Using Bit Coal and Chimney Soot Dangers

I have a Vogelzan Potbelly stove that works very well. I do notice through my Barometric Dampner that I have about 1/4 inch of powdery soot in the chimney. My first question is this soot dangerous like creasote and wood fires? Also can anyone recommed a better way to build the fire so I don't get so much soot? I have a real good draft on the Chimney and have to really be careful I don't overfire the stove and get it red hot. I have to keep the vents closed and damper it down sometimes. Other then these questions/issues everything is working very well with no problems...........

Thanks for your help...........

Lisa

It is flyash and while it will need to be cleaned periodically, it is not a hazard like creosote as it will not burn. It will eventually choke off the draft when it accumulates enough.

Thanks so much for your timely response. It's good to know it's not dangerous. While it's black like soot I'm learning now there are other things going up the chimney........... Again thank you for your response.........

Lisa

with bituminous it is "soot" (and flyash mixed in) it can burn, but not dangerously like creosote from a wood stove, it can ignite and "burn" very, very slowly and without much heat being produced and certainly without any danger. the vogelzang pot belly is not an ideal stove for bituminous coal, however, try adding new coal only to one side, then the other alternating during loading thus allowing a few red coals on one side to remain exposed to ignite more throroughly the fresh volitiles from the fresh coal being loaded. soot is acceptable and inevitable with any hand fired bituminous appliance. this is why i reccomend always using 8" flue pipe NOT 6" regardless of what the flue collar on the stove measures; the soot will only build up so much then fall apart inside the pipe (with an 8") with a six inch pipe, it's small enough that it will require periodic cleaning (banging on the outside of the vertical sections and brushing the horizontal areas is ususally sufficient) when the draft becomes affected.

Wow!! Thanks so much for the insightful and informative comments. I was sort of lucky and had all the 6" pipe I needed for this installation in the attic of my house when I bought it. But when the time comes to replace it I will be upgrading the chimney to 8". It only makes sense to do that and as you said the soot will just flake off and fall back down the chimney easier. Thanks to about the reassurance that the flyash/soot is not dangerous. I will keep and eye on it and start loading the fire as you instructed. I have just been putting new coal right on top and in the center of the old one. Great idea about one side or the other..........

Again thank you so much for your comments and help........

Lisa

I burn bituminous coal in a boiler and get a small amount of soot in the

flue and it will burn with a slight glow but not a fast vigorous flame.Most

is swept up the chimney when a large fire is going,I don't get the cobweb

type of soot that some others get.The hot fire come when I reload and keep

the ash door open for awhile to clean the flue out.

On these hotter summer days it is hard to do because the high draft

can't be achieved due to the heavy air and high humidity,so I clean the

flue of the soot and fly ash manually with a flue brush.


BigBarney

Hi Big Barney,

Thanks for your help too. I'm happy for the opportunity to learn about this so I don't have to worry.

Thanks for taking your time to respond to this topic............

Lisa