Pea Coal Vs. Chestnut Coal Vs. Stove Coal

mof1964 · Post by **mof1964** » Fri. Feb. 03, 2012 1:43 pm

the chubby temp was about 550 before I cut the air back. According to the thermometer on the stove that is ok range but to the high side, and the room was way way hot.
I got this chubby mostly for heating 2 to 3 rooms and kinda my new toy. I love experimenting though. Curious to know if anyone has used any buck instead of pea. as stated before, we have the buck to run the efm 520 stoker.

Mitch

Post by **Rob R.** » Fri. Feb. 03, 2012 2:03 pm

If you have good draft buck should burn ok. Go easy the first time you shake it down.

mof1964 · Post by **mof1964** » Fri. Feb. 03, 2012 2:44 pm

I was thinking a mixture of buck/nut. I think straight buck will fall through the chubby grate. don't want to waste coal.Want optimum performance and heat.

VigIIPeaBurner · Post by **VigIIPeaBurner** » Fri. Feb. 03, 2012 6:04 pm

Put in mostly nut and top with a few inches of buck. If it chokes it back too much, just stir the buck layer around into the nut a bit to let more air up through the fire. I do this with fines from the bottom of the bin/cart and it works well. Works like an MPD but in the fire box.

mof1964 · Post by **mof1964** » Mon. Feb. 06, 2012 12:25 pm

we I experimented with buck over nut, and I guess I got too much on and choked the fire way down. If its still hanging on when I go home for lunch I will try 2 put it back on track.

Mitch

Vampiro · Post by **Vampiro** » Thu. Feb. 09, 2012 2:38 am

I've burned pea coal in larger hand fired boilers. Pea works great in my little BAD 45 as well. Thank goodness there were never any problems. Mainly the design of the boiler is what it comes down to. Sure, you can experiment, and maybe find that one particular coal is more efficient than what the manufacturer recommended after all. If the coal is too large for the particular boiler, more air will pass through the fuel bed. Any attempts to increase the fuel bed thickness to overcome this will be futile as there will be extensive heat loss opposed to firing the correct sized coal. If the coal is sized too small for the particular boiler, the draft required will be immensely greater than if using the correct coal, and therefore will also result in a decrease in efficiency and heat loss. For it is possible that the draft will even be insufficient without the aid of mechanical draft.

I highly doubt the need for load pickup be that great for a stove, or boiler for that matter to necessitate an increase in the size of coal over what is proper and most efficient for the application. It's not like 60,000 square feet is being heated, or generators, pumps and so on are being brought on the line which require a fast load pickup. Calm down and enjoy the fire. For safety and efficiency is important, even if you must wait a little longer.

mof1964 · Post by **mof1964** » Thu. Feb. 09, 2012 7:22 pm

I shut the stove down and cleaned everything out and am now going to stay with strictly nut coal in the chubby. I have been experimenting and can move the temp around pretty easily now with just the nut coal. I am burning bagged kimmels and it is clean and very few fines or scraps.
I can get a range of 325 to 575 and keep it there for 12 hrs or more. This fits my schedule pretty well so I"m good to go.i guess don't mess with success is best.

Boots · Post by **Boots** » Fri. Feb. 17, 2012 10:14 pm

I have a question about the avrage size of nut coal. the coal I am currently burning varies greatly between the largest and smallest pieces. and its about a 60/40 mix of large to small

is this a normal mix? if not which is closer to nut size coal? I think I like the larger pieces more, when I load more of the larger pieces my fire seems to burn better.

Post by **Rob R.** » Sat. Feb. 18, 2012 5:35 am

Amishlucy · Post by **Amishlucy** » Sun. Aug. 12, 2012 4:49 pm

"All we are saying, is give peas a chance."

freetown fred · Post by **freetown fred** » Sun. Aug. 12, 2012 6:11 pm

Cute

scottybk · Post by **scottybk** » Fri. Nov. 16, 2012 9:42 pm

the snowman wrote:I have been reading all of the post concerning the different sized coals and have decided to put my two cents in. This season I have been burning stove coal almost exclusively in my one Jotul, which I have bricked to the top of the stove, gaining a depth to the coal bed of almost six more inches. I have been burning nut in the other Jotul 507 with stock height brick and stock cast inserts above the brick. At first while burning the stove coal I was getting short burn times. As it has been stated the larger air spaces around the stove coal compared to the spaces around nut coal would account for the lowered burn time of the stove coal. One day while loading the stove with stove coal I was watching how the coal randomally fell and heaped in the stove. I decided to try something that goes against coal burning practices. I decided that after I loaded the stove I would take my fire place shovel and compact the coal bed. What I did was take the shovel and while pressing down on top of the coal bed I made short quick stokes across the top of the coal. I was creating a sort of rolling vibration to the coal. The entire coal bed compressed down about two inches. After several minutes the coal bed was a floor filled with dancing blue ladies. I kept an eye on the stove to make sure it was running ok. I would heap the coal up before compressing so when it was compressed the coal would be level with the top of the brick. I had been running the stove at a temp of 700 F for a week straight using my new technique when loading the stove coal. At 700 F and a full load of stove coal I am getting burn times of 16 hours before reloading the stove. Prior to using this technique I was getting burn times of only 10 hours between reloads. I did try stove coal in the stock lined stove as well and found that by compressing the coal bed I had similar results. When comparing the stove with nut to the stove with stove coal I found a few differences. With the stove coal I tend to get no unburnt coal in the ash pan after shaking compared to the stove with nut. I also found the coal bed of the stove coal dropped more evenly compared to the other stove (I have a revolving round grate). I found no difference in controlling the fire between the stove with nut compared to the stove coal. Both stoves take about the same amount of time to recover after reloading. I have in the past used range coal and have also tried the technuque of covering the nut coal with a thin layer of pea and have covered stove coal with both nut an pea. Nut seemed to work better with the stove coal. This is just my two cents on the differences and my technique of burning stove coal.

the snowman.

I am having this same experience snowman. I have a hand-fired Glacier Bay (gibralter) and burned nut all last year. I got a free 1/2 ton of stove coal recently from a guy who was moving to Hawaii (no heat needed there lol) and I am LOVIN' the stuff! I smack it down pretty firm with the shovel during reloads and she burns nice and hot for 12 to 14 hours, and I could push it to 15-16 hours probably.

I also installed a baro damper this year, the "Fields Control RC" model. I was getting CO2 alarm going off with the MPD now and then (only the basement one nearest the stove, but still enough to scare me away from ever closing the MPD). I agree 100% with the pro-baro guys. Stove burns nice and even, no worries about windy days overfiring it.

jaygem28 · Post by **jaygem28** » Sat. Jan. 19, 2013 8:53 pm

Went to harmony last week to get a half ton of pea, they didn't have any. Pea is all I've ever burned in my stove, and I was not about to buy bags of coal because of price per/lb. So I got a 1/4 of nut to try. I was worried about the size when I looked at it, but I needed coal soo here we go. Was worried about shaking my Harman mark III and getting lumps stuck inbetween the grates and losing my fire. I don't think ill ever get pea again. All I have is ashes when I shake, not glowing coal. And. The heat is much better. I find myself openening window until I can find the settings of my stove. Took less than a week to hone in on the settings. Went this past Friday to get a half ton more. Love it and its great to live only two mountains(maybe 15 miles) away from some great coal.

jjs777_fzr · Post by **jjs777_fzr** » Tue. Feb. 05, 2013 7:50 pm

mof1964 wrote:I just installed a coal chubby and am burning nut coal and it is burning hot. I have to have the air cut back to about a 1/16 of an inch to keep the stove temp around 325. The manual pipe damper is closed also.
I am wondering if anyone has topped off the nut with buck coal( have this for my stoker) and it that would let me open the air vent more and still keep the temp and give me a longer slower burn?

Thanks,

Mitch

I know this is about a year old but just wanted to say I've been mounding the nut in the chubby and then adding one scoop of pea. The pea fills in the gaps nicely in between the nut - not so much as to kill the draft. Given the size of the chubby grate I would never try to use anything less than nut for the go to size. Once the fire has been going for 9-11 hours the pea is burning if I poke from below with mpd wide open and air intake full open - I can then add nut and get it going. I'd like to someday at least try buck and stove size just to see how it burns. I know nut is the best for my stove - but I like tinkering.

jpete · Post by **jpete** » Fri. Sep. 27, 2013 7:47 pm

jaygem28 wrote:Went to harmony last week to get a half ton of pea, they didn't have any. Pea is all I've ever burned in my stove, and I was not about to buy bags of coal because of price per/lb. So I got a 1/4 of nut to try. I was worried about the size when I looked at it, but I needed coal soo here we go. Was worried about shaking my Harman mark III and getting lumps stuck inbetween the grates and losing my fire. I don't think ill ever get pea again. All I have is ashes when I shake, not glowing coal. And. The heat is much better. I find myself openening window until I can find the settings of my stove. Took less than a week to hone in on the settings. Went this past Friday to get a half ton more. Love it and its great to live only two mountains(maybe 15 miles) away from some great coal.

If you like nut, try stove!

I start and end the season on nut and then move to stove in the dead of winter to REALLY crank up the heat while maintaining my burn times.