much for your prompt reply. I will try seperating them at cleanout and then put them back on when the fire is fully heated up and see how it goes.
Thanks again,
Rollers

Your welcome partner
Happy coal burning, enjoy your new addiction

It is hard to reburn the coal after it has been in the fire, but it does have some "burn" left in it.

I made a screen for mine out of hardware cloth (what we call it in Maine anyway), it is 1/2 inch square steel that comes in a roll and is used for rabbit cages and stuff, and pour my ashes over that, shake out the ash and then reburn what does not go down through by mixing it with new coal.

I am really cheap however and get every drop of heat I can out of the coal I buy. I am not sure it is overly worth it, but this is what I do.

During the Depression it was usually the children's job to "sift" the ashes for unburned coal- my grandmother (who was born in 1920) could remember doing this, as well as being sent with a bucket to walk along the train tracks to pick up pieces which had fallen off the hopper cars and locomotive coal tender.

Personally, since switching to stove coal size and installing a baro damper, I have virtually no clinkers or unburned/half burnt pieces after a shakedown. My ash pan in the morning is the consistency of cigaratte ash.

I wish I could get Stove Coal locally. I think it burns better in my hand fed stove then Nut Coal, but its what I can readily get so I burn it. Glad it is working out for you though.

I never see any unburnt coal in my ash pan either. I think trying to screen the coal ash would be a very dusty job. Glynn

Hi Glynn,

We have the same exact stove (Glacier Bay). I believe we were chatting a bit here last year re: my setup etc.

This season I decided to install a baro damper, the 8 inch Fields Control RC. Wow, what a differece it has made. My burn times have gone from 10 hours to upwards of 14. Also the house is a comfortable 68-70 degrees instead of 80+. My stove overfired waaay too much before, and closing the MPD set off the C02 detector in the basement a few times on warmer nights, which scared me off ever closing it down. No c02 alarams at all with the baro.

I have the baro adjustement weight set at the # "4" position and it seems to be perfect now. My burns are predictable and consistent regardless of wind & outdoor temperature. I keep the ash door knob damper open about the thickness of 3 credit cards, which seems to keep the burn perfect for these temps (low 30s at night here). On bitter cold nights (20s or lower) I will probably have to turn the ash door knob damper a bit further open to get hotter fires.

But overall the control and consistency of the baro has been GREAT. Wish I'd done this project sooner. So far I am projecting a saving of 1/2 to 3/4 ton of coal per season. For my super-tall chimney which could suck a small child upwards with NO fire going, a baro was really a necessity. Count me in the pro-baro crowd 100%.

Personally, I would not put them back in .... sure they may be unburnt but they may also be semi-clinkers.

Clogging up the grates and needing to shut the stove down is a risk that I would not want to have happen just over some few pieces...

I read the title and thought they were talking about Fred....

OUCH---double OUCH

titleist1 wrote:I read the title and thought they were talking about Fred....

Now that's FUNNY!

The only time I sift through the ashes for unburned coal is at the end of the season during cleanout. I have a sifter but I don't use it for the ashes, what I do is just pick through it and get the pieces that haven't burned up. I don't go crazy, usually a handful. I'm pretty lazy so I don't spend a lot of time getting in unburned pieces or shaking the stove down.

titleist1 wrote:I read the title and thought they were talking about Fred....

I've only been here a few days and that made me laugh! (Sorry, Fred.)

Since cleaning the ash out of my carpet so the air is actually moving properly and the stove is burning the way it should, I have very few unburned bits in my ash pan. I'd check the stove's adjustments and make sure everything's nice and clean. If you're seeing a lot of unburnt coal in the pan, you may not be burning efficiently.