Posted on 01/06/2015 12:57:00 PM PST by sopwith
To all freepers with know how. on Anthracite Coal . Its gonna be cold hear for at least a week and I've been in a battle with this coal for a while now. Most of the time I lose . I confess I did not get the wood cut that I needed so I've been trying coal. I'm on the edge of victory, any tips or info would be helpful . Yes I'm logged in. :)
Most everything I know I learned the hard way...
Some folks cut road flares into small pieces (<1”) and put one in the middle of the starter pile. I won’t vouch for this but I’m told it works just keep your vent wide open till you have it burning hot then back it down.
Sounds hard.
Using a combo of nut coal and stove coal in a wood/coal furnace with a draft blower. the stove is large.
Aren't those what we used to call hard coal and soft coal?
Nice.
Nice.
No I do not.Its a dam ice age coming down.
signed ALGORE.
anthracite is all that they have here. I would use the dirty coal if I could get some.
What is the chemical analysis and the BTU value of the coal? We tried sub-bituminous and it did not work too well.(8200 BTU)
Anything with a BTU analysis such as Bituminus (12000 btu) is better, Anthracite is hard and lignite is, as was said, dirt that burns.
In my big stove I start with a Duraflame log, some newspaper, and a bit of wood scraps.
Light it of and let it burn until you get a good simmer and then start adding coal. A couple of shovel fulls at a time until you’ve got a good coal fire.
Once it’s going don’t mess with it too much. I add three shovel full in the morning and shake it down at night and add three more shovel full.
It burns from early December through mid April.
Coal, especially hard coal, needs air from the bottom. Stoves that are designed to burn coal will have that kind of setup.
I’d get A chemical analysis but radioshack did not have the kit. But they say I can order it. /sarc. :)
Anthracite coal is the most efficient fossil fuel. It burns at a high temperature giving off very little smoke, just a blue flame. However it is a little difficult to start to burn, but one the fire is started it will burn a long time and give off even amount of heat. It is found mostly in NE Pennsylvania.
I think thats the key . I have been over doing it. I started this one at 9 am with wood started adding coal at about 10:30
and may have over filled it .trying to let it burn down at the moment it is improving.Its just different I from how my wood brain is wired.
What fun is there in THAT!?
≡≡8-O
Wish I could find some bit coal at least to compare with this clean coal. I’ll take the one that works best.
Scroll down to "How do I start Anthracite Coal?"
Charcoal might be the best answer...
Built a coal bin next to the house since they delivered with the old-style high lift coal dumper (that I remembered seeing in Philly as a kid in the late 50's.)
The process is simple as you build a wood fire and once it is hot enough you GRADUALLY start to add the coal. Once the fire is built, you adjust the draft and flue damper...it warms for hours without touching. Banked down for the night, it is easily brought back up in the morning and then set for the rest of the day.
Once the fire is built, it will last as long as you want it. It took some planning since you had to figure if you were going to be travelling for a few days, when you wanted the fire to go out. Upon return you start the rebuild process, which was very simple once you understood how your stove best worked in your environment with draft and damper settings.
It was nice to be that easily warm on sub-zero days...!
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