burning coal in a wood stove?

We have a Fisher woodburning stove. Old model. Can I burn coal in that stove or does it get too hot?
I am tired of cutting wood and it's getting harder to find as my area turns more suburban every year.

It depends - was your stove originally designed to burn both wood and coal. Typically, you can burn wood in a coal stove but can't burn coal in a wood stove. Coal needs an under fire source of draft to burn and a set of shaker grates so you can clear the ash periodically. Does your stove have these things? A coal stove will also have fire bricks inside. The under fire air source will be a dial or a slide bar on the lower half of the stove. It may also be on the ash pan door. A Coal stove will have an exterior shaker arm of some sort for you to shake the grates. If you do not have these two things or know of a kit which you can use to add them your wood stove will not burn coal. You probably can find the answers to these questions in your stove's user manual or on line. Good Luck, Lisa

cookies4meq wrote:Can I burn coal in that stove or does it get too hot?

About the only coal you can burn in a stove like that is lump soft coal (large bituminous pieces of coal) and it's still going to be a pain getting the ashes out if you keep the fire going constantly. You can get a fireplace cast iron grate and set it in the stove but they don't last very long because ash builds up under them and they overheat and literally burn up in the fire. Like Lisa said grates, ash pit etc. is what you need for burning coal so I would look at replacing the woodstove with one designed to burn coal. As far as the stove getting too hot...it will only get too hot if you don't properly control the air/draft through the stove.

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry, can't burn coal in the Fisher, it's wood only. You need a grate and a way to feed air into the stove below the grate, as coal burns from the bottom up. I understand the firewood issue, I heated with wood using 2 stoves for 16 years. I still have the Fisher insert, still use it.

The amount of modifications involved to try to make it burn coal are extensive and with no guarantee it will work. Time to consider a coal burner! A good used coal stove can be found for a reasonable price.
There's a thread here about them:
Fisher Wood Stoves

Here's a Fisher manual if you need one:

cookies4meq wrote:We have a Fisher wood-burning stove. Old model. Can I burn coal in that stove or does it get too hot?
I am tired of cutting wood and it's getting harder to find as my area turns more suburban every year.

If you don't mind treating your wood stove as disposable -- and its located in an area that can't burn the house down then the answer is yes - you can burn anything you want.

Last winter I beat the crap out of my Vogelzang boxer by constantly over-firing it and tossing in big lumps of coal to sweeten the pot.

It constantly glowed cherry red as did the stack pipe. The coal was not burnt efficiently, but enough to put out probably 150K BTUs on some nights!

All the gaskets are cooked and now the stove leaks like a sieve.

Even damped all the way down is eating thru wood like cotton candy :=)

Its mind over matter. If you don't mind then it don't matter ... you can burn coal in a wood stove.

The real questions is *should you* - or should you go find a used coal stove and burn coal right.



.....I get a kick out of seeing my wood stove glowing like Rudolph's nose on Chirstmas eve.