Year 2-Still Freezing

I don't have any good quality hardwood, just some poplar which I do burn on occasion.
I know that wood burns hotter and puts out more heat and there is no doubt or disagreement coal is a factor.
It's just not the best.

The discussion usually comes back to my coal and I totally agree that is a major factor in my unhappiness.
Yet, I can easily get 700+ fires.

I only know of two places relatively close to me that I can buy coal that are open.
Way up in the thread someone posted a link to coal in Armstrong County with 19 links.

Two were the same place and it's a retail furnace/swimming pool store.
There were a large number of Rosebud locations.
They have all been shut down for months.

I know because the oil company I work for supplies their fuel.

There are two places left.
Stitt Coal which is about 17 miles and where I have bought most of my coal except the first couple loads when I started.
The other is M&M Lime which is about 12 miles.
I bought the first couple of loads from them when I started but was less satisfied with them than what I have now.
But, I am going to try them again next week because I don't know how much my initial install had to do with my dissatisfaction.
The first place will load me heavy while the second scales me and won't let me leave with more than 1100 lbs.

CoalIsCoolXWarm mentioned Valier Coal.
It is an hour away.

I'm trying to avoid going that far for 1/2 ton at a time and hauling it back through the windy back roads from Punxsutawney to Smicksburg to Dayton, Rural Valley, etc.

In my pea brain stuck inside my very thick skull, I ask the question I asked above which, I don't think is coal related.

If Ky Speedracer can take the plug from the back of his furnace and it helps it burn hotter, why does it have no effect when I do it with the same exact furnace.
I realize there are factors that affect the amount od success such as my poor coal compared to his.

But, shouldn't I experience some of the improvement he gets?
Same with over fire air.
It does nothing to burn the volatiles.
About the only effect that I can tell of using over fire air is that I get less heat to my house but a more complete burn of the coal leaving more powdery ash and less clinkers or ash lumps.

I realize that I will never get anywhere near his results due to coal quality and draft as two examples but shouldn't I get them to a much smaller degree?

You mentioned cleaning.
I shake the grates 2-3 times every day and carry out to coal buckets of ashes every day.
I have tried to shake every time I add coal but get very little ash on these additional shakes.
I do not brush down my furnace every day like you do, Lightning.

I like to think I am pretty thorough with the poker by running along the side rails and working the back corners as well as the whole back wall.
Maybe that's not enough?

Yes, I know I'm stubborn

I realize there are factors that affect the amount od success such as my poor coal compared to his.

But, shouldn't I experience some of the improvement he gets?

The discussion usually comes back to my coal and I totally agree that is a major factor in my unhappiness.


The short answer to your question is no. If you have C rappy coal you will have a C rappy fire and C rappy heat out put.

It is simple......

Bad coal equals bad experience.
Good coal equals good experience

larryfoster wrote:You mentioned cleaning.
I shake the grates 2-3 times every day and carry out to coal buckets of ashes every day.
I have tried to shake every time I add coal but get very little ash on these additional shakes.
I do not brush down my furnace every day like you do, Lightning.

I like to think I am pretty thorough with the poker by running along the side rails and working the back corners as well as the whole back wall.
Maybe that's not enough?

I caught this, Larry. We are both using crappy coal, yours is a little more crappy than mine.

Anywho..........I shake and run the poker every time I add coal, and you should also. When your coal sticks together like you are saying, ash will be suspended above the grates and stuck to the bottom of that lumpy mess. I'm currently gettng close to one shovel of ash for every 2 shovels of coal that I put in.

Shake, run the poker, then shake again if it's not glowing red ( from the coals above) looking in the ashpan area.

Sounds like happiness is unattainable for me.

Crappy coal gives me 700+ degree fires measured over the door.
Sorry, but that answer is a cop out.

It does not explain why one person has the exact same furnace.
He can pull his back plug to get hotter fires.
He can use over fire air to burn his volatiles.
Those things are mechanics.

The fuel shouldn't change the mechanics.
Just how well it performs.

If the coal didn't burn and was full of boney that would be crappy coal.

It doesn't explain the people that are getting coal at the same place I am and (I can only assume) are getting satisfactory results.

I am not arguing that I have great or even very good coal.

Sorry for the reaction but that is only one factor.

Maybe I just got a lemon furnace from a mediocre furnace at best?

larryfoster wrote:Yes, I know I'm stubborn

LOL. At least we know our strengths and weaknesses

So here's some tough love.

Get in your truck, drive to Valier, and get some dam coal! Don't be a dufuss, stop screwing around for weeks, and use ONLY that coal for a week while posting here and getting things dialed in. Get the stove coal, bigger than nut if you can, though nut worked well if it doesn't have too much dust in it.

At least you'll get all of us to shut up about the coal!

Prove us wrong. Do it. Stop crying about it and git 'r done! 2 years of screwing around? Time to put an end to the trouble.

2 hrs round trip is NOTHING. Unless you're a sissy, girly man. Haha!

Okay? Now you have my permission to come back after using the good coal and give me as much grief back in return

BTW, considering the COLD moving in this week, I suggest you go get it right now. Call them for exact directions and to make sure they are there (almost always there).

I drove over an hour one way to get their coal.

Go Larry. Go now. I Dare you!

Don, I see lots or red when I'm done shaking and emptying my pan.
If I further shake, I don't get much ash but hot coals.

I will try again to shake every time and see what results I get.

I just put some insulation back into the front liner and threw 3 poplar log wedges on.

The next couple days will tell if any of the improvements and mods have had any effect.

Friday, I have to burn coal because I'm gone all day.
I'll bank it in the morning around 7 AM to last until 6 PM.

larryfoster wrote:Crappy coal gives me 700+ degree fires measured over the door.

For how long? A short burst of heat isn't gonna impact anything.. Keep it 700 for three hours and then come back and tell us your house is still cold..

Depends how long I want to keep the ash door open

Honestly, if you need to let the ash door open to keep it hot you need to make some changes.

Option #1 use the primary air more efficiently. Do the lightning mod and block both bypasses at the front and rear liners. Then use the load door draft for secondary air.

Option #2 get a hole saw and cut in another primary air source in the ash door.

Option #3 do both option #1 and option #2.

I would choose option #3 the cold is coming, you got a couple days to get her done. The air handling part is as good as it's gonna get.

I called 3 coal places today including Valier which is what CoalIsCoolXWarm recommended and the 2 places I have bought from in the past.

All three sell "Upper Freeport" coal.

The place I had originally bought from was the only one that had a full analysis.
BTUs 13.039-15,000
Ash 11.58
Sulfur 2.82
$85 for run of mine and $115 screened

My current supplier only knew that his was around 13,000.
$100/ton (I believe screened)

Valier coal didn't know about theirs.
Nut bit $100/ton.

How much difference would there be?

Lightning, the only reason I never did the mod to the back liner was that I'm neither skinny enough nor have long enough arms to reach back there.
Question on cutting a hole in the ash door.
How would I regulate it?

The 'nut' bit coal would be a whole bunch better than trying to fight the fine coal. The fine coal takes tons of work and constant poking.

Nut allows airflow through the coal bed so it will burn, fine stuff smothers the fire.

Pay the extra and get the screened coal or screen it yourself. You can screen your own with some chicken wire (hardware cloth?) nailed to a 2 x 2 foot box made of 2x4s. Those are good ratings on your coal. I believe the fines are a huge contributor to your unsatisfactory results.

Use a 1 inch diameter hole saw. Leave the one inch wide open and use the spinner to regulate more. If you find that you must close the spinner completely and the one inch hole is still too much then cover half of it with foil tape.

I've been avoiding the fines so far when I load.
There may be a wee bit that sneaks in but an insignificant amount.

Most of the coal I've been using is golf ball sized or just a little bigger.
So far, I've been working around the edges of the big pile in the middle of my coal bin where the lumps have rolled off.
There's definitely noticeable fines in that pile

Funny, the picture shows coal being screened haha.
The square openings appear to 1/2 inch so anything smaller would fall thru leaving you with clean coal.