Lot to learn

I was mistaken about there not being a secondary air inlet. It took me a while with to find it.

You maybe correct about the secondary air. I did multiple things different this time.

1) I originally used Blaschak bagged nut.I picked up some bulk Reading nut.
2) I left the flue damper fully open.
3) I had a good burn going and closed the ash and loading doors. I opened the loading door 5-10 minutes later to possibly add some more coal.There were minimal flames but the flames came back to life after a few seconds with the loading door open. I repeated this a few times over the next hour with the same results. So I grabbed a flashlight and pliers and cracked open the secondary air inlet. I could watch the flames react through the inlet come back to life. I adjusted the inlet till I got the flame to burn blue. Loaded on more coal and was good to go.

Refuelling was a different matter. It took quite a while to get the fire built up again.(I probably should have refueled before the coals burned down as much as they did) It never did attain the heat of the first load. I think the shaker grates are getting plugged the the ash. Very little ash falls with shaking. Poking from the underside helps a little but not much. Leaving the ash door open doesn't seem to do anything to getting the fire going again.

Linc wrote:I was mistaken about there not being a secondary air inlet. It took me a while with to find it.

You maybe correct about the secondary air. I did multiple things different this time.

1) I originally used Blaschak bagged nut.I picked up some bulk Reading nut.
2) I left the flue damper fully open.
3) I had a good burn going and closed the ash and loading doors. I opened the loading door 5-10 minutes later to possibly add some more coal.There were minimal flames but the flames came back to life after a few seconds with the loading door open. I repeated this a few times over the next hour with the same results. So I grabbed a flashlight and pliers and cracked open the secondary air inlet. I could watch the flames react through the inlet come back to life. I adjusted the inlet till I got the flame to burn blue. Loaded on more coal and was good to go.

Refuelling was a different matter. It took quite a while to get the fire built up again.(I probably should have refueled before the coals burned down as much as they did) It never did attain the heat of the first load. I think the shaker grates are getting plugged the the ash. Very little ash falls with shaking. Poking from the underside helps a little but not much. Leaving the ash door open doesn't seem to do anything to getting the fire going again.

Few things:

1. I have used Blaschak coal for years & never had a problem with it.
2. You say...."I had a good burn going and closed the ash and loading doors"... You shouldn't have both doors open (at the same time) for very long.....Robs some draft.
3. I have been burning coal for over 25 years & I never touch the seconday air controls. When adding coal I leave a small section of the fire uncovered (with flames showing through) to burn off any volatils. If I don't see any flames I will open the stove top load door (to let air in above the bed) for a few seconds to encourage flames to burn off the volatils.
4. After the stove has been running for a few days, I always poke down the bed a bit to overcome any "bridging". Do this only to a lively fire while loading & be carfeul not to pack the coal down tight. (I guess some people never do this & recomend against it. It has always worked well for me so find out what works for you, your stove/chimney setup, etc)

After dumping and starting a new fire in which I used almost entirely the Reading coal everything has been going fine. It appears that the Blaschak coal wasn't very good. I sifted threw all that was dumped.There were quite a few clinkers ranging from the size a pea up to the size of a cigarette pack.Between the clinkers and the powdery ash it must have packed up tight enough to where it wouldn't allow air to come up through to feed the fire. Also enough to where I couldn't shake down the ashes.

Since starting the new fire I have been able to shake down ashes. Keep a good glowing bed of coals. Refuel and bank. The one thing that I still notice is that coal is not burning in the corners. But that is probably of a flaw with the firebox design.

find a brand of coal that burns well in your stove and stick with it........we have tried coal from 2 other breakers, and find that the coal from the breaker next door is the most user friendly......you poor guys.....i can see earls 2 mercury vapor lights from my back window hehe......the shop rumbles when they dump the triaxles of mine coal lol

i recently also got a couple of substandard bags of blaschak they not only left clinkers and suffocated the heck out of my fire but the clinkers all looked like melted iron ore. i guess you need to expect a bad bag or two every once in a while. it was the first time in 3 years i got a bad bag from them.

I've just run into the bridging. I poked through and got it down. I'm not getting a full bed of coals.The front and the sides are dieing out.The center over the grates is doing fine. I've got the ash door open to increase the draft. I hope it works.

Didn't do much so I pulled some glowing coals under the front and have a fan blowing in front of the ash door. Fire is coming back to life. Yay. In the meantime I'm listening to the other half bitch about her feet being cold.Aarg!

Linc wrote:I've just run into the bridging. I poked through and got it down. I'm not getting a full bed of coals.The front and the sides are dieing out.The center over the grates is doing fine. I've got the ash door open to increase the draft. I hope it works.

Good for you! As long as a portion of the fire is going well, just get as much ash out of the dead areas as you can. (even if you have to dig it out (rather thanb shaking down any more) with you shovel while disturbing the good section as little as possible) Then, dump fresh coal into the dead areas. (no need to wait for this coal to catch...just dump in enough to fill the holes) It will all catch fine in a few hours. The less you fool with it the better! As far as poking through the bridging, this is a real art that you have to get a feel for. To much poking will pack the coal bed down to tightly so if you are going to err, err on the side of less (rather than more) poking. Some members will argue that you should never poke a fire from the top & recomend poking up from under the grates. (My stove is almost impossible to do that way as the ash pan blocks the way)
Final thought: It is way to easy to open the ash door, walk away & get distratced & then forget you have it open!
If I'm going to leave the ash door open & leave it for a a little time, I carry a cheap kitchen timer in my pocket so that it will remind me to close the door.

Linc wrote:Didn't do much so I pulled some glowing coals under the front and have a fan blowing in front of the ash door. Fire is coming back to life. Yay. In the meantime I'm listening to the other half *censored* about her feet being cold.Aarg!

Hope you didn't just kill the fire by moving those glowing coals. Sounds to me like you are trying to rush things along. The less you fool with the bed of coals the better! Just make sure that it's getting enough air & WAIT! (If one section is going well...leave it alone... & just dump fresh coal into the dead holes & maybe just a thin coating to the top of the good section to keep it going well. You don't need the fan, just TIME

I ended up poking quite a bit from the underside. The ash was really clogging up the grates. After I had raked some glowing coals forward I put on fresh coal. It took a while but I have a good bed of coals again. Other half is happy now.

Admin.,Sorry about the "censored" word. I should have said complaining.

I'm really becoming quite aggrevated. The ash clogging up the grates are a real nuiscense. Very little ash wants to fall through on it's own or with the shaker. I have to use the poker to get any ash to come down at all.

Other than that I'm doing pretty well with getting 10- 12hrs burn time on the first loading of the stove. After refuelings I never seem to get as much heat output as the first loading.

Are you shaking it enough and aggressively enough rapid short choppy motions but enough to open the grates some and until you just begin to see a few red coals drop out ?

Are you using pea Coal ?

I'm using "nut". Doesn't seem to matter how aggressively I shake the grates,very little comes down. It may be possible that gears between the 2 grates is worn. The left grate has to move quite a bit before it effects the right grate. Those gears do have more than 20 yrs use.

Linc wrote:I'm really becoming quite aggrevated. The ash clogging up the grates are a real nuiscense. Very little ash wants to fall through on it's own or with the shaker. I have to use the poker to get any ash to come down at all.

Other than that I'm doing pretty well with getting 10- 12hrs burn time on the first loading of the stove. After refuelings I never seem to get as much heat output as the first loading.

Don't try to get all the ash off the grates, as long as the fire is getting air you're fine! (I ran a stove for 3 years with broken shaker grates just by scraping from underneath. A few light pokes from the top (to get the coal bed tro settle) A little scaping from underneath (until you see a few red embers fall) add some fresh coal & you are done! Your stove will never put out the same heat it did when first started & loaded. That's normal because you really had no ash at all, at first....just hot coals. Hang in there & stop thinking!!!! (if you are getting 10-12 hr burn times you are fine)

Thanks for the info. We're starting a warm spell here that will last most of the week. So I won't be having much if any need for a fire. I found a local source for fire bricks so once I get the stove cleaned out I'll replace some broken bricks and be ready for the cold again.