Coal?

Most wood stove manuals say not to burn coal and would probably void any warranties. I think coal stoves differ in that the combustion air comes up through the bottom and has shaker grates to keep the coal from forming clinkers. There are some combination wood/coal stoves out there, but from what I heard there more geared to coal than wood.

A few details about coal:

1) You can store it outside in the rain, it should not absorb water at all.
2) If you have a good seller, the coal will be washed many times to remove "fines" which are responsible for coals reputation for being a dirty fuel
3) Coal needs to be burnt in an oven with a grate, ideally a shaker grate specialy made to remove the ash.
4) A coal stove should be top loading, it needs a deep bed to burn well and will go many hours between reloads. Look at the Harman coal stoves, highly recommended.
5) The number 1 rule with coal is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. If it has to be trucked for miles, it will push up the cost and all the handling and vibration will re-create the fines that you don't want.
6) There are 2 primary types of coal, Anthracite (hard coal) which is almost 100% carbon abd bituminuous coal, which has a lot of volatiles and which will produce a lot more ash. Everyone wants anthracite, but basically you have to make do with what is available where you live.

Obviously it is a fossil fuel, but apparently thats OK with the majority of our power generation sites. A coal fire does not have the same aura as a typical wood fire, but it also is more "utility" in nature, since it is good for strong continuous heat over extended periods. The smoke from a coal fire is less pleasant than from a wood fire (although many will say any smoke is bad) and obviously you would not use it for grilling something you were going to eat, since it is not a "clean" fuel.

If it is available where you live and an acceptable price, the only question is how fanatical you are regarding what fuel you burn. It is a relatively unfussy fuel in that you either collect it or have it delivered, shovel it into some sort of storage bin and your done. No chainsaw, axe, splitting maul needed. No splitting and stacking then moving under cover and re-stacking. If you have a walk out basement, it is easy enough to build indoor storage for coal and it can be kept indoors from the start. It harbors no pests, nor does it attract any. It also occupies relatively little room compared to other solid fuels due to its high calorific value (25 million BTU / ton compare to hardwood at an average of 7-8 Mbtu/ton . Assume 1/3 the space for the same heating value when compared to wood.

So in my book, coal is a good fuel for woodburners who are, shall we say "advanced in years" and can't keep up with the physical nature of cordwood, but want a real live fire all the same. Its a great way to maintain your independance from the utility companies and keep going no matter what the weather delivers.

If you don't already have one, make sure to get a CO alarm, since one is basically burning carbon and the slightest oxygen starvation will raise CO levels. If the chimney is in perfect condition and drafting fine, you could be OK, but the alarm will keep you safe. Lighting coal is somewhat of a different technique and getting a full depth coal bed takes a bit of time, but once its going it can burn all winter long.

Ash disposal needs some consideration, since coal ash can contain toxic substances, so you don't want to dump it in the garden. Ideally one has a steel trash can with a tight fitting lid that one fills up in winter and disposes of at the end of the season, more than likely in a landfill.

KeithO is the coal guru - nothing much to add there. I burned a couple of 5 gallon buckets of coal a few years ago, just to get rid of it. Nothing spectacular, if you have a wood stove with an ash drawer, you could probably burn it. You just have to crack open the ash pan and let some air come in from the bottom. Also, it seems from my brief experience that there is a big difference between "burning a little coal now and then" and "heating your house for days solely with coal". The former could be done by most anyone willing to experiment a little bit. The latter is most likely going to take a dedicated coal or coal/wood appliance.

Corey

KeithO said it as good if not better than I could have.

I mix 2 shovels full in with my wood on nights when the temp drops below 0 . It makes a big difference as to how long my fire holds overnight. Have had good luck with coal and it seems to clean my chimney. There is a wide range of BTUs and ash content in different coals and that might be why some have better luck than others .I can only say good things about my experience with coal.

LEES WOOD-CO said:

I mix 2 shovels full in with my wood on nights when the temp drops below 0 . It makes a big difference as to how long my fire holds overnight. Have had good luck with coal and it seems to clean my chimney. There is a wide range of BTUs and ash content in different coals and that might be why some have better luck than others .I can only say good things about my experience with coal.

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What type coal, anthracite or bituminous, and what type stove? Also, did you dig through your ashes, what was left?

-- Mike

Not sure on type. I think probably bituminous. I shovel it up from a train wreck site from possibly 50-100 years ago. RR bed has since been abandoned.It is all different sizes and powder too. Doesn't make much smoke I have tried some during the day just to see . My unit is a Woodchuck wood/coal forced air furnace. Have not found any clinkers in ash as of yet and have been using coal for about 5 years. Like I said I only mix it a few times a week during the coldest part of winter and have not tried it alone but it does work well.

I, like many millions of people in Scotland, had a fireplace, in which I burned both coal and wood.
I had a coal bunker, and went through about two bags a week in the winter.
I loved having a coal fire going when the weather was inclement.
Coal puts out a great heat, although it can be slow to get going.
we had paraffin soaked firelighters which made it easy to get it going.
to keep a fire going overnight, one would build up a big fire, the cover it completely with "dross' or fine coal dust, then soak it with water. In the morning, a few prods with a poker would bring the fire to life and more big lumps of coal could be added.
It was about five pounds sterling a bag before I left for America, which means heating a house (it had a back boiler to heat water for kitchen/bath/radiators) was about a tenner a week.

Then towards the latter few years a lot of people switched to natural gas fires, which put our coalman out of business, and an out of town company came in.
I enjoyed coal fires.

Mr Pict: Why did you choose Oklahoma ? Just curious, it seems to be quite the opposite of Scotland ?

Here is the article on Hearth.com on coal stoves: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/coal_stoves/

Frankly, I have some artharitis in my hands already and I'm not even 40. If I'm still able, I intend to be burning coal when I can no longer handle the splitting and stacking. I think availability of coal in the eastern states is not bad, since they are not that far from Eastern Pennsylvania and Colorado has a lot of coal deposits in the west (low grade compared to PA). Here in the midwest we are really too far from either of the primary sources, but fortunately (as you can see out the airplane window) we have lots of trees and I'm young and fit enough for the job. And I'm not planning to stay here forever.... The mountains are calling...

Coal really burns best in a purpose built stove that has and air supply from under the coal. I've tossed in a couple pieces in the wood stove, but they don't seem to burn completely. Coal is a great heat, but it smells a bit and is very dusty in older stoves.

I don't but I have a buddy who does. He buys it locally for about $ 40.00 a ton. He says it really heats up the house ,way better then wood, almost to hot. His house is probably a 2000 sq ft two story and the wood stove is hooked into the house duct work. It is dirty. He says he won't let his kids play in the basement without shoes on because their socks turn black when he is burning coal. Says you can't tell the ash is floating around during the winter but as soon as spring comes you can really tell. I don't remember why that happens, he told me, I just don't remember. We had some brews that night.

Here is a site that should interest you. It seems a lot like this one just coal oriented http://www.nepadigital.com/bb/index.php

North Berwick? I've been there countless times for a weekend run on my nortons with my friends.
Did you visit Dunbar? That's a nice little place by the sea too.
What were you doing in North Berwick? (pronounced berrik).

You must have seen the Forth bridges at South Queensferry too-impressive aren't they?

I've still my accent-I've been here in the states for about seven years now.

Why did I come to Oklahoma? it seemd like a good idea at the time-I was in a mickey mouse job, I'd been drinking some home brew and listening to the Woody Guthrie library of congress recordings, and said to myself-I think I'd like to visit Oklahoma.........

Coal dust = black Ash = white

Fireplaces with the usual amount of excess air and associated home drafts tend to spread the coal fines everywhere. I actually think that if you keep a little vacuum handy, coal can be cleaner than wood, once you take into account bark, bugs, chips, fungus, mould etc. Not to mention the crap you carry in on your shoes from the woodpile. Anyway, I like wood, don't get me wrong and I'll be playing this game as long as I'm allowed.

Vermontster said:

I talked to someone today that was saying, "that if you burn coal your house will be sooo black...."

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I used to go weekend runs to North berwick on my Nortons with my friends just for a fish supper and a cup of tea.

What were you doing in North Berwick?

Did you see much of Scotland?

Why did I come to Oklahoma?

Well, one night, sitting in my living room , drinking home brew and listening to Woody Guthrie library of congress recordings, I thought-I'd like to visit Oklahoma-I'm still here 7 years, one wife and two sons later.......

Sorry-posted the same thing twice. D'OH!

I burn coal. Anthracite coal. Its a boiler thats in my cellar. The thing is self-feeding. There's an auger that extends into a bin that's adjacent to the boiler. It pulls the coal in when either it senses the fire going out or the water temp drops below 160 degrees. I don't touch a thing. I do have to dump ashes. Its a little dirty. Not much. The heat is awesome.

I have an old house. Built in 1884. 1800sq feet. Last Feb when the highs were 18 degrees for 1 month straight, I went thru 2 tons of coal. Cost me around $380. I had the thermostat on 68. Which was very warm. My neighbors, who heat with natural gas and had the t-stat on 65 were paying over $600!

Welcome to the forum leois1.
Dan.

I heat almost solely with soft (bituminous) coal, about 6 tons/year. even soft coal is very clean if you have a system and are carefull doing things. for example, a top loading stove will virtually eliminate all coal dust in the home; you simply take a bucket and dump it in, all dust/ fines are sucked in the stove by the draft, and if your coalbin is outside the scooping process which may produce dust, is kept outside. the other thing is the ash which in most stoves must be emptyed every day, have a good ashpan and a well- designed stove that actually makes the ash go into the ashpan, be carefull and slowly remove from stove and dump outside, and you will no dust/ dirt in your home or you. if burning bituminous like i do, you will have the soot particles about half the size of a pencil eraser that will land on everything downwind for about 20' but the spring rains always clean everything off just fine. coal smoke does smell differently than wood smoke, however, you get used to it very quickly when outside and after a few years, you began to actually like it. also if you ever get a puff of coalsmoke in the house, while strong initially, it dissapates very quickly, unlike woodsmoke which contains tars and pah's.

btw, you can and probably have cooked over (anthricite) coal fires, briquitte charcoal is primarilly packed anthricite dust.

Coal ash in the US (not china etc, places where coal has undergone "mineralization") is not much different than the soil in general, yes it contains many elements some of which are harmfull such as arsenic etc, however, they are present in concentrations similar and with certain coals lower than the soil on which you walk.

this is a pic of one of my coal stoves, in the dining room, not as pretty as i could have made it, but it burns bituminous coal perfectly to a powder w/ secondary burn. There is NO mess, i would not tolerate dust, debris, etc. as you can see it is sitting on white tile, when i clean it, there is absolutely NO dust, from the coal or the ash period.

the pics are after dumping a fresh bucket of coal; it is just starting to burn.