Chronicles of the Clayton

joeq wrote:I had a pair of pants with the same pattern in the late 60s. (Very popular).

Got any pics of that??

I have a vintage aluminum saucer in the garage from the 60's waiting to be put into service.

You can bet I haven't used it on a hill in quite a few years!

Lightning wrote:

joeq wrote:I had a pair of pants with the same pattern in the late 60s. (Very popular).

Got any pics of that??

Nah. I did have my bellbottoms from high school, into the late 80s, but the wife made me throw them away, when we got hitched in 88. Funny thing is, they still fit. And "soon" they'll be back in style. (I don't think they'll fit now )

titleist1 wrote:I have a vintage aluminum saucer in the garage from the 60's waiting to be put into service.
!

where'ld you get it? Area 51?

Went down to the neighbor's house for a few minutes that turned into an hour and a half, of course there was a few drinks involved.. Came home and my daughter says, "geez dad, it's kinda hot in here." Then I remembered that I had left the primary wide open after loading a couple hours ago.. Pushing 131 degrees thru the warm air supply hahaha..

Guess I'll just hang and bake now..

Lightning wrote:

joeq wrote:Dumping cliff! Watch your footing M/Ting that can Lee, in your slippery galoshes.
So are you saying, for every 100lbs of coal you burn, you're collecting 15lbs of ash? Is that the 1st time you've measured that, or do you have a comparison number?

Yes, 15 pounds of ash for each 100 ponds of coal burned.
I've been measuring ash and coal since I started burning this season. There are more ash/coal comparisons thru this thread. I usually get between 12 and 13% which is pretty good considering that anthracite is generally 10% ash based on lab conditions, but that's variable also to some degree.

A miss placed step at the cliff would have me sliding down a 80 degree pitch for about 12 feet, ass over ash can..

Steve is the measuring King..

while it's nice to be included, my vote and admiration goes to Larry as " Calculator and Chief "

Just dumped the ash can. Coal vs ash ratio 17.5% I had a few 100 pound coal days with the bitter cold we've had recently. Saw 12 below zero on my way to work one morning last week..

So Lee, are you saying when you run your furnace harder, the efficiency goes down?

joeq wrote:So Lee, are you saying when you run your furnace harder, the efficiency goes down?

Well, what is different recently is that I'm doing 12 hour burn cycles instead of 24. When I was doing 24 hour burns, I saw better coal/ash ratios like 12-14%. Since I've been doing 12 hour burns recently, that has jumped to 16-18%. It's telling me that my shake and heave technique for the 24 hour burns is justified, but doing the same routine for the 12 hour burns is a little too much.. I need to not be so aggressive with my 12 hour tending as I am for the 24 hour tending.. Trouble is I can't help myself. I want the coal bed as clean as I can get it at every tending. It's costing me about 15 pounds more of coal (3%) for every 500 pounds burned, than it should. I have seen more coal in the ash pan with the 12 hour tendings than with the 24 hour.

At every tending, I shake and then heave with the poker 3 times.
At 12 hour tendings I should try only doing it twice.
Now if I can just talk myself into doing that..

Edit.. actually that's not right. I shake then heave with the poker, shake again and heave, then shake one last time..

I should try shake and heave with poker, then shake one more time and done.

I also agree that when in there scrubbing out the ash, try and get as much out as you can. It's tough to stop, if you don't see that bright light shining thru the grates.

So.. another 8 days worth of ash measured. The past 8 days where mostly 18/24 hour burns. Measured 14.2% ash/coal comparison. I might be on to something with the over doing with ash clearing on the 12 hour burns

So Lee, when you go for the long burns, does your furnace tend to cool down more than if you were scrubbing the grates every 8-10 hrs? Clearer grates mean a hotter fire, right? If you go 20 hrs, do you notice temps on the decline, somewhat/anything?

joeq wrote:So Lee, when you go for the long burns, does your furnace tend to cool down more than if you were scrubbing the grates every 8-10 hrs? Clearer grates mean a hotter fire, right? If you go 20 hrs, do you notice temps on the decline, somewhat/anything?

It depends on the burn rate. As it stands right now, if outdoor temps average at least 30 degrees over a 24 hour period (say 25 at night and 35 during the day), I can run the furnace hot enough to keep 73-74 in the house for that 24 hour period with 1 shake and load without the furnace loosing any heat at all (other than recovery after loading of course). Also recovery time is normal.

If it gets below that average (say 20 degrees for 24 a hour period) and I attempt to get a 24 hour burn, I'll have to run the furnace a little harder to keep 73-74 in the house and towards the last 4-6 hours of the burn, the furnace temp will start to fall. I've actually attempted this over the last couple weeks a few times and it got very risky. I nearly lost the fire because it nearly burned up the entire load. Took about 3 hours to recover after loading. 18 hour burns are good for this scenario.

When it gets below a 20 degree average outside, I opt to run 12 or 18 hour burns to fit my work schedule. When its colder than that, I make sure to do 12 hour burns.

So, I've pretty much outlined my tending schedule based on outdoor temps. I just look at the forecast and plan ahead how I'm gonna handle the next few days into the future.

Thank you for your interest Joe

[quote="Lightning"
Thank you for your interest Joe [/quote]

No, "Thank "YOU", for your posting, Lee, and sharing your experimental info. This is what makes these forums popular, is people "sharing" info, not only for the benefit of making our membership "entertaining", but helpful for operating our own stoves. It amazes me how many of my forums have a very large list of members, yet only a few actually participate in the discussions.
It's interesting how you have the option Lee, to adjust your tending schedule to maintain a certain temperature in your home, but when I head off to bed, I adjust mine as low as possible, just to keep the fire "lit". If I were to adjust my settings hotter, it would just clog the bed faster with ash, and also deplete more coal out of the hopper. I'm hoping for that to change in the future.

I had quite the epic fail yesterday evening. It started two nights ago when I loaded 72 pounds of coal into the furnace. I woke up yesterday morning and the fire looked great even though I had ran it kind of hard overnight. I had planned to shake and load at around 2:00 which would be 18 hours since the last tending but didn't get to it. Temps were holding steady and fire seemed strong at that point so thought no problem. After the kids got out of school, we all went out to dinner for my daughter's birthday.. She turned 12 yesterday. On our way to dinner I checked the furnace temps and noticed they had fallen a little. After dinner I checked it again and thought whoa, its diving hard. When I got home I went to the basement and saw I only had a little group of glowing coals in the center. I shook lightly to get some combustion air to it and gently spread 20 pounds across the top. The temps kept falling and falling. About 30 minutes passed. No sign of life.

I crept my sorry ass to the living room and the wife says, "geez honey its kinda cold in here, you getting that fire going?" and with an embarrassed tone I said, "I lost the fire.." "you did WHAT?!"

"uhhh, lost the fire and I got nothing to start a new one." "What the hell ya gonna do?" she says.. "Well, I gotta get a flashlight and go round up some kindling out in the woods." I said. "holy *censored*, yer dam lucky I ain't on that forum.. I'd be all over it postin pics! Mr. Coal Master lost the fire!!" she says.


So, after regaining some composure and dignity, I put on the coat, hat and gloves, rounded up a flashlite and set forth into the frozen tundra. Luckily, I had a pile of scrap wood that we use for a chimnea outside during the summer to roast marshmallows with. I built a small wood fire on top of the coal that was left in the furnace. Once that took off, I started adding small amounts of coal. By the time I got up for work, the coal underneath was all ignited right down to the grates.

Cause of catastrophe? - Over confident operator..

Moral of the story, don't push yer luck with the fire, it's embarrassing when it bites you back. Oh, and keep some kindling or charcoal available. You never know when you'll need it.

Your in good company......been there....done that....my wife just snorted and walked away. I think the response was the same.