Coal/wood

[Quagmire33]

Maybe a strange question but, has anyone used coal as fuel along with or instead of wood ? I know people use oil burners. My neighbor has a couple bags of coal he will give me that he can't use anymore. What's everyone think?

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I remember burning some soft coal when I was a kid at the end of season and wood running low. Lots of smoke and dirty flues if I remember correctly. Hard coal might be tough on your grates.

[bowhunter]

I wouldn't do it. Coal burns slower than wood and I believe the flame temperature is lower.... besides all the issues with dirt and smoke, etc.

[Ausable]

Maybe a strange question but, has anyone used coal as fuel along with or instead of wood ? I know people use oil burners. My neighbor has a couple bags of coal he will give me that he can't use anymore. What's everyone think?

It would have to be soft coal and small like stoker coal and probably need forced air once it was burning. Hey - experiment if it is free and burn with wood. In my Electric Generating Plant Boiler Operator days we burned hard - low sulfur coal. It would come into the Plants by Ship and Unit Train and be crushed like stoker coal. You could put some on the ground and put fuel oil on it and light the fuel oil and that is all that would burn. To Use it in the Boilers we run it through coal pulverizer mills and grind it like talcum powder it would be carried from the mills through transport pipes by heated forced draft air at about 170F and at the burners have hot combustion air mixed with it and blown into the boiler furnaces. The burners were stacked in each four corners of the boilers two furnaces and off set from each other so that when the coal was blown into the furnaces center ignited - a cyclone effect was made causing it to burn even hotter and completely. The heated pulverized coal initially was lighted by large fuel oil guns which were lighted by natural gas spark ignitors till the fire was hot enough to sustain itself and the oil guns could safely be pulled. -----etc. etc. Don't mean to bore you - but - my point is - You can get one heck of a hot fire with coal -----But - a lot of thought and work go into it. ---Mike---

[mountainvan]

I do burn wood and anthracite coal in my evaporator. I have a dg airtight arch with blower. The coal burns hotter than the wood and lasts longer, so you need time to burn it off. Only problem with coal is the chinkers that can plug the grates if too much coal is used. I usually burn 50-100 lbs,1-2 bags, of coal in a 8 hr boil along with the wood. The house we bought had lots of coal in the basement so that's why I use it,so I'm not sure what it costs.

[brass maple]

As a person that heats with coal only it can work. I burn anthracite coal which is the hard coal. Coal burns at a higher btu than wood and has a long burn time, but as Ausable said you would need forced draft. And you would need to have shaker grates. Which leads to the next problem, refueling. When you add more coal it would slow your boil. Then you have to be careful not to over draft because it will turn into a large chunk of molten coal that won't let air blow through it thus ends up cooling down on the top. Take it from some one that knows! I have used it on top of wood but but again if you over draft it turns into big chunks that are called clinkers and will not reburn very well if at all . now if you made an evaporator with an automatic feed and kept a smaller amount on the grates and only fed a little in at a time with a good blower drafting it you probably could keep a sustained fire burning. You would want a sight glass to see into fire chamber to keep an eye on it. I think it could be very plausible to use but would need to be experimented with. Don't rule it out.

[brass maple]

Mountainvan,
I get my coal in bulk for 275. A ton
you can buy it by the bag to for convenience if you don't have a place to store it

[sandman6921]

Anthracite rice coal is all use. I have two stokers from Keystoker furnaces side by side. These are flat bed burners that have blowers (think forge) . Hoppers on each hold about 100 pounds of coal each. No smoke, as anthracite burns smokeless. Works perfect, less than 1/3 price of oil.
Probably looks like a "frankenburner" to an outsider though. Man and a welder are a dangerous thing sometimes.