11
Operation
Starting a Coal Fire
Makesuretheboilerandallpipingisfull
ofwaterandthatallairhasbeenpurgedfromthe
system.
Never start a re without water in the
system. An explosion will occur.
Turnonelectricalpowertotheboiler.This
shouldcausetheautomaticdraftcontroltoopen.
Opentheashpandoortoallowfreeairmove-
ment.Usethesameprocedureasstartingawood
reexcept,donotloadthelargerdiameterwood
Usewoodabout2in.diametermaximum.This
sizewillformaveryhotcharcoalbedinlesstime.
Again,theashpandoormaybeopenedperiodi-
cally to speed the ignition process.
DO NOT LEAVE THE BOILER UNATTENDED
WITH ANY DOOR OPEN.
Whenyouhaveaccumulatedasubstantial
charcoalbed,startaddingathinlayerofcoal.Pea
orNutsizedcoalisbetterforstartingthanStove
coal.
Whentherstlayerisburningwithsome
blueame,continuetoaddthinlayersofcoaluntil
thereisasolidbedofburningcoal.Leteachlayer
burnablueamebeforeaddinganotherlayer.Ad-
ditionalcoalcanbelayeredinuntilthebedisap-
proximately10inchesdeep.Bynow,youshould
havetheashpandoorclosed,andtheautomatic
draftcontrolwillcontinuetoregulatethere.
Theidleairadjustermayneedtobesetfor
slightlylessairforcoalthanwood.Hereagain,
experiencewilldictatethebestsetting.Themaxi-
mumairboltcanbeturnedalltheway“counter-
clockwise”toallowforaquickerrecovery.Never
adjustthisboltwiththeapperopen.
Thetwomanualdraftcontrols,onthe
reboxdoor,areusedtoallowsecondaryairto
passovertherewhenburningcoal.Thishelps
toburnthegassesthatareemittedfromthecoal
as it is heated. Your setting for these draft controls
shouldbebetween1/2and1completeturnfrom
closed.Adjustbothcontrolsequally.
Loading
Coalshouldneverbeaddedunlessthere
isareasonablyhotre.Thecoalbedshouldbe
brightandvigorous.Ifyouhaveanactivecoal
bed,fullloadscanbeaddedatanytime.Ifnot,
addnewcoalinlayers,asdescribedinstartinga
coalre.
Shaking the Grates
Shakingshouldbedoneonlywhenthere
isawell-establishedre.Thefrequencyofshak-
ingwilldependonthedegreeofburning.Twice
adayshakingisrecommended.Thebestresults
areachievedwithshort,choppystrokesasop-
posedtolong,evenstrokes.Fullrockingofthe
gratesmayallowburningcoaltofallintotheash
pan.Theamountofshakingiscritical,toomuch
candisrupttherebed,andtoolittlewillrestrict
air-ow.Theproperamountofshakingisnormally
achievedwhenhotredcoalsrststarttodrop
through the grates into the ash pan.
Everyeffortshouldbemadetonotleta
coalreburndowntoolow.Thiswillcausethe
reloadingprocesstobemuchlonger,withareal
goodchanceoflosingtherealtogether.
Donotshakeorstirwithalowre.Open
theashpandoortogetmaximumairowinginto
therebox.Onceburningisrestored,closethe
ashpandoorandaddalayerofcoaltothere
bed.FollowtheinstructionsunderStartingaCoal
Fire.Whenthenewcoalisthoroughlyignited,and
thereisasubstantialbedofhotcoals,thegrates
maythenbeshaken.
Ashes and Ash Removal
Ashesshouldneverbeallowedtoaccu-
mulateabovethetopoftheashpan.Ashesin
contactwiththebottomofthegratesactasinsu-
lation,whichintensiestheheatonthegratesand
causesthemtosagorwarp.Also,toomuchash
accumulationwillrestrictair-owwhichwillmake
remaintenancemoredifcult.Placeashesin
asealedmetalcontainer,outside,untiltheyare
cooledenoughfornaldisposal.Coalproduces
considerablymoreashthanwood,sotheintervals
betweenemptyingaremuchshorter.