Coal Sliding Down Grate

captcaper · Post by **captcaper** » Sun. Dec. 07, 2014 1:50 pm

I think it's the Blazcek coal. Mine caked up just like yours did. I have never had this happen before. I noticed some more caking in the ashes as well. I heard Blazcek has different coal now so who knows.

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Sun. Dec. 07, 2014 2:42 pm

I usually have a problem with my Leisure line starting without falling off the grates due to the angle, my Keystoker is almost flat grates and never have a problem starting it. I just put a little piece of wood wedged into the end, until get going, and it usually burns up by the time the coal gets going really good. so that seems to work pretty good.

Maybe you could thicker gasket in the front of the grate to angle it back a little more, or shim the stove up a little bit in the front. Depending on how it's mounted on the back, maybe a washer or two on the top of the stoker mounting plate to bring the front of the grates up a little bit.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sun. Dec. 07, 2014 6:09 pm

You really had two problems when you came here. One just recently was reported. The fact that your coal bed was to thick.
It would of helped all if we were to know the whole picture to give you the best solution.

The thickness of the coal is a big contributor to the sliding off problem.

Triplechip wrote:Hi guys just wanted to give you a quick update on where I stand with the coal sliding down the grate. Friday morning I started the stove and I used a small piece of 1/16 sheet metal across the bottom so that some ash could build up on the bottom of the grate. This worked good until the piece fell out and the ash slid out of the pan even with the feeder set at 1.5. Yesterday I went to the stove place store where both of my stoves came from and talked with the owner about what's going on. He's heard of some people having the same issue that I'm having. He informed that the angle of the burn grate can vary a few degrees from stove to stove when they are built. Some people fix this problem by either placing blocks under the front of the stove to tilt it backwards or used an angle grinder to rough up the surface of the burn grate to give the coal a little something more to bite onto and now slide off as easily. We were also talking about making a baffle so that the bed of coal isn't as tall , right now it's the same height as the sides of the burn grate. Yesterday I emptied the hopper and I filled it with a bag of blaschak coal that I've been using in my other stove. I had better luck using that coal and I could turn it up to about 2.5 before te coal would start to slide down the grate. Today I'm at work and I'm going to cut some sheet metal and make a baffle to limit how thick the bed of coal is going onto the burn grate. Sorry for being so long winded but just want to keep you guys updated on where I stand with the stove. The last thing I'm going to try is to change the angle of the burn grate to 15 degrees so it's similar to my other stove and see how this works.

Triplechip · Post by **Triplechip** » Sun. Dec. 07, 2014 7:24 pm

I've got the coal emptying right now so that I can work on the baffle and see how that helps things out. I didn't think of the thickness of the coal until I talked to the guy at the stove store. Some of the stoves he had there had baffles and some didn't. I've included a picture so you guys can see how high the coal is.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sun. Dec. 07, 2014 9:26 pm

Alright, Thanks for the photo.

Another thing you could try for the thick coal, which does stop the sliding coal too, is to block off some of the hole in bottom of the hopper.
You could cut a piece or shape of sheet metal for this. If after some trial and error and you get some good results you could then pop rivet it in permanently.

Triplechip · Post by **Triplechip** » Mon. Dec. 08, 2014 8:09 pm

Hi guys I'm back with another update. Today I took the entire burner assembly out of the stove. I found that the burn grate wasn't as rough as I thought, it's actually smooth. I'm thinking of using an angle grinder with a hard wheel and use it to make the surface a little more rough in hopes that it keeps the coal from sliding. I've included a picture so you guys can see what I'm talking about.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Mon. Dec. 08, 2014 9:57 pm

Rougher grate does nothing for the too thick of coal situation.

Doby · Post by **Doby** » Tue. Dec. 09, 2014 8:02 pm

I like McGiever,s suggestion to block off part of the hopper, its almost like the coal is gravity feeding way to deepand when the paddle feed is pushing a hole lump before the fire is established. Maybe to fill the hopper with very little coal in the beginning so there ain't so much weight pushing.

When you set the grate take a block of wood and a hammer, first tap the grate up toward the strong back gasket to be sure it seats then tap down evenly to make sure it seats on the gasket. roughing up the grate sounds good but I would be afraid once you get going the ashes will hang and cause clinkers, yet another issue.

When you start the fire keep your starter all the way up top of the grate this to will hold back coal.

blrman07 · Post by **blrman07** » Tue. Dec. 09, 2014 8:44 pm

blrman07 wrote:I only had that problem with my stoker right after I fired it up. I would go through 3 or more "starts" before the burning coal would finally stay on the grate. I finally learned to hold a bucket of ash to the side and make sure I had ash on the end of the grate BEFORE I lit the stove. The ash doesn't slide as easy as the coal and it makes a dam for the coal to sit against. As the coal pushes, the ash provides some resistance and it doesn't slide off.

Just a thought.

I repeat myself. I had the same problem and solved it by ensuring that I put ash about an inch thick on the end of the grate up about 1/4 of the way. The ash doesn't slide like virgin coal will.

Try it you'll like it.

Doby · Post by **Doby** » Tue. Dec. 09, 2014 11:26 pm

I think it would be a good idea if you would post in detail everthing you have tried from the above posts and the outcome. More or less a review of what has been tried and if anything positive has came of it. If it has not been tried mention that to

Triplechip · Post by **Triplechip** » Wed. Dec. 10, 2014 4:58 am

Thanks a lot for your help guys last night I reassembled the stove and got it ready to start up when I get home from work later today. I tipped back the burn grate to lessen the angle of it and I also cut a piece of sheet metal to cover the back portion of the hopper so to much coal doesn't get fed to the paddle. When I put the burn grate back on I used a dead blow hammer to make sure it was properly seated against the strong back gasket. I also used anti-seize on the four 1/4-20 bolts that hold the entire burner assembly in position. I had one of those break when I took it apart and had to drill out the broken bolt. I'll give you guys another update after I fire it up. Thanks for your help.

Triplechip · Post by **Triplechip** » Wed. Dec. 10, 2014 8:55 pm

Hi Doby I'll give you a quick rundown on what I've tried with my stove. I bought this stove used a couple weeks ago. When I started it for the first time I started it just like I start the cast console I use to heat my house. I buried the fire starter towards the top of the burn grate and then a minute later I turned on the combustion fan and had the coal feeder set at 1. After running for a short time I started to turn up the coal feeder. At about 1.5 the burning coals would start to fall apart and slide down the grate and into the ash pan. Now a quick rundown of what I've tried. I tried using a small piece of sheet metal at the bottom to build up a layer of ash, no luck with that. I next tried putting a layer of ash at the end of the grate and when I'd start to turn up the feeder the burning coals would again fall apart. The next thing I tried was changing to the blaschak coal I've been using for years. This worked a little better but would eventually fall apart. I started comparing the two stoves and I found the burn grate on the stoker 11 was at a steeper angle than than my cast console and it looked like the layer of coal was thicker than my other stove. What ended up doing was tipping back the burner so that it was similar to my other stove and I partially blocked off the bottom of the coal hopper. I've had my stove running for about two hours and so far it has run really good and without any issues at all. I've included a pic guy so you can see how it is currently running.

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Wed. Dec. 10, 2014 10:04 pm

Have you checked the combustion blower to make sure that it is NOT blowing too much air ???

Rick

Triplechip · Post by **Triplechip** » Thu. Dec. 11, 2014 5:11 am

That's a good idea Rick I cleaned the fan and gave the motor a couple drops of oil, that's something that might be worth looking into. I had it running for a little while last night and it seemed to run good. The ash looks very similar to my other stove and it didn't slide down at all. I'm going to start it back up on Saturday morning and let it run for the weekend.

Stoker6268 · Post by **Stoker6268** » Fri. Dec. 12, 2014 6:44 am

Might be an air issue. I had the same problem with my tri burner years ago. I had to replace the motor / combustion blower and it immediately stopped sliding off the chute.

Coal Sliding Down Grate

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