Coalpail.com Forum

Richard: I was amazed at how clean burning Anthracite is but the smell would be a clue that your neighbor is burning Anthracite. It's kind of a sickening smell. I'm suprised that the smell doesn't taint the pizza. I would be interested in hearing more on the design of pizza stoves.

Richard S. wrote:

You would for example never know your neighbor was burning anthracite as heat even if they lived directly adjacent to your home. The same cannot be said of soft coal. [/quote wrote:

The anthracite is used to heat oven bricks, the flue gas itself doesn't come near the product as far as I know. All the ovens in this area would have been anthracite fired for bakeries at the turn of the century. Wasn't too long ago they found some old forgotten ones that were walled up on one building across the river. Was actually quite interesting, kinda "Indiana Jones" like... Ironic but there isn't many coal fired oven pizzerias in the area considering there popularity elsewhere, I'm not aware of one in the Wyoming Valley. I know there is a few south of here.

As far as the smell goes I've probably smelled ours a hand full of times in the 25 years it's been installed and I would know exactly what it smelled like unlike my neighbors. As I'm typing this I'm in my office on the second floor of my home not more than 15 or 20 feet from the top of the chimney. I've never smelled flue gas in this room in the summer/spring/fall when the windows were open that I can recall. The few times I have smelled it is on very humid mornings. We live right next to the river so the fog can get very dense.

I'm not saying there isn't a smell but unless you're power venting it ground level or even have a very low chimney you shouldn't smell anything for the most part.

Coaledsweat,
That is about 10 minutes from my house and I never knew it. It is right next door to Kowloon which I go to every so often. I will try it next week and let you know!
Thanks, Scott

Pepe's in New Haven has the oldest Coal Fired Apizza Oven I know of .. The cook told me it can hold 200 but they would burn so he keeps it to no more then 40 at a time.

It's been on the Travel Channel and Food channels. I lived in NewHaven until 18 years old. It's the best pizza I've had anywhere.

I have a DV which is the reason I get more wiffs of the coal burning than u do? We have several coal fired pizzaria/bakeries on Long Isalnd. There is really only one or two suppliers.

Hate to drag this up from the depths, but at least I used "Search"

They just open up a coal pizza place in Providence and a friend went today. He was asking me about how they can have burning coal in the oven next to the food seeing as coal gives off "poison gas."

I honestly don't know so I'm appealing to the experts. What is it about the design of the coal oven that allows them to safely cook next to burning anthracite?

Might have something to do with--wait for it-----the chimney lets any gasses escape--in an other venue--how can you burn coal in your house? oh wait, that would be the same answer. jpete, go to class where over thinking is the norm PS--I'm far from an expert, but, I do have an over abundance of COMMON SENSE

When you barbeque a steak it is surounded by poisonsos co2 and other gasses, still edible.
But what Fred said is even more correct, I have a coal cook stove, it's alot like a wood cook stove, you can even buy diesel cook stoves, used on boats, fire in a chamber that exists the living space leaving the heat behind.
Put a kettle of water on your Chubby Sr, it will not taint the morning cup of tea.

Excellent use of search

Short Bus wrote: Put a kettle of water on your Chubby Sr, it will not taint the morning cup of tea.

Excellent use of search

Put an open cup of water in the fire box of your stove and what happens?

That is the scenario.

There are people on this site that won't empty there ashes without a dust mask on but ingesting it is OK?

And for the record, I'm not one of those people. You have to die of SOMETHING so I don't let stuff like that bother me. I was just trying to come up with an informed answer to a friends question that was absent my shoot from the hip speculation.

Next time, I'll just direct him to Freddy.

freetown fred wrote:Might have something to do with--wait for it-----the chimney lets any gasses escape--in an other venue--how can you burn coal in your house? oh wait, that would be the same answer. jpete, go to class where over thinking is the norm PS--I'm far from an expert, but, I do have an over abundance of COMMON SENSE

You must have one hell of a stove Freddy.

My fire box is full of combustion gases and coal ash.

I don't often run my stove with the door open but I'm sure if I did, I'd be happy I had CO detectors near the stove.

Please tell us how you managed to achieve 100% combustion efficiency and exhausting.

The coal is used to heat the oven bricks, AFAIK the coal fire has nothing to do with the pizza other than the heat it provides.

With the coal you can heat a very large mass to a very high temperature. Think along the lines of a regular pizza oven being that thin cheap skillet and the coal fired one being your grandmothers cast iron skillet (which I still have ). If you cook you'll know there is vast difference between the two especially if you're trying to do something like brown meats, fry etc.

From what I remember about coal-fired ovens, the coal fire is normally off to one side and there is a lot of masonry to absorb the heat and cook the food on the opposite side. As Richard said previously, the flue gasses aren't passed directly through the area with the food.

Lots of people cook directly over charcoal (many brands add anthracite to the briquettes) and quickly figure out that you shouldn't disturb the fire with food on the grill...otherwise you can get ash on the food. I imagine the average guy running a coal fired oven has reached the same conclusion.

Richard S. wrote:The coal is used to heat the oven bricks, AFAIK the coal fire has nothing to do with the pizza other than the heat it provides.

With the coal you can heat a very large mass to a very high temperature. Think along the lines of a regular pizza oven being that thin cheap skillet and the coal fired one being your grandmothers cast iron skillet (which I still have ). If you cook you'll know there is vast difference between the two especially if you're trying to do something like brown meats, fry etc.

Again, I don't doubt the safety of the food, I'm just trying to explain to someone not familiar with coal why it's OK to eat. When they see their food being cooked next to a pile of hot lava, some people have questions.



http://dev.providencecoalfirepizza.com/

Hmm, I would have thought the coal would have been on separate area. Does the EPA and the FDA know about this?