Sprayed the bottom of the pile

Past few days, we're burning dried out 'bottom-of-the-pile' pea right now. Dusty, with lots of fines and it has damped operation down, as you might imagine. Temps have been down 50*-100* at the stack, though it putters along forever. Definitely lacking top gear.

To cut the dust down, I watered it down this morning and all day the burn has increasingly gotten more lively and 'normal', back to full bore (burning out last dry, finey load?). Any one else have similar experience with watering dusty/finey stuff or is my coal just being moody?

The powder and fines fall between the pieces of coal and block the flow of air up through the coal bed. I don't think the water is causing the problem. In the heat of the coal bed the water evaporated quickly.
When I fill the scuttle from the bin I water the coal in the scuttle every few shovel fulls with a spray bottle. It keeps the dust down when I load the stove.

Yah, I think that the fines clump and don't blanket (damp) the fire as much. But, I'm wondering if anyone has found wet coal better burning than dry. I'm getting really consistent burning beds than (dry) loads from the top of the pile.