Anyone burning coal in a Biasi 3 Wood/Coal

Seaman · By: **Seaman** On: Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:03 pm

Burn times were approx 4 to 6 hours on wood house is very well insulated . I burn approx 6 cords wood and 250 gals oil per winter previously.

Seaman · By: **Seaman** On: Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:06 pm

How much coal do you use per season.I think I might need 4 ton maybe more.

Rob R. · By: **Rob R.** On: Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:09 pm

Seaman wrote:house is very well insulated. I burn approx 6 cords wood and 250 gals oil per winter previously.

I guess so. I'd have to move my house underground to get by with so little btu's.

Here are a few quick thoughts: It sounds like your coal might be a little on the small side for hand firing. Can you try and load the boiler with mostly large pieces and see if it behaves differently? Also, make sure your fire isn't restricted by ash buildup at the bottom of the firebox. Lastly, make sure the heat exchanger isn't full of soot/creosote buildup.

Seaman wrote:How much coal do you use per season.I think I might need 4 ton maybe more.

It looks like I might get by with 7 tons this season.

Seaman · By: **Seaman** On: Mon Mar 26, 2012 5:41 pm

Here are a few quick thoughts: It sounds like your coal might be a little on the small side for hand firing. Can you try and load the boiler with mostly large pieces and see if it behaves differently? Also, make sure your fire isn't restricted by ash buildup at the bottom of the firebox. Lastly, make sure the heat exchanger isn't full of soot/creosote buildup.

Seaman wrote:How much coal do you use per season.I think I might need 4 ton maybe more.

It looks like I might get by with 7 tons this season.[/quote]
You are right my boiler seems to work better on bigger coal but the place i bought it from hit a part of the pile that had a lot of fines in the coal.I noticed it today that in the middle of my pile of coal it is pretty bad.

I always keep my ash pan cleaned every time i shake her.

I totally cleaned her out the day before i started burning coal-flue -heat exchanger -and fire box. That was 5 days ago.

I take it fines in coal will frig up a hand fed furnace as far as getting consistant heat output.
Good night for a test it is supposed to be -5 c with north winds of 60 kph and gusts to 90 kph with 10 cm of snow and its already started lol...lots of draft anyway..

Seaman · By: **Seaman** On: Tue Mar 27, 2012 12:27 pm

Hi Rob i learned something new today the hard way, I shook the ashes out to much and the boiler went out....wow lot of work to clean out and re-start.Guess i should shake less and add coal right away after shaking...lol ...I also included a picture of the conditions outside and of my boiler,I just got home and the driving sucks lol. It is -4 with north wind 55 kph gusts to 70 kph wind chill -14 White out snow conditions closeing all local schools and most businesses...Gotta love winter...

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Seaman · By: **Seaman** On: Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:34 pm

Hi does anyone know why when my furnace went out this morning i had to remove coal that had gone out but it was still in chunks it did not go to ash why would that happen..I did have upper loading door open while shaking it seemed like air stopped going through the coal to keep it going.

Rob R. · By: **Rob R.** On: Wed Mar 28, 2012 8:27 am

If you shake down a coal fire that is already on its way out, it is possible to smother it with fresh coal. I have no experience with your local bituminious, but next time I suggest you add some coal to the fire and let it catch before you try and shake down the ashes. The more "lively" the fire is before you shake it down, the faster it will recover.

Seaman · By: **Seaman** On: Wed Mar 28, 2012 11:44 am

I think you are right Rob,I tried it that way this afternoon and things went much better. It is also now apparent to me that the coal i bought has way to many fines in it to be easily burned...it will take more work than it would with cleaner coal. O well it is still a good test.. Thanks a lot for the info this site is great for novice coal burners to help them get used to burning coal. I have no one local to ask because im pretty sure i am the only one in this province burning coal...no one has used it around here for years.

Seaman · By: **Seaman** On: Wed Mar 28, 2012 8:31 pm

Ran into a little problem again...went down to shake furnace and add coal,the furnace was almost out and the coal in it was still in chunks not completly burned i think...my house is very weather tight so i think it is the cloths dryer when it is on pushing air out of the house it drops the draft in the furnace maybe....any coments would be appricated ...oh i also have a corbon monxide detector in furnace room that has not gone off yet so at least i am not gassing the house.It is also fairly warm tonight at -3 c and calm winds, not much draft.

Dennis · By: **Dennis** On: Wed Mar 28, 2012 8:45 pm

Seaman, go to the "using bituminus coal" section of the forum. There are many threads for you to read on burning bituminus coal. Don't forget to ask questions,everyone here is willing to help. And pictures of you stove set up helps also. Good luck

LsFarm · By: **LsFarm** On: Thu Mar 29, 2012 9:10 am

Hello seaman, welcome to the forum.

If your house is very tight, you will have draft problems.. When you were burning wood, did you have any problems when the clothes dryer was competing for air in the house? Wood fires have a much hotter exhaust, so the chimney is hotter and has more draft, so it may not be a fair comparisson.

The best thing to do with your fines is to use a forked shovel, or pitch fork to separate the chunks of coal from the fines.. burn the chunks of coal. put the fines in paper bags, roll the bags up like small logs and add them to a well established hot fire, they will burn up.

The problem with fines is they will just clog the air passageways.. coal MUST have air flowing around each burning piece of coal. The fines are too tighly packed to allow air flow through them,, so they choke off the air flow, and the fire goes out.

Like Rob suggested, make your fire only with larger pieces.. golf ball and larger only..
Make sure your dryer and bathroom exhaust fans are not competing for air in the house.. open a window in the boiler room or the laudry room to provide 'makeup' air to the house..

Coal fires will NOT survive without a steady airflow through the coal bed.. this is why your fire tends to die when the loading door is open.
I used buckets to load my hand fed boiler.. I'd sift out the fines, load buckets with chunks of coal, open the loading door, toss in buckets of coal [very quickly] then close the door.
I used a steel rod with a bent end, the end about 3-4" [10cm] and used this poker though the ashpan door to poke up through the openings in the grates, creating air passageways.. once the new coal was burning well, THEN I'd shake the ashes down..
Shaking a weak, old fire almost guarantees the fire will go out,, especiall if you have weak draft..

Gauging the draft is MUCH easier if you buy and install a Manometer to measure the draft.. you will be amazed how you will learn to corolate the draft with the health of the fire.. along with a probe or magnetic thermometer on the flue, and you have the instruments to really know what the fire is doing..

This is a possible scenario:
Open the loading door: the manometer shows less draft, then it increases,, but the temperature starts to drop from the fresh air entering the door and flue.. as the temperature drops, the chimney cools, the manometer shows a drop in draft.. you will be able to watch this happen, with instruments,, not by guesswork..
Since I work in an industry where gauges abound,, I like gauges..

So first do the easy stuff, sift out the fines, open a window to confirm make up air is available in your house, keep the loading door closed except for loading quickly.. and if the loading door has an air damper, only open this for about 20-30 minutes after a fresh load of coal, then close it.

OK, that should get you moving in the right direction..

Hope this helps..

Greg L

Seaman · By: **Seaman** On: Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:18 pm

Thanks for the info LsFarm...I just typed a whole page and suddenly lost it anyway here we go again...cracked window does work with dryer on tried it last night....my bin of coal for this test is 50 to 60% fines which is a big mess for me..made a screen today and found most of the bin is half inch or less which i have noticed as you said is most of my problem im just glad you confirmed it for me, it saves me wondering....mine i bought coal from supplys electric plant and has no screens,shakers or washers for the coal, all they do is when they get a big run of coal they put some aside in a pile for people like me which is good but loader operator grabbed first bucket for my bin from top of pile which is good coal but second bucket from bottom edge which was full nof fines so i have 1 ton of coal that is 30% 3 to 6 inch 20% half to 3 inch and 50% dust or fines not good

Hand picked 70 lbs of big coal to try again tonight but it is dirty work screening this stuff out at least it was only 100 dollars a ton. If they had some constant size coal say 3 inch and bigger i would have it made at that price guess i will have to call the mine again to see if i can work something out with them to make it work, they do seem to be a great bunch that work by the ones i met last trip.

Dennis · By: **Dennis** On: Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:37 pm

seaman.
just a thought. You say you have get 50% usable coal from a ton and alot of work to get that,then have to get rid of the dirt. Have you ever got a price or can you get anthracite coal where you are. It may be less cost effective to get anthracite without all the extra work involved. Unless you can get lump sized bit. coal.

Seaman · By: **Seaman** On: Thu Mar 29, 2012 6:52 pm

The mine i bought the coal from is 3 hours away next closest is about 6 or 7 and that is one way also only 2 mines over here and we only have bituminous coal here in eastern canada that i am aware of... oh I wish we had antricite here lol and places that cleaned their coal...

Dennis · By: **Dennis** On: Thu Mar 29, 2012 7:09 pm

Seaman wrote:The mine i bought the coal from is 3 hours away next closest is about 6 or 7 and that is one way also only 2 mines over here and we only have bituminous coal here in eastern canada that i am aware of... oh I wish we had antricite here lol and places that cleaned their coal...

PM member "nortcan" he is in Quebec. I believe he burns anthracite and he might know where to get anthracite in Canada.Most likely ot will be bagged,The price might be another thing. At least with anthracite coal it will burn without waste and use the ashes on the snowy driveway,you will get 100% use of it

Anyone burning coal in a Biasi 3 Wood/Coal

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