Do Coal Inserts Cause Black Soot to Get Into Your Home?

Hi all, I am so glad I found this place especially since I am originally from Shenandoah Pa and in the 70's would go out and pick tons of coal for my dad in the culm banks.

I want to get a fireplace insert because fireplaces send the heat up the smokestack and don't heat all that great. Also we have natural gas and it gets warm but we pay way to much to be warm enough to be toasty. My wife who never had a coal stove thinks that black soot will come out of the insert and get all over the living room and the next areas of the house. She also has some other people tell here the same.

Next year I am get a Keystoker Koker Furance with the stainless steel water coil option so that I can be warm all winter long. Does anyone have any comments on that system?

Thank You everyone in advance.

No, you will not get black soot into the house. The only thing you have to be careful of is dust when you take out the ashes. If you are careful it won't be a problem. Coal is much easier and cleaner than wood. No thick wood smoke, no creosote to worry about. No bark, dirt or bugs inside. No lugging in loads and loads of wood. No constant stoking the fire. No waking up to a cold house because the fire burned out. Just even, inexpensive and abundant heat. There is a lot of ignorance and misperception out there when it comes to the subject of coal.

A Koker is NOT an insert, that you would have to hook into your furnace ductwork to distribute the heat into the house. But, like he said, there is no SOOT, the SOFT coal, may have a bit of soot/black smoke when first burning, but most newer stoker stoves use the Hard Coal (anthracite) . Make sure you can get hard coal (Rice size) in your area.

No, you won't get black soot or smoke of any kind in your house if the installation of the insert is done correctly. However, if you aren't careful about how you handle the stove and the coal you will have to deal with a tiny amount of black coal dust and massive amounts of flyash. Flyash is the tiny particles that get picked up by the air and coats everything.

Controlling the black coal dust is easy. Don't cut open a bag of coal and turn it upside down to dump it in whatever container you have next to your stove. Do the majority of manhandling of the coal outside if you can. The flyash is a different story. You are going to have flyash escape into your room; just how much depends on how you handle it. First, do not open the stove unless you have to and never shake it with the ashpan door open. Instead, shake the stove, wait 5 mins then open the ashpan door to empty the pan. Make sure that there is as little air movement as possible. I have a shop vac running in the area to round up any flyash that may escape. If you have a cover for the ashpan use it anytime you are emptying the pan. Doing the little things will minimize the amount of flyash that escapes into your living space.

The furnace you are thinking of getting down the line will not have a big issue with flyash because it's a closed system with minimal opening required but any coal appliance will have some issue because you have to empty the ashpan. You and your wife will have to decide if the savings and warmth you'll get by going with coal is worth having to dust more often. Take care, Lisa

Joeski wrote: My wife who never had a coal stove thinks that black soot will come out of the insert and get all over the living room and the next areas of the house. She also has some other people tell here the same.

Those other people probably don't burn coal either, but a little thing like lack of experience or knowledge never seems to stop people from having a firmly held opinion, that they will swear is correct.
"Black soot coming out of the insert" just doesn't happen, plain and simple, when burning hard coal. Your degree of dirt/dust depends on your particular choices (for stove, coal storage and access, and ash removal options), your chimney/draft, and the care you take in handling coal and ashes.

I was concerned about coal dust when I first burned, and I started with bagged Blaschak nut coal which I stored outside. Because the coal in those bags is wet, I would open a bag and empty it into a coal hod outside, right before taking it into the house and loading the stove. The moisture on the coal would keep essentially all dust from inside the house when I loaded. Very clean method. Later, I built an indoor (basement) coal bin and even with this, coal dust can be managed pretty well. For example, spend an extra $2-3 per ton to have the coal oiled at time of delivery. I didn't do that last year, but did so this year and it's made a huge difference. Some people wet down their coal just before loading into a hod to be brought to the stove, which apparently works well. If you want bulk delivery into a bin rather than using bags, having an exterior bin would be preferable from the standpoint of coal dust, all other things being equal. Someone on the forum loads their coal into brown paper bags outside, closes the bag to bring in the house, and simply lays the closed bag of coal on the coalbed when it's time to re-load. Clever

In terms of fly ash (aka "white dust"), I think this is very variable. You'll find a method that works for you, like Lisa's vacuum, or a lid/cover for the ashpan when taking ashes outside. I have a 25-30 ft masonry chimney that sucks like a vacuum with a strong fire and with the ashpan door open and manual pipe damper full open. Unlike Lisa's stove, the only way I can shake the ashes is with the ashpan door open. Yet, very little fly ash escapes from the stove because it all goes up the chimney (see attachment video). This strong draft also has the tendency to take care of all the untrapped fly ash on top of the just-shaken ashes that might otherwise fly off as I walk the ashpan outside.

In my first year I was enjoying burning coal, and I realized I may have been a little biased and not be recognizing the amount of dust and dirt in the process, so about 4 months into my first season I asked my wife: "So what do you think of the amount of household dust and dirt burning coal involves?" She replied: "What dirt? I'm not seeing any extra dirt." That response might satisfy your wife.

Of course, my wife has yet to notice the fine coating of fly ash on the deck near the chimney, but the rain takes care of that.

WNY wrote:A Koker is NOT an insert, that you would have to hook into your furnace ductwork to distribute the heat into the house. But, like he said, there is no SOOT, the SOFT coal, may have a bit of soot/black smoke when first burning, but most newer stoker stoves use the Hard Coal (anthracite) . Make sure you can get hard coal (Rice size) in your area.

Hi WNY, Your right. I meant to type that this year I would get a Keystoker fire place coal burning insert. Next year when my wife gets her spring bonus or our tax return I will get the Koker furnace.

Ashcat wrote: Someone on the forum loads their coal into brown paper bags outside, closes the bag to bring in the house, and simply lays the closed bag of coal on the coalbed when it's time to re-load. Clever

That is ingenious. I may try that.

But on topic. When I bought my Chubby my wife's father got pissed and started yelling at me, claiming that I'd have black dust everywhere in the house. So far, the only dust I have is from the fly ash. And that is my fault.

Dont worry about the soot. If you are getting soot into the house, you'll be dead from the CO long before you notice the soot!

Not mine. I have a Hitzer 503 insert and I get no black soot in the house. I have on occassion of dropping some of the ashes from the pan on the floor, but that's due to my carelessness. I have the same situation as you, I have gas heat and it keeps the house warm, but it would require lots of $ to keep it toasty. I like the coal heat and I like it even more know that my dealer is willing to deliver me 1 ton for an extra $5. I'm buying 6 55 gallon drums and that will totally take care of my coal storage problems since I live in town.

'rents hitzer 503 insert has no 'black soot' issues...
Mom said the same thing 'dirty coal'...
The only black dust comes from moving the dry coal from bag to coal hod...
Garden sprayer with a fine mist solves that problem...

Well thank you everyone. It appears the dimensions of my opening is too small for any inserts.

Joeski wrote:Well thank you everyone. It appears the dimensions of my opening is too small for any inserts.

So have you looked at any of the free standing stoves. You may have to extend your hearth and the stove placement may extend into you room but if your existing chimney is good and you want the quiet, comfort, inexpensive cost of coal heat it maybe the way to go. Check the postings on "pictures of my stove." Lisa

Black soot is one of my wife's concerns but the reason is that both she and my son have asthma. I am considering a coal burning insert (Hitzer or Harmon) for our living room fireplace. Fly ash could be a problem but it sounds like if we're careful we can get around that. How about smell or smoke?

wsherrick wrote:No, you will not get black soot into the house. The only thing you have to be careful of is dust when you take out the ashes. If you are careful it won't be a problem. Coal is much easier and cleaner than wood. No thick wood smoke, no creosote to worry about. No bark, dirt or bugs inside. No lugging in loads and loads of wood. No constant stoking the fire. No waking up to a cold house because the fire burned out. Just even, inexpensive and abundant heat. There is a lot of ignorance and misperception out there when it comes to the subject of coal.

I agree with you 100 %.......Wife & I stopped at our friends house while she was at work to check on her wood stove...Wood stove was totally out & we had to restart it with fresh wood & it was wet wood....Had a hard time getting it to start even with a propane torch....Anyway, Finally got it going & all my wife & I smelled on the way home was wood smoke...I don't mis burning wood at all.

apg,
even with my Glenwood cruising along with nice Blue ladies an a good burn..I still get an aroma ...more like a nutty smell ...but ya know it is from the fire.
I don't think you can ever fire fossil fuels without an odor of some sort...I believe it all depends on how efficiently your stove is burning...but if you are burning right, good draft, and such you will still have a FIRE SMELL...I personally like it.
Tim