New Guy Wanting to Switch to Coal Questions

 
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GoodProphets
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Post by GoodProphets » Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 8:25 am

He just gave you the best advice, due to experience.

Remember, you were trying to heat your house with coal in a wood stove...

jammin, you spent sweat (and I am sure tears) getting to where you are.
You def have the patience and the heart to want this to work.

I do not have a hand fed, but in the future I want one.

Please check out the for sale sub forum here, also check out CL in your local area
Update your profile to show at least the county you reside in and
maybe even post in the wanted section that you are looking for a coal stove that fits your budget.

There are probably many stoves sitting right now waiting to sell.
Not sure if you bought oil yet, but a tank will cost an easy $700
That will buy you a nice used coal stove, one that works correctly at burning coal and heating your home.

Has the wood burning entirely heated your house?
If so, you can do that with coal.
You were asked if the oil was a boiler with radiators (I did not see an answer)
If so, you may have an option to get a stoker boiler and not have to tend as much
if you have a busy schedule///....although stoker and handfed are both easy.

Keep on keeping on and things we get warmer.

As dcrane mentioned, post any questions on a possible stove and there will be opinions and
help on if it will work for your situation.

 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 8:37 am

Jammin416 wrote:My ash pan just slides in the front and it doesn't have a door like the newer ones, maybe that's causing a draft problem.
so if I understand this correctly, there is no door on the opening where the ash pan slides in? that would certainly cause too much draft and burn through the coal very quickly!

can you post a pic of this ash pan opening?

if it is missing a door, I suppose you could block off this opening somehow and leave a smaller gap for the combustion air to come up through the grates slowing down the burn, but is the effort and experimentation worth it rather than getting an insert better suited to coal burning?

 
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Rick 386
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Post by Rick 386 » Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 9:16 am

Jammin416 wrote:I really can't get it to burn for a really long period, I have to do ashes before bed and again before work then if it is still going again after work. I just can't get it to burn slow and steady, I have to have it burn orange hot to keep it going and can't get that nice consistent blue flame, if I let it go to long it will end up going out............................

I have been trying to make less of a coal bed( not as thick) trying to keep from creating to much ash to keep a good draft.
I am no hand fired guy by any means. For me it is stoker or auger feed but..................................

It appears to me and from the pic of your glowing red coal picture, your problem is not loading enough coal in the stove. Hand fired stoves like a deep bed of coal to burn correctly. In the glowing red pic, it looks like you only have a small layer of coal in there. Burning coal is not like throwing another log on the fire.

When you had that nice bed of coal burning, you should have started adding coal on top of the burning bed. And continued to add coal until it was to the top of the fire bricks. However as they say, you need to keep an area of open flame open until the volatiles burn off or it goes boom.

I'm not too far from you and neither is member Dennis. I work in Royersford and live in Limerick Twp in the far NW corner of the Twp just outside of Schwenksville. I'm sure either one of us can stop by your place to help you get this thing burning properly. And if not, Dennis would probably buy your coal......... :lol:

Rick


 
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McGiever
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Post by McGiever » Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 9:48 am

So there you have it...
1.] No ash pan door.
2.] Too shallow of coal bed.

Problems identified. :roll:

 
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dcrane
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Post by dcrane » Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 10:29 am

McGiever wrote:So there you have it...
1.] No ash pan door.
2.] Too shallow of coal bed.

Problems identified. :roll:
no ash pan door (if it had one), would be way to dramatic... this is catastrophic stuff! Im sure he means he has something like a slide in ash pan or the like (best example I can give is a VC vig. swing out ash pan)... its simply not the way you should want a coal stove built. (at least that what I hope he means when he says he has no ash door :fear: ) Im not sure how the seal is made on a VC but some other can elaborate (either way I never liked the design for longevity, reliability and safety)

The coal bed could be deeper but its not going to do anything for the surrounding dead area around the entire bed of burning coal (this will swiftly lead a wood burner to run away from coal before they ever get the chance to see, feel, enjoy the benefits of coal), the coal will be cool and go out if its not ramped up all the time, when it is ramped up the unburned coal will be a constant, etc.... its just not worth it :( as I explained in my previous post I think the best answer is to kick that beast out the door and get a good coal stove that will sit on his hearth or slightly into his fireplace (that can also take some wood if he needs).

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Dennis
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Post by Dennis » Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 7:25 pm

Rick 386 wrote:I'm not too far from you and neither is member Dennis. I work in Royersford and live in Limerick Twp in the far NW corner of the Twp just outside of Schwenksville. I'm sure either one of us can stop by your place to help you get this thing burning properly. And if not, Dennis would probably buy your coal.........
Joe,PM me with your phone # and I will get back to you,we will figure it out.

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