house coal.

hello curiously i wanted to try different fuels, so i bought a bag of the house coal smokey stuff, burned like hell very hot, very smokey blacked the glass but then cooked it off , i then bought some of the smokeless coal and it was a waste of time. i then bought some anthracite and again a waste of time , so i would say smokey coal was the hottest by far. i then got thinkin about railway sleepers and chucked a few pieces in. it burned very hot smokey but not half as smokey as the house coal. so i wander is it really that bad to be burning sleepers? i went out often to view the smoke out of the chimney and there was hardly any with the sleeper quite a bit more with the coal.. open to thoughts on this. i wont buy smokless coal again or the anthracite as its far more expensive and a lot less heat . be interesting to have some other thoughts on all this. if i can just say it is a modern stove that burns most of the smoke in the secondaries

Coal, especially anthracite, usually burns with no visible smoke at all. But it requires a stove specifically designed for coal; you can't (or should't) burn coal in a wood stove.

yes im aware of that coal needs air under it and wood doesnt care were air comes from , im aware anthracite is smokeless too yes.

Soft coal (lignite or bituminous) usually burns much faster than antricite for many reasons.....but it also puts out the soot as well. That's the predominate coal in our region. It is the preffered coal of blacksmiths that use coal forges too (my buddy buys Clearfield nut for his forge), as it puts out quick hot heat....But anthricite burns much cleaner (and slower) because of it's make-up/density. Here's some good reads on different coals.....lots out there if you do a search....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bituminous_coal

http://nepacrossroads.com/about3423.html

yes thanks for that ive read up on different types. ive not found one as hot as the bitchu coal yet. just regarding the soot i did read some place that it can be re burned , recycled in to coal again? i searched google but found little regarding this? back to the coal tho. which is worse the bitchi coal or the railway sleepers?

Aren't railway sleepers wood with creosote or some other preservative? Doesn't sound like a good idea to burn that stuff...

exactly my point. if they still sell house coal bitchumin coal for home use surely sleepers soaked in the same stuff would be the same? i burned some of the smokey coal and it was hot but loads of black crap smoke. i burned some railway sleepers still hot and smokey but not as bad. so gets me wanderin if ya allowed to burn smokey coal why not sleepers?