Anyone Burn Wood Along With Coal

Title says it all .in a hand fired stove.

I have both a wood stove and a coal stove in the same house. I enjoy them both for different reasons, and they both do a marvelous job of heating my home. Did you have a specific question?

kytara7 wrote:Title says it all .in a hand fired stove.

You mean both at the same time in the same stove? Yes...I tried it a few times. All the wood does is screw up the coal fire.

with a good coal burning stove its simply not necessary but for the few who happen to have an endless supply of quality hardwood delivered free to them.

Yes--what IS the question???????????

freetown fred wrote:Yes--what IS the question???????????

I think he means burn wood and coal together. I've heard of some that will supplement a wood fire with coal at night so there would be a fire left in the morning to get a wood fire going on again. Other than extending the burn time of a wood fire occasionally, I don't see using them together very practical. Like Rob said. Why screw up a coal fire with wood hahaha.

Aahhhhhh, gotcha. DITTO:)

Yes that is what I meant burning them together.I was wondering if it wood screw anit up and if you need a quick blast of heat wood you use the to get it.Thanks

kytara7 wrote:Yes that is what I meant burning them together.I was wondering if it wood screw anit up and if you need a quick blast of heat wood you use the to get it.Thanks

Personally I think throwing wood on top a coal fire makes a mess. I think a better solution is to give her more primary air and let her heat up

Yup,

I burn both wood and stove coal in a Yukon Eagle furnace that I use on weekends. To heat the house on a Friday 5pm arrival, I pile in 50 lbs of coal and then create a wood fire on top -- The wood fire heats the house immediately and eventually starts the coal going, er um, about 11pm. The next day I burn coal. I have to stop adding coal and let it die down a bit on Sunday start the switch over to wood. I don't want to leave at 5 am on Monday with a big coal fire. Friday 5pm I shake, shake, lift and sieve the remaining cold coal with a pitch fork and then add the new coal, wood and repeat.

I have a stoker boiler in my detached shed with the furnace heat exchanger set up. We have a 2x sided fireplace in our house I retrofitted with ceramic sealing doors and firebricks that actually throws really nice heat now w/ a wood fire, I find my self using it quite often in winter because the heat is so nice compared to the forced air and I have tons of free wood from the oct snowstorm we had here a couple yrs ago. Once were through our free wood however I will probably use it much less, the ease of the stoker in no way compares to the wood fire hassle (firewood mess, shoveling ashes, cleaning fireplace windows etc.).

I have a bit of well seasoned locust on hand. I've found that a few pieces of this on top of a well established coal fire will give several hours of enhanced heat output, and some low dancing flames. I would imagine similar results could be received using other very high BTU hardwoods like osage orange, white oak, etc.

Softwoods will stain the window glass in no time, and contribute to creosote buildup.

I start my fires with wood. But that's as far as that goes.

When I had an old Surdiac hopper coal-only coal stove, I found I could extend the burn times by using pieces of kindling (small pieces) in the hopper. When the coal burned down enough, the wood would ignite and keep the coal going a bit longer, but it was a trick that worked only with that model of stove.

Today I burn a lot of wood, but in the shoulder seasons: fall and spring. In the dead of winter I switch to coal when it is really cold out and I need the heat.

realsquare wrote:Yup,

I burn both wood and stove coal in a Yukon Eagle furnace that I use on weekends. To heat the house on a Friday 5pm arrival, I pile in 50 lbs of coal and then create a wood fire on top -- The wood fire heats the house immediately and eventually starts the coal going, er um, about 11pm. The next day I burn coal. I have to stop adding coal and let it die down a bit on Sunday start the switch over to wood. I don't want to leave at 5 am on Monday with a big coal fire. Friday 5pm I shake, shake, lift and sieve the remaining cold coal with a pitch fork and then add the new coal, wood and repeat.

I too have a Yukon Eagle (Klondike) furnace. It's the primary heat for our 2500sqft ranch in the U.P. of Michigan. I will start with a wood fire to get a hot bed of embers, then pile on the coal. I usually burn a couple of days, and after several shakedowns, I'll burn wood for half a day to again create a quick hot bed of embers that also burns off any of the unburned anthracite coal. Every once in awhile, after a shakedown, the new coal pile is slow to get up to speed. So, I simply (and gently) place a few small pieces of wood on top of the pile. What that does is get the furnace temps up to good warming heat very quickly, and the additional updraft caused by the wood burning gets the coal pile going bottom to top. Works well for me.