Coalpail.com Forum

and would it be hard to convert and oil burning boiler to a coal burning boiler without redo on the chimney? any help appreciated
maine, where it is a balmy 11 degrees.

Clinkers are formed when you fire coal above the ash fusion temperature (AFT). Usually happens when you have the stove revved up for extra cold weather. Attached are clinkers I pulled out of the stove this week.

As far as oil to coal, my stove is connected to a flue that was previously used by an oil fired boiler for nealy 50 years. No modifications were needed in my case. If you have a masonry chimney in serviceable condition, you should be good to go.

I would avoid using stainless or a stainless liner unless it's a last resort. The fly ash that will inevitably end up in the chimney will destroy the stainless liner in a few years.

Clinker is fused coal ash....

what do you do with them?

I just throw them on my gravel driveway along with the coal ash. The clinkers are fairly fragile and crush easily under the weight of a vehicle. You could also put them in a metal bucket outdoors, as well as your coal ash, and once cool, dispose of them in your regular trash.

aha, that could also help in the driveway with the ice, right? giving a slight gritty surface for the tires...i forgot we did that with wood ashes. been awhile...

Personally I think the coal ashes work much better than the wood ashes for traction.

I was hoping that the supposedly toxic coal ash would keep weeds from taking root in the summer months... Unfortunately the weeds came back as vigorous as ever

Forgot to thank yu regarding chimney, we only have the shiny double walled asbestos chimney...is that stainless? would that work? or is that what you are saying
would not be good....
i am going to try to grow horseradish this year, it does well in the cold and likes wood ashes...we shall see...

If it's all you have, you can use it, you'll just want to watch it for signs of pin holes at the start of each season.

oh dear, so much to learn, I don't know how we can use anything else, since it is in the middle of the house in the basement going out through the top of the house?

Do you have pictures of it?

just noticed today that the card on my camera is bad, so cant get pix. maybe tomorrow...thanks

nikonmom wrote: would it be hard to convert and oil burning boiler to a coal burning boiler

The way that is worded it sounds like you want to burn coal in an oil boiler.... that's not a conversion that's releasable. As for the chimney, coal likes a mason chimney. The stainless will last a while, but not forever.

Coal ash isn't considered hazardous, but it shouldn't be used in a vegetable garden. It does have low levels of stuff we shouldn't be eating.

i need to know more about this...how do you replace an existing stainless chimney in the middle of the basement/house with masonry? and what are you doing up so early???

If you know, or are a savvy do-it-yourselfer an outside masonry stick chimney would be within reason (and probably best case scenario economically speaking) to build this summer when the weather is warmer.. If you are willing to shell out probably a couple thousand or more, then best bet would be to hire a mason to replace your existing inside chimney. It would seem to be a pretty big project to me. Hopefully someone will chime in with recommendations that are more knowledgeable about chimney construction.

Hey Berlin, need your chimney expertise here