Burning coal in fireplace

[894yard]

Detector$: thanks for the input, I'll investigate the Morso locally, my first Google showed almost all UK and AU stores. The Morso web site doesn't admit that the 1410 will burn coal, but the 1440 does. They are just my size. Thanks!

To chime in on the dust, I may only be on week 2 of coal burning, but I buy it bagged at the local Ace Hardware - it's Blaschak Nut Anthacite 82-86% carbon ($6/40#). It is almost always damp in the bag, I don't know about washed or anything, I presume it's the fact that it's stored outside on the pallets and the bags have little holes poked through from the coal. The dust so far is only from the bucket to the door of the stove (few inches) and doesn't compare to the sawdust, bark, and smoke-ash that burning wood has always produced.

When the F-250 comes out of the shop with a new fuel pump I get to switch to bulk coal at the yard about 25 minutes away and about 1/4 the price. I'll let you know how the mess compares to the bags.

Today, it's almost 60 degrees out already. I let my coal die down yesterday afternoon when I heard that forecast. Some goofy weather we're having!

 

[Detector$]

I actually think the 1410 and 1440 are the same basic stove. The 1410 is radiant and has open legs, where the 1440 is convection with its doublewall sides and legs.
I saw a 1410 in at a dealer in KY and looked closely at it. It's pretty cool for small areas and am thinking of getting one to heat the bonus room above our detached garage. Since coal needs to burn with air entering from the bottom through the coals, both stoves have a lower screw-type air adjustment. However, the store model set up for wood burning had a lock nut on the lower knob and a working top knob. I think all you have to do to set it up for coal is to switch the nut from the bottom to the top , so that air enters from below the coals. Both have the riddling/shaker grate.

No coal in NC that I'm aware of, but the sheer curiosity of heating with it would probably make me try it at least once if I had a stove that could burn it.
If you buy one and do burn coal in it. Take some pics and let me know what you think. It might make a good companion stove to the one were going to buy for our main house.

 

[jebatty]

It's easy to understand the mystique of burning coal, like relearning a lost skill. Yet, coal always will have at least two major downfalls in the climate change world -- it is a fossil fuel which adds to CO2 in the atmosphere and it is not a sustainable fuel. Heating with coal is a microcosm of why the world cannot continue to build coal fired generating plants. Wood burning has neither of these downfalls -- it does not add to net CO2 and it is sustainable. And the wood gassification boilers, especially as tweaked by participants in the Boiler Room, now also are achieving levels of efficiency which rival many other heating appliances.

 

[894yard]

detector$: Comparing the Morso, 1410 looks undeniably designed and suited to burn coal, but Morso is not billing it that way. It is just not UL listed to burn anything but wood, or at least the newest models aren't. It wouldn't surprise me if it used to be and just missed some sort of cut-off. I mean, you don't put riddler grates in wood-only appliances, do you?

I want radiant heat. I use a thermostatically controlled duct to pump the heat from the peak of the cathedral where the fireplace is and into the bedrooms down the hall. I am pretty sure I'd lose heat (at the ceiling) with a convection stove, though the room with the stove might be more uniform.

I would be willing to bet that the convection effect keeps the 1440 at a lower temperature which Morso (or maybe the UL) is more willing to accept the liability for these days. Just a guess though.

I also found a stove co. in NWPA who builds a nice hand fed insert**, but they need 5-8 weeks lead time as they build them per order and won't ship them, they only install it personally or sell them from the storefront. I respect that, but I need someone in nEpa who can do the same thing.

If I am able to find a used 1410 with a UL plate that designates coal, I'll probably get it. If that is the case, I'll take pics galore! I am afraid I may be doomed to eBay, Craig's list or the local Paper Shop to get the type of appliance that I want at a price I'm willing to pay.

jebatty: I don't know exactly how much home-heat coal exhaust impacts the environment when added up, but something tells me that one coal-fired electricity plant here in PA probably is greater than the total of homes heating with coal these days. I understand where the trend is, and why for that matter, but that just makes me feel even better about using coal. Wouldn't it be a shame for mankind to be finished with this planet before we've responsibly used up the fuels that are here for us to use. Just my opinion, they aren't doing anyone much good in the ground. I fear I've been sucked off topic. I digress.

** Keystoker stove, they say it's UL 1482 compliant - cjshomedecor.com for anyone reading who might be interrested.