# Any one ever heat with coal in their woodstove?



## biobacon (Aug 20, 2012)

My best friend got a bunch of free coal and has been using it this past week in his wood stove. Well today he came home and found that the fire went down and the coal smoke had from what I understand eroded his smoke pipe and caused the smoke to go all over his house. He wanted me to ask here if anyone might have an ideal of what happened.


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## Tribal Warlord Thug (Jan 27, 2009)

gotta make sure yer stove is for solid fuels (wood, coal, coke ect.) sounds like his seals wern't in very good shape anymore if he has an air-tight type of wood stove (we had an old Atlanta home glo solid fuel...best stove we've ever used...it needed seals/gaskets replaced 'bout every other year) one thing about usin' coal.....you need a good hot fire to keep it going good....dampening down makes it smolder like the devil's workshop.......one thing to remember..ALWAYS keep yer flue pipe clean because burnin' down a stove (letin' it smolder) will make lots of creasote build up in it....seen many homes burnt to the ground 'cause of poor maintenance of the flue. if yer gonna burn coal, let 'er burn around 400-500 degrees to keep the pipe clean...then throw some wood chunks in a'fore the night and dampen down.....hope that helps ya a bit.....


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

Coal likes to burn hot, it also can burn a lot hotter than wood. Most wood stoves are not rated to burn coal. We have done it in cookstoves and heating stoves without problems but it is not something to be taken lightly imo. 
With a proper grate and airflow I think most modern stoves could be melted by coal in short order. I have seen old cast iron ones glowing.


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## GaryS (Nov 15, 2011)

I heated my home with wood for over twenty years, and was told many times by experts that burning coal in a wood stove was not only dangerous, but would quickly kill it. I don't know the specifics, but the coal furnace in my childhood home was of totally different construction than my wood stoves, so despite living near coal mines, I took their advice and stuck with wood.


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## stanb999 (Nov 14, 2011)

Coal... Contains on average twice the BTU's. It will burn slower than wood. It will give even heat for more than a day. We have two basic types of coal in this country. Bituminous and Anthracite. Bit is 1000 times more plentiful. Anthracite is the Cadillac of solid home heating fuels. A ton of coal contains about the same BTU's as a cord of wood. Coal stoves are generally much more efficient. Personally I use about 3 ton from 6-8 cords of wood. Coal can burn hotter than wood but most folks run coal much cooler because the fire doesn't die back. For instance my stove temp in winter is 350 all day, all week, all month. Flu temp is 150F too cold for a wood stove for sure. With wood it's pile on, flame up, heat up, die back... repeat every 6-8 hours. With coal it's open door, shake down, add coal, close door. Repeat tomorrow. 

What coal won't do.
It won't self ignite or just explode.
It won't burn well in a wood stove. Coal and wood burn different. Coal needs under fire air. Bit and Anthracite have different style stoves as well. You must purchase the right kind.
No creosote, No matter what.

What coal can do.
Heat for 24-48 hours on a single load.
Heat a house neatly and cleanly without smell.
Heat a house more cheaply than wood, If you harvest your own wood. Sell it and get coal. You will use less coal than wood, have long burns and save/make money.

The differences in coal.
Anthracite 
It burns as clean as natural gas. It's fairly expensive (cost is 200-300 a ton). Is available on the east coast some what. Widely available in Pennsylvania only. Where it is mined.
It makes a lot of ash, A ton when compared to wood.

Bituminous 
Widely available. Can be very inexpensive (70-140 a ton) Can burn like old tires or kinda like wood, with a little smoke. Properties vary so much that local knowledge is required to purchase the right coal. Burns with low ash and hi btu's as much as twice that of wood per pound.
Will burn longer and more even than any other solid fuel.
It does create soot. This can clog a flu pipe. It won't burn at all unlike creosote, but it does need cleaned on occasion.

To the OP. your friend likely had other issues unrelated to the coal. Tho burning it in a wood stove he may have built up combustible gases and caused a small explosion from it suddenly catching. It's called a puff back. If your step up for coal these wouldn't cause an issue. But with a wood setup they can.

Check out the coal forum for all you ever wanted to know at 
http://nepacrossroads.com/forum-74.html

Here is a picture of my Harmon burning PA Anthracite










P.S. Coal can also cruse... In fall and spring. The shoulder seasons I can run my stove so low that it's just warm to the touch about 120F. Burns for 48-60 hours without touching it. Do that with wood. And it is manual with natural draft. No power needed.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

We used a lot of coal back in the day, hardly any at all now. We even had coal stock tank heaters The point about getting air from below is good, that is why grates are a neccesity imo, not so with wood.
Anyone who says coal doesn't smell has no sense of smell, Anthracite or bituminous, I can smell the smoke a mile away and it tends to stick out in most places. There are certainly some nasties in coal smoke as well.
Yes, I sell wood sometimes but No I won't be switching back to coal anytime soon. It has it's uses but I like using wood a lot better


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## stanb999 (Nov 14, 2011)

cowboyhermit said:


> We used a lot of coal back in the day, hardly any at all now. We even had coal stock tank heaters The point about getting air from below is good, that is why grates are a neccesity imo, not so with wood.
> Anyone who says coal doesn't smell has no sense of smell, Anthracite or bituminous, I can smell the smoke a mile away and it tends to stick out in most places. There are certainly some nasties in coal smoke as well.
> Yes, I sell wood sometimes but No I won't be switching back to coal anytime soon. It has it's uses but I like using wood a lot better


I've grown to love the smell outside. Feels like home. 

When I said smell I mean you shouldn't smell it in the house. What really stinks to me now is heating oil. I smell it even inside some peoples houses that use it. Anthracite doesn't smoke however. Not at all. The most you get is a slight sulfur smell outside, it most certainly doesn't have a smell a mile away. You sure you had hard coal?

P.S. a wood stove should not smell in the house or any other type of fuel for that matter if it's working properly.


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## biobacon (Aug 20, 2012)

Thanks guys, I will pass this on to him, better yet I'll try to get him to join us.


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