Coalpail.com Forum

ok folks. I didn't even know coal stoves existed till I inherited one from the house I recently moved into. had to drive an hour and a half to get coal after calling around. bought anthracite. think I bought wrong size- been breaking it up with a hammer to get it to "nut" size- but that was only size they had.

but the real reason I am writing is to find out how to use my stove without opening the doors to let out all that smoke!! this thing smokes like crazy! I think I might have gotten mild co poisoning a couple times- which is how I either blame or applaud my ability according to the functionality of the stove.

this morning I fired up the stove to have the base layer of coal catch promptly to which it started smoking out the top (open door- smoke!) after about 15 minutes it stopped smoking and I added a few pieces with no smoke coming out the top. it IS smoking in there because I opened the lid an inch and a plume of smoke escaped. as I write this I am eyeing the stove. there is no smoke- when I open the lid a bit there is smoke. if I open the door, there is smoke. but no smoke coming out of the top.

last night I added appx. 2 quarts of coal to glowing coal; the thing smoked for its entire cycle.

sometimes its "open door- smoke!" other times its just a tinsy bit- like the amount that would come off a cigarette, ribboning out of the top of the stove.....i have no idea?

also it seems, when the stove is smoking badly, I can close the draft knob and it will quit smoking out of the top.

as I said in another post, there is no gasket on the top lid. I just had the chimney cleaned although still don't have a chimney guard. the chimney does have a couple shifted tiles.

here is the stove.
at this very moment there is coal on fire in there and it smokes when I open the door. the flue is not very hot.

is there a correlation between heat and smoke?

what are the roles of the damper and draft knob within the system?

so did you....

Come on: Join This Club!

where are you located? what kind of coal?? fill in your profile when you get a chance...

they shouldnt smoke in the house....

maybe I should get some meters and/or thermometers???? maybe just doing it over and over isn't enough?? I just can't make sense of the scenarios because I will get different results with the same routine.

are there some tips to know about? should I add coal when its glowing instead of when its on fire? I know I need to make sure I bank it.

Poconoeagle wrote:so did you....

Come on: Join This Club!

where are you located? what kind of coal?? fill in your profile when you get a chance...

they shouldnt smoke in the house....

I am in charlotte, nc. I am using anthracite. I think it is too big so I've been busting it up with a hammer. going to get a co detector in a couple hours. have a smoke alarm already. just had the chimney/flue cleaned 2 weeks ago- it wouldn't be clogged already????
argh!

By the looks of it you got a Bituminous coal. Bit coal will smoke just like you said and coat the inside of your stove like that with soot. I think that is your problem!

If it's not hard and shiney, it's not anthracite.

I have to agree it sure doesn't sound like anthracite. I'm curious as to where you brought it. The southern most anthracite dealer I know of is in South Boston, VA. I'd sure like to think there's some further south since we are looking to retire in that direction. Anyway, determine if it is indeed Bituminous and if it is check out the bituminous page here on the forum. They will be able to help you.

If it's not bituminous your problem may stem from the fact that your stove's firebox is covered with soot and I bet so is your chimney connector pipes. That maybe affecting your burn in some way. I say grab a shop vac and get as much of that mess out of the stove as possible then try again. Have you read the postings on "how to light a coal stove?" It not that's a good place to start. Good Luck, Lisa

coal newbie wrote: I am in charlotte, nc. I am using anthracite.

A couple of things would tell me it isn't.

• Firstly anthracite that far south is going to be rare and the reason for this is the cost.
• Secondly large sizes that you would have to bust up with hammer would be even rarer at that would include this area where it's mined.
• Anthracite produces very little to no smoke.
• I've never seen a flue with black soot like that using anthracite and I've seen plenty.

Where you are at you're probably looking at a cost of $350 a ton for anthracite and I'm guessing you have spent considerably less than that?

I'm going to move this to the bituminous forum, Berlin or someone else burning soft coal will be able to help.

Richard S. wrote:

coal newbie wrote: I am in charlotte, nc. I am using anthracite.

A couple of things would tell me it isn't.

• Firstly anthracite that far south is going to be rare and the reason for this is the cost.
• Secondly large sizes that you would have to bust up with hammer would be even rarer at that would include this area where it's mined.
• Anthracite produces very little to no smoke.
• I've never seen a flue with black soot like that using anthracite and I've seen plenty.

Where you are at you're probably looking at a cost of $350 a ton for anthracite and I'm guessing you have spent considerably less than that?

I'm going to move this to the bituminous forum, Berlin or someone else burning soft coal will be able to help.

i got the coal from sunnyside ice and fuel supply in winston salem, nc for appx $300/ton. they got it from w.virginia. it is 4x6 red ash coal. they say if I want anthracite I must get from pennsylvania. the coal is hard as hell and shiny. I have gotten it to burn smokeless three times- it was a joy.
does weather affect burn/draft?
hmmm. just got a co alarm today. looking for a thermometer and manometer.

i will post pics of the coal later on.

thanks y'all
holly

coal newbie wrote: they got it from w.virginia. it is 4x6 red ash coal. they say if I want anthracite I must get from pennsylvania.

Correct, any anthracite would be mined in Northeaster Pennsylvania but there is dealers outside of the area.

sooooo.......why the smoke????

this coal is shiny and the ash is red (as you can see). I have gotten it to burn smokeless. isn't red ash under the umbrella of anthracite? either way, I've got to figure out how to keep it from smoking the house up.....

As I said above large pieces like that are rare for anthracite even in this area to tell you the truth if I wanted to get anthracite that size I'd have to go pick it off the pile of raw mined coal before it went into breaker. Anthracite goes through additional processing to get different sizes. The largest you might find is stove and even that is not common. Stove is about the size of baseball or a little bigger.

The other thing is anthracite is more likely to shatter when you hit with a hammer, looks like yours is more into turning to dust.

The piece of ash you have there is more indicative of bone if it were anthracite which is rock with coal seams. Anthracite when fully burned is going to turn to an ash that is easily crushed. In a hand fired stove you can just about turn it to powder.

Post two pic two, the black shiny bits on the stove underneath the soot look a lot like creosote. I'm guessing that wood was at one point in time been burned in that stove. Creosote does burn and will smoke. I'm gonna say that the coal itself may not be smoking but the black shiny stuff could be?

Do as has been suggested. Use a shop vac to suck up most of the soot then get a wire brush and scrub the black shiny stuff off the stove.

Could we also get some better pics of the stove? We could probably tell you what stove you have should be burning, it looks like a base heater or burner. Again, I'm a newb too so I could be way off base here, but it might be designed for a certain size coal as you may have already discovered or a different type of fuel. It may just be designed for wood being so far south.