lsayre wrote:For those of you burning coal in your cook-stoves, are you burning anthracite or bituminous?
I'm running Sub-Bit coal in my built in cookstove (known irrispective of brand as a coal range here in New Zealand)....it works fine, it will smoke back a bit if you open the lid on the firebox with the chimney damper closed but you soon learn what you can and can't get away with.
As with all Bit coals it will smoke (out the chimney) like a battleship if you fill it up with fresh coal all in one go but if you add coal in 3 or 4 smaller lots it doesn't smoke enough to draw attention from the fairly busy road thats 50 yards away
i can cook on/in it altho to be honest most of what it cooks is stews in the winter,it slow simmers things beautifully with the damper open about 1/4.... I have done roasts and baked scones and bread in it when I have been stuck inside on dreary wet and cold days.
My range has a wet-back on it (water jacket around 3 sides of the firebox) that thermosyphens into my hotwater cylinder that is in a cupboard beside the range and I run the range year round to provide hot water, it will provide all the hotwater we need for two adults if I leave in idle all the time apart from a "rev up" to run out the coal in the firebox ready for a refill once a day when I get home from work....its far far cheaper than what it costs for electric heating of the hotwater.
A ton of coal (8500btu/lb) will last 4 months if the range is only being used to heat water and costs NZ$100 (about US$85) pickup.....thats what a single months worth of power costs to heat the hotwater.....electric cost here $0.28kwh
(ever get the feeling that someone is twisting the pineapple?)
My Range is a Shacklock Orion made sometime in the 50's
having a coal range was one of the reasons I bought this house.....heat and hotwater whatever happens...just keep the bunker full
I wouldn't swap my coal range for anything else except another coal range.....since they are not made in New Zealand anymore, I have my eye on a shiny piece of kit from Serbia....but shipping is a killer for half a ton of cast iron
Cheers
Callum