New to Burning Coal and...

diesel_coal_MN · Post by **diesel_coal_MN** » Sat. Dec. 04, 2010 1:01 am

I have read a bunch of posts on here, and everyone is talking about the blue flames.... I am not getting blue flames off of the coal that I am burning. Is this because I am using Bituminous Coal, or not loading enough or what??? It also does not seem to turn to coals, just burns with a yellow flame, then sticks together and kind of dies down, then when I rake it a but, I get a bunch of yellow flames again.... Any suggestions on how to make this burn more like what is described here?

Sorry If I am not providing enough information, but I just don't know what I don't know yet

diesel_coal_MN · Post by **diesel_coal_MN** » Sat. Dec. 04, 2010 1:10 am

I guess I was just not patient enough... posted and went and looked, and I had nice blue flames, so I added more, and I will see how this goes

diesel_coal_MN · Post by **diesel_coal_MN** » Sat. Dec. 04, 2010 1:54 am

Another question that I just thought of: Is it better to break the coal up when it melts together, or just leave it and let it burn?

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Sat. Dec. 04, 2010 2:30 am

diesel,
Hello, you are not going to get much blue flame burning Bit coal like you would with Antracite wich is what the folks are burning that are talking bought the "BLUE LADIES".
to answer one of your ?'s ...when the coal fuses together and bridges wich is very common with Bituminous coal ya need to bust it up with your poker before adding more coal to get the air flowing through the bed.
there is another forum here look to the far right when you come to the forum page and check out "Using Bituminous Coal"
the folks in there burn it daily and will have answers to all of your ?'s
Hope this helps,
Tim

diesel_coal_MN · Post by **diesel_coal_MN** » Sat. Dec. 04, 2010 9:32 am

Thanks a ton Tim, I will head over there and ask a question about how to get more heat out of it.... It did burn all night long, but I did not get all that much heat out of it

cokehead · Post by **cokehead** » Sat. Dec. 04, 2010 9:48 am

What type of US Stove Company stove are you using? They make a bunch of different types. http://www.usstove.com/index.php Does it have shaker grates? If you have pictures postum. $400 for 1.2 tons is an outrage for bituminous. For anthracite it is still high. Before you spend a bunch on coal make sure the stove you are using is designed to burn it properly and get the right type of coal for that stove.

diesel_coal_MN · Post by **diesel_coal_MN** » Sat. Dec. 04, 2010 1:25 pm

This is the stove that I have:

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It is designed for wood or coal, and does have shaker grates, but how do I find out what type of coal it is designed to burn?

CapeCoaler · Post by **CapeCoaler** » Sat. Dec. 04, 2010 1:36 pm

Use the search function on the forum...
Here is a start...
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Specific to the 1557...
US Hot Blast Furnace 1557
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cokehead · Post by **cokehead** » Sat. Dec. 04, 2010 1:50 pm

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Page 14 gives info on what to burn in it.

Berlin · Post by **Berlin** » Sat. Dec. 04, 2010 5:58 pm

You're burning bituminous coal, don't worry about blue flames. Unfortunately, it sounds like you MAY be using a poor quality of bituminous coal with a high "coke button" which means that shortly after loading it wants to melt together and starve itself for air thus limiting heat, unless you poke holes through it. Make sure that you're loading the fuel to the top of the firebrick in your appliance, coal likes a DEEP fuel bed, minimum 10". If this doesn't help, try looking for better bituminous coal that doesn't swell together; I might be able to help, where are you located?

diesel_coal_MN · Post by **diesel_coal_MN** » Mon. Dec. 06, 2010 12:16 am

I am in South central Minnesota, and coal of any kind is very hard to find. I have my second coal fire going right now, and the heat is amazing!!!! absolutely the hottest fire I have had going in this stove. I did a deeper load, and loaded it more at once, I put a layer about an inch thick across the wood coals, let that get going, added about 2 inches, let that get going, then filled it to the top of the fire brick, and I had a wood log running down the center on the last load, After it got going good, and melted together, I broke it back apart into 2-3 inch chunks, and now I have it 82 degrees inside, (and it is -2 outside)

Tim · Post by **Tim** » Mon. Dec. 06, 2010 12:40 am

Atta Boy!
You are surely getting the hang of it...Congrats!...

-2 BRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!, its bought 20 here in Central PA were having a heat wave compared to you...lol
Tim