Yes there was still wood in it. It’s a lot cleaner now. I added another 15-20 pounds.Is that a mix of wood and coal with lots of air? Bituminous will give you dirty yellow flames, but anthracite should only have yellow flames coming through it when loading coal on top of wood. It only takes enough flames through the coal bed to ignite it, then you should have only blue flames. Most of the heat will come from the glowing mass. That much coal in a cook stove is 3 days worth.
This is my first time. I had a load of oak and hickory in it last night and today so I added the coal on top of that with the fan ripping. I have the fan down now and it’s really cleaned up.I am coal curious. My cookstove says it can burn coal in the manual.
That’s better. The amount of coal does not affect the output like adding more wood. Once established over entire grate area, the depth will only burn as deep as you give it air. The blue flames are only the gas burning off that escapes from the fresh coal. With little air at idle, you will only have a small flame at the most shallow spot in the fire. For this reason the fire must always have a low spot. In boilers, fire deeper around sides like a horseshoe shape with a lower center. This prevents holes in the fire where cool air rushes through the grate at firebox side wall causing uneven heating of side sheet. If you fire too deep and level, at low fire you can loose the pilot light needed to ignite the coal gas on top. This stinks and does not take advantage of the added heat from blue flames.
Never poke a coal fire from the top.
Coal requires much more controlled air than wood, so if you decide to burn it, adding a barometric damper will keep the air flow through coal bed constant with weather changes and chimney temperature fluctuations. The flapper will close at low fire maintaining draft with little heat and open at high fire keeping the draft constant. Far less fuel is used.
Should be less emissions than wood as well. If coal is available as a fuel when I'm unable to process wood that's probably what I'll go to. I think my cooker was made with wood and the coal briquettes as the primary fuel since it doesn't have a shaker. My Morso could be set up to run nut coal if I make the ash pan intake spinner functional.This is my first time. I had a load of oak and hickory in it last night and today so I added the coal on top of that with the fan ripping. I have the fan down now and it’s really cleaned up.
There is no air control. That’s why I need a heavier load on it. If it calls for heat every 15 min with a 2 degree differential it won’t go out. Last night it probably only called for heat once an hour as it warmed up and I quit making hot water for doing laundry.Doesn't it have an adjustable intake for natural draft to maintain a low fire?
The blower should only be needed on a call for heat.
To use less fuel, I adjust low fire air to maintain desired constant temp to allow constant flow through circulators. A zone valved system would need to open zone valves or bypass them for regulated constant flow. Much easier on fuel than high fire burn. I heat one home over 2000 sf. with 2 tons yearly when using coal. I plumbed with oversize Pex for good gravity flow, 2 zone thermostats stay satisfied.
If you can pick up in bulk it is much cheaper than bags here. 5 gallon pails or pickup, all weighed on scale.