Size and Type of Coal

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scottf
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Post by scottf » Wed. Mar. 12, 2008 3:09 pm

Hello, I just bought an antique wood / coal stove and have never burned coal before. Its a round style Geneva Oak 140. I was told by the seller to use nut size anthracite.

I have an opportunity to get 2.5 tons of coal from a basement of an old house for free. Its a difficult access and will be a lot of work. I have 2 questions.

1) they tell me it is between 2 to 3 inches in size. Will this burn in my stove or is it too big?

2) how do I tell if it is anthracite or bituminus. I am so new to this I don't know what each looks like.
Any help would be appreciated before I put in a lot of work for nothing
Scott

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Wed. Mar. 12, 2008 3:33 pm

Hello Scott, 2-3" pieces could be large nut, but probably is stove,, since I know nothing about your brand of stove, I can't tell you if it will burn OK on your stove or not.

Bituminous is soft coal, Anthracite is hard coal. With soft coal, you can break the pieces pretty easy with a hammer or by stepping on a piece and grinding your foot back and forth.. With Anthracite, you have to whack a piece pretty hard, and if you do break it, it will usually be just in two or three pieces.. not all crumbled small pieces like Bitum. If you stand on a piece of Anthracite, you will just get a sore foot.

Where are you located?? This will help determine if it is Bitum. or Anthracite coal.

If the coal is free, and is Anthracite, I'd go get it. Even if it doesn't burn well in your stove, it can be added to Nut size, and augment/extend your coal supply.

Hope this helps. Greg L.

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scottf
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Post by scottf » Wed. Mar. 12, 2008 3:40 pm

Thanks Greg, I Live in Southern New Hampshire. It a 100 year old antique stove. The round type with all of the nickle plating on it. The grate and barrel part of the stove is about 12 - 13 inches in diameter. Maybe someone will know if I can burn this size. Thanks for your quick reply
Scott


 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Wed. Mar. 12, 2008 3:54 pm

We had a guy try to burn coal in one of that type of stove about a month ago. He was not successful. It may have been his chimney, or that the sections of his stove were not sealed well. Either way, he gave up on burning coal in it. Most of the coal stoves made today are welded steel construction, with gasketed/sealed doors.

The important thing with burning anthracite coal is that all of the combustion air feeding the fire MUST come from underneath the coal bed, feed up from the ashpan area through the shaker grate to the hot coal-bed. The chimney must draw all the air through the coal.. if there is a vent open in the loading door above the fire, the chimney will draw air through this opening, not through the more-restrictive coal-bed.

So if your stove has poor fitting doors, and loose air vent controls, you will want to fix these items first, before trying to burn coal in the stove.. Wood will burn fine with air entering above the fire.

Does the grate have a shaker mechanism?? You need a way to move and aggitate the grate to get the loose coal ash to fall down through the grate into the ashpan...And this mechanism needs to be on the outside or accessable from the outside of the stove. You don't want to have to let the fire go out in order to clean out the ashes.. a shaker mechanism allows you to shake out the ashes from a still-burning fire, and just add more coal to the top of the fire, and the fire will keep going for months with good coal and good shaker grates and proper tending.

In New Hampshire, the coal could be either Bitum or Anthracite,, both would have had to be trucked in... fi you were in eastern Pa. I'd give 99% odds on anthracite...

Let us know what you find out..

Hope this helps.

Greg L.

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scottf
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Post by scottf » Wed. Mar. 12, 2008 4:03 pm

Thanks Greg, this stove does have a shaker system and was specifically designed to burn coal. I just didnt know if the size is too big. It is in fact stove size. The dealer was using the exact stove to burn coal when I went to buy it. He completely refurbished it so it could be used for coal. He told me to buy nut size. I will let you know how I make out. Thanks again for all of your time.
Scott

 
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Post by Wardner » Thu. Mar. 13, 2008 6:38 pm

scottf wrote:
I have an opportunity to get 2.5 tons of coal from a basement of an old house for free. Its a difficult access and will be a lot of work.

Scott
Scott,

it sounds like the coal mentioned above is the same that is located in Pepperell, MA. I saw the coal last night. I will be removing it in the near future. Just wanted to give you a heads up.

The ad drew alot of response. I was fifth on the list and there were half a dozen behind me.. The house is actually only about 30 years old. The house was purchased last November (with the coal) and the new owners need to clear the cellar prior to waterproofing it. The floor had an inch of water.

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