Trouble Keeping Coal Stove Buring

You guys that keep knockin combo furnaces - ya gotta try a Logwood I tell ya. Burns coal just as good as wood. I'd buy another in a heartbeat. Took me a season to learn how to run it right, but I my Yankee................

Every instalation, chimney, house, ducting, etc is different.. some folks have good luck with the combo furnaces/boilers but most, just like you have had a long arduous uphill climb up the 'learning curve' before the burning performance was satisfactory..

For comparrison, I'd say 98% of made-for-coal hand fed stoves burn well for their owners right out of the box.. and if there is a problem it is easily remedied. I know that a furnace / boiler with compromises CAN be made to burn coal OK or even very well.. but a made-for-coal unit is MUCH easier to opperate from the git-go..

The compromise fire box is too large, not deep enough, takes too much coal to fill deep enough to burn well, and often don't shake down well.. all part of the compromise design.. I've been there, done that, got the 'T' shirt and the burn scars..

I now burn a made-for-coal boiler.

Greg L
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Well, here are the results:

1) Loaded nut coal
2) Nice fire going, full grate, top vent closed, bottom open full
3) Went to bed, in morining still a fire but small, only red in center, handful of pieces hot, still lots of unburned coal on the sides.
4) Shaked the grate but that was not enough, it went out.

Total time 10PM to 7AM,

So better performance this time, but still unburned coal on edges.

What is the best way to get the fire going again? Start a new fire with lump charcoal? Shake the grate and add new coal on top?

Get rid of that unit and buy a real coal stove. Looks like junk to me. Buy a harman

Looked up the schematic drawing of your 1410, looks like it would burn Bituminous ok, but not Anthracite.

Also those are made in Denmark, which has no Anthracite deposits, they mine Bituminous, sub bituminous and Lingite coal.

So if you can return it, sell it or find some bituminous you would be better off. I really don't think you are going to get the results you want with that stove.

Bk

If your dealer is a stand up guy he should exchange or give credit to another stove after teling him these points we've made and your expierence with it.

I bet we could guarentee that if you got a dedicated coal stove it would fire right up and burn all night.

I think the problem is lack of draft. A small stove putting out low BTU into a large chimney. The smoke pipe which is really sized for wood is less than 30 square inches opening into a chimney with a great amount of mass, and if 8x8, is 64 square inches. If this stove were coal only then the smoke pipe would be 5 inch max.

A small stove can not heat that large chimney in moderate weather. If you were to run a 6 inch liner in that chimney (I would prefer 5 inch all the way to the stove) I suspect it would run well.

You will still be faced with the inadequate shaker grate which only shakes the center. To clear the rest a poker from the bottom is required. A real pain.

If you can return this stove for a better design I would certainly do so as it clearly is not designed to do a good job with coal.

Richard

So, I also have the Morso 1410 and it is the coal model-- there are 2 models see the manuals section of the website. I posted to the handfired topic about the same problem. I just can't seem to get a fire ventilated well with the small lower vent- they used to have 2 doors. I really like the stove and it fits perfectly in the space on my hearth. Any more suggestions? How does one return a stove that has been used?

Raymond,

I believe it may burn soft coal OK, just not designed for Anthracite.

Bk

wpkm wrote:Well, here are the results:

1) Loaded nut coal
2) Nice fire going, full grate, top vent closed, bottom open full
3) Went to bed, in morining still a fire but small, only red in center, handful of pieces hot, still lots of unburned coal on the sides.
4) Shaked the grate but that was not enough, it went out.

Total time 10PM to 7AM,

So better performance this time, but still unburned coal on edges.

What is the best way to get the fire going again? Start a new fire with lump charcoal? Shake the grate and add new coal on top?

WPKM, I really understand what you are going through, and I think you may need to replace your stove. I know you don't want to hear that, but consider my own experience. I stumbled into burning coal by accident. I got a Fire Boss wood stove before last winter to burn wood only. Then I discovered that it was a hybrid wood/coal. At the time I really could not believe that anyone was still burning coal for residential heating. Needless to say I was wrong and began to acquire coal. I went through the same things that you are dealing with now, over and over again. I was so frustrating, and I went back to burning wood only in the Fire Boss, but I knew there had to be something to this coal burning thingee. I found this forum, and I was greatly encouraged. In reading stories similar to yours I realized that my Fire Boss was not the best for burning coal, but I keep collecting coal, and then I found my Warm Morning Model 400 coal stove on Craig's List. I am happy beyond words now! You may eventually figure out how to burn coal in your unit, but you will probably never enjoy the process and it will be a lot of work. Don't give up on burning coal because of your stove. Change out your unit and discover the wonder and ease of burning coal!

wpkm wrote:Well, here are the results:

2) Nice fire going, full grate, top vent closed, bottom open full
3) Went to bed, in morining still a fire but small, only red in center, handful of pieces hot, still lots of unburned coal on the sides.
4) Shaked the grate but that was not enough, it went out.

So better performance this time, but still unburned coal on edges.

What is the best way to get the fire going again? Start a new fire with lump charcoal? Shake the grate and add new coal on top?

Whoops! You can't leave the bottom draft "full open" all night long and expect much to be remaining in the morning.

raymond wrote:How does one return a stove that has been used?

Talk to your dealer and see what he/she will do. That's probably naive, but I don't know what else to suggest. If the dealer handles REAL coal stoves and doesn't want you to tell everyone you know what a d*ckhead he is, maybe something can be worked out. It will probably cost you some extra $$$ in any case.

If you can eat the cost for awhile, just go buy a new or used coal stove among the brands that are popular on this forum. Then sell your Morso next fall. But sell it as a wood stove, to keep your conscience clear and your karma intact.

Morso has always been a respected name. It's a shame they would foist a unit like this on the public.

Problem resolved........Operator error

My father-in-law just happen to stop by while I had just started the stove. I mentioned how it burns for about 6 hours then slowely dies. I had the stove about 1/4 full at the time, hot coals, blue flame. He said to load it up, so I did, I filled it up 3/4 full. We waited and in 20 - 30 minutes blue flame was seen. The rest of the afternoon the coal bed got bigger and hotter. That night I shaked the grate, filled it up again and by morning the coal bed was all red hot to the top. Even with the bottom grate vents plugged with ash, the coal fire was pumping more heat than I ever experienced.

Bottom line: It seems I did not put enough coal in the stove. I was thinking adding too much coal would smother the fire, but it actually took off as if the heat was confined and the top coal was ignited.

In any case, thanks for all the input. I talked to my dealer and even talked to morso about all the recommendations received from this site. I'm sure be checking in. Thanks all!!

Well, how is the Morso doing now?

I looked up the instruction manuel and it has separate instructions for Anthracite and Bituminous! I was wrong, looks like it might be able to burn both OK.

Be interesting to see how long a burn you can get once you get everything adjusted.

Good luck.

Bk

wpkm wrote:I filled it up 3/4 full

Don't stop at 3/4. Fill it to the top of the firebrick, and maybe even heap it up in the middle. Don't fill it all at once, because you can kill the fire like you feared, or get puff-backs if the unburned gases build up above the coal with no flame to burn the gases. But over the course of 10 to 30 minutes you should be able to get it pretty well filled. Get most of the bed burning then reduce the air for a long term burn.