Pea Nut

I have burned only nut coal in my Harman Mark I. Others apparently burn pea, or a nut/pea mix. Wood'nCoal, for example, says in his signature that he burns pea in his Harman Mark I. Howcum? I have read that nut burns faster, that pea is easier to control.... Does that mean I wouldn't get as much heat in the same time period from pea as from nut? Does that mean I could turn the stove down lower on a warm day with one size vs. the other size?

I used to burn nut in my Mark I and while it did well, it was HOT! If I tried to turn the air down, the fire would just choke itself out. I switched to pea and have no problem anymore.

With the nut, I was having trouble keeping the temp UNDER 90*. With pea, I can idle all day at 70*. That's in my 1200s.f. house with no insulation in the walls and outside temps in the 20's. If I need more heat, I give it more air. I can get 8 hours at 80* pretty easily. With the nut, I would OFTEN peg the thermostat in the hallway, roughly 20' from the stove.

I'm not expert but it just seems that the smaller size of the pea doesn't require as much heat to keep going if you get my meaning. The nut coal just seemed to need to run hotter for it to burn completely. I would get lots of unburned coal if I tried to idle it down.

I hope that makes sense. It was a long way to go so I could answer "Yes." to your question.

Hi rberq
I think everyones stove and chimneys are all a little different so the results will vary but I use primarily nut and have great luck I can idle it down on warm days air screw opened between 1/2 and 3/4 turn 125* on the pipe and 18 to 20 hr burn and cold days I crank it up 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 turns 200* to 250* on the pipe and 12hr burns I also use a harman mkI I have used pea it seems to work better on warmer days but on cold days I can't get the same amount of heat for the same amount of time (it burns out to fast) I would suggest getting a few bags of pea and try it out
Good luck and keep warm Dan

I seem to get a good burn and plenty of heat from pea coal, the only complaint is the short burn times, I have to keep an eye on the coal bed and make sure it's not starting to die out around the edges. I have run pea/nut mix, the results were about the same. I really should try straight nut size and see what happens. I had run nut in the stove exclusively with poor results last year, but it was inferior quality coal, so I can't base my opinion on that. I also ran stove size, but it was from the same dealer and the results were terrible. One thing I like about pea coal is it's easy to shovel, both from the bin into the scuttle and from the scuttle into the stove.

Wood'nCoal wrote:I seem to get a good burn and plenty of heat from pea coal, the only complaint is the short burn times.

What's short? I have no problem with 10 to 12 hour times between any messing with it. Maybe 8 hours if it really gets cold and I have to rev it up.

Thanks for the feedback. My only problem with nut size has been slowing down the burn on warm days, without losing the fire. Temps here over the Christmas weekend were in the high 30's and I slowed the stove so I was getting about 15 hour burn times, but I still had to open a couple windows to keep room temp down to 78 degrees. On the plus side, none of the women were shivering and looking accusingly at me. I will get a few bags of pea and try that during the next warm spell.

I have burned pea, nut, and stove size in my Mark II. I actually prefer a 50-50 mix of nut and stove. On warm days (above 40) I open the draft control about 1/4 turn or a litlte less. The stove will set there and idle for 16-20 hours without any shaking or loading.
As far as loading, I personally just put gloves and on throw the coal in the stove by hand. Using a shovel or coal hod is just too much bother for me. I put my coal in 5 gallon buckets when I bring it inside.

jpete wrote:

Wood'nCoal wrote:I seem to get a good burn and plenty of heat from pea coal, the only complaint is the short burn times.

What's short? I have no problem with 10 to 12 hour times between any messing with it. Maybe 8 hours if it really gets cold and I have to rev it up.

I'm getting about 8 hours out of a full coal bed, most likely because I'm running the stove at a high burn rate. On Christmas day I left the air vent in the ash door at 1/2 turn because the stove is in the dining room and we were having dinner in there. It idled along all day. Last night The stove was loaded full at 11 pm, air open 2 turns, this morning at 7 am there was burning only in about 1/3 of the coal bed. Adding a few shovels of coal, then waiting about 20 mins., shaking, a little charcoal, and it's back up. I will probably go back to pea/nut mix, and see how that works out. I'm don't need to get more heat from the stove, I just need to get the burn time from a full stove to last a little longer.

SuperBeetle wrote:I have burned pea, nut, and stove size in my Mark II. I actually prefer a 50-50 mix of nut and stove. On warm days (above 40) I open the draft control about 1/4 turn or a litlte less. The stove will set there and idle for 16-20 hours without any shaking or loading.
As far as loading, I personally just put gloves and on throw the coal in the stove by hand. Using a shovel or coal hod is just too much bother for me. I put my coal in 5 gallon buckets when I bring it inside.

I have a small shovel by the coal bin to fill the scuttle, I also have a spray bottle there to wet the coal as I fill the scuttle so there is no dust flying when I fill the stove. At the stove I use on of those cheap stamped shovels sold to clean the ash out of fireplaces to fill the stove. It's better then pouring the coal from the scuttle (which I used to do) because I can place the coal where I want it on the bed.

Between the watered coal and careful emptying of the ash I really keep the dust to a minimum. That makes my wife very happy.

SuperBeetle wrote: As far as loading, I personally just put gloves and on throw the coal in the stove by hand. Using a shovel or coal hod is just too much bother for me. I put my coal in 5 gallon buckets when I bring it inside.

I also use the 5 gallon buckets to bring in the coal (and the 3 gallon cat litter buckets). I use a small stamped coal shovel to get it into the stove. My highly developed technique is to tilt the bucket at an angle and as I am pushing the shovel into the bucket I jiggle the bucket so I don't buckle the handle on the shovel.

Wood'nCoal wrote:

jpete wrote:

Wood'nCoal wrote:I seem to get a good burn and plenty of heat from pea coal, the only complaint is the short burn times.

What's short? I have no problem with 10 to 12 hour times between any messing with it. Maybe 8 hours if it really gets cold and I have to rev it up.

I'm getting about 8 hours out of a full coal bed, most likely because I'm running the stove at a high burn rate. On Christmas day I left the air vent in the ash door at 1/2 turn because the stove is in the dining room and we were having dinner in there. It idled along all day. Last night The stove was loaded full at 11 pm, air open 2 turns, this morning at 7 am there was burning only in about 1/3 of the coal bed. Adding a few shovels of coal, then waiting about 20 mins., shaking, a little charcoal, and it's back up. I will probably go back to pea/nut mix, and see how that works out. I'm don't need to get more heat from the stove, I just need to get the burn time from a full stove to last a little longer.

wood n coal I have the same problem with pea coal only 8 hr burns at higher temps its nice to shovel but I think a good nut would help with longer burn times at those temps

Hi Dano,

I suspect you are right, I've heard that pea lasts longer because there is less air space between the pieces, hence a slower burn, and that nut doesn't last as long because of more air space between the pieces. I would think the opposite is true, because the nut is larger and would take longer to burn. The last time I tries a mix it was 3/4 pea and 1/4 nut. I think I'll try 50/50 next and see what happens. I'm running low so I should be making a coal run soon.

Wood'nCoal wrote:Hi Dano,

I suspect you are right, I've heard that pea lasts longer because there is less air space between the pieces, hence a slower burn, and that nut doesn't last as long because of more air space between the pieces. I would think the opposite is true, because the nut is larger and would take longer to burn. The last time I tries a mix it was 3/4 pea and 1/4 nut. I think I'll try 50/50 next and see what happens. I'm running low so I should be making a coal run soon.

I've been burning a mark III for about 3 weeks now. Started with pea cause that what i had from my previous stove. It did burn fine ,the difference between nut & pea for me is the nut burned hotter with about half as much air.Its almost 50 degrees here today & i have the draft knob open a I/2 turn with nut, so far so good. The stove is basically idling. I perfer the nut so far because of the hotter burn. When you shake with the pea i lost coal even being careful. If you have a smaller home and want better control & do not mind losing some coal when shaking , i think pea is the answer. I have not tried the nut-pea mix yet.I believe its much easier to build a fire with the pea coal.