Help!!! Massive Moulton lump

My S260 hasn't seemed right for the past day and I couldn't figure out what was going on. It has pretty much ran non stop.

When I opened up the inspection door the coal was right up to the top with nice bright orange glow. I checked it a few hours later and it was in the same spot but mostly burnt up. I observed it Ashing but no ash came out and no new coal dropped in. I picked up a piece of all thread I had laying around and poked it. It is one huge solid piece of Moulton coal. It's like the whole burn pot fused together for some reason. I broke it up the best I could but by doing so the hot coal dropped to the bottom and the Ashing sensor now says its 500+ * so it won't ash for awhile.

Has this happened to anybody before? If so how can I prevent it from happening again? My concern now is 1 of 2 things can happen- 1 - when it ashes again it could run all the lit coal out and dump my hopper coal into the ash pan or 2- it could dump a bunch of fresh coal in and a large puff back could happen.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Molten/fused ash shouldn't hold that 500* temp very long. And once the fan starts it will surely go cold.
Breaking it up was the best thing you could of done to the molten ash, as it will cool quickly that way.

On the other hand...very likely the you will have an out-fire too, as the fresh coal may not ignite if no hot coals are present and livened up by the fan.

Not sure why it happened though.

I have been getting a lot of molten metal in my Blaschack Coal this year. Big chunks too, but mine is a hand fed pot bellied stove so no issues other then having terrible burn times. I attributed it to them getting coal that was culm piles, but that was just a guess.

Also, you can remove the two bolts on the observation panel below the viewing door. That allows access to the very area where the issue is to be found. A piece of 1/2" to 1' re-bar makes a great tool to move either molten masses around or break them up. Remember, the bolts might NOT like moving, so penetrating oil is tough to get in there, and heat is also difficult....If and when you do get it apart, I replace the bolts with 3/8" sized bolts and weld them in. Now Anti-seize the hell out of it and you will have a 60 second fix to a nagging issue, depending upon the coal you use.