Chronicles of the Clayton

joeq · Post by **joeq** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2015 4:11 pm

You can also look at it this way Lee. "A man doesn't know his limits, till he exceeds them". At least you now have a baseline of the "termination point".

michaelanthony · Post by **michaelanthony** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2015 5:28 pm

Not to worry Lee I had a similar yesterday with the vigilant and pushed it too long so after lunch I decided it needed a clean out. Any Vigilant owner will tell you what a difference a good cleaning makes!

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2015 5:39 pm

That is bad news Lee....i guess you have to turn in your coal-god card and petition at a later date to be reinstated.

We have enough of those longaberger baskets around here I could use one of those for a restart and it wouldn't be missed if I re-arranged the pile just so....nice dry, thin strips of maple or oak or whatever they make those things from.

Ky Speedracer · Post by **Ky Speedracer** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2015 6:31 pm

My coal burning mentor is human??? Dammit! I'm so disappointed... LOL

Post by **Lightning** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2015 6:53 pm

Ky Speedracer wrote:My coal burning mentor is human??? Dammit! I'm so disappointed... LOL

Don't make me get out the Super Hero outfit..

Thanks for the kind words fellas.. Honestly though, I haven't unintentionally lost a fire since my first season burning coal. I was totally unprepared, to the point that I was wandering out in the dark and cold digging thru a foot of snow for some kindling wood. This is my forth year, I should know better by now.

...

My wife has her friend here tonight, and of course I've already been thrown under the bus for last nights events..

I'll be the bigger person and not bring up the tuna casserole that didn't turn out earlier this week. Probably in my best interest anyways..

Ky Speedracer · Post by **Ky Speedracer** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2015 6:59 pm

I bet that outfit is cold when you're wondering around in a foot of snow... Lol

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Thu. Jan. 29, 2015 7:19 pm

Ky Speedracer wrote:I bet that outfit is cold when you're wondering around in a foot of snow... Lol

especially considerin' them stubby little legs

blrman07 · Post by **blrman07** » Fri. Jan. 30, 2015 5:31 am

Ky Speedracer wrote:My coal burning mentor is human??? Dammit! I'm so disappointed... LOL

Lightning wrote:My wife has her friend here tonight, and of course I've already been thrown under the bus for last nights events.. I'll be the bigger person and not bring up the tuna casserole that didn't turn out earlier this week. Probably in my best interest anyways..

Ya think?

Post by **Lightning** » Fri. Jan. 30, 2015 5:03 pm

Right..

an assault of that magnitude surly wouldn't score any points. I try not to tread that ice.

I do need to do my mid season cleaning soon. I'm sure my pipe needs vacuumed and my firebox is accumulating unburnables towards the back of it. I'm not getting a very good glow down thru the grates in the back anymore.

joeq · Post by **joeq** » Fri. Jan. 30, 2015 5:48 pm

This is where a true"hot ash" vac would come in handy. Wouldn't it be convenient to have one that you could stick into the burning coal bed, and vacuum around the edges and under the grating "while in operation"? I'm surprised no-one has come up with one yet.

Post by **Lightning** » Fri. Jan. 30, 2015 5:55 pm

Yeah that'd be neato! Would need some kind of metal flex hose to vacuum and with a dual chamber collector. One for hot ash and the other thru water. It wouldn't be hard to whip up.

Post by **Lightning** » Sat. Jan. 31, 2015 7:44 pm

This morning I only shook the grates, didn't add coal. By noon it was running cool, by 4:00 she was cold. I did my mid season clean out and vacuumed the flue pipe and base of the chimney for fly ash. There really wasn't much at all. Not enough to effect draft yet, but at least I'm confident now that part should be good for the rest of the heating season.

I had a hell of a lot of stone like objects at the bottom of the fuel bed when I cleaned it out. I really don't know what it is. They don't really resemble clinkers that I normally see. These things are the size of nut coal and are like rocks. Clinkers tend to be brittle and bust up easy. These things are downright tough nuggets! They coincide with those weird things I'm finding in my coal..

What Is This in My Coal?

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Sat. Jan. 31, 2015 8:25 pm

That be the dreaded slate. I get it in my bit coal also. Nasty stuff, will lock my grates up tight.

Post by **Lightning** » Sat. Jan. 31, 2015 9:09 pm

SWPaDon wrote:That be the dreaded slate. I get it in my bit coal also. Nasty stuff, will lock my grates up tight.

Well, guess I can't complain too much.
I've gone half the season before cleaning out the fuel bed.

SWPaDon · Post by **SWPaDon** » Sat. Jan. 31, 2015 9:39 pm

Lightning wrote:
SWPaDon wrote:That be the dreaded slate. I get it in my bit coal also. Nasty stuff, will lock my grates up tight.
Well, guess I can't complain too much.
I've gone half the season before cleaning out the fuel bed.

You've done good. Mine has had to be shut down and cleaned out about 5 times this season. A piece of slate will slip by us and jam the grates.

This year we are using ROM coal. It has bigger pieces of slate in it. When I used the nut coal last year, I would get pieces of slate, about the size and thickness of a dime that would jam my grates. Those are a bigger pain in the butt, because I would have to remove every last bit of ash to find that little sucker that was wedged between the grate and the frame.

Chronicles of the Clayton

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