A stove salesman told me that coal stoves can only be used when the temperature outside is lower than 45 degrees. He was specifically referring to the Hitzer models at the time. His reason was that during warmer temperatures the chimney does not generate enough draft to keep a coal stove going. Is this true or was he trying to steer me towards the stoves he had in stock?
Coal only when it's cold??
- Thread starter gtgoat
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I would think that this would be more a function of the flue design, but never having burned coal, that's just conjecture. Hopefully Corie is hanging out and can comment.
drizler
Minister of Fire
http://nepacrossroads.com/
Fly on in there and ask this. I expect they will get a laugh out of it but you surely will get an experienced answer.
Fly on in there and ask this. I expect they will get a laugh out of it but you surely will get an experienced answer.
ansehnlich1
Retired Hearth.com Member
I burned nut coal in a hand fed Baker coal stove to heat my home for 7 years, my brother now has the same coal stove.
I could burn coal at 60 degrees outside, anything below was better, anything above that was difficult to maintain a fire, though possible if you were good at burnin' coal.
Coal ain't like wood, it can sit in a stove at 65 degrees outside, and just sit there, when deep in the coal bed it is still lit, but you can't see it. Come night time, when the temps go down, and ya want to fire it up again, it can take a long, LONG, time to bring that fire back up to activley burnin' coal, but it can be done, cuz I did it all the time.
60 or below is best for burnin' coal, and surely, it'll burn better at 45 degrees than at 50, and better at 50 degrees than at 60.
I could burn coal at 60 degrees outside, anything below was better, anything above that was difficult to maintain a fire, though possible if you were good at burnin' coal.
Coal ain't like wood, it can sit in a stove at 65 degrees outside, and just sit there, when deep in the coal bed it is still lit, but you can't see it. Come night time, when the temps go down, and ya want to fire it up again, it can take a long, LONG, time to bring that fire back up to activley burnin' coal, but it can be done, cuz I did it all the time.
60 or below is best for burnin' coal, and surely, it'll burn better at 45 degrees than at 50, and better at 50 degrees than at 60.
drizler
Minister of Fire
I don't know about the rest of you guys but at 65F I don't even consider having any heat on at all. We are well used to being cold up here.
ansehnlich1
Retired Hearth.com Member
Driz said:
Ya, I get that part, but ya gotta understand coal. When you burn nut coal in a hand fired coal stove, it takes some time and effort to establish the coal fire from a cold start. It ain't like burnin' wood. So the idea is, when the day temps are in the 50's, or even 60 degrees or so, but it's due to go down in the 40's or 30's at night, it takes a certain technique to be able to bank the coal fire down during the day without losing the fire....... having to dig 40 pounds of coal out of the stove, then rebuild and start all over again ain't no fun. The idea is to bank it down during the day without losing the fire, then in the evening, open the air wide open, and wait, sometimes an hour or more, for the coal fire to regenerate and begin to burn vigorously again.
I am about a month behind the times in replying to this. As most of the other comments state, the coal does not burn so good when the weather is warm. By the way-there is an excellent article on this web site about using coal stoves. Select it from the home page. The article was much better than the instructions that came with the Hitzer 983. Follow the instructions and you will be a pro in no time. anyhow, the general temperature recommended should be consistantly below 55 degrees for it to work properly. Until I learned how to burn coal properly, I was ready to throw the insert out. I shoveled the coal out twice to restart it. Then I found the article and learned! Key is to keep the fire box full, shake down only when hot, regulate the heat with the air vent below the grates, and don't go poking around in there. Coal does not like to be poked and it will reward you by going out faster than you can sneeze. Concerning a restart after fire is out. We had a few unplanned warm days-so we let it go out. We learned that to restart it, we build a wood fire on top of the coal and leave the front door open slightly for air. (Not factory recommended.) after the wood is good and hot and burning to coals, we put a layer of coal on it, close door and open damper and grate door until coal ignites. and is burning yellow. (also not necesarily recommended, guard against runaway flames) Then we close door, add coal as needed, regulate draft and air and after a fairly short time the rest of the coal bed begins burning and we are rewarded with the blue flame shuffle. It burns all night long, plus some. It does much better now that I don't mess with it so much.
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