Barometric Damper on a Coal Boiler, Stove or Furnace

A barometric damper is a device that is installed on flue pipe between the exhaust port on your heating appliance and the thimble on the chimney. The function of this device is to help regulate the draft. These are typically installed on any heating appliance with a flue and a chimney with the exception of wood. A barometric damper can be used on any type of coal heating appliance but some prefer a manual damper instead for hand fired coal stoves.

The barometric damper has a swing gate on it, this gate will open when there is excessive draft. It's calibrated by a weight on the face of the gate and it needs to be installed level. When the gate is open this allows room air can be pulled into the flue and chimney. This increases operating efficiency because it prevents air from being pulled through your heating appliance sending a lot of heat out the chimney. The loss of heated room air is far less than heated air from the heating appliance.

Anthracite Coal (Hard Coal)

Anthracite coal is the highest grade of coal. Anthracite is dark black, very shiny and has a glass like consistency. In the United States the primary source is Northeastern Pennsylvania. It has an average BTU content of 24 to 25 million per ton but can exceed 28 million for the highest quality anthracites.

Anthracite has very high carbon content that will range from about 85 or 95 percent. It burns with a bright blue flame similar to what you would expect from natural gas. It also has a low ash and low sulfur content. These characteristics and others make it ideal for a home heating fuel even if the heating unit is placed directly in the living space.

The primary use for anthracite is as a home heating fuel, other uses include water filtration, as a coking product and other industrial uses. Compared to bituminous coal anthracite has some very distinct advantages for home heating. Because of the low volatile content it will burn up to fine powdery ash. Ashes from stokers or if the coal has been over-fired may have some ash with a granola like texture that easily crumbles in your hands.

Welcome to Coalpail.com

CoalPail.com is the new home of the coal forum formerly found at Nepacrossroads.com. The front page is little sparse at the moment but that will change over the coming months. Many new features and impovements to old ones will be added to Coalpail.com. Some of things coming include the following.

  • A list of common common terms and words used for coal related products.
  • A free business directory for business's that sell or service coal related products. This will be quite extensive including maps, filters for your area and coordinates among other things.
  • A catalog of coal related products. This will not be for selling products but used to get information to you. Specifications and other information particularly for boilers, stoves etc.

The Coal forum which was the heart and soul of Nepcrossroads.com has already been updated and available. You can login with same username and password if you already have one. If you are not a registered member come join the discussion. Full details of the new features and improvements for the forum can be found in the Forum News section.