successfully burning anthracite coal in a clayton furnace

my unit looks exactly like the one on the previous page from coalcrazy. i believe that the fan does blow over the fire. there is a slight difference between when its on and off. its almost completely out now. i can see some embers glowing but its going out. it is extremely frustrating because ive read this and other sites and i try different things and nothing seems to work. on top of all this the weather is getting warm again during the day and cold at night. i really dont care if the house is warm, i can open some windows but i have to resolve this before the real cold starts[or i run out of heating oil]. im also using nut coal and wondering if i should go larger or maybe mix up some larger in with it.

If it blows air over the fire all that will do is kill your fire.like I said ALL combustion air has to go through the coal bed.If the fad blows air over the fire you can't burn anthracite in it the way it is.You can only burn bit coal and wood.
DON

It'll work with nut coal just needs a good draft.AND all draft through the coal bed.

thanks big beam. im going to try once more tonight to get it going. i went downstairs after my last post and felt around to see where the air was moving through. it is going under the coal but there is a space in the very front where the coal just falls through, and air can come up. im going to see if there is a way to block it off.

Use 2 small peices of flat metal,then all the air will go through the fire.You can even use 2 peices of coal,it won't light up.
DON

OK.Now that I know what you got I'll walk you through it.Make sure the baro is set at .08 or .1 depending on which baro you have.Block off the 2 little holes right by the lower part of the loading door with coal.Load with a lot of wood and or charcoal(1/3 full).Fire it up and make sure the combustion fan is running .Close both doors. When a good wood fire is going(about 10 or 15 minutes) don't wait until the wood fire gets to red coals, add about 2" of coal and make sure it's 2" on the whole grate.Any holes in the front,back or sides will let air go around the fire.Close all the doors.In about 20 minutes you should see some blue flame.Then add another 2" of coal.Close doors.In about 20 minutes you should see a lot of blue flames.Then is the time to fill it up to the fire brick and you can even mound it up more in the middle.You can play with the baro after you get better at running the furnace in a few days.In time you won't need to block off the 2 holes with coal either,it's just EZer for now.My Hotblast also has the 2 little holes in the front cast iron peice.I leave them covered this time of the year so I get a better draft and can run the furnace lower.But I would open them up when you start running the furnace harder.Their purpose is to help cool the cast iron peice in the front.Even the back cast iron peice has small holes for the same thing but they're much smaller.You'll get the hang of it and in a few days it'll be EZ.Coal burns better when it's deep.You control the heat with air not the amount of coal in the furnace.When ever you load the furnace even this time of the year fill it full.
DON

Got that baby blazing yet?
DON

its sunday morning and my oil furnace is on-again. i had a real good fire going last night, i did it just as you described. had the blue flames. i even had to open the windows it got so warm. went to bed at 10:30 and everything was fine, 6 o'clock this morning and nothing. a lot of ash and unburned coal. i also have another problem. i don't have a couple of holes in the front. its a 2 or 3 inch slot between the front of the furnace and the grate. also when you shake the grate the entire assembly moves from front to back. the individual segments don't move like they are supposed to. last night i put a block of wood in that opening and the air seemed to move under the bed of coal, but of course the wood eventually burned. i'm going to have to call us stove on monday{if i can ever get a hold of them}.

Check your PM box and call me

I have a clone to the Clayton and I installed a draft inducer it made all the difference in the world my chimney is short and I had a weak draft. The thing burns with out any problems now I have learned to poke fire from top then have a poker for the bottom to get ashes to drop into pan I have been able go as much as 16 hours with out a problem.

Well I'm in over my head.I'd call candlewood.
DON

cleaned out furnace, re adjusted grates, put spare fire brick in the front to block air and re lit. that was at 9:30 this morning. its 76 degrees in here with all the widows open, and the fire is picture perfect. i have the dialer open about a half inch with no difference. the fad isn't even on because its so warm. and of course it about 50 outside, with temps during the day expected to be around 60 this week. i can not win.but it seems to be working ok so far. i really have to thank you for your help. keep your fingers crossed. thanks

you must block both air holes. theres another in the rear of firebox under the cast plate w/ the three holes. i removed both cast plates, blocked both rectangular holes, then built a steel channel frame that fits over the top of the firebrick which holds them vertical. this has changed the way the furnace performs (best mod i've done to date). the furnace is so predictable when i tend it twice a day i don't even worry about what i'll see when i open the door. it always looks great. i shake and load then go to work or bed. before i did these mods i stuggled to keep the fire steady. these furnaces are built in tennessee where the coal is bituminous which does need over the fire air, wood does too. us stove is clueless to proper burning of anthr. i know this because i called the factory many times and the girl sounds like she's reading right out of the manual. no help there. so i took upon myself w/ good advice from the forum and made it work. good luck. contact me i'll help you enjoy your furnace instead of stressing over it. coalcrazy.

5:00, and the stove is completely cold. it is full of ash. i shook the hell out of it and got two full trays of ash out of it. is it possible that i have lousy coal? maybe if i dont fill it so much it wont clog up. i only filled it to probably 3 inches from top of bricks.i just restarted another fire, im hoping that unburned stuff will go.

When I run my hotblast hard I also get 2 trays of ash with some coals on a 12 hr. cycle of loading and shaking.
DON