Coalpail.com Forum

I was waiting for someone to ask that question!
Not yet. I (once again) forgot to pick up charcoal when I was picking up the pipes and other supplies this morning. When I finally finished wrestling with the pipes it was around 6:30. It's all ready to go, even has coal in the hopper. I briefly tried some kindling in the stove, I really just wanted to see how it drafted. When the coal on the grate wasn't catching, I decided to quit for the day.
It'll be burning tomorrow!
Meanwhile, I'm still covered with soot and dirt from the oil burner smoke pipes!
Thanks for asking, Greg.

No road flares? wood shavings soaked in isopropyl alcohol? more kindling... can't give up yet !!

Greg.

LsFarm wrote:No road flares? wood shavings soaked in isopropyl alcohol? more kindling... can't give up yet !!

Greg.

Believe me, I was looking for anything that would burn long enough to get the coal going, I even thought about how I could transport some burning coal from the Harman down the cellar stairs into the Alaska without starting a fire on the way. Good sense prevailed, however, the time I usually do something really stupid is after a long day when I'm tired. It's warm in here, tomorrow's another day. After it's all dialed in I can start plumbing the hot water loop.

Safety first..I was just teasing.. I bet you can't wait to warm up the cellar.

Greg L

LsFarm wrote:Safety first..I was just teasing.. I bet you can't wait to warm up the cellar.

Greg L

It will be nice. Plus I'm tired of the kero space heater when I'm down there. Too smelly and noisy inside the house.

Wood'nCoal wrote: Believe me, I was looking for anything that would burn long enough to get the coal going, I even thought about how I could transport some burning coal from the Harman down the cellar stairs into the Alaska without starting a fire on the way.

I would have tried this, I'm a bullheaded Polock and the feasibility is overwhelming

Wood'nCoal wrote:

LsFarm wrote:No road flares? wood shavings soaked in isopropyl alcohol? more kindling... can't give up yet !!

Greg.

Believe me, I was looking for anything that would burn long enough to get the coal going, I even thought about how I could transport some burning coal from the Harman down the cellar stairs into the Alaska without starting a fire on the way. Good sense prevailed, however, the time I usually do something really stupid is after a long day when I'm tired. It's warm in here, tomorrow's another day. After it's all dialed in I can start plumbing the hot water loop.

i take some red hot coals from the efm to get my alaska going......i'm kinda forgetfull and efm has a 55 gallon drum and the alaska has a small hopper......can you guess which fire goes out first lol

Up and running. I took a piece of stove pipe and bent it into a u shape, slid it into the grate. I scooped up a shovel of red hot coal from the Harman and used a cast iron skillet (!) to transport it very carefully. Worked great!
The draft is running -2 1/2 to -3" WC, should it be 2?

Looking great!! Innovation and invention... gotta love it. What did the wife say about using the kitchen skillet for a 'coal transport device' ??

The door color looks good with the fire inside as background color.

I certainly wouldn't be concerned about the slight difference in the draft reading, as long as you maintain .02 to .04" I'd be happy.. My target is to maintain a negative pressure in the stove body when the fire is idling and at full burn.. As long as you aren't too much over target, you aren't pulling too much heat up the chimney.

Greg.

Looks really nice. I like the door color. How's that basement now? Nice and toasty yet?

Wow! I missed reading this thread early on and I had not seen your "before pics." I just went back and saw them. Now I'm really impressed. Nice Job.

LsFarm wrote:Looking great!! Innovation and invention... gotta love it. What did the wife say about using the kitchen skillet for a 'coal transport device' ??
Greg.

She doesn't like the iron skillet, I'm the only one who uses it. Another wet pot was put on top of it and it rusted, I need to clean and re-season it.
It worked great for this task, though.

coalkirk wrote:Wow! I missed reading this thread early on and I had not seen your "before pics." I just went back and saw them. Now I'm really impressed. Nice Job.

Thanks, It was worth it. What kind of stove should be next.......wait, I'm turning into another Matthaus.....Help!!!Help!!!!

The cellar is warming up, I had a fan in the window because the paint was curing, it was warming up even then.

First time in around 40 years the chimney flue handled coal gases (again).

Only snag was I had to cut the PVC pipe for the sump pump, it was in the was of the 6" smoke pipe, I have to re-route the PVC.

Looks great and a nice neat install too

coalstoves wrote:Looks great and a nice neat install too

Thanks, not finished yet! Duct work and the hot water pipes to do. You should see the mess I made all around it. I have to go clean up the place now.