Bag of Coal Was Too Wet?

Before you load the hopper back up with dryer coal, take a pointed object that is small enough to poke into the holes in the grates. Make sure they are all clear. Wet coal fines (dust) will get into the holes and block them not allowing the air to blow up through them. A small drill bit (not in the drill) will do fine. I use to use an awl which is a sharp pointed tool used by carpenters to punch the gunk out of the holes. It has a nice wooden (usually) handle to hold onto and they are pretty inexpensive. Just about any big box store or hardware store will carry them.

Happy burning.

A BIG PLUS 1 --hell, ya can use a nail to clean holes if ya got nothing else.

Welcome to the forum Melissa,

One bit of advice I would like to add is, never put bagged coal directly into the hopper. Bagged coal is always wet and will cause a variety of terrible problems as mentioned above. The coal drying methods mentioned above will work but the best way to solve the problem is to build a coal bin. Then you can have a place to dry your coal and save a bunch of money by buying in bulk rather than bagged.

-Don

davidmcbeth3 wrote: It is the part that can move around and allow ashes to fall down from.

On most stokers the burn grate doesn't "move around" as it does on a hand-fired. It's the part that holds and lets the air into the fire. The ashes fall from the grate when pushed off by fresh coal being fed to the fire.

Mike

Ok, taking all your advice, inside has been swept out, holes poked in the grate, and we now have a bin that we emptied 3 bags of coal into!

Cool, guess it was a good thing you checked the grate those clogged holes could have had something to do with the fire going out

Aw-sum Melissa!!!

That should improve your situation and turn you into a happy, warm coal burner.

By the way, in that picture it looks like there may be a buildup of fines under your carpet. This can cause feed problems to.

-Don

One more thing. The stove generally works better when installed right-side up.

Mike

Don,

Just for my general knowledge, is that a carpet feed? Did LL even make a carpet feed?

The reason I ask is because my paddle feeds have a plate like that where the grate sides underneath

Doby wrote:Don,

Just for my general knowledge, is that a carpet feed? Did LL even make a carpet feed?

The reason I ask is because my paddle feeds have a plate like that where the grate sides underneath

I don't know, I have never looked closely at an LL. To me, it looked like a carpet feeder from the picture.

Maybe it isn't???

-Don

StokerDon wrote:

Doby wrote:Don,

Just for my general knowledge, is that a carpet feed? Did LL even make a carpet feed?

The reason I ask is because my paddle feeds have a plate like that where the grate sides underneath

I don't know, I have never looked closely at an LL. To me, it looked like a carpet feeder from the picture.

Maybe it isn't???

-Don

I don't think it is. There is a heavy metal piece over the grate and under the paddle

Thank you everyone! We have FIRE! LOL

Outstanding when a plan works! Ya done good.

Don't call emergency services lilnena .. that stuff in your stove is the expected result..

Good you got it back to right side up too

Glad to hear your stove is working again.