Advice Please on Changing to Coal Stoves

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Nightmoves
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Post by Nightmoves » Fri. Apr. 26, 2013 11:37 am

I live in France and have till now owned a wood burning stove. However, due to wood becoming very expensive I thought it's time to consider coal.

The room in question is approx 280 sq feet, with chimney. I have seen at garage sales small old cast iron stoves which appear in perfect working condition and with 9 - 10 cm flue outlet and which I think used to burn coal. I have found an anthracite supplier not too far away and I intend to use my car with trailer to collect. The chimney has an existing 15cm stainless steel flue liner up which I was hoping to push my smaller flue.

Comments / advice / experiences etc would be most appreciated

 
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dcrane
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Post by dcrane » Fri. Apr. 26, 2013 1:37 pm

Welcome! Its great to see some more overseas members here on Nepa and we all love hearing from folks over their...

280 sq ft room (plus some additional rooms) and that flu would be super simple with a used Chappee or Petit Godin (these are widly available to you in France)... either one is a reasonably good coal burner, both can be tended twice per day and both can maintain lower temps for a smaller home (the grate & liner are easy to replace) and I'm very sure you can find one for a couple hundred bucks and either would be a very inexpensive "safe" bet for you.

 
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Nightmoves
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Post by Nightmoves » Fri. Apr. 26, 2013 2:20 pm

Thanks for the welcome dcrane and thanks for the advice on Godin which I know of and Chappee which I didn't. Will look on Leboncoin to see what's about.

Is my idea on sliding the new smaller flue up inside the existing flue feasible / safe / practical ??

What do you think the consumption of anthracite is likely to be for a 5 month season ?

 
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Post by carlherrnstein » Fri. Apr. 26, 2013 3:07 pm

You probably don't want to just slide a smaller pipe into a bigger pipe you want a reducer to connect the two together. I don't know of what kind of coal you can get over there but I would at least see if you can get bituminous coal it tends to be cheaper burns more like hard wood. I burned 3 tons of bituminous coal this winter as my only source of heat. I have 1,000 square feet with with single pane windows and good insulation in the walls, ceiling and under the floor.


 
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dcrane
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Post by dcrane » Fri. Apr. 26, 2013 4:11 pm

using a reducer is wise (at least get as close as possible and then some folks would use a flat window gasket if needed to make a tite fit (when using a coal stove you do not have to worry about crimped edges facing the stove, but to the contrary with coal stoves you want the crimped edges facing outward from the stove). The reason is with wood its better/safer incase of chimney fire the moulten lava spills backward into your stove (not the living room), with coal its better/safer for gases to go up and out (not be imposed on by the crimped edges so to speak which could allow lil wisps of gas into the living area as it travels up and out). Hopefully you get the "jist" of what I mean (I know Greg or others could explain this better then me in writting :cry: )

common guys...stick to anthracite PLEASE!!! you are new to coal burning and bit requires very specific stoves and a very confident coal burner... baby steps people! :mad:

 
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Post by nortcan » Fri. Apr. 26, 2013 7:14 pm

Hi Nightmoves and welcome to the forum.
If anthracite (boulets) is available in your area and at a good price, try it and see how it works in your specific stove. Check if the stove you'r looking at is made for ""tous les combustibles, soit bois/charbon)"" or for some specific ones. If you can send some (beaucoup) photos of the stove, it's always welcomed on the forum and that helps us to help you :) . Anyways going to anthracite is a good move if the ant is available in your area.
About the flue pipe and chimney installation, it would be Safer for you to verify the codes requerements in your area and in France. As an example, here in Québec the stoves installations codes differ from those in the USA, so better to check before...........
Salutations du Québec.
P/S Maybe start a new thread in Hand Fired Coal Stoves?

 
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Post by ONEDOLLAR » Fri. Apr. 26, 2013 7:56 pm

Nightmoves

WELCOME!!

Dcrane mentioned 2 great stoves for you home. Another one to look at would be the Morso Squirrel. (The coal version) Morso are made in Denmark and sold throughout Europe. The are a good solid stove and perfect for areas under 800 sq ft. There is a member on this forum whose name I forget, who has one on his house boat and loves it. http://www.morso.com

Whatever stove you choose I am sure you will love burning coal. Sure beats dealing with firewood! :D

 
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Nightmoves
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Post by Nightmoves » Fri. Apr. 26, 2013 9:38 pm

Thanks for the replies, plenty to think about and consider, much appreciated.

On a Morso Squirrel suppliers website, I found the following quote;

"The Squirrel 1412 stove will not be suited to overnight or slumber burning, which in any case is inefficient and would tend to blacken up your stove glass."

I was hoping that overnight burning would be possible on whatever stove I eventually go for, or am I being unrealistic ?


 
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Post by franco b » Fri. Apr. 26, 2013 10:16 pm

Nightmoves wrote:I was hoping that overnight burning would be possible on whatever stove I eventually go for, or am I being unrealistic ?
Any decent stove designed for anthracite coal will go 12 hours or more between tending times.

Almost all the European made stoves have poorly designed shaker systems for hard coal. That includes Godin. Most will handle the briquets which are primarily soft coal. Post pictures of any stove you are considering buying along with pictures of the fire box and grate.

I am surprised that you have anthracite available at reasonable prices.

 
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Post by dcrane » Fri. Apr. 26, 2013 10:44 pm

franco b wrote:
Nightmoves wrote:I was hoping that overnight burning would be possible on whatever stove I eventually go for, or am I being unrealistic ?
Any decent stove designed for anthracite coal will go 12 hours or more between tending times.

Almost all the European made stoves have poorly designed shaker systems for hard coal. That includes Godin. Most will handle the briquets which are primarily soft coal. Post pictures of any stove you are considering buying along with pictures of the fire box and grate.

I am surprised that you have anthracite available at reasonable prices.
Anthracite standards in Europe are not quite the quality of PA :lol: the two stoves I mentioned are fairly good at burning anthracite, going all night and maintaining lower temps for small to med applications (the godin grate is fine, its primarily the fact the grate does not cover the entire coal bed that is their main problem but with the petite godin this is not an issue). as mentioned previously feel free to send pics of any coal stove your thinking about and we can let you know how it looks.

 
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Nightmoves
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Post by Nightmoves » Sat. Apr. 27, 2013 2:00 am

Any decent stove designed for anthracite coal will go 12 hours or more between tending times.
Well that's good to know !
I am surprised that you have anthracite available at reasonable prices.
The veil of ignorance slowly lifts ! $22 for 25 kgs of 'Charbon defumeur' ...(google translate doesn't know this expression, but according to a French friend it means 'cleaned coal', or what we Brits know as 'smokeless' which I now realise is not anthracite) BUT, $80 for 1 cu/m of three year old oak.
(the godin grate is fine, its primarily the fact the grate does not cover the entire coal bed that is their main problem but with the petite godin this is not an issue)
Again that's good to know. As soon as I see something which might be applicable I will be posting pics.

Merci Dieu pour Vannevar Bush !

 
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Post by Nightmoves » Fri. May. 03, 2013 5:57 am

Still looking on LeBonCoin and hopefully there will be 'vide greniers' this weekend.

A further question please, if I find an old coal burning stove with a 10cm flue outlet, can I use a 10cm flue liner up inside the chimney which is 7 metres from stove to top of pot ?

In the meantime for anybody whose interested here is a link to a website on Old French Stoves http://www.stovefinders.com/p-stove_sales_Antique ... toves.html

 
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Post by dcrane » Fri. May. 03, 2013 6:07 am

Nightmoves wrote:Still looking on LeBonCoin and hopefully there will be 'vide greniers' this weekend.

A further question please, if I find an old coal burning stove with a 10cm flue outlet, can I use a 10cm flue liner up inside the chimney which is 7 metres from stove to top of pot ?

In the meantime for anybody whose interested here is a link to a website on Old French Stoves http://www.stovefinders.com/p-stove_sales_Antique ... toves.html
Love the enamal work of those frenchmen! :lol: I only wish the shipping to obtain some of these beauties did not cost more then the stove itself (or we would see more of these on this side of the Atlantic) :(
Many of these seem ideal for small applications where looks matter (such as yachts) because everything made for boats today burns charcoal or propane or kerosene (not hard anthracite).

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