Burning Coal

mygoatboy · Jan 12, 2005

Hello,
I have a woodstove in my house that is designed to burn both wood and coal and I thought I would give coal a shot because I do not get much heat out of it overnight if I close it down enough to keep a nice bed of coals for the morning. Has anyone here ever burnt coal?

Thanks,
Daniel

Deerlope · Jan 12, 2005

Yes, I have burned coal and it is a good steady source of heat but you have to know what you are doing with it. It is important to burn the gas off before checking it down or it can kill you or blow up. once that sfuff gets going it is not just a simple matter of closing the damper and draft to slow it down. You had better talk personally with some one that has used it.

Jimbrown · Jan 12, 2005

I have burned lots of coal it is really no different from burning wood it just burns slower and hotter. It takes a lot longer to get it lit properly and then to shut it down. You need to get a nice wood fire going and then add your coal.Once you get it lit and get a good bed of coals you should be able to bank it up on one side of your stove and close down the air intake and it should burn all night depending on the size of your stove. If you want instant heat in the AM just throw some wood on top. There are different grades of coal and the better/ harder grades burn a lot hotter and cleaner than the lessor grades. It makes a lot less ashes than wood but can be dirty to deal with. Some people like the smell and some do not. I kinda like it. Around here I would not have a clue where to buy any. If you can find some place that would sell you a small amount 100lb or so I would give it a try. We used to be able to buy it in large burlap bags but I doubt you can do that any more.

techman · Jan 12, 2005

I also burned coal for a number of years. I had a hopper fed stove, which worked quite well.

As for starting, I started using a small wood fire, but ended up never having enough wood around. This led to cutting up 2x4's and other destructive practices. I then switched to using regular charcoal briquets to start the coal. Initially I used paper, etc to start the charcoal. Continuing down my path of lazyness, I then switched to the "matchlight" type of charcoal. which I used for years. They started fairly quickly, and get hot enough in a short time to get the coal going.

I eventually stopped burning coal when we moved into a new house. I then discovered the extent of the problem of burning coal....dirt. Not only the amount of grey dust related to the fine white ash, but as we cleaned the house to sell it, the amount of black coal dust that was in every corner of the rooms on the floor that the stove was on was unbelievable. Although we tried to always control the dust when we handled the coal, it was pervasive. So be aware of the dirt assocoated with coal, much worse than than wood. It was however much more convenient and a longer burn time (without attentiot to the stove).

I heated my whole (old) house for 3 years with wood and 6 with coal. Except for the dirt factor, coal would be a winner hands down.

paul

TBAR · Jan 14, 2005

When I was a kid we would go out to the cabin on Friday nights to spend the weekend.

My grandad used to roll newspapers, cut them into 4" sections and soak them in kerosene.

Before we would leave on Sunday he would set the fire for the next weekend by placing one of the paper logs in first, then load coal or wood on top of it. That way when we arrived the next Friday night we could get a nice toasty fire in the stove quickly.

TBAR

Bird · Jan 15, 2005

It's been 30 years or more ago since I bought a gadget that was sold for the purpose of tightly rolling newspapers to use as fireplace logs, but we didn't soak them in kerosene. And it didn't take too long for me to decide to throw that thing in the garbage. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I don't know whether they still make and sell them or not.

SPIKER · Jan 15, 2005

yep we had one of those gagets that rolled newspapers too, worked like it was sold by "RONKO" lol wore out you're hands and arms in about 30 min and whey were black from ink for weeks after one try at it, then you had to leave the papers set and dry, (or get all musty and stinky if they were too wet). anyhow just wanted to say ya right I'll do that again /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif! lol

MarkM