Coal Size Question

I am new here so here is a little history about me/my coal stove

I live in Tennessee. It does not get too cold here, but I love the house being warm from my coal stove. Coal is also so cheap to use in comparison to my electric heating. My parents always used a coal stove when I was younger. I purchased a house a few years ago, and inherited the stove. It is an Ashley (not sure about model). I have decided that it is now time to get a new stove. This one is past done. I am looking at purchasing this:
**Broken Link(s) Removed**Its a vermont VIGILANT II Coal Stove 2310

The downside is that around here there is no one to ask questions to. The people selling the stove are the only ones within a ~3hr drive that I have found. The stove states that it takes "Pea or nut" sized coal. I have always used somewhat larger sized coal. The coal I get is ~ softball to football sized. Will this stove work? If not does anyone have any suggestions.

I hope this is in the correct sub forum. If not please feel free to move.
Thanks

In Tennessee the coal is bituminous coal.. which is often available in larger lump sizes.. You will need to break the large lump sizes down to about chicken egg sized pieces to burn in a Vigillant stove.. this size is roughly the same as Nut in anthracite coal..

Greg L

Do they sell nut or stoker size bit coal where you are at in Tennessee?

http://www.sizes.com/materls/coal_bituminous.htm

By that chart I get egg size and larger. There are only 2 places within a 60mi drive that I know of to get coal. Neither have a selection of what size you can get. Basicly whatever you want to load by hand or allow the front loader to load in your trailer.

Breaking up coal does not sound like much fun. I guess I need to look for another make/model of coal stove.

If you try burning too larg of pieces it will just not all burn very well, and the fire is hard to control, it will burn too hot and fast.. Since you have a stove already,, you can make a screen for your trailer to separate the really large pieces. or just break them up.. Bituminous coal breaks quite easily. You can break it in a heavy burlap bag to lessen the mess..

There aren't many small stoves that can burn a grapefruit or football sized piece of coal !! Only big boilers and furnaces..

Greg L.

Hi, mann. It can be a challenge to find coal dealers in TN due to the lack of interest in burning coal. For many years our electric rates have been fairly inexpensive and Heat Pumps are fairly efficient and the winters in parts of TN are not that brutal. But move up into the mountains and your tune would change.

A dealer in Duff, TN sells graded coal but I do not know the particular sizes and/or quality. Call Dupays’s Coal Yard. I did not keep his phone number so do a Google search. Price was quoted to me as $175 a ton. Check out my post to the topic ‏‏”Where do you get your Bituminous coal and a going price” for a source of good coal.

If I were looking to buy a bit coal stove I would first find a good source of coal and what sizes were being offered. Then buy a stove that will best burn it.

I can burn softball to football sizes. The volatiles burn off slowly and the lumps burn like wood logs. After a couple of hours I sometimes gently break up some large pieces to release more volatiles and it flames up again. Or, left alone for 8 to 10 hours it burns cherry red with little flame or smoke. Of course I am no expert on burning coal and your experience will undoubtedly be much different depending on the stove, the quality of coal (and size) you burn.

A quick run down;

This is my first season with my Vigilant.
I mine 8500 BTU Bit. Take note of the low BTU
I get my coal from one of our other mines because I can get 3 inch oiled coal there.

A co-worker recommended the Vigilant because it has always worked well for him. His is the earlier model but it is essentially the same stove from what I gather. He's had his stove for about 20 years and he does burn lump coal in it, from the mine where we work. I won't personally recommend the Vigilant because I'm just not experienced enough, but I suppose if your main question is about the coal size then it is possible to burn 8500 BTU bit in that particular stove. He heats his whole house with it, and WY is a heck of a lot colder than TN. Ever been to Cleveland TN? I have relatives there.

dangit wrote:Hi, mann. It can be a challenge to find coal dealers in TN due to the lack of interest in burning coal. For many years our electric rates have been fairly inexpensive and Heat Pumps are fairly efficient and the winters in parts of TN are not that brutal. But move up into the mountains and your tune would change.

A dealer in Duff, TN sells graded coal but I do not know the particular sizes and/or quality. Call Dupays’s Coal Yard. I did not keep his phone number so do a Google search. Price was quoted to me as $175 a ton. Check out my post to the topic ‏‏”Where do you get your Bituminous coal and a going price” for a source of good coal.

If I were looking to buy a bit coal stove I would first find a good source of coal and what sizes were being offered. Then buy a stove that will best burn it.

I can burn softball to football sizes. The volatiles burn off slowly and the lumps burn like wood logs. After a couple of hours I sometimes gently break up some large pieces to release more volatiles and it flames up again. Or, left alone for 8 to 10 hours it burns cherry red with little flame or smoke. Of course I am no expert on burning coal and your experience will undoubtedly be much different depending on the stove, the quality of coal (and size) you burn.

It sounds like and looks like cannel coal. how much is it per ton?

people call cannel coal different things, true cannel coal is made from deposits of only spores, not plant matter and contains 60-70% volitile matter. It burns and feels like wax and would not burn in a controlable manner in any kind of stove. true cannel coal is extremely rare and can only be used in open fires.

[quote="Duengeon master: It sounds like and looks like cannel coal. how much is it per ton?[/quote]

Berlin wrote, "true cannel coal is made from deposits of only spores, not plant matter and contains 60-70% volitile matter. It burns and feels like wax and would not burn in a controlable manner in any kind of stove. true cannel coal is extremely rare and can only be used in open fires."

Thanks, Berlin for some interesting info on a rare form of coal.

To answer Duengeon master. I am burning high BTU bit coal in my Warm Morning stove, which is taken out of the Harlan, KY mines. It has low sulphur content and very large tonnages of this coal are burned in coal fired power plants in KY and TN, which is sold under long-term contract. Not a rare coal but a coal that my dealer says 'burns real good'.