Picture! Lots of Unburned Coal in Koker!

mariohotshot · Post by **mariohotshot** » Sat. Jan. 17, 2015 9:52 am

I've been using bagged coal this year. The coal looks dull and dry and would make a thick bed on my grates. I also had unburnt coal. I switch to another brand of bagged coal. The coal is shiny and wet looking. Now the bed of coal on the grates are not as thick, the house seems to heat up faster and I'm not removing as much ashes as before. Maybe you should keep trying different coals.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sat. Jan. 17, 2015 5:28 pm

fuccillo111 wrote:Another finding. I recall someone saying the kokers and other stokers may have too thick of a bed of unburned coal as it approaches the grate. So what I did was pull some burned coal off the end of the grate to reveal cross-cut of the coal as it burns. What I found was the coal that is touching the grate, the bottom 1/8", was where I'm getting unburned coal in my ash pan. My first response to this is to slow the feed rate, as the plate that determines the coal bed thickness is not adjustable, would this be the correct action to do?

I'm thinking too much air, if you want to give it a try, reduce the air a smidgen.

fuccillo111 · Post by **fuccillo111** » Sat. Jan. 17, 2015 6:53 pm

Thanks for the suggestion. What exactly will reducing the combustion air do? Allow the fire to burn the entire depth of the coal bed?

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sat. Jan. 17, 2015 7:43 pm

fuccillo111 wrote:Thanks for the suggestion. What exactly will reducing the combustion air do? Allow the fire to burn the entire depth of the coal bed?

I'd say yes. Very unusual for the coal closest to the air hole inlets to not be burned complete while the rest of the coal above does burn complete.

fuccillo111 · Post by **fuccillo111** » Sat. Jan. 17, 2015 8:36 pm

I'll try it overnight then. I had to re-adjust the d.v reading to maintain specs though. I also had the thought to slow the feed down to allow longer burn on the grate. One thing at a time though.

WNYRob · Post by **WNYRob** » Mon. Jan. 19, 2015 12:35 pm

Have you tried to re-burn the reclaimed coal? It seems that I remember (forgive me if I don't) that this supposed unburnt coal will not burn again. Since all that is burning in a coal fire is the trapped gasses, not actually the coal itself, while the coal looks unburnt, its volatile gasses have done their job and given up their heat energy, so with no more gasses trapped in the coal it will not give up any more heat.

fuccillo111 wrote:This topic has been beat to death and I've researched every avenue but this has gotten out of hand. 3yr old koker160 direct vent, duct through house return and heat lines. I've tried many different coal brands and settings on the stove. The latest being opening the induction fan solo the way (the metal flapper). Along with opening the draft on the d.v motor all the way to maintain -.03 on manometer. Feed set at 9 turns out. House heats up great even on these -20 deg days. Its just I'm always finding black in my ash pan. So today I ran a sample through a strainer, about three or four scoops with both hand together. Then I rinsed and smashed all the granola looking ash to expose the unburned coal. See the picture please and let me know what you think. Thank you.

fuccillo111 · Post by **fuccillo111** » Mon. Jan. 19, 2015 2:11 pm

I havnt tried to burn the unburned coal. I was thinking about separating an entire pan to see how much is in there then burn that to see of it does burn.

ShawnTRD · Post by **ShawnTRD** » Sun. Jan. 25, 2015 12:50 am

Are you getting air at the end off the grates? What coal are you burning?

fuccillo111 · Post by **fuccillo111** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 8:02 am

I am getting air at the end of the grate, although the burning coal only goes to about 2" inches to the end of the grate at a full burn.

fuccillo111 · Post by **fuccillo111** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 9:56 am

Jettison coal

KPcoalman · Post by **KPcoalman** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 5:01 pm

Interesting topic as I am having issues with my koker160 also. I can't seem to get a full grate of hot coals and my feed is full open. When it gets real cold, it won't keep up. I seem to get half a grate, maybe a little more, when running full out. The unit is about 4 years old. Chimney vent, bottom draw. I've cleaned everything. I have to clean the feed system quite a bit as the wet coal fines seem to sludge up and make the slide stick. Any suggestions for me?

KPcoalman · Post by **KPcoalman** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 5:14 pm

I have two different feed motors for this. A 4509-040 and a B4415. Anybody know which one is the correct one?

I assume that one will feed slower for the stove units, 85,000 btu. Perhaps I have the wrong one on? Anybody tell me what there's is?

KPcoalman · Post by **KPcoalman** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 5:46 pm

fucillo111, did you say you cleaned the holes and the tray beneath the grates? Unburned coal sounds like a combustion problem, or the coal quality. I remember you saying you've tried various without any change.

fuccillo111 · Post by **fuccillo111** » Tue. Jan. 27, 2015 8:56 pm

Yes, I've cleaned every hole in the grate and removed the combustion motor and vacuumed and blew out all the fines. All fins on blower were clean and spun free. I've literally tried every combination of settings and allowed time for adjustments to settle in (about 1 week). I don't think coal brands make a difference at this point, but I'll be buying coal from Dennis coal here in NY. They have a good reputation and theyre coal is oiled, but expensive, but worth a week or two of experiments.. I'm burning about 800 less coal than last year so far so I can't complain too much and the koker is a great unit. I just try to make things a efficient at possible.

ShawnTRD · Post by **ShawnTRD** » Wed. Jan. 28, 2015 12:19 am

Any chance a wire got crossed and a blower motor is running backwards?