The burner pot dark spot has been photographed

here's mine. Let me know what you think. The feed pipe is cold.

I'll have to wait until Big Jim comes in again so we can convene the Board of Internet Photography Review for an in-depth analysis. It looks about perfect to me.

e.alleg wrote:here's mine. Let me know what you think. The feed pipe is cold.

stoker man........that's exactly what my fire looks like at 4+ clicks

almost forgot: 5 clicks on the feed, just over 4 1/2 on the air.

Jim looked at the pictures and thought on the second picture that you had some live coals extending onto the burner ring. Check to see if this is true. Live coals are not allowed on the ring at all and if they are, you should increase the air setting slightly to bring the ash ring back two inches from the edge.

He told about a trick that he learned 30+ years ago. After you have determined the amount of coal feed that you need for the house, you adjust the air to match the feed rate. The old timers would keep increasing the air until ash would start popping off the top of the fire and then cut it back to where it would settle down and leave the setting there. Then the homeowner would observe to see if the ash ring was about two inches wide around the edge like it should be. The proper ash ring was considered more important than the black spot.

Thanks, I'll give her some more air and see how it goes. What is the symptom/result of too much air?

If you add too much air, you will create more ash and the ash will start to resemble sawdust and your fire will be a little too low in the pot. You want to keep the ash ring about two inches wide and the live coals off the ring. The retired gov't lab man said that perfect air will result in an ash ring that will have some unburned specks of coal in it, or just under 100% burn.

I turned it up some, after a couple days or so I'll snap another photo. There were definitely some live coals getting on the ash ring.

All is well, I increased the air and now the fire looks the same except the ash ring is wider, no hot coals are on the lip of the pot. There are some black pieces in the ashes but no real difference from before. Actually except for the thickness of the ash ring everything else is pretty much the same, I didn't notice any more or less heat or coal consumption.

it sounds like you are doing well.

I am new to burning coal. From looking at these pictures it looks like my fire is "close" to this, but I don't ever notice the "dark spot". It looks like I have a nice fire, with a ring of ash about 2 to 3 inches around it (no hot coals in the ash ring). I've check the auger feed pipe and it's not warm at all. Is there anything to worry about not seeing the dark spot?

You may not see this dark spot. Many don't. I would try to reduce the ash ring to 2" by slightly adjusting your settings. What are your feed/air and aquastat settings? Have you had any outfires?

I want to verify tonight, BUT...I think the coal feed is set at 4 teeth and the air is 4 1/2 or 5. I believe my low limit is set at 140 and high 160( maybe 180). The high temp that will not allow the time to start is at 205. I have not had any outfires.

180 is too low for the summer. Go to 200.