post a pic of your wood burner in use...
- Thread starter mn woodcutter
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
Was that stove intended to use coal?
I'd be tempted to get some coal for my stove, except that it is so foul smelling. How clean is the smoke off the coal fire in a modern stove?
We had an old pot-belly coal stove in the farmhouse when I was a kid. Lots of heat, but the smoke would gas you out of the kitchen real quick. My dad would come home late at night, load up the stove, and then forget to open the damper.
After the whole house was filled with choking coal smoke, the windows got opened, and it was far colder than before he fed the fire. He did that to us several times.
I'd be tempted to get some coal for my stove, except that it is so foul smelling. How clean is the smoke off the coal fire in a modern stove?
We had an old pot-belly coal stove in the farmhouse when I was a kid. Lots of heat, but the smoke would gas you out of the kitchen real quick. My dad would come home late at night, load up the stove, and then forget to open the damper.
After the whole house was filled with choking coal smoke, the windows got opened, and it was far colder than before he fed the fire. He did that to us several times.
He was burning bituminous coal if it had a bad sulfur smell. Anthracite has almost no odor when burning. The appliance has to be designed to burn anthracite. All the combustion air needs to come under the grate. Here's a pic of my furnace burning anthracite.
Yes that’s classified as a coal stove , anthracite burns super clean no smoke , might smell a little sulfur outside at times but nothing really noticeable
I'm pretty sure that all varieties of coal smoke a hell of a lot when you dump a whole hopper-full onto a nearly burned out fire and then leave the top damper closed.
That old stove got lots of air from the bottom, but it leaked all the smoke out the cracks in the top if you left the exhaust damper closed.
I think until I get a coal grate for my wood burner, I'll have to pass on burning coal.
That old stove got lots of air from the bottom, but it leaked all the smoke out the cracks in the top if you left the exhaust damper closed.
I think until I get a coal grate for my wood burner, I'll have to pass on burning coal.
I burned anthracite for two winters, 1980, and 1981. There was no smell, from the coal,,
but, there was smell from the steel, as it struggled to hold the heat back!!
Our stove was filled , then it would heat the house for 6 to 7 days, unattended.
I only started the coal fire on Saturday, if it ran out of coal, we would burn wood until Saturday.
Here is a pic of my wood-burner that I use, now,, to burn stumps.
but, there was smell from the steel, as it struggled to hold the heat back!!
Our stove was filled , then it would heat the house for 6 to 7 days, unattended.
I only started the coal fire on Saturday, if it ran out of coal, we would burn wood until Saturday.
Here is a pic of my wood-burner that I use, now,, to burn stumps.
Coal only smells of sulfur, if there is sulfur in the coal.
MANY coal mines were abandoned in Kentucky because of high sulfur content.
I rode a shovel in a coal mine in Kentucky for 5 days, we were designing a new electrical drive for the shovel.
That shovel, ran on electricity, and could fill a 200 ton haul truck with only 3 scoops.
The shovel pulled a BIG extension cord! An employee would be fired instantly, if they ran over the extension cord,,
That mine ended up closing due to high sulfur content,, the coal was replaced with low sulfur coal hauled by train,, from South Dakota!!
I hope they ran that locomotive on coal,, the locomotive probably used as much diesel , energy-wise, as the coal that it moved!
MANY coal mines were abandoned in Kentucky because of high sulfur content.
I rode a shovel in a coal mine in Kentucky for 5 days, we were designing a new electrical drive for the shovel.
That shovel, ran on electricity, and could fill a 200 ton haul truck with only 3 scoops.
The shovel pulled a BIG extension cord! An employee would be fired instantly, if they ran over the extension cord,,
That mine ended up closing due to high sulfur content,, the coal was replaced with low sulfur coal hauled by train,, from South Dakota!!
I hope they ran that locomotive on coal,, the locomotive probably used as much diesel , energy-wise, as the coal that it moved!
Coal trains go back and forth past my shop every day. Almost all our electric plants in this area are run on coal.
How many hours of heat do you normally get before a reload?
My little woodstove
View attachment 20220313_104728.mp4
View attachment 20220313_104728.mp4
That one is so little, I can not see it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Maybe it can't be seen, because I go by so fast??
I posted it. Maybe because it was a video. It is up now.That one is so little, I can not see it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Maybe it can't be seen, because I go by so fast??
I use a 12ish hour tending schedule. House stays at 72° even. Average about 50-55 lbs of coal a day.
thenne1713
ArboristSite Operative
My Blacksmith grandson would love that coal bed?
crazyhorse666
Crazy person
Does this count?
View attachment IMG_2791_Trim.mp4
It does start as a piece of wood burning in an oven, albeit a microwave one. Then the microwave energy starts to convert the air to plasma and I think all bets are off as to what is going on in there.
View attachment IMG_2791_Trim.mp4
It does start as a piece of wood burning in an oven, albeit a microwave one. Then the microwave energy starts to convert the air to plasma and I think all bets are off as to what is going on in there.
What make/model furnace are you using? Where?, and at what cost do you purchase coal? I've always wanted to try it.
I'm running a Big Jack by the now defunct Alpha American. It's rated wood/coal. It does not burn coal well without modifications. I buy my coal from a local Amish dealer. They use coal almost exclusively. The last pallet was $345 for 2400 lbs. There's about 12500 btus per pound of anthracite. If my calculations are correct it's about half of what propane was this year per btu. I only burn coal in January and February.
If you're interested in trying it you should first check out Coalpail.com. There's tons of great info there.
If your modifications are discussed in some thread at COALPAIL or other forum, I would love to read the discussion,,
Could you add a link here to where the modifications are discussed??
I loved the heat that our coal stove produced, it was a great two winters,
I gave away the stove when I moved to Virginia, as there was no source of anthracite, here.
I believe I could drive to a location that sells anthracite, so maybe I could get back to coal,, Hmmm
My other reason for quitting, was that running my stove was more a form of sorcery, rather than science.
I always wondered when I was gonna have to start wearing a wizards hat to keep that stove operating.
We did not have the internet in 1980, when I was trying to burn coal.
All we could do is try different things,, until something worked.
I had so much trouble, I always wondered how the mine at Centralia PA kept burning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania
If I had lit that mine on fire,, the mine would have self-extinguished,,, YEARS ago!!
Here's a link.If your modifications are discussed in some thread at COALPAIL or other forum, I would love to read the discussion,,
Could you add a link here to where the modifications are discussed??
I loved the heat that our coal stove produced, it was a great two winters,
I gave away the stove when I moved to Virginia, as there was no source of anthracite, here.
I believe I could drive to a location that sells anthracite, so maybe I could get back to coal,, Hmmm
My other reason for quitting, was that running my stove was more a form of sorcery, rather than science.
I always wondered when I was gonna have to start wearing a wizards hat to keep that stove operating.
We did not have the internet in 1980, when I was trying to burn coal.
All we could do is try different things,, until something worked.
I had so much trouble, I always wondered how the mine at Centralia PA kept burning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania
If I had lit that mine on fire,, the mine would have self-extinguished,,, YEARS ago!!
https://coalpail.com/coal-forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=49261
That brings bac a lot of memories,,
I was heating about half of the house that you are.
Our stove was very similar, 9" brick, standing on end,, I think our bricks were only 1" or 1.25" thick,, maybe 4" wide.
Even at only 1" thick, the heat never came through the brick enough to discolor the stove paint.
Having only 1" thick brick increased the coal capacity dramatically.
Due to the smaller house, and larger coal volume of coal, that may be why I could heat for 6 or 7 days per load?
Above the brick, clearly, the paint was destroyed to a gray char. We put stove black on it a couple times,,
We had a bimetal automatic air control to the lower area.
Any secondary air was manual,, but, never used secondary air with coal.
I would fill the stove heaped at the top of the fire brick, with just a little kindling at the front.
The fire would start,, we never even opened the door, until the coal was 100% burned.
If you opened the door, or touched the pile with any sort of poker, the fire would instantly go out.
NO TOUCHING,,, NONE!!
The coal would hold itself up, allowing air to pass. if you touched it, the coal would settle, blocking the air flow.
Our stove came with both the wood and coal grates.
The wood grate was a sheet of 1/8" steel, with a big hole in the center, and a cover for the hole.
If I remember correctly, that steel grate allowed air from the lower area directly to the top. maybe near the door.
That allowed the bimetal damper to feed air to the wood fire, that preferred upper level air.
The coal grate was cast iron,, with a round separate center casting that could rotate.
If you tried to "shake" the coal with that round center casting,, INSTANT SNUFF-OUT!!
I had no idea why the cast iron grate was two-piece, unless that helped with bituminous coal.
I added a "LOWER AREA" with pullout tray to a Papa-Bear type stove that I have in a shop, right now.
The lower area has a "primary air inlet",, and I made a fake cast iron looking grate out of CNC cut 3/8" thick steel.
I burn wood in it, when I bottom feed air, the fire burns so hot, the top of the stove easily runs up to glowing red temps.
The stove is in a giant uninsulated shop,, I run it more for fun, than comfort.
I do get a little heat, but, if I am lucky, I can raise the temp 20 or 30 degrees,,
It is nice on a mild day,,.
Similar threads
