Startup the coal stoker

Hello,

I am almost ready to startup the coal stoker, but did not complete the plumbing for the heating system. Should I wait until the heating system is plumbed before I start the coal stoker to have a place to dump the heat if it runs too hot? How fast does the coal stop burning once the system is turned off?

Thanks,

Dave

daluds wrote: How fast does the coal stop burning once the system is turned off?

From my experience with the my Van Wert which is very similar to EFM if not identical I'd have to guesstimate 3 or 4 hours minimum with a small bed of fire. I know this because some idiot has tendency to forget to turn the furnace back on if he had to turn it off to take the ashes out. If it's stoking you don't want to go opening the ash door unless you want big lung full of fumes. I've probably restarted ours as long as 5 or 6 hours later and possibly longer but that would be when it got shut off with a very large bed of coal burning.

I would plumb the whole thing before you fire it up. It will take an hour or more to get up to operating temperature, and once it's there it will take days to get the air out. There is no reason to shut it off once you fire it up, consider it lit for life.