Cleaned Out the DS and Found CLINKERS!

Since it was warm outside, I figured I'd poke around my firebox and knock down and accumulated ash in the corners, and pick out any clinkers.

I found quite a few nasty sized clinkers in there. I have recently burned UAE, somerset low vol bit, and barton md low vol bit. I'd be inclined to say these came from the UAE coal due to the color. The bit ash is gray.

Nearly had an outfite after digging around in the coal bed, but a few lumps of Valier's finest took care of that!

I always find some clinkers floating around the coal bed. I'm usually able to just grind them up in the grates though. A few weeks ago when I cleaned out the 1600 I found one that looked like a donut.

The AFT [ash fusion temperature] for anthracite is around 2700*, for most bit the AFT is around 1700*,
so I'd suspect that the clinkers are from the Bit coal, and that they melted into and attached to bits of
the ash from the UAE coal.

Just my thoughts..

You have to burn pretty hot to get UAE to clinker, and you usually have to have a fan-forced combustion
air to force enough air through the coal to get that hot.

Greg L

After burning over 2 months straight now, I have wondered if I have any clunkers laying in bed. Seems to be burning good so I guess I will keep going?

ridgeracing wrote:After burning over 2 months straight now, I have wondered if I have any clunkers laying in bed. Seems to be burning good so I guess I will keep going?

Mine was still burning great, but I noticed that it seemed to be taking more shaking than I was used to. I have a pair of large fireplace tongs, which worked great for picking out the clinkers.

Which brand of coal are you using?