BURN WOOD IN A GIBRALTAR?

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ratherbeflying
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Post by ratherbeflying » Tue. Mar. 26, 2019 1:06 pm

Gibraltar MCC here... as we are getting down to the wire on this coal season :cry: i hear some people who burn wood at night just to take the chill out when the weather gets up in the 60-70s+ during the day but drops down cold at night... im curious if the gibraltar will be able to do this efficiently? i have some wood i would like to get rid of, does any one do this or do you guys just turn down low during the day and crank her up at night? is there something i should do to the stove to make it burn wood better?

 
ratherbeflying
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Post by ratherbeflying » Wed. Mar. 27, 2019 8:30 am

i guess no one likes to burn wood? lol

 
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Logs
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Post by Logs » Wed. Mar. 27, 2019 9:29 am

I’m no expert on coal , but I would think any appliance that burns coal can also burn wood.

 
ratherbeflying
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Post by ratherbeflying » Wed. Mar. 27, 2019 11:23 am

Logs wrote:
Wed. Mar. 27, 2019 9:29 am
I’m no expert on coal , but I would think any appliance that burns coal can also burn wood.
i would think that also but for some reason i hear not all coal stoves can burn wood.... i think it may be due to secondary or inlets or not, i dont have any.... that may be an issue....


 
CapeCoaler
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Post by CapeCoaler » Thu. Mar. 28, 2019 9:11 pm

just run it low and slow with coal...
Use the windowstats to freshen up the house in spring...

 
Salemcoal
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Post by Salemcoal » Thu. Mar. 28, 2019 10:28 pm

Yes , the Gibraltar will do a good job burning wood . Many of those Mcc s were rated to burn wood and coal . A friend of mine burned wood exclusively in his Gibraltar and it worked great . I would take out the banking plate

 
ratherbeflying
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Post by ratherbeflying » Fri. Mar. 29, 2019 9:20 am

CapeCoaler wrote:
Thu. Mar. 28, 2019 9:11 pm
just run it low and slow with coal...
Use the windowstats to freshen up the house in spring...
i will continue my low and slow burn with nice layer of pea on top, i can get my face temp down to 175 even just takes a while to get her hot again... my only thing is i have about a half of a cord of free wood taking up space i would like to get rid of and was wondering if the gibraltar could do it and if theres something i should do to be able to do it since i dont have secondary air....

 
ratherbeflying
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Post by ratherbeflying » Fri. Mar. 29, 2019 9:21 am

Salemcoal wrote:
Thu. Mar. 28, 2019 10:28 pm
Yes , the Gibraltar will do a good job burning wood . Many of those Mcc s were rated to burn wood and coal . A friend of mine burned wood exclusively in his Gibraltar and it worked great . I would take out the banking plate
thats good to know, i just dont know how to run wood effectively because wood needs over the fire air and my gibraltar only has primary air in the ash area...


 
Salemcoal
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Post by Salemcoal » Fri. Mar. 29, 2019 9:38 pm

It will burn wood fine with the ash door air inlet . If you have wood around it is good during the shoulder season but it doesn't make sense to buy wood , you are better off keeping on coal . You can set that stove up to burn well over 24 hours without a shake .

 
ratherbeflying
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Post by ratherbeflying » Mon. Apr. 01, 2019 9:07 am

well i had her shut down the past 2 days since it was so warm outside. filled the stove with wood last night and she got real hot real fast! draft was like -.17 stove was 650 face. i knocked the wood down to a nice bed of wood coals and it filled her with nut hahaha took off very fast. i dont think i want to play with the wood just yet, ill keep the coal going until its over 65 during the day and just start some wood fires at night to take the chill out until im out of wood... but this week is supposed to be cold so ill keep the nut burnin! with some pea on top lol

 
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ShawnLiNy
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Post by ShawnLiNy » Tue. Apr. 02, 2019 2:46 pm

Keep primary air closed as it can overfire too easily try unlatching feed door but leave closed

 
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warminmn
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Post by warminmn » Tue. Apr. 02, 2019 3:52 pm

What Shawn said, or maybe add a door spinner draft knob to the stove somewhere above the grate. You do want air getting at it somewhere or it could go boom if the air is shut off completely and you open the door.

the .17 draft reading is completely normal with wood. A lot of heat goes up the chimney, plus more air that wood needs, which increases the draft. That reading is not a problem. Mine is often over .2 with a hot wood fire until creosote plugs the manometer inlet on the stove pipe.

I am unfamiliar with your stove so cant give a lot more advice except maybe split the wood smaller for quick fires in the spring and fall. Lots of videos online. Maybe some of the ones using potbelly stoves with wood might show some more hints for you.

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