Short Burns, Fire Going out

rberq wrote:Not to be too anal here, BUT ... the Harman Mark series DOES have non-adjustable air intakes on the loading door, in the form of narrow slots at the top and bottom of the glass. I think the way it works is that the glass has thin gaskets at the sides, but not at top and bottom, so the spaces where top and bottom gaskets would be result in a narrow gap that lets in a controlled amount of air. Unfortunately (IMHO) it's never the RiGHT amount of air -- too little with a new load of coal, too much with a mature fire.

All of which is irrelevant to MountainPreacher's problem....

Yes , you are correct. I was going to chime in , but you beat me to it. I don't know about the new ones , but the combo wood/coal stoves do have fixed vent holes in door.

oliver power wrote:

rberq wrote:Not to be too anal here, BUT ... the Harman Mark series DOES have non-adjustable air intakes on the loading door, in the form of narrow slots at the top and bottom of the glass. I think the way it works is that the glass has thin gaskets at the sides, but not at top and bottom, so the spaces where top and bottom gaskets would be result in a narrow gap that lets in a controlled amount of air. Unfortunately (IMHO) it's never the RiGHT amount of air -- too little with a new load of coal, too much with a mature fire.

All of which is irrelevant to MountainPreacher's problem....

Yes , you are correct. I was going to chime in , but you beat me to it. I don't know about the new ones , but the combo wood/coal stoves do have fixed vent holes in door.

I'll chime in too.....My TLC-2000 has both fixed secondary air vents ( for coal burning) & slide controlable ones (for wood fires) which I never open.

Quality counts!

After months of continuous burn, I ran out of "good" coal. I went out and got a 1/2 ton of strip mine coal local, figuring it would last me until I got a delivery.

It burned, but never got hot. In my Mark II I'd have the vent open 4 turns, and a roaring fire, but only get a temp of 270 degrees. I blew thru that 1,100 pounds in 10 days and was cold the whole time.

The yard was too muddy for delivery, and my truck was down, so a friend took me to where he buys his rice coal, deep mined, and I got a 1/2 ton there to try.
THAT IS WHERE THE NIGHTMARE STARTED.
This burned hot, but made clinkers of various shapes and sizes. It also made slag that was too hard to break up with the grates, and too large to fall thru. There would be enough slag to cover the grates and snuff the fire within 48 hours. I have a piece here, and when tapped on the desk it sounds like metal, and I can't brake it by hand.
Every other night I'd have to dump what was left of the fire, use a poker to knock the slag off the grates, and start a new fire.
I was lucky to let the fire go 6 hours without it needing major attention.

Yesterday, with my truck on the road again, I went to Summit Anthracite based on J.C.s recommendation and got 1/2 ton. I'm going to burn the last 2 5's of the cr@p coal and clean the stove out before I try the new coal.

I'm calling in for a delivery next week. I'm not even going to play, I'm just getting 2 tons from Superior Coal. Sure, the red ash doesn't blend when I fill potholes in my driveway - but I never had any trouble with the fire.

Next year I'll have enough for the entire winter before fall, so I don't have to play this game again.

Steve

Thanks for the reply Steve. May be worth my drive to head over your way to get the good stuff! How much is nut selling for over there?

It was $140/ton for nut at Summit yesterday.

Steve

Hi, I think it's the same problem ,as I had and post in "UNBURNED COAL IN MARK III" unburned coal (left overs) in coal stove MARK III.
It's VERY helpfull for me with my MARK stove and I hope it willl help for you. Rberg right, Mark has air vents on top and bottom sides closed by gasket rope (good for wood , bad for coal burning and do not protect glass from cresote build up-glass get dirty anyway).
Check ashes on grate, can you see reflection of gloving on ash pan metall when you shake ashes down?when you put more coal ? if not shake more, Reading has a lot of ash, I'd say 20-30 percent.
When loading coal let lower door to be open (you can clean ash pan in that time )10-15 min to get fire started in full bed .
I open lower door knob open 2 turns , 3 too much ,1 is not enough (for 30 outside, NJ))
Again , read "unburned coal"post, guys so smart there.
Hope helps.Serge.

spaserg wrote:Hi, I think it's the same problem ,as I had and post in "UNBURNED COAL IN MARK III" unburned coal (left overs) in coal stove MARK III.
It's VERY helpfull for me with my MARK stove and I hope it willl help for you. Rberg right, Mark has air vents on top and bottom sides closed by gasket rope (good for wood , bad for coal burning and do not protect glass from cresote build up-glass get dirty anyway).
Check ashes on grate, can you see reflection of gloving on ash pan metall when you shake ashes down?when you put more coal ? if not shake more, Reading has a lot of ash, I'd say 20-30 percent.
When loading coal let lower door to be open (you can clean ash pan in that time )10-15 min to get fire started in full bed .
I open lower door knob open 2 turns , 3 too much ,1 is not enough (for 30 outside, NJ))
Again , read "unburned coal"post, guys so smart there.
Hope helps.Serge.

While the ash pan is out don't forget to poke up through the grates with a bent piece of stiff wire, working your way across the grates. You can see the reflection of the glowing coals in the bottom of the stove. This will dislodge the blockages that prevent air from getting to the coal.

Mastiffman wrote:Quality counts!

After months of continuous burn, I ran out of "good" coal. I went out and got a 1/2 ton of strip mine coal local, figuring it would last me until I got a delivery.

It burned, but never got hot. In my Mark II I'd have the vent open 4 turns, and a roaring fire, but only get a temp of 270 degrees. I blew thru that 1,100 pounds in 10 days and was cold the whole time.

The yard was too muddy for delivery, and my truck was down, so a friend took me to where he buys his rice coal, deep mined, and I got a 1/2 ton there to try.
THAT IS WHERE THE NIGHTMARE STARTED.
This burned hot, but made clinkers of various shapes and sizes. It also made slag that was too hard to break up with the grates, and too large to fall thru. There would be enough slag to cover the grates and snuff the fire within 48 hours. I have a piece here, and when tapped on the desk it sounds like metal, and I can't brake it by hand.
Every other night I'd have to dump what was left of the fire, use a poker to knock the slag off the grates, and start a new fire.
I was lucky to let the fire go 6 hours without it needing major attention.

Yesterday, with my truck on the road again, I went to Summit Anthracite based on J.C.s recommendation and got 1/2 ton. I'm going to burn the last 2 5's of the cr@p coal and clean the stove out before I try the new coal.

I'm calling in for a delivery next week. I'm not even going to play, I'm just getting 2 tons from Superior Coal. Sure, the red ash doesn't blend when I fill potholes in my driveway - but I never had any trouble with the fire.

Next year I'll have enough for the entire winter before fall, so I don't have to play this game again.

Steve

Been down that road, Steve. The coal you bought that your friend said was deep mined, that gave you all the trouble-was it really deep mined?

Superior coal burns fine in both of my stoves. If I burn the hand-fired too hot I do get clinker formation, keeping the temps where they belong cuts down on this. The stoker runs great.