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IV. Operation
A. Coal Requirements
For maximum efficiency and burn times, only burn coal that has been sheltered from rain and snow.
Burning wet coal is wasteful and inefficient. Water uses much of the combustion energy to dry out the
excess moisture with extra smoke and creosote being created.
The coal should be no smaller than nut size otherwise it will drop through the shaker grates. Stove size
(slightly smaller than your fist) is ok but anything larger will not burn well, especially with a large heat
demand as the total burning surface area of a load is less than if using smaller pieces.
Never burn driftwood, painted, stained or pressure treated wood. Do not burn trash, plastics,
gasoline, rubber, naphtha, household garbage, material treated with petroleum products (particle
board, railroad ties and pressure treated wood), leaves, paper products or cardboard.
Keep coal covered and store outside of clearance area listed on page 6. Moisture content from rain
or snow will result in reduced burn times as heat will be used up drying out the moisture for the coal
to burn.
B. Starting A Fire
Do not use combustible fluids or chemicals. Turn on the rear switch to run the blower. Use small
pieces of split kindling together with crumbled newspaper and add larger pieces. Layer coal with
coal to get the coal going and once visible burning, add a couple shovels full of coal. Do this 2 or 3
times and once fully burning, load the firebox up to the edge of the firebrick lined portion of the
firebox (if applicable).
Caution! Follow
procedures as outlined in “Loading Coal” (next section) for opening fuel
door.
NOTE: There will also be a large amount of condensation created until the water jacket comes up to
temperature. This may drip from access doors and covers and will dry out within 24 hours.
C. Loading Coal
Caution! Doors, covers, coals & ashes are hot!
Wear safety glasses and use heavy gloves.
Caution! Never open fuel door without first turning off the boiler at the rear switch or flame
spillage may occur!
Caution! Flammable gases fill the firebox when idling. Pause at blowback catch for 30
seconds and then stand to the side when fully opening until smoke dissipates enough to see
inside. Failure to do this can result in possible flashback to the face from gases igniting.
Always
stir ash to prevent “caking” before loading new coal.
It is ok for some coals to drop
through the slots in the floor as they will burn up.
Make sure slots in floor do not become
jammed with coals or clogged with ash or operation will be affected.
Load as quickly as possible, making sure you don’t leave the door open long enough that would
cause excessive heat and possible flames to exit the opening and damage the door jamb and
unseal the caulking. If this starts to happen when loading, close the loading door to smolder down
the fuel. Once the flames have died down (after several minutes), open the door again (pause at
the blowback) and continue loading. Always add coal before the previous load has burned down to
25% of firebox capacity to have enough hot coals to ignite the next load of coal and make sure to
first shake the ashes out of the coal bed before loading new fuel.
Most often the boiler can be loaded in the morning and at night. Burn times vary from 6-24 hours
depending on fuel being used (soft coal and/or higher moisture content will require more frequent
