New to me Coal Stove

[DozerDan82]

Successful move into the basement and first fire...

 

[DozerDan82]

 

[vetteboy79]

 

[Fishbone333]

Nice, here's mine. Nothing throws Heat like a coal stove

 

[blthomas]

Nothing beats that heat. When we burned anthracite, I was loading once every evening, with a good shake in the morning.
But ours was oversized for our house so we could get a great burn going with a full stove.

 

[DozerDan82]

When I got it the guy mentioned the one shaker grate was bowed pretty good- I decided to see what happened. It allowed too much coal to drop when trying to shake, and locked up. Could not shake it down, read a bunch and most say to let it burn a bit and try again- no dice. Just ordered new shaker grates. Kinda pot committed at this point.

 

[DozerDan82]

Ordered the grates Monday evening, and they showed up today, not bad for the cheapest shipping option they had, but then again they only came from 4 hrs away....

Paid one of 'kids' at work a case of beer to help me move bags of coal to basement. He did majority of it- odd finding young people who still 'work'.

Now to clean out the stove and try this again, as it is gonna be COLD this weekend.

 

[Fishbone333]

Mine will lock up if I try to rake it before it's ready and you get coal jammed down in there. Gotta let it burn so your just shaking ash, should feel like butter.

 

[DozerDan82]

Mine will lock up if I try to rake it before it's ready and you get coal jammed down in there. Gotta let it burn so your just shaking ash, should feel like butter.

How far do you move the shaker? Looking at it, I almost want to install a 'stop' to keep it from going to far, but not sure it that will keep it from being able to move when needs to. Seems to have too much travel.

 

[vetteboy79]

You want to be able to move it far enough to dump clinkers into the pan. If it goes out it's way easier to dump everything out the bottom than try to clean it out through the door. Just gotta learn how far to move it. Watch the pan as you shake it down to get an idea of how open the gap is, you can judge it by the size of what's falling through.

The ones on mine move independently though, each one has its own wrench extension out front, so you do them one at a time...makes it easier to clear blocks if needed.

 

[DozerDan82]

You want to be able to move it far enough to dump clinkers into the pan. If it goes out it's way easier to dump everything out the bottom than try to clean it out through the door. Just gotta learn how far to move it. Watch the pan as you shake it down to get an idea of how open the gap is, you can judge it by the size of what's falling through.

The ones on mine move independently though, each one has its own wrench extension out front, so you do them one at a time...makes it easier to clear blocks if needed.

I get the idea, but looking at the range of swing they have I feel it is too much. Just in the process of relighting it, I will have to play with it. I am a bit more sober than I was the last time we messed with it.... at least for now.

 

[blthomas]

When I shook mine down, I only wiggled the handle slightly, quickly, I was told to do it until you get a couple clinkers, you've started to get to the bottom of the burn bed, its kind of a fine line trying not drop to many, jam the grates, and get the ash into the pan. Takes some practice.

When I reloaded, I'd leave the bottom door cracked after I shook it down/dumped the pan, and every couple shovel fulls, I'd wait for the blue flames, couple shovel fills, blue flame. Once all ignited, I'd close it up, set the dampner on the bottom, usually one half turn open, and let it run.

Miss the heat. Supposed to be 9 here tomorrow night.

 

[vetteboy79]

^^ exactly what blthomas said. Usually don't even have to touch the knob once you find the sweet spot, just open the door, let it eat, then close the door and it'll just throttle back down to idle