Wrong Size Coal

I bought a Franco Belge manual Coal Stove, I think the model is 10.1475. The stove is in fantastic shape, but, the guy who sold it to me told me it burned Nut coal, but I now see by the posts that it burns pea coal. My problem is that I just bought 2 ton of nut coal 2 weeks ago and I'm pretty sure I would be impossible to return it How bad it is to but nut coal in this stove and how do I go about doing it? Or am I just gonna be cracking 2 tons of coal this winter? Thanks in advance for your help

zjodie wrote:I bought a Franco Belge manual Coal Stove, I think the model is 10.1475. The stove is in fantastic shape, but, the guy who sold it to me told me it burned Nut coal, but I now see by the posts that it burns pea coal. My problem is that I just bought 2 ton of nut coal 2 weeks ago and I'm pretty sure I would be impossible to return it How bad it is to but nut coal in this stove and how do I go about doing it? Or am I just gonna be cracking 2 tons of coal this winter? Thanks in advance for your help

There is no reason that you can not burn Nut in that stove it is a hand fed stove Nut is one size up from Pea coal
but that stove does like Pea size coal better meaning it will feed better down the hopper But The Nut will burn in that
stove you might have to work with the stove more but it will burn .
Nut size coal 1-5/8" X 13/16"
Pea size is 13/16" X 9/16"

It will burn but you better be careful to not overfire it which will warp the front and back hopper plates. It happens often with those stoves with pea and it will be even easier to do with nut. See if you can get another 1 or 2 tons of pea delivered and mix it with the pea. That's range, most people are not aware you can do that. It gives tyou the benefit of both and nearly every customer I had actually preferred it once they got it. Not all dealers offer it though.

1 ton may be hard to get delivered but most dealers will accommodate if you can wait for it because eventually they'll have a empty slot in your area if they have a lot of customers there. Call them and tell them you're in no hurry. I used to take 1 ton orders but they waited a few days to weeks. All depended on my schedule.

Richard S. wrote:It will burn but you better be careful to not overfire it which will warp the front and back hopper plates. It happens often with those stoves with pea and it will be even easier to do with nut. See if you can get another 1 or 2 tons of pea delivered and mix it with the pea. That's range, most people are not aware you can do that. It gives tyou the benefit of both and nearly every customer I had actually preferred it once they got it. Not all dealers offer it though.

1 ton may be hard to get delivered but most dealers will accommodate if you can wait for it because eventually they'll have a empty slot in your area if they have a lot of customers there. Call them and tell them you're in no hurry. I used to take 1 ton orders but they waited a few days to weeks. All depended on my schedule.

Most breaker do that mix to get rid of there Pea coal being it is the least seller out of the coal sizes they also will
mix there barley in there rice to get rid of it the second least seller of all of the sizes and call it undersized Rice
or undersized Nut

That's one thing Hudson never did, they had customers for every size. If they didn't they would sit on it until they had a buyer. At one point before Katrina they must of had 100,000 ton sitting there. You need a lot of capital to do that though. If the rice got short they might mix some buck in it or they had crusher that went right onto the belt going into the screening plant they run some pea through.

Richard S. wrote:That's one thing Hudson never did, they had customers for every size. If they didn't they would sit on it until they had a buyer. At one point before Katrina they must of had 100,000 ton sitting there. You need a lot of capital to do that though. If the rice got short they might mix some buck in it or they had crusher that went right onto the belt going into the screening plant they run some pea through.

When the rice gets low they crush up the pea aswell as nut does not make a differents around here because most of the bigger breaker and even the smaller ones own there own mines anyway they Just mine more to make more

My buddy's Franco has an adjustment to help when burning nut. The back plate somehow moves and that allows the nut to gravity feed better.

Your posting didn't say where you are - but maybe you could find a buyer for the nut - it's only 2 tons - and then you could replace it with pea. You could offer the nut at discount if they moved it. I bet the local equipment rental shop or farm shop would have an auger set up you could rent and that would cut out most of the shoveling - depending on your coal bin's location. Or maybe someone from the forum lives in your area and has an auger you could use. That amount would only be two pick up loads. Yeah, it looks like a lot of work but the peice of mind you'd get over it would be priceless. Lisa

zjodie,
Don't burn nut in your Franco. Had one for 24 seasons. The stove is made to burn pea only. As others pointed out, it will burn too hot. The stove is cast iron and will warp. The back plate is adjustable, but for the flow of pea. Good suggestion to try to find a buyer. If you need a manual or other info, PM me.

Perky if you mix the pea and the nut together that will make it burn slower or at less of temeprtaure like pea because the pea gets in all those nooks and crannies restricting the air flow.

Thanks. I'm aware of that - read about it and the mixing on the forum here. Had a half ton of pea left and was using just that to start. Got some bags of nut and was alternating that with the pea when filling the stove/hopper. So far, so good. It's burning quite nicely. Will see what happens when it gets colder. My coal bin holds about 2 1/2 ton comfortably, so I'll need another 2 later in the season.
Forgive my ignorance, but why are you the "Mayor"?

Because it's my website and dictator didn't sound right.

I can live with that.
Where in NEPA are you?

West Pittston

Perky wrote:I can live with that.
Where in NEPA are you?

I'm in the Lehighton area, so we have some cold days (not yet though). My dad and I were checking some of the coal and it looks like it is a mix of coal, we are going to try and use it, though I am not sure how successful we will be. What settings do typical Franco Belge manual fed stoves drafts set at?