Pea or Nut Coal for Coalbrookdale Darby Stove ?(Newbie)

Hello Coal Forum,
My name is Jim and I live Maine. This spring I found a Coalbrookdale Darby stove off of craigslist. I bought it because I loved the way it looked, I intended to burn wood with it and the fact that it was a coal stove was coincidental. To make a long story short, I injured my left arm while cutting wood this spring and I can't use the chain saw for several months. It dawned on me, after a few weeks of bumming out, that I could burn coal with it. I just can't seem to find information on the correct coal size to burn in it anywhere. There is a coal supply just down the road from me and they offer Pea or Nut anthracite. It's a little over $300 a ton here now.
So my question: Pea or Nut coal for a Coalbrookdale Darby? I am completely new to heating with coal, but I've already learned quite a bit from this forum, Thanks,
Jim
Edit: The spaces between the grates are 3/8" to 1/2". There is also a piece of perforated steel that lies over the grate, which I'm not sure what the intended purpose is for.

I'm not sure about the piece of perforated steel over the grate, perhaps someone installed it to help burn wood? In any case, the you will need to be able to shake the ashes down through the grate in order to burn coal. Can you post a picture of the grates and firebox?

Either pea or nut size should work with your stove, get some of each and see what works best. Pea should give you a longer burn, nut will provide more heat with a shorter burn time.

Not sure wt the piece of steel would be for, is it removable? In a coal stove the coal lies directly on the grates which should be shakeable. Take a picture of it and post it here.

The size coal is dependent on your preference, you can even mix them. The pea is smaller so it has less air flowing through it making it more controllable.

There is a knob on the lower right side of the stove that is worked with an "all in one" type tool that shakes the grate. The tool, which has a wooden handle on it also opens the doors to the fire box and opens the drawer( the air vents are on this drawer) to ash tray that slides in underneath the grate. The piece of perforated steel is easily removed, in fact it kind of looks home made.
I will post a Picture of the stove and the fire box and grate later on after work.
Thanks for the replies.
Jim

My only theory is that someone put the plate in there to help burn wood, it could help stop the embers/coals from dropping into the ash pan. You will definitely need to remove it prior to burning anthracite.

O.K., as promised I'll have to take a picture when it's in place and the warm glow of (pea or nut) coal is seen through the glass.
I'll be working on making a coal bin this weekend. A 4'x8'x4' (with the frame on the outside) will hold about 3 tons from what I've read on the forum here.
The coal Co. down the road from me said that one ton of coal is equal to about 2 cords of firewood.....
I could fit 6 cords worth of heat in that box? It almost seems to good to be true.
Thanks for any assessments, past and future.
Jim

That stove looks like a beast!

Generally 1 ton of coal is considered equivalent to 1.3 cords of dry, mixed hardwood. That is an estimate, depending on the BTU content of the coal, species of wood, and wood moisture content, the actual ratio can change considerably.

I'm hoping it will throw some heat like a beast! It needs some stove polish or stove black and it'll look a bit better after it's all cleaned hooked up.So does the grate look OK for pea coal? I can only visualize that pea coal is the size of peas. And if thats the case they will fall through the grate?
Jim

Welcome to the forum, from another Mainer. Where in Maine are you? Who is the coal dealer near you?

From the picture it looks like half-inch spacing between the grates. I think you had best stick with nut coal, maybe even stove coal, but like the man says, you need to try some of each. Also looks like the firebox may be as much as 20 or 24 inches wide? That's pretty big; you should be able to do some serious heating! How many inches front to back, and how deep can you load it with coal? How much does the stove weigh, roughly?

Anutha Mainah....Ayuh. I'm in western York County, You? The fire box is 21" wide and 10" from front to back. I'm not sure how deep I can load the coal as I have never even lit a coal fire before. BUT, It looks like with the gate type piece that slides into place at the front of the firebox, if that's it's intended purpose is to hold back the coal, I could probably load it about 8" at the most. There are two coal places nearby, both are small outfits. One in Lebanon,Me and one in Wakefield,NH.
Jim

OK, it's not as gigantic as I thought. With those firebox dimensions, and gaps in the grates, my guess is you should burn nut coal. Keep browsing the forum postings. You will find info on starting the fire (lots of people use charcoal), and you will see that you should load the firebox the full 8 inches deep and maybe even heap it up some in the center if you can. Unlike wood, you don't use less coal to get less heat; rather, you get the coal bed burning well then you cut down the amount of air to reduce the heat. Lots to learn, but it's fun.

HeartnCoal wrote: I can only visualize that pea coal is the size of peas. And if thats the case they will fall through the grate?

Pea might work especially after you have a fire built. The ash will hold it in. Pea is roughly the size of quarter.

HeartnCoal wrote:Anutha Mainah....Ayuh. I'm in western York County, You? The fire box is 21" wide and 10" from front to back. I'm not sure how deep I can load the coal as I have never even lit a coal fire before. BUT, It looks like with the gate type piece that slides into place at the front of the firebox, if that's it's intended purpose is to hold back the coal, I could probably load it about 8" at the most. There are two coal places nearby, both are small outfits. One in Lebanon,Me and one in Wakefield,NH.
Jim

The Gate is for holding the logs back so when you open the doors they don't roll out If it was a soild bar in it that would be
a coal banking bar that would help keep the coal from falling out when the doors are open and it would also help you to pile
more coal in the stove Here are the Standard sizes for Anthracite coal open the link below

http://www.readinganthracite.com/images/coal%20si ... 0front.pdf

There are two other members that I have seen posting who have Coalbrookdale Darby stoves; ‘Colebrookdale’ and ‘Charlie Z’. They could be of some help if they drop in or you PM them.

Thanks for the information everyone. This place is pretty cool. And I will give charlie z and coalbrookdale a pm. They definitely would be the ones to talk to about this brand of stove.