Hello/ New Member

hello new member , and new to coal ,although I have been in the HVAC industry for almost 30 years I don't know much about coal stoves and I am looking for some advice. A friend of mine had a old small coal stove that he replaced some years ago and had no need for it so he gave it to me , it was in his house when he bought it 10+ ago and about 4 yrs ago he went to a bigger wood stove, I took the stove home and took it completly apart then took it down to bare metal checked it for cracks , made a new bottom pan because the oem one had a lot of rust and the gauge seemed to be lite like 26ga, blk iron so I rolled a new pan out of 20 ga blk iron and fitted , also did a little welding on the shaker grate to get that back to good working order and also fabed and welded up a nice new ash pan .then cleaned up the origenal casting mating areas then painted and cemented all the mating parts upon assembly with all new stainless bolts and nuts , I had some nice 22 ga. welded stanless steel 6'' single wall I used leading up to the triple wall kit I bought , I also installed a manual damper and a barometric Damper , I fired her up witha small amount at first to make sure my drafting was up to par witch turned out to be excellent , also decided to install a CO detector for the unknown factor , everything seem to be going very well, I have been trying diffrent coal size Ive tryed chestnut and Pea , I see the larger chestnut size runs a lot hotter then pea , But I really don't know what size coal I should be burning witch leads me to my next question I can not find out who the maker is of this stove the only thing that is stamped on this stove is a number and I found a very small stamping that I cant make out , the number in the casting is on top rite in front of the flue neck casting #641-210 thats all I will try to attach a picture here ,maybe some one could help me out on the maker and also what size coal should be used , Thanks for reading

Welcome!

I can't help with the brand, but from what I've seen & read, the older stoves tend to like the bigger pieces of coal. I guess the only way to really know is to experiment, as long as the smaller sizes don't fall through the grates. Nut won't necessarily run "hotter" - it allows more air through the bed. With the same amount of pea, you would need more air to put out the same amount of heat - but they will both keep you equally warm.

That stove looks like one here in Maine that's for sale in "Uncle Henry's swap and sell guide. It's called a Fatso.I'll try to include the pic. But I don't know how well it will transfer.
Charlie

After seeing them both on here, I can see a lot of differences. Sorry.

when I compare the two stoves, though there are differences, the similarities are remarkable. I think it might be a version of the other one.

Thanks for posting that picture, I must say very simular , maybe I have a later version of the Fatso, legs and ash base seems to be identicle , the rest of the stove seems to be very simular thanks for the insight , also I have used both Chestnut and Pea coal , they both seem to burn well ,just wanted to make sure I was on the rite track as far as burning proper size coal in this stove,So thank for letting me know that older stoves can burn either size and tend to like the bigger coal size . So I guess I will be picking up the Chestnut for this winter,Now I need to go start building a coal Bin. again thanks for the info.

A guy I used to work with used a 50-50 blend of nut and pea. Maybe this would be useful in your stove.

I really don't know the advantages or disadvantages to burning nut vs pea or a Mix perhaps someone will chime in here, I do know with this stove while I been experimenting with diffrent size coal that the chestnut does not need a lot of intake air to get this stove up to its max output,where the Pea size needs more air intake to get the stove up to the max output .thats one of the reason why I asked the question about what size coal would be proper to burn in this particular stove I have ,I do not want to over fire it so to speak.but from the previous post its seems that older stoves like bigger size coal ,So I equate that to being ok to burn the chestnut size in my stove.

Others with a lot more experience will chime in I'm sure. I have seen a stove just like that on here that one of the other members had, and used. I believe he used nut coal and it worked great, you can cook and heat with it. Just keep the dampers turned down and you will not over fire, and keep a temp gage on her. I would put a high watt light bulb in her, turn the lights off and see if you have any cracks or places that would need stove cement to seal it up good and tight. I'm going to get one of those when the time comes to do my canning of my garden next fall.

I believe that it's still made.

thanks for the info, and I think I am leaning towards burning the Nut size as long as I keep getting the favorable response here on using nut , also thanks for the tip on checking for leaks .

Burn pea when it's warm and nut as it turns colder. Stove size may work when it gets bitter cold, I would back down the air if it starts to glow anywhere though. Save the smaller stuff for the stokers.

It reminds me of the vogelzang rancher. This is for bituminous coal and wood though.


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I think you already got it down more or less.
What it really is I don't know. I'd make sure I had a thermometer on it, and learned to regulate the heat. You already did a baro, which is smart to help prevent overfire. I'd keep it under 500 or so to start, then 600 is probably a smart running max temp especially since it has been repaired already. Running coal hot, especially red ash, will cause clinkers, and they can be hard on grates, especially if you don't want to test them by grinding down a hard klinker. By the shape and size of the stove I'd guess it was made for nut or pea. A picture of the insides would be helpful, but most residential stoves of that size can burn either. I don't know about using stove coal, you need a pretty large firebox, and your size of stove just doesn't seem big enough for that. Maybe use nut then throw a little pea on top to slow it down, and lengthen burn time. Just use between those two sizes whatever works best for you. My hitzer 82 is best with nut, but I've burned pea and stove in it.

Nice stove and welcome crocker!

I burn both nut and pea but have burned more pea than nut. Like previously stated, in a firebox full of pea the air spaces are smaller and more plentiful than with nut. A full box of pea will act like a damper if you have a lot of unregulated draft as would exist without a barometric damper. With pea I need a bit more air and pea responds more slowly but there's plenty of heat there for a long time too. I really don't see drastic differences in the heat out put regarding the size but I do when it comes to the quality of the coal.

I would think the grate system in the stove determines the size coal. But with that said I've always used nut and decided to try pea because It was too warm running the stove with nut. I've been using pea since Oct. 1st. 24/7. Lowest temp was 18 deg. f. The posts above nailed it on the head about pea. I love it and will try to use it thru the winter. No jams. long burns. wil run so low you'd think it was out. It does take longer then nut to give more heat when the sun goes down so I open the air intake earlier then with nut. If I'm in a hurry I open my MPD and lower door and it heats up fast.
I would try both types and or mix them according to your needs. But you should be able to keep the house comfortable 24/7 once you get used to your setup.

I burned nut the first year, pea the second. I think the nut is a little more responsive when I want to rev up the fire. This year I ordered nut and got a load that probably averages nut size but actually runs from pea to stove in size (also got a lot of wood splinters). And you know what This mix of sizes burns just fine too. I wouldn't hesitate to buy and burn whatever is available. Given a choice I would still chose nut of a consistant size, but I don't see it as a big deal for my stove.