Burning Bitumious Lump Coal in a 1557M Hotblast

I need help. What are the keys to getting Bit coal to burn well in my Hotblast. I'm guessing I need the forced draft blower. Is putting it on the ash door the key? Any advice besides getting a different burner will help. Thanks

Southeast Ohio here. I get my coal from new Lexington. Kings Quarry in Beverly also sells bit for $50/ton but I haven't tried it. I've done tons of googling but I was hoping to find someone with personal success burning bit with my kinda stove

Probably not what you want but ... welcome to the forum ... have faith, there are bit burners here !

HI welcome aboard partner. I have a Clayton which is a very similar design to your hot blast. I burned bit in it for a few weeks last year.

Bit coal is challenging. Was for me anyways. It wouldn't give me a steady heat output thru the burn cycle. It seems to have two stages. The first stage while its burning off gases would produce too much heat and be difficult to control. Then later in the burn it would cool down and act more like anthracite but wouldn't produce enough heat unless I opened the primary air up.

I got better at it as days passed. The keys to managing the burn I found was to run the secondary air open with the primary air nearly closed so it wouldn't go nuclear, for the first half of the burn then cut back the secondary air and open the primary some to maintain heat output for the second half of the burn.

I can't comment on the combustion blower, never used one. Bit coal is very sensitive to combustion air changes so a combustion blower may cause it to rage out of control.

Good luck and just experiment with combinations of primary and secondary air.

I tried burning it some last week when we had some cold days. I had great big pieces but there weren't making enuff heat so I busted it up to 3-4" by down size. It helped out some. I shook shaker grate like I leaned from here, and I had a great bed of coal mound from front to back. It just never put out a Lot of heat and wouldn't stay flaming. My stove has a plug in the back where the forced air blower goes and I had it out so it would pull more air, and I ended up leaving my air pan door open and It ran warm but nothing like wood and not enuff to keep me warm in the real cold days like I was with wood. I figured it should melt the stove down with the door left open but it didn't. Every video I seen on YouTube of people burning coal in a stove like mine they left the ash door open. But they were burnin anthracite. That's why I'm thinking I need the forced draft. I was hoping it would help regulate the heat through the night. After those cold nights I closed the ash pan door and left the spinner opened up and I looked on my stove 4 days later and there was still 4 inch chunks of coal glowing red.

Those symptoms imply to me a few things. Firstly, it could be not enough draft is being created by the chimney. A manometer is needed to measure draft strength. Secondly, its possible that ash isn't being cleared enough and its choking your fire. Lastly, its possible the coal itself is inferior.

That fire should be going out of control with the ash door open.

Serexh you tube 1557m burning coal. All show opening the ash door to get to burn hot enuff

Hello and welcome

I agree with lightning you either have poor draft or your coal is very low in BTUs or the grate is clogged with ash. I see you posted that a stone quarry finds coal and sells it, can you possibly post a picture of the coal you are burning.

Bit coal should flame up when added to a bed of coals. It should feel a little lighter than it looks.

I would not add a blower to the ash pit because you don't know if the flue can vent the exhaust fast enough.

I am getting my coal from tunnel hill reclamation In New Lexington. Lots of people on here use there coal and lots of people I work with use it and love it. Idk if I have enuff draft. After it burns for a while I can open the feed door without any smoke coming out. What's the reason u wouldn't put a forced air blower on it? You think it would force gas outta my stove and not my chimney? Plz go to YouTube. Serech 1557 burning coal

Can you post a link to the video you want us to see? There are several and I dunno which one in particular you are looking at. Sounds like you have a weak draft. A manometer is needed to determine if this is your issue. Is the flue sealed to the chimney properly? can you post some pictures of your set up? I advise installing a mano, they are a very valuable tool for burning coal.

OK, he was burning anthracite though, wasn't he?

Yea. There's no info on burning bit. That's what brought me here. Antercite coal should of got even hotter with the ash door open than bit. That's why I'm wondering if the forced inducer is a must in my stove