My Woodburner Setup

[Lee192233]

When you burn coal, does it have that "coal fired" smell in the exhaust?

Once in a while I can smell a very faint coal odor. I think burning bituminous coal produces more of a sulphur smell. The anthracite that I burn is really clean burning.

The wife doesn't complain and she can smell things I can't so it can't be too bad.

Lee

 

[olyman]

Thanks!
I have a Yukon Big Jack furnace.

To slice the coal bed I take a 90° poker and jam it up under the grate and pull/push/twist until glowing coals start to drop through with the ash. I repeat for each section of the grate. I have to do this because I don't have shaker grates.

I buy the coal from a local amish fella. There's also a different dealer about 25 miles away. Price is the same so I go to the closer one. I see you're in Iowa. If I recall there were a couple dealers down that way. I found mine by going on the Blaschak and Lehigh websites and did the dealer locate.

If coal was more readily available and a bit cheaper I would probably ditch the wood and get a dedicated coal furnace by Hitzer or DS stove.

I would definitely check out coalpail if you get into burning coal. Lots of knowledgeable members on that site.

Thanks,
Lee

I tried coalpail...and it just kept saying cool pile!!!!!!

 

[Wood shed]

Lee192233,

I have discovered many of the same things to be true with my OWB, dry wood certainly makes a difference and having time to adequately load the furnace helps a lot. I have seen a big difference since having an adequate supply of well seasoned dry wood and not trying or forcing the system into 24 hour burn times. Back when the EPA was starting to crack down I knew things would have to change so I built a Wood Shed for storage and anticipating having to upgrade to a gasifying furnace that would require dry wood. Even the old style "smoke dragon" will burn cleaner if using dry wood properly loaded.

 

[Lee192233]

Lee192233,

I have discovered many of the same things to be true with my OWB, dry wood certainly makes a difference and having time to adequately load the furnace helps a lot. I have seen a big difference since having an adequate supply of well seasoned dry wood and not trying or forcing the system into 24 hour burn times. Back when the EPA was starting to crack down I knew things would have to change so I built a Wood Shed for storage and anticipating having to upgrade to a gasifying furnace that would require dry wood. Even the old style "smoke dragon" will burn cleaner if using dry wood properly loaded.

It always bothered me when the OWB salesman at the fair would try to sell OWBs as some magic boiler. My friends that have OWBs all burn over 10 cords of wood a year. I can't fathom that in our climate. But they only have to load 'em once a day. They are all way oversized for their houses.

I get the appeal of an OWB. The mess stays outside, split your wood next to it so there is less handling.

What bothers me is when on the reversion days with no wind it looks terrible to people who don't burn wood. There's a guy who has one in a valley near me and the whole valley will be full of smoke from him on those calm cold days. I feel bad for his neighbors.

I hope I didn't step on any toes with this rant. When I started burning wood I wasn't very good at it and my chimney would be pumping the smoke out. I had lots of creosote, burned way too much wood and I wasn't happy with the performance of my furnace. I just think it's worth the effort to learn how to burn wood as efficiently as possible.

Sorry for the long post,
Lee

 

[johnnylabguy]

Thanks for the info Lee. I’ve always wanted to try coal but know it adds another variable. I’ve been using a “smoke dragon” US Stove hotblast 1557m for 12 years and have made it not smokey out of respect for my neighbors too. I lose a lot of heat out of the chimney and keep a good year plus ahead on my wood supply to keep it that way. Eventually I’ll upgrade to a Kuuma but I hate to mess with my current set up as I have it dialed in. I like to cut wood with my boys so I don’t mind the extra wood consumption. When they are old enough to be gone I’ll try coal and more efficient burners. But Seasoning is always key no matter what you burn!

 

[panolo]

It always bothered me when the OWB salesman at the fair would try to sell OWBs as some magic boiler. My friends that have OWBs all burn over 10 cords of wood a year. I can't fathom that in our climate. But they only have to load 'em once a day. They are all way oversized for their houses.

I get the appeal of an OWB. The mess stays outside, split your wood next to it so there is less handling.

What bothers me is when on the reversion days with no wind it looks terrible to people who don't burn wood. There's a guy who has one in a valley near me and the whole valley will be full of smoke from him on those calm cold days. I feel bad for his neighbors.

I hope I didn't step on any toes with this rant. When I started burning wood I wasn't very good at it and my chimney would be pumping the smoke out. I had lots of creosote, burned way too much wood and I wasn't happy with the performance of my furnace. I just think it's worth the effort to learn how to burn wood as efficiently as possible.

Sorry for the long post,
Lee

Lee my owb smokes very little. I think you'd be impressed with the gasification boilers vs the old smoke dragons. I've got neighbors on each side now and neither ever smell smoke when I ask them. There is a gentleman down the road who burns pretty wet wood in his older boiler and it always looks like he has a brush fire going.

 

[Lee192233]

Lee my owb smokes very little. I think you'd be impressed with the gasification boilers vs the old smoke dragons. I've got neighbors on each side now and neither ever smell smoke when I ask them. There is a gentleman down the road who burns pretty wet wood in his older boiler and it always looks like he has a brush fire going.

I have noticed more gasification OWBs. They look like something I'd consider. Burn nice and clean. My biggest problem with OWBs is I'd have to go out in the cold to tend the fire. When the furnace is in the basement I can do it in my skivies if I want.

I think my next furnace will be a Lamppa Kuuma. That is a gasification type furnace. I wish I would've done a little more research when we built our house. Just never came across that brand. When we built our house the new standards weren't announced by the EPA. I didn't even think of that. I'll be able to get parts as long as Yukon stays in business but they don't have an approved furnace yet so I don't know how long they'll last. I hope they figure it out.

Thanks,
Lee

 

[panolo]

LOL! I understand the point of indoor vs outdoor. An OWB isn't the end all be all. I think everybody is different and situations dictate how we set things up and run. I personally know if I had an indoor system it would be a Kuuma. I'm ever impressed with how their equipment operates and the customer service they give.

 

[Lee192233]

Still burning wood here. I do a burn every other day or so. Pump the house temp up to 75 and let it go down to 70. I really like the aspen for that. Nice quick, hot fire. Burns for about 3 hrs and like a switch it goes cold.

I'll be burning for the next week at least. Looks like rain the next two days and highs in the mid forties for a couple days after that.

I checked my 500 gallon propane tank. Started at 80% in November and it's at about 63% now. Most of the propane used was to heat our garage.

Final tally will be just over 3 cords of wood, 1600 lbs of coal and maybe 100 gallons of propane. I'll know when I have him fill it in June.
This is probably the mildest winter we've had since we built this house.

Have a great day,
Lee

 

[gerrywoodsy482]

Just wanna say you have a nice setup going there. I haven't tried woodburning yet, but it's definitely something I'm considering. If you have any tips for beginners, I'd really appreciate it.

 

[Lee192233]

Just wanna say you have a nice setup going there. I haven't tried woodburning yet, but it's definitely something I'm considering. If you have any tips for beginners, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks. What would you like to know? There are lots of people who have way more experience than I do on this site.
Some tips I can think of off the top of my head are:
- Make sure you use dry/properly seasoned wood
- Properly design your system and follow all rules/design requirements for the chimney for whatever wood burner you decide to use
- Try to get 2-3 years worth of wood stored if you have the space

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.