This may be a dumb question......But does a wood stove have to specially equipped to burn coal? I ask because I have access to coal and I was curious. And I see some stoves marketed as dual fuel...coal and wood.
Coal Burning
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Yes coal needs the air to come from underneath on a hand fired natural draft stove that means shaker grates and air introduced under them. That configuration is horrible for wood most combo units are horrible wood stoves.
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
I own a combo wood/coal that belonged to my grandfather and have to agree with @bholler as above.
Mine burns coal kinda ok, but for wood burning the only two options are raging inferno or the very gates of hell.
There are dedicated reasonably modern coal stoves out there, and decent quality coal can be burned cleanly by a reasonably competent operator.
There is a learning curve, coal is kinda fussy about keeping the slug fed, but it is doable. Also, you can leave it out in the rain and still burn it.
Mine burns coal kinda ok, but for wood burning the only two options are raging inferno or the very gates of hell.
There are dedicated reasonably modern coal stoves out there, and decent quality coal can be burned cleanly by a reasonably competent operator.
There is a learning curve, coal is kinda fussy about keeping the slug fed, but it is doable. Also, you can leave it out in the rain and still burn it.
edyit
Minister of Fire
electrathon
Minister of Fire
I remember as a kid my Grandpa would burn coal in his wood stove. During the daytime he would usually burn wood, then to make the stove run through the night he would put in a big lump of coal. I know the stove was a woodstove, it had a side air inlet, loaded through the top. No idea of the brand it was. Is there a reason (other than it is icky to burn) not to do this? I don't have coal around here, just curious.
With no air coming from under the coal the fire will not burn well which can stall draft and lead to co leakage.
electrathon
Minister of Fire
So a smoldering fire, leading to minimal draft on the stove. My only real memory was hotter, longer fires. To collect it he had to take the boat across the bay to where it was on the beach. It was a lot more laborious than getting wood, which was all around.
I wouldn’t burn coal in a stainless liner (or flue) unless you PLAN on replacing when needed. And you will need to plan that. Coal burning is corrosive.
In the professional world, do they still have an estimate of life span? I had thought at one point it was a 10 year life span for replacement. Maybe that has changed?
electrathon
Minister of Fire
Funny, and evidence of the old days. He had black stove pipe up through the roof of the cabin. I remember him saying that a couple times a winter the stove would stop drafting well. He would go up on the roof and beat on the pipe with a mallet and the creosote would break loose and drop down in to the stove.
Blowndiffuser
Member
Here in the UK most the stoves sold are multi-fuel but what you're not told is that you should be using a 904 flue liner when burning coal. A 316 liner will only last five years if you're lucky. My chimney sweep showed me some photos of a 316 liner that had completely disintegrated because the owner had burned both coal and wood together. He also said that he is seeing more and more coal/flue related issues. Personally I would steer clear of burning coal.
That depends on the thickness and maintenance we have heavy wall 316 liners out there that we have cleaned and sprayed down with wd40 at the end of every season that are 25 years old. A light wall that has ash in it all summer you might get 5 yrs. And the people running boilers that run all year for domestic water last a long time. The problem comes when water gets to the ashes. It is not that corrosive before that.
I am sorry but we work on tons of coal units. And I have never seen a heavy wall or rigid 316 liner go bad in 5 years from coal. Light wall yes it will especially if not maintained properly.
That and I have been doing this a long time and dealt with many different suppliers and. I have never seen a 904 liner for sale here
Blowndiffuser
Member
I’ve seen the photos of 316 liners going bad so maybe here in the UK we don’t have heavy ridged 316 liners like you get. Here’s a link discussing 904 http://www.stovefittersmanual.co.uk/articles/what-grade-of-chimney-flue-liner-316-or-904/
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Well that is a light wall liner which I would absolutely never consider for coal. Or wood for that matter. We only use heavy flex or rigid for wood or coal. 304 for wood 316l for coal. If 904 was an option here I would consider it but like I said it simply is not available. And for wood we easlily see 30+ years with 304 heavy wall flex.
Really? I can't stand it honestly. But to each their own. In some areas here where lots of people still burn coal it can be really thick. To the point it can burn your eyes depending on weather conditions
Blowndiffuser
Member
I think that’s all we really have over here hence why the sweeps are now starting to see issues from people burning coal (approx five years after the UK log burner boom).
Blowndiffuser
Member
For domestic users they’d just be swept but I don’t think there are that many home users that just burn coal. People tend to mix it with wood which is not the best idea. I used to burn a little coal for overnight burns but stopped after speaking with my sweep. Plus I’m not a lover of coal, too messy and doesn’t have the romance of wood. I feel in the UK there is a general lack of understanding about log burners and how to use them properly (excluding people who work in the trade).
There is no problem at all with burning both other than the fact that most combo units are no where near as good at either than a dedicated unit. Combining the exhaust of the two is absoluyly no worse than coal alone.
And if they want the liners to last they should be sprayed with a water displacement product like wd40. It really works.
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