Has anyone ever tried nut size coal in Surdiac?

I was just wondering, my Surdiac 5113 is rated for pea size coal. I was wondering if it would be possible to use nut size (or a mix) in the stove without damage?

Thanks for the imput.

Bruce

That should read "Surdiac 513" not 5113

i have a surdiac 713 never used nut coal in it .the manual i was given with it has no info on the 513 or the 713 but for other models like the 511 it says to put the hopper in the high posistion for nut and lower posistion for pea. which is the recommended coal.when i starting using my stove it was set in high posistion with pea coal and stove kept gong out.now that i moved it to the low level it works great.i rarely seen flames before and there was alot of ash.now it's much more responsive.works great so the hopper posistion makes a big defference.

I keep my stove hopper high (keep the highest bed of coal as possible), and have no problem. The only reason I was wondering was because I thought I could get more air flow with the nut. You should have your hopper on the highest setting too, would improve the burn time and heat generated by the stove.

bruce

I have been using the Gotha 713 model for 15 years with pea coal only. I always bought coal from a local merchant. Since coal has risen in price, I started buying from sales on craig's list or other sites. Since some of these purchases included nut coal, I experimented with a mixture of both.

I always load my stove from 5 gallon buckets that are approximately 60% filled. This allows me to get a controlled slide into the hopper. I found that as I fill the buckets, If I mix in about 10% nut coal into the bucket, the burn is exactly the same as it ever was. The larger nut coal did not jam and I never saw unburned pieces in my stove after.

My conclusion is that pea is the way to go, but occasional use of nut is just fine.

Rich - Londonderry NH

I burned a Surdiac for 10 years. I never burned nut coal in it just pea....I think you would have problems burning nut coal....just my opinion