What the Heck Are These Things in My Ash Pan?

e.alleg · Post by **e.alleg** » Wed. Dec. 05, 2007 9:08 pm

I was dumping my ash pan today and noticed a lot of things that look like kidney beans. The colors range from light red to dark red and they are about the size of a large kidney bean. They are hard as a rock. There must have been a dozen or more, weird.

Post by **stoker-man** » Wed. Dec. 05, 2007 9:09 pm

diamonds in the rough?

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Wed. Dec. 05, 2007 9:10 pm

Can you post pictures of the interlopers?

e.alleg · Post by **e.alleg** » Wed. Dec. 05, 2007 9:46 pm

Ok here we go. I noticed that the coal had some large chunks in it when I was filling the hopper, I called my coal dealer and he said it was normal for a few larger pieces to slip through. These larger pieces are a mix between petrified wood and metal, they don't totally stick to a magnet but there is some attraction. The ash pan is about 50% fine powder and 50% of these clinker things. I took a picture of the fire burning too, I'm pretty sure I have the air/feed pretty close according to what the manual says. The feed pipe is stone cold all the way up until where it goes through the base, right at the junction it is warm to the touch, not hot by any means but definitely warmer than the cold pipe 2" away from the base.

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Wed. Dec. 05, 2007 9:57 pm

I've been told that those objects are from high shale content in the coal, but I had a similar problem last year, they actually jammed the grates on my Harman. I think it's more of a mineral of some sort, There was a reddish cast to the fine ash in the stove. Guess it's strip coal, right?

I posted pictures of the clinkers that I had like that back in February or so, maybe you can find them!

John

gaw · Post by **gaw** » Thu. Dec. 06, 2007 12:31 pm

They look like clinkers from red ash coal but a bit large for rice coal. My clinkers usually look like a couple pieces of ash fused together with welding slag. Thats the best I can describe it. It seems the hotter the fire the more you get clinkers. Shouldn't be anything to worry about.

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Thu. Dec. 06, 2007 7:03 pm

Is that strip coal?

xackley · Post by **xackley** » Thu. Dec. 06, 2007 8:12 pm

I think those are an essential ingredient for making a fruitcake. Now we know!

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Thu. Dec. 06, 2007 8:56 pm

xackley wrote:I think those are an essential ingredient for making a fruitcake. Now we know!

I actually like fruitcake, in small doses. I don't know why everyone hates it.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Mon. Dec. 17, 2007 2:30 am

i've found those in rice coal when we are unloading the truck from the breaker.......i'll bet some of that rice is reclaimed coal.....dont have the stuff with buckwheat coal

cheapheat · Post by **cheapheat** » Mon. Dec. 17, 2007 8:30 am

Hey alleg, I would paint those doo-doo brown and give them out for christmas. Jim

Post by **Richard S.** » Mon. Dec. 17, 2007 2:47 pm

lincolnmania wrote:i've found those in rice coal when we are unloading the truck from the breaker.......i'll bet some of that rice is reclaimed coal.....dont have the stuff with buckwheat coal

Possible but it only takes one large piece to make millions of little pieces, if there stripping near where a mine fire was... Having said that I've seen them occasionally at every breaker I've been too .

e.alleg · Post by **e.alleg** » Mon. Dec. 17, 2007 3:45 pm

I've found that some bags are full of them and some don't have any. Must have been a meteor or something they mined.

What the Heck Are These Things in My Ash Pan?

Attachments