Cookin' With Coal

kevin where is the trivets? stove looks great in that spot

Good eye, Wilson. I looked at that picture several times and I missed that.

And I just noticed that his range has the optional sliding oven door shelf to hold the oven door partly open,....... after I already explained about the one you had in a pm to him.

I'm late to the party once again,....

Paul

wilsons woodstoves wrote:kevin where is the trivets? stove looks great in that spot

Skip ... In all my excitement , I simply forgot to put them in.
Paul ... I wasn't sure how the sliding shelf worked but I figured it out. The right corner of the shelf books around the lower oven door. With the door closed I slid the shelf all the way to the left. As you open the door the shelf slides to the right , holding the door in any position Cool feature that some would t know was here.

Kevin,
Hope you don't mind but I'm also posting my answer to your PM here for any others who might be going to be cooking on a coal range. This is all in the order which I use to get the a strong fire going as quickly as possible to cook with coal. Unlike a heating stove, a range has a long, narrow, and shallow firebox, which with the primary air feeding in along one long side, it responds a bit differently when refueling and ashing.

And using wood, obviously it will heat up faster, but I don't cook with wood anymore. So this is only for coal.
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Happy Thanksgiving Day !

This is long so you may want to cut paste and print it out ?

And I apologize if I state any of the obvious - I don't want to risk leaving anything out.

The firebox has to produce the heat so get the fire going as quickly as possible. That means not only high temp, but the volume of heat that a full firebox can produce. That includes getting out as much ash as is safe for the grates as possible. But doing all that in the wrong order can make it take longer.

I use only the larger sizes of coal dug from the outskirts of the coal bin. Being larger they tend to roll easier and collect there.

1. Open the MPD fully.
2. Open the oven damper to direct mode.
3. Make sure the secondary (broiler door) and check dampers are fully closed.
4. Open the primary damper fully. Don't shake ash just yet.
Give it a several minutes to build up a "heat bank" in the chimney to maintain a strong draft while you refuel and ash- which will also be adding cold air and coal, so you need that extra strong draft.

5. While you wait, empty the ash pan completely. Brush off the ash drawer door ledge so that the door seats fully closed. Don't leave the ash drawer door open anymore than necessary when trying to get the fire going. It lets in too much cold air and will actually cool the fire. Just leave the primary dampers fully open. The edges of the damper opening should still be hot and will help preheat the incoming primary air and get the fire going sooner.

6. When you can hear the fire roaring up the chimney, close the primary damper at least half way so you don't get a face full of flue gases and add a shovel full of large chunks in each round cover hole. Spread them evenly throughout the firebox. Don't be tempted to add a lot. It will add too much cold coal, stall the draft, and take longer to get going. Reopen the primary damper fully.

Remember that each time you add coal, close the primary damper at least half way to increase the draft pull at the opened round cover hole so that you don't get a face full of flue gas.

7. If the fire has been going for 5 hours, or more, since the last time the ashes were shaken, turn the shaker stub and the dockash grates 180 degrees (only 120 degrees for triangular). That will break up and dump any clinkers starting to form.

8. Using very short, choppy strokes, shake the grates until you see burning embers dropping and an even glow throughout the ash drawer. You made need to use one of those right-angle tipped pokers to clear the corners from underneath. Don't over shake.

9. Once that layer of coal stops popping add another shovel full in each round cover hole and spread it evenly around the firebox.

10. Continue waiting until no more popping then add shovel-worth layers until the firebox is full up to the top of the firebox liner. Keep the MPD and primary dampers open.

11. When the firebox is filled and burning, now you can close the primary about half way, move the oven damper lever to oven mode (indirect draft), and close the mpd about half way (45 degrees). Now the firebox has a good volume of fresh coal going, and the chimney should have a strong draft to keep it going. That higher level of temps and heat volume will heat the oven faster, hotter and longer than if you had just opened the dampers.

12. When you need to add fuel during long cooking sessions, just add small amounts more often (about once an hour) and quickly so that you add the least amount of cold air and fuel each time you open up the top of the range. That will keep the draft strong and not drop the cooking temps as much as if you waited longer an added a lot of fuel.

Primary damper settings will control the volume of how much air gets to the fire. The mpd will control how fast the air flows in by controlling the flue gases getting out. Don't open the MPD too much, or the heat will go through quickly and not transfer to the oven as well. Closed too much and it will not let enough air in, or the flue gases will leak out the top plate seams if the house can pull a stack draft.

In my strong drafting chimney I keep the primary open about 1/3 and the MPD open about 1/4 (.04 mano) for baking in the 300+F range.

For pizza and a 400+F degree oven I open the primary about 1/2 and the MPD about 1/3 (.06 mano).

All set ups are unique so you should experiment as much as possible and check temps with the IR gun so you'll know what your range needs and what it will do at different damper settings.

As for those smaller chunks of coal you didn't use to cook with, load the stove with those at night and it will give longer burn times because of the greater fuel density in the firebox, plus it helps slow the air flow through the coal bed.

And save the fines to add for a too-hot fire.

Let me know how it goes.

Paul

Holy info. Thaanks Paul. I baked party wings last nite. Took long then it was supposed to according to the instructions. But they came out great.

Kevin,
I know it seems like a lot, but with practice, it only takes a few minutes of total work. The waiting in between for the snap, crackle, and popping to stop to add another layer of coal is what adds the most time. And that's only about a total of 15 minutes.

With that deeper firebox of your Model E it should do a better job of keeping a strong draft going than my Sunny with 2/3 the depth of coal.

And getting the firebox ready to cook/bake with Is one of those jobs that if you wait and let each layer get burning, it actually takes less time. But if you get in a hurry and bury the fire by adding alot of cold coal and air and stall the draft, it'll take longer. One of those times it's a case of the old saying, "Less is more".

The wings look wonderful !!!!

I'm sure that the more you use that beauty of a range, the more you'll love it !

Paul

That is almost word for word what I do with me tiny Crawford.
Once you get a routine it's quick and simple, the only time it takes me longer is when I've been gone for 10-12 hours then sometimes it take me all eve to recover it.
Great looking stove, I always leave my oven door open a bit to let some of the oven heat out to heat the kitchen

Dana

Paul reading the reload drill all I could think of was oh this how you land a 747 on a 1500 runway LOL The next image was you and your ear wife with WWI flying goggles a leather helmet and heavy leather glove hunched over the beast ..Belly laugh.. I am sure second nature but for me would need a co-pilot reading the checklist for each step...

Baked my first pizza. Lingucia of course.

Eggs came out great too !!

Merc300d wrote:

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Baked my first pizza. Lingucia of course.

Eggs came out great too !!

Pizza came out great! Looks a lot better than my chicken soup I made! (Trying to loose weight)
Randy

Thanks Randy. I should be eating more soup myself. I could stand to lose some weight. But I can see w this ( new ) old stove , that might be difficult.

Merc300d wrote:Thanks Randy. I should be eating more soup myself. I could stand to lose some weight. But I can see w this ( new ) old stove , that might be difficult.

Lost 14# as of yesterday's weigh in. Just trying to limit carbs and eat less per sitting. Cut way back on beer too
Randy

Nice. Good for you !!!! No or low carb diet ... Now that's a tough one !! Congrats !

Merc300d wrote:Nice. Good for you !!!! No or low carb diet ... Now that's a tough one !! Congrats !

It is indeed tough I love pasta and breads. I bought the Barilla cooking school's cookbook. They have awesome looking recipes for pizzas and breads and I am dying to try some!

I know what you mean about the "new" stove. I was always trying out something new on it. I bet I gained 20# that winter!
Randy

Looks wonderful Kevin !!!!!

And it looks like you very quickly got the hang of using that range .

How'd the Thanks Giving dinner turn out ?

Paul