Nut Vs Pea - Experiences??

I have a dual use (wood/coal/oil) yukon furnace that I'm burning nut in. It's working well but the nut is a little harder to shovel from the top of the bin than pea would be. The stove can use either. Anyone have experience with both?? Will I get longer or shorter burn times with pea, hotter fires, quicker temp rises when damper opens etc. (My stove is controlled by a thermostat that opens a damper door to increase the draft. I'm thinking that smaller pieces might be quicker to increase temp than larger ones, hence quicker reaction??) Any thoughts or expereinces appreciated.

Try a bag or two before you commit to a big load. Pea may be troublesome in some hand fireds. The smaller sizes burn longer at lower output, the larger ones (stove size) burn faster and hotter. When it gets bitter cold, I'll run the stove, that stuff can have chunks the size of a carton of cigarettes.

gerard wrote:smaller pieces might be quicker to increase temp than larger ones, hence quicker reaction??

Probably just the opposite of what you expect. Pea packs tighter together, less air can get through, so the reaction may well be slower.

From reading other posts, every stove and chimney combination is different. You will have to experiment to find out what works for yours.

rberq wrote:

gerard wrote:smaller pieces might be quicker to increase temp than larger ones, hence quicker reaction??

Probably just the opposite of what you expect. Pea packs tighter together, less air can get through, so the reaction may well be slower.

From reading other posts, every stove and chimney combination is different. You will have to experiment to find out what works for yours.

Yep, do as coaledsweat suggests. Try each before you buy in volume. I played with ~ 400 Lbs of each two different times before I discovered that pea was best for me. rberq is right about the smaller air passage ways and the amount of draft your chimney provides at any given outside temperature. That will effect how quickly either lights off on top of an established fire. Not sure that it's less air thru pea. In any given fire box, pea will have more and smaller airways in between smaller pieces that the larger nut size will. Nut will have larger airways between less pieces. Fires in stoves attached to lower drawing chimneys (lower measured draft) seem to respond to nut better based on other members comments. I've got good draft just about anytime, so pea lights off quickly enough for me and last a long time too. Check out the video link in my sig-block below if you'd like to see pea light off.

I run nut in my Hitzer, and pea in my Russo. Both react about the same to draft. The Hitzer gets about 12 hour burns while the Russo can go as long 18 hours. The Russo would get jammed grates with the nut coal, but runs flawlessly with pea. Jammed grates=eventually fire goes out.

thanx for the input, I guess I'll but some bags of pea and see how it works. I can appreciate the "experimenting" part - it dis take me awhile to figure out just how much coal to add, how often, how much and how hard to shake it down etc. But all in all, a lot cheaper than oil, more steady heat, it gives me something to do twice a day, and a hell of a lot easier than wood without the creosote buildup on the heat exchanger! I'm a convert!!

gerard wrote:thanx for the input, I guess I'll but some bags of pea and see how it works. I can appreciate the "experimenting" part - it dis take me awhile to figure out just how much coal to add, how often, how much and how hard to shake it down etc. But all in all, a lot cheaper than oil, more steady heat, it gives me something to do twice a day, and a hell of a lot easier than wood without the creosote buildup on the heat exchanger! I'm a convert!!

I've been there for certain. Keep plugging at it during different times of the burning season and you'll come to know the moves to make your stove/coal size/chimney combination work. You've seen this earlier in this thread but I went through at least 2 55 gal. drums each of pea and nut over different times of the heating seasons. Thinking back, it might have been double that volume because I tried it again a second year after I got more in tune with my stove/coal size/chimney. Stove/coal size/chimney characteristics and operator techniques have to change with the weather so it takes a while to learn when to do what when it's doing whatever outside.

After all, coal is Mother Nature's refined wood product.... why mess with Mother Nature

gerard wrote:thanx for the input, I guess I'll but some bags of pea and see how it works. I can appreciate the "experimenting" part - it dis take me awhile to figure out just how much coal to add, how often, how much and how hard to shake it down etc. But all in all, a lot cheaper than oil, more steady heat, it gives me something to do twice a day, and a hell of a lot easier than wood without the creosote buildup on the heat exchanger! I'm a convert!!

How much coal to add - Always fill it to the top of the firebricks - how often - Everytime you shake the ashes down -
how hard to shake it down - Until you see the hole underside of the grates area glowing from the bottom up threw the grates . How often to shake - When the temps drop on the stack pipe or on the stove Thermomenter around 200F I
would start shaking and adding coal

:nice: I hope every newbie to coal burning reads this thread. What an education

One thing I can also say is that pea is easier to get fired up. In the few times I've lost my fire I just toss a few fatwood sticks in and cover with a little pea coal. fires right up. Nut doesnt cooperate as well.

Just started burning. I lit one fire 4 weeks ago and am still going strong off inf. from this site. Thanks to all! I was given a bucket of nut with the stove, but bought pea on first trip for coal. Turns out when it is warm I can use pea, get a long burn with a lower temp. When the temp goes down load nut get a long burn and a hotter fire with about the same damper settings. I am currently keeping a supply of both as our temps have been up and down.

Gerard,
Burn4me has it nailed! I have two Hitzers and over the last 4 years of trial and error I agree. I keep both pea and nut around but now use pea coal only when leaving for a couple of days and expecting the fire to go out. The pea will be almost completely consumed and without any clinkers/lumps to throw out. This year I am burning Blaschak nut in bags and find it burns very completely to a white ash --- our local anthracite nut in bulk burns hotter but I get a noticeable increase in clinkers with the bulk. I think it is from a different seam, since the clinkers are red. Baldeagle

I bought a pallet of both nut and pea (bagged Blaschak) with my new Harman TLC this fall. They both burn great though agree with others, the nut coal does put off more heat and yields a longer burn time.

Nut with 25% pea mostly. Less pea for a hotter fire. Like the other morning, 4* at 6:00 am.
Freeze your little tookers off walking the dog in that weather. Can't wait to get back into
that warm house.

Everyone's info was spot on and 180 deg from what my logic told me!! I though smaller pieces, more surface area, quicker hotter burn - NOT. Went to all pea for a few days and it burned nice and is easier to shovel but it didn't put out the heat that nut did. Even full open draft at 15 deg outside temp it had a hard time keeping the house temp up. I'll be sticking with nut. I can knock down the heat output of nut with the draft but I can't go above 100% output with the pea!!