Coal stove question.

[Jstpssng]

I'm curious what the difference is vs one designed for burning wood. I've often thought that might be a good way to burn wood chips.
One of the many things at the family homestead is a small coal burning parlor stove from the middle of the last century. I've thought about bringing it home but don't want yet another item which I "thought I have a use for."

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

in the boiler world, a coal boiler is more heavy duty unit as it has to handle a much higher density fuel.
I would suspect same argument when it comes to "stoves" versus boilers.
Coal has a much bigger punch of energy than most other biomass stuff like wood..

 

[Jstpssng]

in the boiler world, a coal boiler is more heavy duty unit as it has to handle a much higher density fuel.
I would suspect same argument when it comes to "stoves" versus boilers.
Coal has a much bigger punch of energy than most other biomass stuff like wood..

That's what I was wondering. Is it as easy to start burning as wood?
The heater I mentioned still has a page from an old 195? newspaper... if my sister hasn't scoffed it.

 

[CalG]

Coal requires air up and through the "bed" and so requires bottom air and a suitable grate to hold the type (size) of coal you choose to burn.

Wood can burn just fine laying on it's own coals and ashes.

Wood and coal require different "tending" procedures, but that is not your stated question.

A durable coal burner requires
a shaker grate made of cast iron
a air inlet UNDER the fire box
A well controlled draft (and that does not mean constricted, the draft must be sufficient but not excessive)
A coal stove MUST have it's own flue.

 

[ponytug]

@CalG nice summary!

@Jstpssng coal also burns much hotter than wood, so the firebox design needs to be built to handle the greatly increased heat output and temperature. I think it is harder to start, but it is just a process of kindling, or the infamous British "firelighters", which usually didn't.

Ben Franklin designed and used a brazier like down draft coal burner for his study. I have never read how he got the downdraft started, or how many dogs or kids got too close to the floor level flue.

All the best,

Peter

 

[oosik]

The pellet stove I have is also designed to feed some "pelleted" form of coal. However - I was cautioned that it had specific/different requirement vs wood. Also - it would put out a certain amount of coal smoke into the house. Over time it would coat the walls with a somewhat "greasy" form of coal smoke residue.

I have burned - wood pellets, wheat and dry corn - in this stove. It definitely works best with wood pellets. I never tried coal. Long ago I gave up on the pellet stove - pellets got too expensive. Now it sits there as a conversation piece.

 

[caver]

It's harder to get coal started but man once it's going it is HOT. We had three coal burning fireplaces in our rented flat in Scotland. They are about the size of a brown paper grocery sack. Uncle Sam had me living there for 2 years and I had enough rank to move off base.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

I'm curious what the difference is vs one designed for burning wood. I've often thought that might be a good way to burn wood chips.
One of the many things at the family homestead is a small coal burning parlor stove from the middle of the last century. I've thought about bringing it home but don't want yet another item which I "thought I have a use for."

back in the homestead days (where you say your stove comes from) almost 100% sure you have what we used to call a hand fired stove. Open door, chuck in some coal, close the door, repeat couple times a day.

Much like cord wood stoves we have today you simply open it up, shovel a load in, shut the door, adjust the damper, and you be good to go. If you truely have a homestead coal stove you will see not a lot fancy draft, grating or other stuff. Back when we used them and back in the caboose days they were simply load and go. Real heavy duty so if in good shape you have a keeper for sure. And yes you can burn wood in it. Coal in a wood stove not a good idea though.

Today in coal boilers we have air injectors, coal pulverizors, computer controlled chains, back flash systems, etc....

Would your stove happen to have a marking on it like "RR". If so you could have an old caboose stove. We used to heat our place with one and they are worth a lot of money these days if truely an old rail road model. Would love to see some pictures of it.

 

[Jstpssng]

Would your stove happen to have a marking on it like "RR". If so you could have an old caboose stove. We used to heat our place with one and they are worth a lot of money these days if truely an old rail road model. Would love to see some pictures of it.

I'll have to check that out when I am down this weekend. It is missing some of the firebrick, on a corner... hopefully I can make a form and pour some fire concrete.

 

[LouNY]

Coal makes a nice heat, we got rid of ours for this last winter.
We both miss it and the heat it put out.
Coal does burn much better and more even when fed air from under the fire.
The size of the coal will also make a large difference, rice and nut will almost require the air from under and up though the coal bed, this burns the lower coal and then slowly works it's way up.
A bed of charcoal is the easiest way to start a coal fire, a good layer of charcoal once burning hot then start shoveling on layers of coal.
Stove and chunk/lump coal is much larger and will burn on most grates.
All this is assuming hard coal anthracite, not bituminous coal or soft coal.

 

[bdhsfz6]

What is your fuel availability? Do you have a wood lot? How expensive is coal or wood pellets where you live? If you are just supplementing an existing heating system, or using the stove for esthetics, these questions don't matter much.

Economy wise, wood is the cheapest if you cut your own. Coal & pellets are about equal depending on location. Coal is dirtier than wood but doesn't foul the flue with creosote. Coal is also heavier to handle and creates more ash to dispose of. Stoker stoves require less tending and can be more easily adjusted to to heat evenly. The same is true of pellet stoves but not so much for wood.

We burned coal for 30 years, mostly using a stoker. I tried burning it in a wood stove at first, but for reasons mentioned earlier, it didn't draft very well. We gave it up last year since there was no longer any savings over heating with oil. I'm also getting too old to move it around and dispose of the ash.

Just my experience though, YMMV.

 

[Bocephous]

We heat our home with a Harman Mark III, and have since we moved in this home in 2007. It is a coal stove, but I burned wood in it exclusively for probably 14 or 15 of those years. It required the addition of an MPD (manual pipe damper) on the mid-pipe leading into the chimney; otherwise the fire would burn too hot.

Once a good bed of ashes is laid on top of the grates I can not shake it down for a week or two and only have to dump the wood ashes maybe once a week. Much less ash with wood. I burn more coal now as it requires less maintenance, loading and fussing with damper settings.

As far as more heat with coal, I've seen stove top temps in excess of 600 degrees with wood, damped as much as safely possible; I never let it get more than about 400 degrees with coal. Another benefit of coal is the ability to idle along at very low temps for days at a time.

Full loads with wood can last 8-10 hours in this stove, with plenty of embers left to revive in the morning. That stove keeps burning from beginning of November to the beginning of April every year.

Bottom line: Yes, you can burn wood in a coal stove. Damping requirements are very different, however.

 

[ponytug]

I'll have to check that out when I am down this weekend. It is missing some of the firebrick, on a corner... hopefully I can make a form and pour some fire concrete.

FWIW: If it is not hard fired fire brick, modern fire brick is very easy to cut, more like a hard mineral sponge.

All the best, Peter