Easyest Way to Empty Fire Pot

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 1:34 pm

Lost it completely as had a very bad sleep night and badly misses tending time not the stoves fault. The whole fire pot is full of partially burned coal as it still looks like red coal and has nothing looking like ash on the top. It's about 40 lbs. Is it 40 lbs. of clinkers or partially burned coal? If it has to all come out was thinking use a suitable sized scoop to get as much as possible then start with the pokers if not clinkers can I I burn this down to ash at least the coal looking pieces?

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 2:00 pm

There's still heat potential in there and a covering of ash on the outside of each chunk won't matter anymore than when the fire doesn't go out.

Because a fresh fire after a cleanout can so often burn hotter than usual, I often mix in any unburned coal from the cleanout. A start the fire with a layer of fresh coal, and then add in some of the unburned coal as I build up the firebed back to normal amount.

Just don't try to put too much in at once. Maybe spread out one scoop to four, or five of fresh coal. If there's extra left over after the firebox is full again, you can add it as small part of later refills.

Paul

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 2:02 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:There's still heat potential in there and a covering of ash on the outside of each chunk won't matter anymore than when the fire doesn't go out.

Because a fresh fire after a cleanout can so often burn hotter than usual, I often mix in any unburned coal from the cleanout. A start the fire with a layer of fresh coal, and then add in some of the unburned coal as I build up the firebed back to normal amount.

Just don't try to put too much in at once. Maybe spread out one scoop to four, or five of fresh coal. If there's extra left over after the firebox is full again, you can add it as small part of later refills.

Paul

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 2:03 pm

ddahlgren wrote:
Sunny Boy wrote:There's still heat potential in there and a covering of ash on the outside of each chunk won't matter anymore than when the fire doesn't go out.

Because a fresh fire after a cleanout can so often burn hotter than usual, I often mix in any unburned coal from the cleanout. A start the fire with a layer of fresh coal, and then add in some of the unburned coal as I build up the firebed back to normal amount.

Just don't try to put too much in at once. Maybe spread out one scoop to four, or five of fresh coal. If there's extra left over after the firebox is full again, you can add it as small part of later refills.

Paul

Can I build a fire on top of 5 or 10 lbs of it or no?

Post by **franco b** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 2:08 pm

Shake it good and then scoop out a hole in the middle with a garden trowel down to the grate. Two or three crumpled newspaper and preferably charcoal on top of that. When charcoal lit add coal on top. The fire will spread to the rest of the bed.

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 2:17 pm

franco b wrote:Shake it good and then scoop out a hole in the middle with a garden trowel down to the grate. Two or three crumpled newspaper and preferably charcoal on top of that. When charcoal lit add coal on top. The fire will spread to the rest of the bed.

Ok shake and 'floss well then do as you say with the charcoal? Room for 10 lbs new coal or more? I need some idea of scale here. Percentage old part burned vs. new coal.

Post by **franco b** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 2:27 pm

ddahlgren wrote:Ok shake and 'floss well then do as you say with the charcoal? Room for 10 lbs new coal or more? I need some idea of scale here. Percentage old part burned vs. new coal.

No new coal until that charcoal in the hole in the middle is burning, then add new coal on top of that. As that takes off, add coal to entire bed.

The hole you scoop out largely by piling to the sides the old unburnt coal should be about one quarter to one third of the bed width.

There should be a blowtorch effect with that hole down to grate level and ash door open.

summerski · Post by **summerski** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 2:36 pm

I shake the hell out of it and get all the ash out possible then bank it, start a hardwood fire on the clean side, then start burning fresh anthracite. Before you know it, the whole pot is raging. I never empty a full or half dead pot. Good luck.

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 2:46 pm

summerski wrote:I shake the hell out of it and get all the ash out possible then bank it, start a hardwood fire on the clean side, then start burning fresh anthracite. Before you know it, the whole pot is raging. I never empty a full or half dead pot. Good luck.

Sounds easiest to me by the time I get all the ash out probably down to 1/2 full and just bank it up on one side and get that going first.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 2:58 pm

A few days after my wife died last Feb.,i turned the air adjusters closed & just left the fire die . Last fall when I restarted,i wore leather gloves & dug the center out to each side,put some cardboard ,slivers of wood & newspaper,lit the paper,cardboard & when the wood was burning good,i pushed some of the coal over the fire,eventually added more coal & the stove still has that same fire yet.

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 3:25 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote:A few days after my wife died last Feb.,i turned the air adjusters closed & just left the fire die . Last fall when I restarted,i wore leather gloves & dug the center out to each side,put some cardboard ,slivers of wood & newspaper,lit the paper,cardboard & when the wood was burning good,i pushed some of the coal over the fire,eventually added more coal & the stove still has that same fire yet.

I know you have mentioned it that I saw once before but if did not say it condolences on the loss of your wife. I can't imagine the pain.
So shake floss and poker from the top along edges of fiere pot, I seem to find a lot on the side closest to the door along the edge of the pot. It sounds like mine went out the same as yours as the house was getting to warm and cranked way back and overslept badly due to interrupted sleep. The sleep 2 awake 2 or 3 sleep 2 or 3 and up again with no real rest. I missed tending time by at least 5 hours maybe a tad more and the coal all looks like red coal. Nothing to hurt by trying and you certainly have a bunch more experience than me at burning coal.

Post by **Lightning** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 3:37 pm

When I lose a fire I just shake it down as far as possible and leave a level bed of cold unburned coal on top the grates. As long as I'm confident there aren't any clinkers or unburnable material left, I just build a new fire on top of it with lump charcoal and add layers of fresh coal as usual with building a new fire. The layer of cold left overs from the previous fire eventually all gets burning. I've also banked the left overs towards the front and back making a hole in the center. Both techniques worked well for me

scalabro · Post by **scalabro** » Thu. Feb. 02, 2017 5:48 pm

This is a good reason to have a small bag of matchlight charcoal laying around throw in the whole bag and light. Shake down 15 minutes later and agg fresh coal.....done

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Fri. Feb. 03, 2017 7:06 pm

Well my fantasy there was part burned coal was just that. Ended up bare grates full cleanout oh well a fresh firebed to work with until my next mistake. With my med issues this is a very big deal and exhausting start to finish around 4 hours for something 1 is plenty before. I have come to the conclusion that with my interrupted sleep any thing beyond 4 hours get a mini tend quick shake and floss and a scoop of coal in case I oversleep.

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Fri. Feb. 03, 2017 8:35 pm

Hours in stove at 500 and plaster finally starting to warm up. With an old house like this you can be cranking along for hours and see no change until plaster heat soaks and drafts go away.