Coal From Tractor Supply.

I think I have only noticed the coal odor outside around my house once in the year since I started burning it. I consider it a non issue. So what if your neighbors don't like it. It's not illegal & as I've said already if they lived with your wood smoke this will be an improvement.

You on the other hand will be driven out of your house when you burn in that new paint you are going to put on that coal stove IF you ever get it set up & running. Best to fire it up outside if possible before installing it.

Sunny Boy wrote:

windyhill4.2 wrote: FF,yep, that would work. It sounds like the Kimmels has a bit stronger smell to it so maybe I will stay away from that brand.

I haven't checked the outdoor smell with the Kimmel's, yet.

While it has more volatiles to burn off, opening the top covers during reloading, it doesn't give off as strong a sulfur smell whenever it pops and crackles. And, it doesn't do the "snap, crackle, and pop" with a fresh load of the Kimmel's for as long, or as loud as the Mahanoy does. So, it may have less of a sulfur smell ????

Winds are favorable, and I've got it running only on the Kimmels while I do more temp tests today, so I'll check outside after each reloading.

Paul

I've never noticed much of any smell from Kimmels and never any smoke at any time.

Dennis,

The only smoke I get is during starting - from when I used wood , which is to be expected. And to a lesser degree, from the Kingsford charcoal, which surprised me that there was any.

None of the coal shows any trace of smoke.

Paul

Just did a fill up with Kimmel's shook the grates and topped it off with more Kimmel's. That was quite a bit more then usual for the time that went by, but this Kimmel's is not lasting as long as the bulk Mahanoy.

Took a walk around outside and very close to the house, I got a brief faint whiff of sulfur. Watched the chimney top for awhile and there is no smoke. Not even heat waves showing that would indicated there was an active heat source hooked to the chimney.

As far as not lasting. Up until now I've only used the Kimmel's when it was warmer. Now with the cold (20 F outdoors) it is running extremely hot.

With the range in indirect mode, water tank dampers open and the MPD fully closed, primary only open a dime thickness slit for just the upper halves of the two end slots of the five damper slots, it's pulling .03 on the mano and the left end of the range is somewhere off the IR gun scale of 800 F. That's about 150 degrees higher then that would be using bulk under the same conditions and settings. The stack is 176 and that's about 30-40 degrees higher.

With bulk I used to go through an average of 30 pounds a day under these conditions. Adding the mano last winter let me set the MPD for better performance and that get that down to about 28 pounds a day.

While the cold was here I wanted to see how it does in the range. So, at this same time yesterday I switched over to just Kimmel's. With this topping it off, I just used up the last of the 40 pound bag I opened yesterday. 40 pounds in 24 hours and running dampered down ! Not much savings.

In the first picture you can see the end primary opening might fit a dime through that gap at the top. There's a similar opening on the other end of the five primary slid damper openings. That's the only under fire air.

The next two are the covers over the firebox end of the range. The IR gun only reads up to 800, then shows dashes for anything over that.

176 for the stack that's usually 130 with the MPD closed like showing in the pic.

Paul

Sunny Boy wrote:Just did a fill up with Kimmel's shook the grates and topped it off with more Kimmel's. That was quite a bit more then usual for the time that went by, but this Kimmel's is not lasting as long as the bulk Mahanoy.

Took a walk around outside and very close to the house, I got a brief faint whiff of sulfur. Watched the chimney top for awhile and there is no smoke. Not even heat waves showing that would indicated there was an active heat source hooked to the chimney.

As far as not lasting. Up until now I've only used the Kimmel's when it was warmer. Now with the cold (20 F outdoors) it is running extremely hot.

With the range in indirect mode, water tank dampers open and the MPD fully closed, primary only open a dime thickness slit for just the upper halves of the two end slots of the five damper slots, it's pulling .03 on the mano and the left end of the range is somewhere off the IR gun scale of 800 F. That's about 150 degrees higher then that would be using bulk under the same conditions and settings.

With bulk I used to go through an average of 30 pounds a day under these conditions. Adding the mano last winter let me set the MPD for better performance and that get that down to about 28 pounds a day.

While the cold was here I wanted to see how it does in the range. So, at this same time yesterday I switched over to just Kimmel's. With this topping it off, I just used up the last of the 40 pound bag I opened yesterday. 40 pounds in 24 hours and running dampered down ! Not much savings.

Paul

I understand what you are saying about the Kimmel's burning hotter as it is doing the same in my range. When you say there is not much savings with the Kimmel's, you are looking at the time lapse between loading. However, you are probably getting the same amount of BTU's or at least very close. If you only use the Kimmel's when you need more heat to cook or bake, it will be a good tool in the arsenal. I know we also talked about mixing it with the bulk...I like the way mine burns with the mix.

Randy

I've been outside working right around the house this afternoon. Not a hint of odor & absolutely no smoke coming out of the chimney even when the stove called for fire & there were blue flames dancing. I had to stop & stare at the chimney outlet to even see the light heat waves rising up otherwise there would have been no sign of a fire. My high efficiency oil fired Buderus boiler shows a light haze coming out when it runs in my other chimney. Standing back the 40' that you say separates your house & your neighbors there was absolutely no sign of the coal fire.

Too soon to say about burn times with the Kimmel in my Hitzer but I finally got the burn evened out on both sides with temps now topping out around 400+°. I top up the hopper just before bed so it will be interesting to see how much it takes to refill it in the morning compared to the past week with the Blaschak. I've got the bi-metal thermo set about 1 number lower then when I was burning the Blaschak & I may even move it a bit lower.

Randy,

Yes, the Kimmel's does boost the heat up faster when the cook requires so. But, it burns up more quickly and I wind up having to reload it more often during the cooking times, which means moving pots, which never pleases the cook !

Loading takes about half the time because the Kimmel's lights so quickly and doesn't do as much snap crackle and pop, so the dampers can be reset much sooner.

I'm going by how the stove is dampered down more then the usual daytime settings, yet reloading intervals are shorter and I'm having to load more coal each time and shake ash more often. Plus, last night, using more check damper to get it down to the temps the bulk provides at night, if I had tried to let it go without reloading as long as the bulk consistently will, the stove would have been out, or very near to out, with a cold kitchen. There was no way it would last as long as the bulk at near the same constant temps. It acts somewhat like burning wood. Plenty of heat, but can't get it to last as long with the much stronger cold weather draft. Warm weather it was more controllable. As I mentioned to you, I could see this needing two MPD's if I was going to stay with just this Kimmel's through the coldest weather.

Ash amount so far is about the same, but no where near as much burned to powder as the white ash bulk.

After our PM, I tried the 50/50 mix and that burned almost as hot.

Next, I'll try a 25/75 mix of Kimmel's and bulk and see how that lasts.

By itself, it does have advantages with the range. It did very well when the outdoor temps got up in the 60's to 70's. Kept a good fire, strong draft and responded well when we wanted higher temps for cooking time. So, even if the blending it with bulk doesn't work for me, I'll still stockpile more for quick starting, bringing back any near dead fires, if I forget to check the range, ,...... and for the shoulder months when the draft isn't as strong.

Paul

Your chimney has a lot more draft than mine does. As long as I do the 50/50 mix, it works good with my stove.

Randy

While I seem to have the stove temp back where I like it the stack surface temp was running about 100° higher (250°) at idle then with the Blaschak (150° range) & manometer reading was higher. This was with the same baro setting I use with the Blaschak & with the MPD fully closed, a setting I prefer not to use. Readjusted the baro so the manometer is down around .04 @ idle & the stack temp dropped down to the 150° range. Now that the stove is dialed in for the Kimmel we'll see how long a bag lasts.

I respect everyone's POV, we have different stoves and set ups. This is a fresh load of kimmels day 3.
It's almost as if the stove is telling me something.

michaelanthony wrote:I respect everyone's POV, we have different stoves and set ups. This is a fresh load of kimmels day 3.
It's almost as if the stove is telling me something.

To be expected MA. If my old range was designed to be more airtight like the newer stoves, or if my chimney didn't draft so strongly, it would be more controllable. And, I can now see why some use two MPD's.

I'm loading it up with Mahanoy bulk for tonight. Tomorrow being Saturday, I wanna sleep later.

Paul

ma nice pic lookin good !am happy with mine and you and the price ooooh yes !!!!

Sunny Boy wrote:To be expected MA. If my old range was designed to be more airtight like the newer stoves, or if my chimney didn't draft so strongly, it would be more controllable. And, I can now see why some use two MPD's.

I'm loading it up with Mahanoy bulk for tonight. Tomorrow being Saturday, I wanna sleep later.

Paul

I am lucky to be this far from coal central and could possibly heat my home in North of Bangor Maine for a 5 month winter for $750.00. I envy folks like yourself that have access to bulk and better prices. I am also lucky to have this forum and neighbors like you and many others. Ok change the channel
Mike.

coalfan wrote:ma nice pic lookin good !am happy with mine and you and the price ooooh yes !!!!

If the wife sends me to the couch she thinks she's punishing me hee hee it's next to the stove.

thats funny ma !good one stay warm and in touch gn !