Cookin' With Coal

lsayre wrote:For those of you burning coal in your cook-stoves, are you burning anthracite or bituminous?

Anthracite, or wood. I don't remember anyone yet mentioning burning bit coal in their range. If they do, or did, I'd be interested to hear about their experiences with it.

Paul

lsayre wrote:For those of you burning coal in your cook-stoves, are you burning anthracite or bituminous?

When I burn coal in the stove, it is Blaschak nut anthracite. (My supplier does not carry stove size)
Randy

I am not sure if this would be of interest of anyone but I will post about it anyway. Obadiah's stoves is the largest seller of cook stoves in North America, if not the world. Predominantly they are wood fueled, that is why I am not sure if anyone would be interested. Anyway, they have started a forum called cook stove community...I have not yet found anyone using an antique stove or coal but they have good recipe's and tips on using a cook stove. It is a very new forum and not a lot of members yet, but you can tell it is growing. The address for the forum is http://www.cookstoves.net. The web address for Obadiah's is http://www.woodstoves.net/cookstoves.htm.

Randy

lsayre wrote:For those of you burning coal in your cook-stoves, are you burning anthracite or bituminous?

I'm running Sub-Bit coal in my built in cookstove (known irrispective of brand as a coal range here in New Zealand)....it works fine, it will smoke back a bit if you open the lid on the firebox with the chimney damper closed but you soon learn what you can and can't get away with.
As with all Bit coals it will smoke (out the chimney) like a battleship if you fill it up with fresh coal all in one go but if you add coal in 3 or 4 smaller lots it doesn't smoke enough to draw attention from the fairly busy road thats 50 yards away

i can cook on/in it altho to be honest most of what it cooks is stews in the winter,it slow simmers things beautifully with the damper open about 1/4.... I have done roasts and baked scones and bread in it when I have been stuck inside on dreary wet and cold days.
My range has a wet-back on it (water jacket around 3 sides of the firebox) that thermosyphens into my hotwater cylinder that is in a cupboard beside the range and I run the range year round to provide hot water, it will provide all the hotwater we need for two adults if I leave in idle all the time apart from a "rev up" to run out the coal in the firebox ready for a refill once a day when I get home from work....its far far cheaper than what it costs for electric heating of the hotwater.
A ton of coal (8500btu/lb) will last 4 months if the range is only being used to heat water and costs NZ$100 (about US$85) pickup.....thats what a single months worth of power costs to heat the hotwater.....electric cost here $0.28kwh (ever get the feeling that someone is twisting the pineapple?)

My Range is a Shacklock Orion made sometime in the 50's

having a coal range was one of the reasons I bought this house.....heat and hotwater whatever happens...just keep the bunker full

I wouldn't swap my coal range for anything else except another coal range.....since they are not made in New Zealand anymore, I have my eye on a shiny piece of kit from Serbia....but shipping is a killer for half a ton of cast iron

Cheers
Callum

Sunny Boy wrote:Bryant Stove shows pictures on their website of more ranges with a similar oven shelf right end loop and door pin arrangement.

Here's one picture of an Atlantic range showing the pin at the right end of the loop and the left end of the shelf past the door edge.
http://www.bryantstove.com/Ideal%20Atlantic%20lg.jpg

Here's another Atlantic with the pin at the left end and the shelf left edge more in line with the door edge.
http://www.bryantstove.com/Home%20Atlantic%20lg.jpg

That leads me to believe those ranges also had the feature of a shelf that could be moved right, or left, to hold the oven door slightly open.

Paul

I see the pin you are talking about...with the pin in the lower position, it looks like it will not let the door open all the way???

unhippy wrote:

lsayre wrote:For those of you burning coal in your cook-stoves, are you burning anthracite or bituminous?

I'm running Sub-Bit coal in my built in cookstove (known irrispective of brand as a coal range here in New Zealand)....it works fine, it will smoke back a bit if you open the lid on the firebox with the chimney damper closed but you soon learn what you can and can't get away with.
As with all Bit coals it will smoke (out the chimney) like a battleship if you fill it up with fresh coal all in one go but if you add coal in 3 or 4 smaller lots it doesn't smoke enough to draw attention from the fairly busy road thats 50 yards away

i can cook on/in it altho to be honest most of what it cooks is stews in the winter,it slow simmers things beautifully with the damper open about 1/4.... I have done roasts and baked scones and bread in it when I have been stuck inside on dreary wet and cold days.
My range has a wet-back on it (water jacket around 3 sides of the firebox) that thermosyphens into my hotwater cylinder that is in a cupboard beside the range and I run the range year round to provide hot water, it will provide all the hotwater we need for two adults if I leave in idle all the time apart from a "rev up" to run out the coal in the firebox ready for a refill once a day when I get home from work....its far far cheaper than what it costs for electric heating of the hotwater.
A ton of coal (8500btu/lb) will last 4 months if the range is only being used to heat water and costs NZ$100 (about US$85) pickup.....thats what a single months worth of power costs to heat the hotwater.....electric cost here $0.28kwh (ever get the feeling that someone is twisting the pineapple?)

My Range is a Shacklock Orion made sometime in the 50's

having a coal range was one of the reasons I bought this house.....heat and hotwater whatever happens...just keep the bunker full

I wouldn't swap my coal range for anything else except another coal range.....since they are not made in New Zealand anymore, I have my eye on a shiny piece of kit from Serbia....but shipping is a killer for half a ton of cast iron

Cheers
Callum

Welcome to the Cookin' with Coal thread Callum.

It is amazing to me how much cheaper bituminous coal is than anthracite. You are correct at about $85.00 a ton here in US. Last year when I bought bulk delivery of anthracite, it was $240.00 a ton. It is no wonder why electric utility companies use bituminous coal!

Randy

Welcome Callum.

You do know that we like to see stove pictures, don't you ?

Do you need to use secondary air over the fire (like when burning wood), or just the primary air under the fire like we do with our hard coal ranges ?

Paul

Photog200 wrote:
I see the pin you are talking about...with the pin in the lower position, it looks like it will not let the door open all the way???

If I guess right, the pin is cast as a fixed part of the oven door's bottom corner. The shelf moves left, or right, to either contact that pin at whatever angle you want the door to stay open at, or not contact the pin, so that the door moves freely.

I hope Wilson will be on to post pictures and to explain it better.

What he showed me with one of his Glenwood ranges is that, rather than the usual two stove bolts to mount it, this type shelf under the oven door sits on shallow ramps. Moving it left ,or right, raises and lowers it slightly.

When it's moved up, the shelf jams against the bottom edge of the oven door. To use it, you hold the oven door open however much you want, then slide the shelf sideways until it wedges the door in place.

Paul

i'll get pics tomorrow...camera is at work...

yeah you do need secondary air....the front door on the firebox is designed to be allowed to sit about 1/8" open at the end opposite the hinges if you pull it out against the catch...if you want to open it you then have to lift it over the catch...alternatly it can be pushed fully closed blocking any secondary air....firebox is small 10"Lx 8"Wx 6" deep

Callum

Photog200 wrote:I am not sure if this would be of interest of anyone but I will post about it anyway. Obadiah's stoves is the largest seller of cook stoves in North America, if not the world. Predominantly they are wood fueled, that is why I am not sure if anyone would be interested. Anyway, they have started a forum called cook stove community...I have not yet found anyone using an antique stove or coal but they have good recipe's and tips on using a cook stove. It is a very new forum and not a lot of members yet, but you can tell it is growing. The address for the forum is http://www.cookstoves.net. The web address for Obadiah's is http://www.woodstoves.net/cookstoves.htm.

Randy

I must be a better Dad than I thought. A couple of weeks ago, one of my daughters stopped by and said, "Lets talk coal stoves".

She's looking to buy a place of her own and has been researching coal ranges. After years of hearing about our cooking on the Glenwood, she had a lot of good questions about coal use, storage, what to do with the ash, how the range works (she's cooked on it a couple times but not run it).

After many years of being around wood stoves she said she's done with having to feed and re-light them so often !

One of the places she's been checking is that Obadiah's site. She's been looking at the Boru Ellis, Irish made range here,
http://woodstoves.net/cookstoves/boru-irish-ellis ... -stove.htm

So far, I haven't found any info that shows what the grates are like and how well it works with hard coal.

And, I'm thinking by the time she gets it delivered, a restored Glenwood, or similar range, set up for coal would cost her less.

Paul

unhippy wrote:i'll get pics tomorrow...camera is at work...

yeah you do need secondary air....the front door on the firebox is designed to be allowed to sit about 1/8" open at the end opposite the hinges if you pull it out against the catch...if you want to open it you then have to lift it over the catch...alternatly it can be pushed fully closed blocking any secondary air....firebox is small 10"Lx 8"Wx 6" deep

Callum

So , then it has to draft more like our ranges when we burn wood. Interesting way to get secondary air in. Is there a range of adjustment to how open the door can be positioned with that catch, like notches maybe ? ?

Paul

no, the secondary air is an all or nothing affair.

i'll make a video and show you how it works tomorrow after work

Callum

Sunny Boy wrote:

lsayre wrote:For those of you burning coal in your cook-stoves, are you burning anthracite or bituminous?

Anthracite, or wood. I don't remember anyone yet mentioning burning bit coal in their range. If they do, or did, I'd be interested to hear about their experiences with it.

Paul

I brought this up because when the wife and I visited Lehman's Hardware we were told that the Bakers Choice wood/coal cookstove could only use bituminous coal by the Lehman salesman who came over to talk with us. He said it based on the grates (and at the time I agreed with his assessment, also based on the grates, which are only a single rocking "plate" with no fingers), but I wonder if he was correct in his assessment?

With the grate system being only a rocking plate there didn't seem to be any way to supply under the fire air....

I believe he was right in his assessment about the Baker's Choice. I have also heard a lot of complaints about that stove on another forum. For the price, it is a good stove but not for burning anthracite. I did notice that you can buy coal grates for the Oval stove, but that stove goes for $7,400.00. https://www.lehmans.com/c-122-wood-burning-cookstoves.aspx. Another coal grate setup complete with coal box to convert. http://non-electric.lehmans.com/search#w=coal

Randy

After the daughter talked to me about them, I've been looking at them too. Looks like they are purpose built for wood and burning anthracite was an after-thought that requires an additional $500.00-$600.00 for the kit to install coal grates.

Looks like when converted over to coal just one of them would cost as much, or more than two restored Glenwood ranges.

One thing they do have going for them is they do have some very large fireboxes compared to the early ranges.

Paul