Can I Burn Bituminous Coal in A Harman TLC 2000?

 
Lars Bagman
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Location: Allentown, PA
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Franco-Belge # 190.13 (highly modified) 70k BTU/hr

Post by Lars Bagman » Fri. Feb. 13, 2015 10:31 am

In the vein of what rockwood was discussing, like a auger fed wood pellet stove, a coal stove with an automatic stoker solves the problem of widely varying oxygen demands during the combustion process by continuously feeding small amounts of fresh feed to match a stove's fuel consumption (typically 1 to 4 pounds per hour for a coal stove.) A stoker could feed 1 ounce over a time span that could vary from 4 minutes down to 1 minute, balancing fresh fuel addition with consumption and maintaining a nearly constant oxygen demand which provides a very efficient burn.

The process of independently choosing first the stove and then the fuel presents problems as several of us have discussed above. Probably best to see what fuels are available and the costs in one's particular location and then with the fuel selected, find and purchase a stove that can handle it most effectively. I am fortunate to live in anthracite coal country where I can get it delivered in bulk via a high lift dump truck with a chute that puts it directly into my basement coal bin. My selection of a stove/boiler to match the available fuel was easy compared to what others face.


 
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Kielanders
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Location: Seward, Alaska

Post by Kielanders » Tue. Apr. 14, 2015 2:40 am

I haven't checked-in in awhile, and just got a PM from the OP. I hope everyone is well.

We burn sub-bit that has a very high methane content and tops out at around 7500 BTU/LB - it makes for some very tricky burning/hot loading.

With a 10K BTU content, it definitely sounds like you have bit.

While the TLC was designed/rated for anthracite (all modern stoves are), I have been able to burn the TLC successfully with sub-bit, as long as I accepted the limitations of our coal in relation to the stove. My frustrations in earlier posts/threads were mainly due to my lack of understanding of burning coal in general, and our type of coal in particular.

If you're still shopping stoves, in my experience, the only concerns I had was that the stove was never tight enough to shutdown the burn once the load was going.

But, my Warm Morning is not particularly tight either, however, it handles the burn in a more controlled manner than the TLC 2000.

Stove shutdown capability is a safety issue, but is not a problem with my SF-250.

My other concern with the TLC was some of the hardware, like the door handle was a lighter weight/more fragile/flimsier than I would have liked. While the lightweight controls on the TLC looked nicer, my stove saw a lot of hard use, burning 24/7 for 8 months of the year. The controls, handles, and top loading lid and hinges had taken a bit of a beating due to all of the loading every few hours.

Burning the lower grade coal means the stove hardware will see a lot more activity over the course of the day, as opposed to the anthracite guys who can have a load last 8 hours or longer.

If you're using it for serious home heat like we were, you'll need to accept that that nice big beautiful glass window is going to take some soot - but if you're really looking for heat, the pretty glass window won't be as important to your wife in the long run. Keeping the side dampers open will help the air wash system of the TLC to work better, but it's not a cure-all.

Finally, absolutely make sure you get an MPD and Barometric damper with the TLC - this is going to give you much greater control over how you burn.

Burning sub-bit, we get about 3 or 4 hours out of a hod of coal before needing to bank and hot load. Sub zero weather sees us burning wide open, and I'll pack it with a double hod load to get that length.

To accommodate the double hod, we added an extra row of firebricks above the existing ones to stack/bank the load higher.

Whenever you load, either hot or cold, make sure you get a good bank to one side, leaving about a 1/4 of the grate area with a coal depth of no more than one inch, build your wood fire over that side.

When hot loading, we have to allow our loads to burn down to about the last 30 minutes of the load to make sure all of the gas has been catalyzed from the old load. We then add some wood over the embers and allow it to get burning, and then top load and bank the new load on the opposite side of the burning embers and wood.

Depending on the gas content of your coal, I will say ABSOLUTELY DO NOT!!! allow your wood fire to go out when doing your hot load. Doing so will allow the hot embers from the old burn to catalyze the gasses from the new load in the absence of flame - you can get some MASSIVE puffbacks when the stove 'kicks' (reignites). There are some emergency techniques I've developed over the years to deal with this occurrence, and save yourself from an imminent puffback - but this response is getting quite long. I answered your PM with my email address if you want to know more.

My final thought on the TLC is that it is not as efficient as our stoves designed strictly for coal. I lost quite a bit more heat up the chimney with the TLC. While my Warm Morning and SF 250 stove temps will be at 500, the stack temp will only be around 125. With the TLC, my stove temp may be at 500, but my stack temp will be around 250/275 - that's a lot of extra heat going up the chimney. It's due to the TLC being designed for wood as well, which requires hotter stack temps.

If you get the TLC, practice with very small loads first (1/2 hod), until you understand how your coal burns in that stove.

The TLC can be a good stove for you depending on your needs and your coal, it is good looking, and does what it does well for how it was designed (coal & wood), but it might not be my first choice. For serious burning of bit-for-heat in a modern coal stove, if I were going to buy something new, these days I would only look at DS Machines.

Keep in mind, all new stoves are designed/rated for burning anthracite - so you'll need to calculate this into your purchase equation.

If you've already chosen a stove, I hope what you have is working well for you.

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