Nut Coal is not turning into ash--having to dig it out - HELP!

I don't have a Russo, but I have burned coal in a hand fed coal stove in the past. Coal does not turn to ash the same as wood, it is much coarser after burning. Does your stove have provision for shaking the grates? It is called "riddling"..... maybe a handle that you can grab and shake back and forth to cause the coal ash to fall through the grates to the ashpan below?

You shouldn't have to dig it out. Coal burns different than wood too, and if you are burning coal 24/7 you shouldn't get into the burning coal bed and dig around, it can and most likely will put out the coal fire.

You shake coal down on the grates so it'll burn. Don't stir it with a poker...shake it down.

What is nut coal?

Does that refer to the size?

Something I liked even better than the shaker grate is a flat long rod that I would stick under the bed of coals and wiggle and pull int back and forth. This caused the as to fall through the grate, better than shaking did/does. I haven't burned coal in several years, I used the good stuff though, the Pennsylvania Anthracite, soft coal may behave somewhat differently.

As you know coal burns from the bottom up, that's why a coal stove has an air feed from below, whereas a wood stove feeds from above. Coal is very different from wood as a stove fuel. Happily one can usually burn wood in a stove designed for coal, but not the other way around.

Edit: and if you're into coal burning big time, there are forums that specialize in coal, see: http://nepacrossroads.com/

BJ64 said:

What is nut coal?

Does that refer to the size?

Click to expand...

Yeah it does. You got your rice coal, which is used primarily in auto-feed/gravity feed stoker stoves, you got your nut coal, used in hand fed stoves, and you also got your "stove" coal, which is big hunks, like softball size and larger, for big coal stoves, and also, can be burned in hand fed stoves if you know what you are doing.

Now, if the original poster here has a shaker grate, he/she wants to shake that coal stove until he/she sees small burning embers begin to drop into the ashpan, then stop.

Then allow the stove to begin to heat back up nicely with the air control open, and slowly add more coal on top.

I totally disagree with another poster here who recommends poking into the coal bed. I never did so, and there is no need to do so if you have a genuine coal burning stove equipped with grates and a shaker handle. In fact, digging around in a coal bed in a hand fed stove can easily cause one to lose the fire.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.