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Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Thu. Feb. 22, 2018 8:38 pm
by michaelanthony
Hi all! I've had the pleasure of burning stove, 'nut, and pea size coal in my Home Sparkle 12. A couple of days ago the outside temps climbed into the 40's and yesterday 60 something up here in central Maine. I didn't want to shut the base burner down or have a stove full of ash and unburnt coal so I topped it off with about 10 lbs of pea on Tuesday morning and when I came home 10 hours later the fire was still strong, burning slow, and easy to bring back Tuesday night. I stayed with the pea and I must say it pokes down like butter and shakes as smooth. Flossing the grates are a lot easier with no big chunks to move so the ash can fall. The pea burns down to baby powder like the other sizes with very little if any falling though the grates. I do need to add coal in 2 increments instead of one big load but the extra 10 minutes allows me to type this post...and in the a.m. I have less coal to replace before I head out. The stove is putting out awesome heat if needed and idles down like a '74 Monte Carlo.
If you guys with the old stoves have any, try it you might like it!

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 5:01 am
by michaelanthony
This is after 8 hours, the fire is mature and would go another 10 hours if needed. I'll shake and poke for 10 seconds and top it off with 5 lbs or so and head out for the day.

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 5:43 am
by lsayre
Nice! This post gives me hope that I may be able to utilize the same pea coal that I burn in my AHS Coal Gun in my DS ComfortMax 75.

How deep a bed do you load in when you are burning pea?

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 5:49 am
by Lightning
Experimenting with coal sizing is fun. You might have seen that I use a blanket of pea and buckwheat size over a load of stove size when temps are mild outside. I can get the stove to go from nearly zero heat output to blast furnace in about 15 minutes. It's the best of both worlds.

Looks great man,
Keep up the good work! ;)

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 6:23 am
by scalabro
This has not worked out well for me in the past. On warm days it slows the fire too much, causing the draft to drop which results in a CO detector screaming.

I find that CLEAN stove size running all closed up in base mode, with the internal check damper open, will result in barrel temps below 200*F.

If this is still too much heat I can run in DD but then the pile eventually cools off and starts to go out.

I’m shut down now as temps all week will have highs in the mid to upper 40’s. Burning coal with the windows open wastes coal. With these OAT’s burning a gallon or so of oil makes more sense.....for me.

🤯

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 8:18 am
by mntbugy
Salt and Peppering the top of fire bed works good. I put too much on and had to poke 3 holes down to grates for it to breathe. Stove can run low and slow.

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 4:48 pm
by michaelanthony
lsayre wrote:
Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 5:43 am
Nice! This post gives me hope that I may be able to utilize the same pea coal that I burn in my AHS Coal Gun in my DS ComfortMax 75.

How deep a bed do you load in when you are burning pea?
My lined pot is 10 inches across and about 14 inches deep. With 4 - 6 inches of fire in the pot I thow in 3 - 4 inches of fresh, wait a cup of coffee, then another 3 - 4 inches of fresh. I don't need to fill 100%, 80% keeps me in the 12 hour burn routine.

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 4:50 pm
by michaelanthony
Lightning wrote:
Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 5:49 am
Experimenting with coal sizing is fun. You might have seen that I use a blanket of pea and buckwheat size over a load of stove size when temps are mild outside. I can get the stove to go from nearly zero heat output to blast furnace in about 15 minutes. It's the best of both worlds.

Looks great man,
Keep up the good work! ;)
Thanks Lee, I agree it's fun to see what works. Like you said the response is fun to watch when a load of pea gets going! The blues seem more dynamic.

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 5:09 pm
by michaelanthony
scalabro wrote:
Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 6:23 am
This has not worked out well for me in the past. On warm days it slows the fire too much, causing the draft to drop which results in a CO detector screaming.

I find that CLEAN stove size running all closed up in base mode, with the internal check damper open, will result in barrel temps below 200*F.

If this is still too much heat I can run in DD but then the pile eventually cools off and starts to go out.

I’m shut down now as temps all week will have highs in the mid to upper 40’s. Burning coal with the windows open wastes coal. With these OAT’s burning a gallon or so of oil makes more sense.....for me.

🤯
I won't see 40's for few more weeks...Scott if I lived alone I wouldn't have a machine in my basement that burns oil. ;)

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 5:25 pm
by joeq
Micheal, you had a 60° day in Feb. in Maine?! Did you find my mushrooms? :lol:
Freaky, ain't it? We had that here too. I hope people don't start gettin sick from the temp swings. I let mine go out like Scotty said, (the other day), but last night the temps were to drop into the 20s, and I couldn't stand looking at a dark stove, so I refired with Matchlite. Takes less than a couple hours to get back on line, so I started with LA stove, but 1/2 way up, topped off with nut. And as I/we've all shared in the past, nut will go longer than stove. Now you're saying you had good luck with pea? I tried pea in my 111 at 1st, but they would just fall through the grate, into the ash pan. But I'm guessin you have half a pot of nut ( singing...Chock full of nut, makes heavenly coffee?.... why did I think of that? Never mind :shifty: )
So with the coal bed burning hot, you drop the pea on top, and it'll go longer than nut? Lee says he uses rice, and if I remember right, some-one else said they use their fines to cover up the coal bed. I don't have any pea, but have a bunch of TSC fines that I'll give a try. Thanks for posting. :yes:

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 5:29 pm
by michaelanthony
joeq wrote:
Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 5:25 pm
Micheal, you had a 60° day in Feb. in Maine?! Did you find my mushrooms? :lol:
Freaky, ain't it? We had that here too. I hope people don't start gettin sick from the temp swings. I let mine go out like Scotty said, (the other day), but last night the temps were to drop into the 20s, and I couldn't stand looking at a dark stove, so I refired with Matchlite. Takes less than a couple hours to get back on line, so I started with LA stove, but 1/2 way up, topped off with nut. And as I/we've all shared in the past, nut will go longer than stove. Now you're saying you had good luck with pea? I tried pea in my 111 at 1st, but they would just fall through the grate, into the ash pan. But I'm guessin you have half a pot of nut ( singing...Chalk full of nut, makes heavenly coffee?.... why did I think of that? Never mind :shifty: )
So with the coal bed burning hot, you drop the pea on top, and it'll go longer than nut? Lee says he uses rice, and if I remember right, some-one else said they use their fines to cover up the coal bed. I don't have any pea, but have a bunch of TSC fines that I'll give a try. Thanks for posting. :yes:
I've been 100% pea since weds. with a nice bed of ash anything is possible!

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 5:42 pm
by joeq
Curious if you ever posted a picture of your grate?

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 5:55 pm
by michaelanthony
joeq wrote:
Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 5:42 pm
Curious if you ever posted a picture of your grate?
I will soon...guttah make a calzone, you know what I'ma taulkin' abouw?

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 6:14 pm
by scalabro
Yo Mikey! How you doin?

We gonna call you “Mikey the pea” from now on, got it? 🤪

Make sure youse keep dem Mano #’s up a bit at nite wit dat pea so’s you don’t check out !!

Ohh!!!

Re: Mikey tried it and liked it!

Posted: Fri. Feb. 23, 2018 6:26 pm
by joeq
And by the way Mikey, your stove pic above looks "really" nice, purrin away up there. NICE. :yes: