Conundrum About Coaling?

Okay, maybe it's just because I have an insert, I dunno.
Long story short--glass had to be replaced, dealer broke it, replaced last fall. We had colder than normal temps in November, I noticed I got good heat, which I attributed to tightening up the house in the summer. Wood was 2 and a half years stacked, got great burn with not much coals left, lots of powder. I burn nights and weekends with an Alderlea T5 insert.
I noticed that the house seemed to cool down a bit more than I would have thought, as it warmed up well. I went to wipe the white film from the glass door, and noticed a quarter-inch gap around it! I called the dealer, they eventually came out (said dealer sent wrong side gasket) and replaced it.
I also mentioned that I can feel the cool air being sucked toward the insert and asked about a block off plate, they acted like I didn't need it, didn't know what it was, etc. etc.(I am planning to doing it myself next summer with good advice I got from members here). I also mentioned that there was quite a gap between the surround and the stone, as the stone was so uneven; they put a gasket with fiberglass/foil backing in there. Much better.
So--now I have the gaskets tightened up in the front of the stove, I should be getting a better burn. And I do, it lights right up, takes off, and warms up real fast. BUT--for some reason I now get lots of big chunks of charcoal! Same wood, tested with MM below 20. If I leave the air control WIDE open, it is not so bad; but that also sucks out a lot of air as the fire burns down for the night. I suspect the gap in the glass took care of that before, but gee, last year my wood was not nearly as old, and it burned beautifully. Also, I seem to be going through a lot more compared to last year, and we had a horrible year weatherwise. Any ideas? Suggestions?

 

I am having the coal issue also on my regency i2400. I was assuming its bc I turn the air down while sleeping and that it doesn't get enough air to burn out completely.. I especially notice it when there are a lot if ashes in the box to insulate the coals.. I'll be following this thread to see what others do to get them fully burnt.

 

I thought so t00--I have been raking the coals forward, and leaving the air open about halfway. Still a lot of coals. The only things I have been doing differently is that I don't need a lot of kindling this year, and I haven't been reloading before bedtime--except last night, as it got down to 2 f. I did close it quite a bit more. Lots of coals left.

 

Coaling issues arise when the heat output from the coaling stage isn't great enough to match the heat loss of your home.

 

Well that's the whole issue--air sealing and attic insulation done--where is the heat loss coming from?

 

First thing I checked. However, I am going to check to see if the bathroom and kitchen vent flaps are closed. When they put the spray foam in the attic, I noticed the bathroom vent had some spray ooze out, and opened the flaps; I will double check that!

 

It's not heat loss. It is that your stove is not large enough to produce enough heat at really cold temps during the coaling stage. You can not avoid coaling.

 

Yes, that would make sense. But I was wondering why I still got a lot of coals before the January cold snap hit, as December was quite mild. I wonder if a lot of different factors occurred at once, i.e., maybe I hit a "damp patch" in the wood, some wasn't quite as dry, but the ones I tested were; or the nights were a lot colder than I thought.
As I recall last year when I had coals in the morning, about 40 percent of the time they were still hot. This year the wood seems to burn down fast, and the coals are always extinguished when I get up. No, I am not sleeping later. I have gone through a cord and a half this year so far, and there were some days that were so warm I didn't burn at all. You would think if it burns that fast, there would be no coals at all!

 

If the house was warm enough you wouldn't be worried about the coaling stage but sounds like you're looking to reload. To get some heat out of the stove while simultaneously burning down your coals throw 2 sm splits or a little kindling or some pine etc on the coals. The stove temp will jump up and a 1/2 hour later the coals will be burnt down and stove will ready for a proper reload.

 

Not sure i grasp this concept as I would think air in the box should keep the coals going.. But I definitely have plans to tighten up the house over the next two years.

 

Have you checked the new gasket using the dollar bill test? Just put in a Clydesdale and was getting serious charcoal. Checked with dollar bill and had almost no resistance around the entire door. Talked to dealer who talked to Hearthstone and was told that I have a warped door. Swapped it out yesterday and am getting proper burns now. Coals do burn down instead of charcoal. Another way I burn down a big coal pile is by using some bio-bricks with a split on top to ensure I have some coals for reloading. Still puts out heat but no coals.

 

Welcome, hamsey!
Yeah, the gasket is in the glass-can't use the test. HOWEVER--come to think of it, they did a lousy job in my opinion putting the door gasket on. I am going to check it again when I get home, it was a sloppy job, and they had to come out again and re-glue.
I have the bio bricks, and I have used them to burn them down, too. I can certainly get them burned down, and if I burned 24/7, wouldn't care or notice, probably. But I was just wondering why an overnight burn wouldn't reduced them down more, like last year...come to
think of it, last year the door failed the test! You just may be on to something...

 

Maybe it was a bad explanation on my part............ The coaling issue is not due to the heat loss of the home it's more that you notice the coaling stage when the stove isn't large enough to provide the needed heat during the coaling stage. Coaling is inherent to wood burning and in spite of that fact it isn't talked about that much you even hear of Blaze King Owners fighting coaling in low temps for long periods of time.
There are many things you can do to help burn the coals down faster such as:

• Rake them forward toward the air inlet
  
• Open the air inlet all the way to help them burn down faster
• Add small splits of wood and keep the air open all the way which helps generate the needed heat to burn them down
• Tighten up your house as much as possible to help with the heat loss and in turn you will need less btu's to maintain the house temp
• Throw handfuls of pellets on the top of the coals with the air open which helps burn them down
• Last but not least burn them down as much as you can and the shovel them out as a last resort.

The other thing you need to make sure you are doing is raking all of them forward after you burn down as many as you can and spread them evenly along the front of you T5. This should be done on every load to so that when you start the fire you are starting just the front of the logs. When you start the fires this way it allow the load to burn like a cigar from the front to the back and helps the load burn all the way down from the front to the back. Then when you are at the end of the burn the only coals left are the ones at the back of the stove so you can rake them forward and repeat the process.

If you aren't pulling the coals forward but leaving them spread out on the floor of the stove you are most likely lighting off the whole load and it will off gas and burn the whole load at one time. In my experience this lead to the load burning from the top down and collapsing on itself and creates a coaling mess with a deep bed of coals.

 

Thanks for this write up... I think you hit the nail on the head. there are two things that I want to clarify...

1- I agree with the above statement, and have been somewhat sloppy about getting all the coals to the front. I have a pizz poor coal rake, I need to find something better to use.

2- I think I confused you and myself. I was saying "Coaling" issue, when in reality I was thinking "Charcoal" issue. Sometimes I wake up in the morning after an overnight fire and more than half of the coals have turned to hard black charcoal. Would I be correct in thinking that I am turning the air down too far on the unit for the overnight burn?

 

Have you tried leaving the air a tad more open before bed, I noticed with my other stove if I closed it down too much I had what you're describing.

 

To be honest I haven't really paid attention to it too much. I just piled them up and let them burn in the next load. Then I saw this thread, and on top of getting really cold here I noticed it because I need to squeeze as much heat out of this stove that I can. I am going to leave it open more tonight and see what happens.

 

I would agree with weather guy it sounds as if the stove isn't getting enough air at the end of the burn. You may try leaving the air a bit more open overnight.

The issue you described can also be caused by wood that isn't very dry to begin with.

Edit: I also wanted to add I would definitely get that block off plate in as it will most likely make a big difference by reducing the heat loss up the chimney.

How many years of drying does the wood have on it?