no separate door for ash pan

HI everyone!

I got a ESSE coal stove, all cast iron make for anthacite - and it works but I am a bit confused on
how to control the heat using the round ash control knob, it kind of looks like a round combination lock on a safe, and you can turn it clockwise to close it
and counter clockwise to open the draft. I used to have a different stove that had a separate door to open the ash pit from, so if I needed to heat things up I could open the ash door and the coal would heat up - this stove has only one door, and I am not sure how to work the bottom ash pit, control knob to work as the fire once it gets going sometime during the night it ashes up and gets too cold, even opening up the knob and leaving it this way all night.!!

I thought maybe I bought a bunch of bad coal.... but now I think I am not used to working this stove right. The stove sits free standing. The pipe vents out the back through the chimney using black stove pipe. I have a elbow damper thing that I can open or close manually that sits about 2 feet or so from the rear going towards the chimney to add more air to the draft if needed. The draft is good,no smoke in the house! Anyone know what I am doing wrong with my stove because I am unfamiliarwith how to control the heat as it should!! Thanks to anyone that can help! A picture of my stove is located at this url!

http://www.esse.com/stoves/multifuel_wood/500.html

Looks to be more of a Wood Stove than a Coal Stove . I think burning coal in them is an exercise in frustration,you would be better off using an appliance designed to burn Coal.

Unfortunately, the link shows a nice photo of the stove, but not with the door open so a person could see how the vent in the door is 'ducted' to the area below the grates. Does this stove have shaker grates?? if so how do you shake them? Is ther an external handle??

I have to agree with the above comment about the design of the stove... it looks like it is really designed to burn wood first, and other solid fuels second.. So the design of the air vent is a compromise for burning coal..

I would try making sure the ash is pushed away from the vent as much as possible before a long overnight burn, maybe even empty the ash pan before an overnight burn so the chance of ashing-over the air vent is lessened.

Without a better description or a photo of the back of the door and the ashpan and grate area, this is the best I can do to help... Post some photos if you can

Greg L

Wrong Post Sorry

If you open the door you can see the grate is about 3 inches below the bottom of the bank plate. The shaker is built in and has a key that grabs a nut outside the stove on the right side it shakes down. The stove had a sticker on it saying "anthracite only". There is a ash pan about a foot by a foot that the shaker key can grab onto. The stove seems a bit small, but when it gets going it puts out a lot of heat. The grates are about the width of keyboard keys and have enough space to almost let you finger
go through. It can burn nut or pea. Pea coal seems to get stuck in between the grates.