safe to add small coal pieces to wood stove firebox?

[ylekyote]

I have small coal pieces (golf ball size and smaller) that we find by tracks that carry coal down them by train. I have a 2013 pleasant Hearth stove (no cat) that i was curious if i could throw a piece or two of coal in with my last wood load before i go to bed? I read it burns really slow and hot and helps keep the stove warm when it can't be loaded every few hours. Would this likely be safe if done very conservatively? what are the safety concerns with this idea?

 

[valley ranch]

Hi, It depends on the make up of the stove. Years ago I burned coal for a while, the stove I was using had and heavy sheet metal liner, the coal damaged the liner badly.

Richard

 

[maverick06]

I have done it in the past, eas very dissapointed... didnt put out much heat. If the coal is free, I would consider it, probably good to "build a coal bed" almost like kindling...

 

[Nick Mystic]

Years ago when I lived in another house that I also heated with wood I expanded my crawlspace to make a full basement. While digging down there I uncovered some coal that I assume was used at one time in the past to heat the house. I ended up recovering a few 5 gallon buckets worth of the coal and I added it to my fires in a pre-epa cast iron stove without incident. I was burning very wet wood at the time and it really helped get good fires going. I never noticed an stove damage, but then again it was only those few buckets worth.

 

[David.Ervin]

coal pieces (golf ball size and smaller) that we find by tracks that carry coal down them by train

Coal destined for power plants is probably brown or bituminous coal, which contains a significant percentage of tarry stuff and volatile organics. Coal that you'd burn in a coal stove is anthracite coal, which is nearly pure metallic carbon. Bituminous coal burns ok in giant boilers with scrubbers and whatnot set up to handle the ash and corrosive off gassing, but that kind of thing will not play nice in your (relatively) small wood stove.

A true coal stove will also have air flow from the bottom up through the coal bed. Check your wood stove, and you'll probably find the air comes in from the sides.

 

[DougA]

IMHO a few pieces would not do any harm but won't do much good either. As David says, it takes a fair bit of forced air to get soft coal to burn thoroughly.

 

[Fsappo]

Not worth the risk. A few pieces wont do too much and the stove isn't geared for coal, wont do anything at all. And if not geared for coal and you used too much, you will damage the stove. I have seen actual "designed" wood/coal stoves crap out after a few years.

 

[DanCorcoran]

My stove manual specifically says not to burn coal or corn or driftwood or...other stuff. Maybe they know something?

 

[JRJ]

Wood and coal don't mix... Creates a small thing called "Sulfuric Acid " ...something you don't want in your stove or stovepipe

 

[smokedragon]

IMHO a few pieces would not do any harm but won't do much good either.

I agree. The real issue is that it is not the correct type of coal, and the stove really won't feed it air to get the full potential out of it anyway.

 

[ylekyote]

That stuff makes sense. Thanks all. Have another question about outdoor wood burning stoves/boliers. Will post that in a few.

 

[valley ranch]

A chunk here and there, now and then might not be a problem. When I was burning coal I burned nothing but coal, I think if I was burning wood and tossed in a chunk or two it wouldn't have burned that hot.
I would put a couple chunks in now and then.

Richard

 

[mass_burner]

I bought a bag of anthracite coal at TSC and tried to burn in an open fireplace. Boy was that a waste of time, like trying to burn metal.

 

[valley ranch]

If you throw it in with coals it'll burn. Doesn't burn real clean, you can see the soot on the snow. I burned it, just coal also, too close to the primary air inlet, and it damaged the sheet metal shroud that held the bricks up. Burning a chunk or two at a time in with the wood and wood coals work, without a problem.

Richard