Coalpail.com Forum

Ordered a Hitzer 503 insert in June and am hoping for delivery shortly. I have been reading this forum for several weeks and I cannot tell you how helpful it has been. My dilemma is, what size coal I should buy to burn in the insert. I know that pea coal burns slower and does not generate as much heat as nut. It would seem to me with my newbie knowledge that pea would be good in the spring and fall and that nut would be better during the real coal months. I also have some concerns with nut having more problems with the shaker and jamming. I have been calling around to the dealers locally and everyone only carries Reading coal which has the reputation of not being of the highest quality and could cause more jams with nut.

So my question to all of you is should I stick with just pea or nut, or should I get 1 ton of pea and 2 tons of nut? Will be buying either bagged or bulk bag by the ton.

Thanks to everyone
Ed

I'm in the same delimma a a newbie.My house is pretty tight, 1800 ft sq.,built 1985 with 6" walls, etc so I'm doing kind of a 60 % pea, 40 % nut thing. If you do nut and find it to be too hot you can mix it with pea to slow the airflow. I also learned that some do nut,pea or nut/pea, then as a final topping place some rice coal on top. that slows the air flow and burn rate even more. Also where is your stove ?, if in bsmt, you can liklely tolerate more heat compared to the stove being in a regular room. Hope this helps.

If it was me and I had any question about the quality, I would use Pea. Restarts are a pain in the butt. I like to use only one match for the whole burning season.

Last year was the first time I used pea. I started with a ton of pea then switched over to a ton of nut and finished with pea. I have seventeen bags of pea left from that last ton of pea. Nut burns a little hotter and pea likes to have more air than nut. They both burn great, but I use Blaschak coal and it always seems to be of good quality.

Just my two cents worth.

Slogo wrote:Ordered a Hitzer 503 insert in June and am hoping for delivery shortly. I have been reading this forum for several weeks and I cannot tell you how helpful it has been. My dilemma is, what size coal I should buy to burn in the insert. I know that pea coal burns slower and does not generate as much heat as nut. It would seem to me with my newbie knowledge that pea would be good in the spring and fall and that nut would be better during the real coal months. I also have some concerns with nut having more problems with the shaker and jamming. I have been calling around to the dealers locally and everyone only carries Reading coal which has the reputation of not being of the highest quality and could cause more jams with nut.

So my question to all of you is should I stick with just pea or nut, or should I get 1 ton of pea and 2 tons of nut? Will be buying either bagged or bulk bag by the ton.

Thanks to everyone
Ed

You will have more Problem with Pea Jamming or falling threw the grates Try Nut first you can control the burn rate with
your air adjustment & having your baro set up correct That is how you control your heat output on any Hand fed stove or insert with a stoker stove it would feed Rate & Air every ones setup is different ones setup my not work for someones
else you will have to see how your's work try Nut first then try Pea or mix both there is a lerning curve with burning Anthracite coal or any coal once you have figured it out you will be a master at it good luck

Thanks for the input. I guess when all is said and done the only sure way to know is to try both and experiment. Right now I am leaning on 2 tons of pea and 1 ton of nut. The insert is in the familyroom and I don't want to roast during the cool months. Looking forward to the learning experience.

Ed

Hello slogo.. as coal berner said, you should be able to control your heat output with the air inlet controls.. The Hitzer has a hopper feed.. it works best with nut.. .
I'd give Hitzer a call direct... ask them what they recommend.. They are great folks to talk with and are very helpful.

Greg L.

I guess I was focusing on the fact that everyone states that nut coal burns faster and hotter than pea. But now that I think of it, that statement is true assuming the same draft setting. So by adjusting the draft knobs for a given output of heat both pea and nut should burn at the same rate. Am I making the right assumptions? Should I be able to run nut as low as pea? Will also be giving Hitzer a call tomorrow to see what they recommend.

Ed