No Luck Burnin

Im still trying to burn anthrocite but wont last all night. Harman sf160 hand dampner baro dampner.It's burnt by morning somtimes all ash sometime all klinkers it' driving me nuts. I get a good coal bed 9 10 at night but out by 4 5 inmorning what am I doing wrong .

Burning coal is an Art Form . Some will say that it's the coal but I always keep that option way down on the list. From Fireman books I read years ago Antracite needs 3in. or more of red coals going all the time. Soft coal needs 6in. Build your fire at least 3in. deep with hot red coals and then pile on the coal right up to the top of the fire brick or as high as you can get in the box without causeing problems opening doors,etc. Make sure it's getting air from below. Run it with damper open and bottom ash door open for 10 mins. When you do this you should see red glowing threw the bottom of the grates from the ash pan door. Then close your ash door then turn the damper down 3/4 closed. Try leaving the air intake open more in warmer weather. No reason it shouldn't burn. If not then you have serious chimmey issues. Get a Carbon Monoxide detector installed as well.
Burning coal is an artform given the variables. Temp,Chimmey,Stove, House. Most people are use to buring wood and don't realize you need a red coal bed of 3in or more plus a whole pile of coal on top to get those long burns. If it's warm out When I get up in the morning lot's of times you can hardly see the red coals going in there below the unburnt coal on top. This is a idleing type of fire I set the night before by doing the above.

We have a carbon monoxide tester installed that was priority one. I have tried burning with the damper open and 3/4 shut we get a red hot bed of coals and we fill to the top of the fire brick sometimes we get all ash but when we shut it down last night I had a good amount of clinkers. My barometric damper I have set at 4 and when the chimmney is hot it will flap, I know I need a manometer and I wonder if our chimmney is too short? I am three feet above garage roof line within 20 feet I have a second floor brick wall. Burner is in garage attached to house the garage stays warm and I have a damper below the barometric damper which is just above the stove itself any help would be appreciated.

Thank you
Odin
Please reply

Are you filling your stove up to the top of the fire bricks?
Try this thread: How to Light a Hand Fired Coal Stove

yes I am filling it up to the top of the fire bricks and what causes clinkers?

I think your fire temp can cause some clinkers (hot fires) but mainly it's the type/quality of the coal your using. What coal are you burning?
How's your draft? (describe you chimney)

You need to check the draft with a manometer.

I had the same problem when I first started. It was the coal.

Cold Chimney?

Hello Odin,, how big is your house?? How many square feet are you heating, how good is the insulation and the windows.. ?

It sounds like you are burning all your coal overnight.. so your SF160 may be undersized for the amount of heat you need for your house..

Having nothing but ash or clinkers means that you have burnt the coal completely, this means that your chimney works OK at this burn rate.

What size coal are you burning?? If it is Stove coal,, try Nut size, if it is Nut, try Pea size.. the smaller the coal pieces the slower it will burn due to the more restricted air passageways through the coal..

How hot are you keeping the house?? How hot are you keeping the water in the SF160?? This boiler is fairly small, rated at 90,000BTU, if that is what your house needs for heat, you will be loading coal more often than every 10-12 hours..

Greg L.

Odin
check your PM

im running my water heat about 160 degrees and a couple of years ago tried to burn pea anthrocite and now im trying to burn nut anthrocite. I know I need a manometer and am not sure how to use one. my wood fires burn real good and I think my haouse is 1800 sq. ft.
can you reburn clinkers? if anybody has any ideas i'll listen

Clinkers won't burn.
How did it burn when you were using pea?