Anyone burning coal ?

[Woody912]

Coal can be anything from anthracite down to almost dirt. Stove coal got hard to find in Indiana and it was not very good. Think he paid $60/ton when anthracite was about $180

For many years I have been curious about possibly burning coal in my wood stove but never found a place where I could buy some coal.
Until yesterday when I noticed someone selling coal on Facebook but it’s located over 100 miles from where I live, depending on what I learn from you folks I just might take a ride over there to buy some coal to see how well it does or doesn’t work.

thing

 

[SS396driver]

I never burned anything other than anthracite nut coal . That’s what my stove used

 

[steele_109]

My grates are still good but my fire bricks are broken but still in place. i have new fire brick just haven't replaced them yet.The newer stoves doesn't even have fire bricks only wood and coal stoves have them.

 

[sean donato]

Something else to think about is coal size, my furnace says to burn nut or stove coal. Which is difficult to come by most places. Pea and rice seem to be pretty easy to find.

 

[MechanicMatt]

So, there is an old coal railway right across the road from me. You can walk it with a bucket and fill it in less than a minute. I’ve played around with putting it in my stove when I have a bed of wood coals

I’ve always been to scared to put more than a piece or two. But it will burn

As for all the technical stuff, I’m not the guy for that.

But I am the guy that will tell you, it will burn

 

[Chainsaw Pete]

If there are any blacksmiths in your area, they can help you find coal.

 

[Lee192233]

Any Amish in your area? That's who I bought my coal from.

I burned anthracite coal. It requires a deep bed to burn well, my furnace holds about 100 lbs(2.5 bags) at a time. It also requires air under the whole bed of coal with no over fire air. I had to block all the secondary air passages in my furnace with fiberglass insulation. Your stove also needs to be airtight so you don't get a runaway fire. I kept a bucket of sand near the furnace just in case something happened. There's a definite learning curve.

All this talk of coal makes me wanna go pick up a pallet.

 

[HavinFun]

I’ve been thinking about burning some coal as a backup heat source in my Heatmor CSS200 OWB. It is rated to burn wood and coal. The floor of the fire box is a cast iron grate, probably 1” between grates. What type of coal can I burn as the dust and small stuff will fall through to ash bin below. I know there are different names for the coal types but don’t know them, as well as some burns clean and others not, again which I don’t know. And what and why are skater grates recommended? I have a metal trowel type thing that came with stove that I can move the coals with if needed. I have a dump trailer and can pick up the coal. Thanks.

 

[JimR]

When I was a kid in the 50's in this hillbilly town my grandma's house was a large Victorian style home built in 1890. There was a coal burning fireplace in each room, including the bedrooms. When the iron fireman brand electrically controlled coal furnace was installed in the basement my grandparents stopped burning coal in the fireplaces and used only wood in them and only for special days like Christmas and Thanksgiving - more for effect than for making usable heat. They now had central heat controlled by a thermostat. There was an entire room in the basement converted into a coal bin, and each morning somebody had to go to the basement to remove the sometimes red hot clinkers out of the cast iron firebox and shovel coal into a hopper that automatically fed coal as needed into the furnace. There was coal dust around and as small children visiting grandma's house we'd have fun trying to walk in the coal in the bin - we'd sink into the stuff almost up to our knees and get coal dust all over ourselves. The coal was delivered by dump truck from the coal company. It's a wonder the big old house never did burn down with all the fire and coal in the basement. Coal dust thrown on a fire will provide for some neat pyrotechnics and even singed hair. A few times a malfunction occurred that resulted in panic when black sooty smoke started pouring out of the registers - just like it happened in the movie "A Christmas Story". The less affluent folks in town burned the coal in their heaters that came in big chunks, and in winter you could smell the coal smoke in the air, it was very noticeable. After a snow that stayed on the ground for days on end (yes - we had a lot more snow in TN in the 50's) - the soot settling down out of the air from all the coal burning going on was visible in places on the snow surface. It was probably not healthy air to be breathing back then. The clinker piles in the woods behind the house are still there.

Sounds like the mid 1700 farmhouse we own next door to us. The old kitchen cookstove burned coal. My FIL would get it going with wood. Then he would put a bunch of coal chunks on the coals. Down in the furnace room was a huge coal steam boiler that would self feed pea coal. There were two coal bins. One was for pea coal. The other was for chunk coal. Twice a day in really cold weather someone had to climb down the rickety stairs to fill the coal hopper on the boiler. In 82 my FIL blew a gasket, main artery Aneurism. He was no longer capable of going up and down the stairs for a good year. I fed that boiler for the in-laws. Eventually my FIL healed up and got somewhat back in shape. We replaced that coal boiler with an oil fired steam boiler. I bought a coal stove to heat the coal room because the new boiler didn't put out enough heat to keep the pipes from freezing up down in the coal/ boiler room. (There was no steam radiator down there for heat. The old coal boiler put out a lot of heat.) I managed to find almost 20 tons of chunk coal from a distributor for cheap money and another 4 ton from an old farmhouse. When the coal was all gone I took out the coal stove and plugged in a small electric heater. The coal was dirty and you had to dump the residue. In all honesty burning that coal for me was a lot of work.

 

[SS396driver]

I often see ads for free coal around here . Mostly from people who buy a home that had a coal stove and don’t want to be bothered to burn it . They also practically give away the stove too. I once got a beautiful Godin coal stove for free with a ton and a half of coal . I had to get the coal out of their basement . I wouldn’t want to do that again at my age though

 

[grubbyfrozen]

For what its worth. Bought stove very close to this back years ago. Stove used for wood burning, was told to get stove through EPA hoops at that time would have been pain. Therefore labeled for coal.
Berne Indiana Amish country(real Amish, NO enclosed buggies allowed.) High of 4 degrees today.
Cousin sells coal trucked in from Pennsylvania to local Amish and others. Live far enough away don't bother with coal.
Hitzer stoves

 

[Cycledude]

Called Tractor Supply yesterday to see if the had any coal in stock and they did so I picked up a 40 pound bag this morning. The price was $12.99 I plan on trying it tonight . The price does seem to be awfully high if it turns out I like burning it maybe I will be able to find it cheaper somewhere.

 

[Lee192233]

Sounds like the mid 1700 farmhouse we own next door to us. The old kitchen cookstove burned coal. My FIL would get it going with wood. Then he would put a bunch of coal chunks on the coals. Down in the furnace room was a huge coal steam boiler that would self feed pea coal. There were two coal bins. One was for pea coal. The other was for chunk coal. Twice a day in really cold weather someone had to climb down the rickety stairs to fill the coal hopper on the boiler. In 82 my FIL blew a gasket, main artery Aneurism. He was no longer capable of going up and down the stairs for a good year. I fed that boiler for the in-laws. Eventually my FIL healed up and got somewhat back in shape. We replaced that coal boiler with an oil fired steam boiler. I bought a coal stove to heat the coal room because the new boiler didn't put out enough heat to keep the pipes from freezing up down in the coal/ boiler room. (There was no steam radiator down there for heat. The old coal boiler put out a lot of heat.) I managed to find almost 20 tons of chunk coal from a distributor for cheap money and another 4 ton from an old farmhouse. When the coal was all gone I took out the coal stove and plugged in a small electric heater. The coal was dirty and you had to dump the residue. In all honesty burning that coal for me was a lot of work.

Wood is more work before it's burned, coal is more work after.

 

[retiredwiseguy]

Was always told not to burn coal and wood together . It’s ok to use wood to start the fire and add coal to the wood coals . But burning together could cause damage from the sulfuric acid and moisture in the wood . Even well seasoned wood still has moisture .

I burned coal for about 5 years in the 90s . Had a duel fuel stove heat was very even and it was nice loading the stove twice a day with no fiddling in between . Had a King Coal stove really liked the unit . View attachment 1235330

Was always told not to burn coal and wood together . It’s ok to use wood to start the fire and add coal to the wood coals . But burning together could cause damage from the sulfuric acid and moisture in the wood . Even well seasoned wood still has moisture .

I burned coal for about 5 years in the 90s . Had a duel fuel stove heat was very even and it was nice loading the stove twice a day with no fiddling in between . Had a King Coal stove really liked the unit . View attachment 1235330

 

[retiredwiseguy]

Was always told not to burn coal and wood together . It’s ok to use wood to start the fire and add coal to the wood coals . But burning together could cause damage from the sulfuric acid and moisture in the wood . Even well seasoned wood still has moisture .

I burned coal for about 5 years in the 90s . Had a duel fuel stove heat was very even and it was nice loading the stove twice a day with no fiddling in between . Had a King Coal stove really liked the unit . View attachment 1235330

Was always told not to burn coal and wood together . It’s ok to use wood to start the fire and add coal to the wood coals . But burning together could cause damage from the sulfuric acid and moisture in the wood . Even well seasoned wood still has moisture .

I burned coal for about 5 years in the 90s . Had a duel fuel stove heat was very even and it was nice loading the stove twice a day with no fiddling in between . Had a King Coal stove really liked the unit . View attachment 1235330

 

[MechanicMatt]

Guys that work with me that live in PA have coal stoves. Self feeders. That’s why I thought, if they burn coal to heat there homes, I can try a chunk or two

With this -10 mornings, I’m thinking it’s time to toss a bit in the stove tonight

 

[sean donato]

Guys that work with me that live in PA have coal stoves. Self feeders. That’s why I thought, if they burn coal to heat there homes, I can try a chunk or two

With this -10 mornings, I’m thinking it’s time to toss a bit in the stove tonight

Most the self feeder run rice or pea coal. Too small for most normal coal stoves. Iirc nut or larger is used for stoves thay don't self feed/auto feed.

 

[Cycledude]

Well last night was my first time burning the coal I picked up at Tractor Supply yesterday, mixed it with some firewood to get it going, everything was burned up this morning and I never noticed anything different than just burning wood except the heat MIGHT have lasted a little longer with the coal mixed in.
Only a couple more days of this extreme cold streak predicted so after that I will most likely quit burning wood-coal for awhile.