Cookin' With Coal

 
D.lapan
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Post by D.lapan » Sun. Sep. 03, 2017 11:15 am

Last week we had a cool morning and my wife and kids were complaining, so I too lit the range for the first time, however my dad sells fire wood and I get all the chunk ends so I have a few months of wood to burn before I make the switch, usually falls around nov 1st.

Dana


 
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Sunny Boy
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Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Sun. Sep. 03, 2017 2:21 pm

It's sure tough to beat free wood !

The first couple of years I used wood in the shoulder months - about 1/3 of it free from cutting up saplings and blow-downs here on the property.

But, with the Sunny's small-ish firebox, I got tired of having to bring in wood to throw in it every hour, or two. Plus, waking up to a cold house and having to restart a fire every morning, and then wait for it to get hot enough to heat coffee water and cook. With coal I can go 8-10 hours during the day and 12 at night before I have to do anything about refueling.

After the Summer months of using expensive pro-pain to heat the kettle and having to wait, I'm back to being spoiled by actually having "instant", instant coffee again. When I come downstairs in the morning the water kettle is ready at the perfect temp.

And I like to sip my coffee while I go about my morning chores, but the coffee cools off. Now my coffee stays hot with the mug sitting on the right-hand end of the cooktop.

Yup, I'm spoiled by using coal in the range. ;)

Paul

 
hunterseat
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Post by hunterseat » Mon. Sep. 04, 2017 6:52 am

Can it be said "all coal stoves can burn wood but not all wood stoves can burn coal"?
I guess not having a shaker is the main drawback.

 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Mon. Sep. 04, 2017 8:18 am

hunterseat wrote:Can it be said "all coal stoves can burn wood but not all wood stoves can burn coal"?
I guess not having a shaker is the main drawback.
Yes, coal stoves can burn wood, but not always very efficiently.

If the stove has no coal grate(s) and shaker mechanism, it can't be used to burn coal.

 
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Sunny Boy
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Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Mon. Sep. 04, 2017 9:22 am

hunterseat wrote:Can it be said "all coal stoves can burn wood but not all wood stoves can burn coal"?
I guess not having a shaker is the main drawback.
Hunter seat,

Yes,........ sorta. As Lsayer mentions some stoves are better at it than others. How the grates are designed, how the air is fed to the different fuels, and how good the stove design extracts that heat is the key thing. Some of the better early coal stoves are designed to be very good at using both. Those better coal parlor stoves, that were designed for wood or coal, usually came with a "wood plate"- often called a "Summer plate" when used with a kitchen range. The plates sit right on top of the coal grates and had smaller and fewer openings to help retain a buildup of wood embers above the grates.

Of those stoves that didn't come ready to use either fuel, some of them you could have the stove ordered with grates specific to either wood, or coal. Or order grates for both types of fuel and change them to which ever fuel you wanted to use. But, no matter which grates it had, the stove was built with the dampers needed to work with both fuels.

With many of the kitchen ranges, you could order from a choice of many different grate types - some, like the Glenwoods, had as many as six choices - and again change the grates when you seasonally changed fuels.

Plus, with kitchen ranges, when you used wood, you could lift out the interlocking sections of the one inch thick, cast firebrick lining of the firebox and drop in a set of thinner cast iron liners. That gave the firebox more room to use larger, longer, and slower burning pieces of wood. Plus it didn't have a front liner so that you could load wood directly in through the front door of the firebox. That front opening would be blocked off with firebrick when using coal.

As kitchen range designs progressed in the early 1900, the grate bars and frame were turned into a "cassette" design that could be easily slid out the front loading door and a set of coal grates and frame slid in their place.

Some modern combo, and coal stoves are actually wood stoves that have grates added that can be shaken, but to better support the wood embers, those compromise "rocker" type grates have smaller openings in the bars and between bars. That makes them not as good at clearing coal ash as true coal grates are. We get a lot of new members looking for advice because they are frustrated with coal fires that die out, due to the poorer ash clearing ability of those rocker designs. To make them work with coal, they require much more hand work with pokers and slicing tools to help clear the grates.

Paul

 
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Sunny Boy
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Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Tue. Sep. 05, 2017 1:21 pm

So, now that I know what a good job the range makes of evenly toasting bread in a cast iron pan, what better way to improve on that,......

........ a Ruben sandwich, of course ! :D

Enjoy,

Paul

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Wren
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Post by Wren » Tue. Oct. 17, 2017 9:02 pm

Fantastic. What an amazing time it must have been that created those ranges.
All the photos showing the levers and the explanations are great. Just amazing, these ranges.


 
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Sunny Boy
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Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Wed. Oct. 18, 2017 12:19 am

Yes, they truly are amazing.

But, with up to six dampers to adjust cooking temps, they intimidate many people who are just used to turning a nob on a stove.

I look at it as better time spent than watching anything on cable TV. :D

Paul

 
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Sunny Boy
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Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Wed. Oct. 18, 2017 12:52 am

I posted the following in another thread to help member Coalstovelady with questions about her range. Some of it has already been covered in these 138 pages, but what hasn't, should help anyone looking to cook with an antique range.

------------------------------------------------------

Ok, some range part names.
In your pictures your range is a very pretty, "roll-top, cabinet base" type range.

Some like my 1903 Sunny Glenwood just have a back mantel with an open shelf. And the base of mine is the leg type that is open on all four sides (my cat loves to go under there to warm up). Pictures 1 & 2.

What some folks call "lids" or "burners" are technically known as "round covers" (pic #3) and "ring covers" (pic #4). Ranges come with different sizes - the 8 inch diameter being the most commonly seen size. Often with range manufactures, the diameter of the round covers is part of the model number.

You might hear the terms "eyes" and "tees". It's actually the capital letters I and T. Those are the support plates for the round covers. Their names come from their shape. Pictures 5 shows an "I" plate - looks kinda like a capital I on it's side. Picture 6 is a "T" plate - looks like an upside down T for the forward one, but right side up for the rear one.

The flues.
Flues are just the exhaust channels inside a stove. From your firebox the exhaust can travel two ways by moving the "oven damper". With that damper in one position it's an exhaust shortcut from the firebox to the chimney when you are starting it and refueling it. With that oven damper in it's other position and it shuts off that shortcut and sends the exhaust around the walls of the oven and then on to the chimney.

Flues,
The flues start right under all those removable cover plates that make up the cooktop surface. Under them and over the top of the oven. Then the exhaust has to travel down an oven wall - usually on the opposite end of the range from where the firebox is. Then is passes under the oven. On mine, the exhaust then travels back up the rear half of the right hand end wall and back under the right rear round cover (say that five times fast :P ). In your range, I think it travels up that back "stack" that bolted onto the rear of the oven.

Pictures 7 & 8 show the front flue of the right-hand oven wall leading downward to turn under the oven floor. Picture 8 shows the rear flue of the right-hand end of the oven wall where the exhaust comes back up from under the rear half of the oven floor and turns toward the top of that picture to go to and exit through the stove pipe. Down in through the round cover hole, you can make out the ribbed top of the oven in the left-hand 3/4 of the opening, and your looking straight down from above the cooktop into those sides flues to the right of the oven.

However the exhaust travels inside the range, it travels through flues. And being that the exhaust is carrying ash and creosote, the entire length of the flues needs to be brushed and vacuumed clean at least once a year. I clean the ones in my range at least twice a season because the ash build up reduces the stove's ability for heat transfer - therefore some heat is wasted up the chimney.

BTW, most ranges have the firebox on the left end, like yours and mine. I've seen a few rare, right hand firebox ranges. They work the exact same way as the left hand ones, just in reverse.

Secondary damper/Broiler door. Pictures 9 & 10
The secondary damper is the one that is on the firebox end of the cooktop, and up near the cooktop surface. It feeds air over the fire for wood fires only. It's kept closed with coal or it will dilute the hot over-fire exhaust and make for a poor draft.

Since I don't use wood, the secondary dampers on mine only look like they are open, but I have them blocked off with mica so that they become windows that I can look in at the firebed.

On some ranges, that secondary damper is built into a "broiler door". The door opens and drops down to support a grill that is inserted in through the opening. In the last picture you can see a wire frame BBQ hotdog/hamburger grill sitting in on top of the fire of my range. The fumes get sucked up with the exhaust and fat drips into the firebed so no need of a stove hood or cleanup. However, because the grill sits right on top of a full firebed, I found that it's a great way to instantly burn meat ! :oops: Works better with a lower firebed than how high it is normally for cooking/heating.

In your pictures I see that the secondary damper on your range is on the front end of the firebox, not the side like many early ranges have it. And it looks like it could swing out and down. If it does open, then it is called a broiler door.

Paul

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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Wed. Oct. 25, 2017 11:20 pm

Does this qualify for the "cooking with coal" thread? I put one of my baffles back in the furnace and used it for an oven shelf. We made baked potatoes without using the electric kitchen oven lol. I wonder what else I could bake in there...

Geez, the inside of the furnace looks pretty rough from the little bit on wood burning last spring.

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Pauliewog
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Post by Pauliewog » Thu. Oct. 26, 2017 5:27 am

Lightning wrote:
Wed. Oct. 25, 2017 11:20 pm
Does this qualify for the "cooking with coal" thread? I put one of my baffles back in the furnace and used it for an oven shelf. We made baked potatoes without using the electric kitchen oven lol. I wonder what else I could bake in there...

Geez, the inside of the furnace looks pretty rough from the little bit on wood burning last spring.
From the looks of it Lee ..... I'm thinking you can get a 22 lb turkey in there . :D

Paulie

 
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Sunny Boy
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Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Thu. Oct. 26, 2017 7:54 am

Lightning wrote:
Wed. Oct. 25, 2017 11:20 pm
Does this qualify for the "cooking with coal" thread? I put one of my baffles back in the furnace and used it for an oven shelf. We made baked potatoes without using the electric kitchen oven lol. I wonder what else I could bake in there...

Geez, the inside of the furnace looks pretty rough from the little bit on wood burning last spring.
Well done (pun intended), Lee. You cooked food, so yeah, that qualifies. :D

And if you can put a grill in there, you can grill hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks, corn, or anything else you would on the back yard BBQ. And if the top of the stove gets at least 125-150F you can slow cook on it with one of those enameled cast iron Dutch ovens. Any hotter than that, then just put a trivet or grill under the Dutch oven to lower the cooking temperatures. ;)

Paul

 
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Sunny Boy
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Posts: 25567
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 1:40 pm
Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Thu. Oct. 26, 2017 7:56 am

Pauliewog wrote:
Thu. Oct. 26, 2017 5:27 am
Lightning wrote:
Wed. Oct. 25, 2017 11:20 pm
Does this qualify for the "cooking with coal" thread? I put one of my baffles back in the furnace and used it for an oven shelf. We made baked potatoes without using the electric kitchen oven lol. I wonder what else I could bake in there...

Geez, the inside of the furnace looks pretty rough from the little bit on wood burning last spring.
From the looks of it Lee ..... I'm thinking you can get a 22 lb turkey in there . :D

Paulie
:D

Paul

 
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Post by archangel_cpj » Wed. Nov. 01, 2017 2:51 pm

Well Ive been running Nut anthracite through my Qualified Range Company stove since sunday and I am very impressed... It has very good control I am able to close all drafts and MPD and she idles at about 300 to 350 degrees on oven... I open the oven door to get as much heat as I can and even though over the bed is way to hot to touch the stove pipe is not and in fact only 10 feet above you can hold onto the pipe it is merely warm... MY RUN TIMES ARE INSANE!!!! To fully fill the bed I figure is about 20 pounds nut... I was away the other night 13 hours and when I got home house was warm and after a good shake down 2/3 of a bed was left !!!! My house was warm and outside was 35 deg... I had new cogs made for the shaker duplex grates and using the genle techniques I picked up here they clean great and no ash escapes...

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Sunny Boy
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Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
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Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Wed. Nov. 08, 2017 1:18 pm

Well done.

Those temps and run times are right where they should be to do all your cooking, baking, plus have the range get through a long night and still be easily recoverable next morning while cooking breakfast. ;)

Paul


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