Tips on Starting a Coal Stove?

[To20Chris]

I'm having a very hard time with a small pot belly coal stove I put in my sun porch. It's an old, very small stove that I've had for a long time, but never used. It's an Armstrong Magic 9, FWIW, complete and in great shape. It has a 4" stove pipe, and a slide air control on the front of the ash door.

Anyway, I have it all plumed up, and picked up some coal (chestnut sized). The first time I tried it I managed to get it lit by lighting a small wood fire under the grate, with coal on top. It was working really well for about 2hrs, maybe fired a little too hot, but not bad - I could not stop it down any further, as the slot where the grate handle comes through is pretty big (made a sheet steel cover for that now). However, when I got up a couple of hours later, it was stone cold and out. It was still full of coal, mostly grey but still intact and hard. After looking at it I decided that the small grate had clogged, and it needed to be shaken down sooner. I figured I would run it during the day Saturday so I could get used to it.

So now I have tried to get it going again several times, but I cannot get it to light - almost a couple of times, but it always dims down and goes out. I've tried everything I can think of, cleaned it out completely twice, etc. I've built a fire of small old oak scrap, let it get real hot, and then started sprinkling coal on the hot embers - it still just goes out, even if I take the ash box door off for more air flow.

I've even tried using my propane torch to get some of the coal glowing bright hot, but it just goes out.

Anybody have some advice? What am I doing wrong? Could it be lousy coal, or is the stove just too small to really get hot enough? I'd really like to get it working, as it is a nice size for the room, and the output was appropriate. And it looks really cool too! I'd appreciate any help I can get.

 

[Egon]

Surely sounds like you are correct in everything you are doing. That was the way we started the coal stoves or furnaces many year ago.

Initial coal fire was going so maybe it is the coal. You may be trying to burn some clay remains or slag??

Egon

 

[To20Chris]

I did try to relight it once, and perhaps that stuff was just burned out, but after that I've been using fresh.

I'm not sure what to expect when lighting coal. If I get it hot and burning in a spot, should it spread to surrounding coal fairly easily? I'm wondering if the problem is that since the stove is so small, even though I'm getting a spot started, it doesn't generate much heat from that. I can't put much wood under it, so maybe it's just not enough total heat to get enough burning at one time.

I read that matchlight charcoal can be used to start it. I going to pick some up and give it a try

 

[gsganzer]

It sure sounds like your doing it right. My dad has a coal stove. We start the fire using wood and slowly transition to coal. Once my dad decides to fire his up for the winter, he never lets it go out and keeps it going for the entire season. It's a pain to start coal stoves and IMO it doesn't lend itself to having intermittent fires very easily.

A couple of things: You may need to shake the grates fairly frequently. Coal fires get virtually all their combustion air from below, this differs from a wood fire that gets most air from above. Hence, the grate shaking to keep the air moving up through the coal bed. Are you sure you're getting enough draft from below?

Edit: One other thing. The shaking is important in order to get the ashes out of the bottom of the bed and allow air to come up from below. However, it's somewhat of a balancing act and takes a little bit of experience to shake it down just right. On my dad's, If you shake it down too much, you'll get a giant clinker at the bottom of the bed that prevents air from coming up from below. I think what happens is that you expose the bottom of the bed (whick may be somewhat molten) to the cool under fire air and it congeals. So some ash on the bottom is good, as long as it doesn't ****** air flow.

 

[To20Chris]

ARRG!

I tried it again tonight. I cut up some scraps of old hardwood - oak and yellow pine - into strips that would fit on the grate. Then I set up a little structure with the strips alternating direction. Got it burning real hot, and added some more oak. Had real bright coals and blue flames, then added a little coal. It crackled and sizzled quite a bit, so I know the coal was burning - BUT - as soon as the wood finally burns away, the coal goes out. I tried it a couple of times. Tried adding only a little , tried adding it more quickly. Same result.

I'm thinking I need to get some different coal, maybe some rice sized stuff. Maybe if I had it going really good, I could add some of this stuff I have in and it would burn OK, but I'm not going to bother with it anymore until I try something else.

 

[slowrev]

A coal fire won't work very well with just one layer, you sort of need a pile for it to burn. Individual chunks will not burn very well, if at all.
Ben

 

[To20Chris]

Yeah, I tried putting on a fair amount while the wood embers were still really hot, and some of the first pieces of coal were burning. No dice, still just went out. Maybe it will just take some practice, but I'm gonna try some other coal first.

 

[elad]

Seems to me like you don't have enough draft in the chimney to pull air through the grate to sustain the burn.
Put a sheet of paper in the burn box crumpled up and light
it. The flame should suck up the chimney if you have good draft. Draft will improve as the chimney gets hotter. If draft
is weak or not at all, the fire will be very hard to start; as you already know.
Hope this helps. GOOD LUCK
At least it is something to check. Also, air should only
enter under the grate.

 

[Jim57]

The draft is really important. I have a 6" pipe with my pot belly. I do something different though. The coal I use is much bigger that what you are using. It is 4", 6" and 8" chunks. The small coal in the pot belly doesn't work well for me. I think it packs in the stove and doesn't allow the draft to work well. Try larger size chunks of coal so it will have more air movement.

Jim

 

[slowrev]

I always put in wood and lit it and then put the coal on right away while the wood fire is high. The wood embers won't light the coal very well if at all. Takes quite a bit of heat to get the coal going.
Ben