coal type for new stoves

My new stoves just arrived. 150,000 BTU Vogelzang Sentry from Northern Tools. Much to my suprise the manual says for best results use chestnut, egg, stove, or nut sized bituminous coal. I had all but sent the check for my first load anthracite before the stoves arrived. But now after reading the manual I am confussed. Any insight?

Thanks,
Pat

I'd get a few bags of Chestnut first to test it, chestnut will be the largest size available in a lot of quantity. I believe that is the type of stove that some people have had issues with getting them to burn anthracite properly. They are made for soft caol but I could be wrong. The stove size coal is not readily available but you can find it usually at a premium price. Egg is huge and will be impossible to find in anthracite, I don't even know anyone that has it. I've never even seen it myself in the 15 years I delivered, my uncle mentioned delivering it when he was kid. He said he used to have to go in basement and stack it like a wall because you can't shovel it.

Richard, thanks for the reply. With your input the manual is making more sense. I think it is best that I stick to the coal the stove was designed for while I am getting to know my them. Finding a truck load of the stuff has been a trip. The sources listed in the yellow pages under 'coal' do not answer their phones, most do not have answering machines, the ones with answering machines do not return calls and when you do get someone they make it all very hard or no longer do coal. I think I have found a source in a guy with a truck across the street from a coal yard, but the only size coal he delivers is a mix of pea through nut. I think this mix is smaller sized then the manual recommends. I am just happy to have found a source, but am I just getting myself in trouble getting the smaller sized mix?

Thanks,
Pat NW VA

It sounds like you are in bituminous coal country. or Soft coal country.. Bituminous coal is not sized, washed and sorted as well as Anthracite.. the reason is that it breaks very easily into smaller pieces and big pieces grind together to make lots of fines [sand-sized granules] when it is transported, loaded, dumped etc..

You will probably be using the mixed size coal that you described,, it will be smokey and you will have to clean your chimney often.. the soot collects in the flue with Bituminous coal..

Let us know what you find out.. In Nw Virginia, the only Anthracite available will be bagged coal that is trucked in from NE Penn.

Greg L

As far as anthracite goes a mixture of pea and nut is often used by people with hand fired stoves. It's called "range" when you mix it like that, I've often recommended it to people in the past that have burned one or the other and they were happy with it.

I just looked at your furnace on the nothern site.It looks like a UUS furnace(hotblast).You can burn nut (anthracite) in these things(I have one)but you have to be patient.There is a person on this site with a long thread on your furnace and how to burn it.Try searching (hotblast)or(US stove)
DON

I found it.Search US stove and click on( successfully burning anthacite coal in a clayton furnace).US stove makes stoves for cyayton.IT CAN WORK WELL.This is my 3rd year with my hotblast furnace.