New to Coal Stoves Need Help

How can I tell if my stove is able to burn coal. I bought it used and all it says on it is "prospector 1829". Has anyone heard of this stove and if I am able to burn coal?

Can you post a photo of the stove and it's firebox??

Basic ingredients for a coal burning stove:

A grate for the coal fire to sit on, with slots or holes for air to come up from below.

An ashpan below the grate to catch the left-over ash from the coal This ash will fall through the slots and holes in the grate.

Most grates have some mechanical way to shake the grate to aid in getting the ash down into the ashpan.

An adjustable air inlet in either the ashpan door or somewhere below the grate to get air to the coal from under the grate.

Firebrick lining of the firebox is normal, but may not be on all stoves. All good stove would have firebrick around the coal fire.

A well sealed door to load the coal through. There should be no leakage of air into the firebox from above the fire.

Those are the basics.

Some more sophisticated stoves would have a blower fan to circulate heated air, maybe an air shroud around the stove to aid in heating the fan forced air.

Hope this helps, Greg L

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if you send me an email adress I can mail the pics to you..

If you post some photos here, someone may recognize it. Just go down to the bottom of the page, click on the browse drop down menu. Find the photo on your computer then click upload. As long as the photo is less than 300Kb it will upload.

I'll send my email via PM

Does your stove have any of the features I mention??

Greg L

Here is an image of bwscpu's stove.

There is no grate, or ashpan. There is not independant air inlet below the fire. Anthracite coal would not burn in this firebox.

So you can't burn coal in this stove the way it is now. You could burn Bituminous coal by just adding coal on top of a wood fire. But you won't like the smell, soot and smoke from Bituminous burning in a wood stove.

Sorry, but this is a good, well made wood-only stove.

Greg L

bwscpu, I've been thinking. [I'm away from home and bored] are you handy with tools and creative?? If you can find a grate to fit the inside of the firebox, set the grate on some firebrick on the sides and at the back of the firebox, lining the perimeter of the firebox. This will create a shelf you rest the grate on.

You need to be able to put an ashpan under the grate, a flat cake pan from the kitchen may work. The most difficult thing will be to have the grate come all the way to touch the door. And you must be able to set a row of firebrick around the outer perimeter on top of the grate, up against the outside steel wall of the stove. This will make a 4.5" deep box to burn the coal in.

You would have to have a brick or two across the front of the grate to keep the coal in, and air from going around the pile of coal. Essentially, you have to divide the firebox into two levels. Upper for the coal, lower for the ashes. The grate between.

Since you have a lower air intake, you would close off the upper air intake completely, and use just the lower ones to feed air below the grate. You must insure that the lower air cannot get around the grate and coal, it has to go through the bed of coal.

This would be very 'make-do', but might be a fun project.

But without some fairly serious fabrication, this stove is not for burning coal on a daily basis.

Take care, Greg L

Would you happen to know who makes this stove. Im thinking theres possibly a kit considering the inner lips that look as though it would hold a grate.

I'm sorry, I really don't know anything specific about the stove. Have you done a search on Google.com for the name/make/model ??

I'll edit the above post and add the other photo you sent me. Hopefully another member of the forum can add some information.

Hope this helps. Greg L

If you take a look at the 'pictures of your stove' thread, you will see that all the coal burning stoves have an ash door under the firebox. That is the first indication of a coal burning stove, or at least coal-capable.

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bwspcu, I m new top coal also..last year my first. Anyway, the manual for my stove says that there needs to be secondary air inlets on top of the bed to burn off the gases that coal releases as it burns. This is in reference to the blue flame that is on top of the coal bed. Hope this helps.

yes that does help. thanks. I went to a stove store today and looked at a few coal stoves(harmon). What im really trying to do here is kinda build a crewed setup to give coal a try. If I am satified with the results I will buy a new coal only stove. Im gonna go out again tomorrow and try to piece meal some parts to give coal a try. I have an idea what I want to do WISH ME LUCK.....BEE

I'm all for experimenting and seeing if you can make it work. This is how I started burning coal: trying to make a wood burner work better and burn longer.

bwscpu, take a look at the how to forum. Forum member Berlin posted some plans for his bituminous-burner. He has been using his design for a couple of years.

Berlin used rebar or rerod [conrete reinforcing rod] to make his grate. His grate has survived 6 tons of coal. So it works.

If you have the ability to arc weld, or have a friend who does, or a welding shop nearby, I'd just make a template of the inside of the stove box, and get a grate made of 3/4" and 1/2" rebar. Rebar is cheap!!

Your signature doesn't show where you are. Are you near to and planning on burning Anthracite coal?? If so make every effort to keep all the air going through the grate and bed of coals. If you are going to be burning Bituminous, then you need above the fire secondary air, but secondary air needs to be HOT to work well. Take a look at Berlin's plans to see how he did it.

Read the 'my stove backfires' thread about keeping some air and flame to light off a load of fresh coal. To burn Anthracite coal, you must keep all the air going through the coal bed, or else the fire will go out. Anthracite needs all the air through the fire, Bitumionous has unburnt fumes above the fire, even when burning well, so secondary air works good on Bitumionous coal.

Greg L

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