Adding Pieces of Stove Coal to Woodcoal Stove as Residucal

I have a vermont casting stove inside my foreplace opening and it has a custom piece to connect to opening of flue,

the stove is good for burning wood - has a damper control and glass door as well as a screen that can replace door to get the real effect of a fireplace. my question is when its very cold I burn wood to supplement heat.

I have access to purchase some stove coal the big fist sized coal - the stove can be used for both wood\coal - I have the coal components but frankly it a large contraption and would require me to reasseble the stove - what I would like to do is when I have a really hot bed of wood that has burned down to basically coals is to place two strips of the grate on top and put a few pieces of stove coal to see if they will burn through the night to bridge the gap of contantly feeding the stove while still getting it to heat through the night.

I would probably make sure to keep flue opening wide open and close the door on the stove but havent tries this. I know the stove has port hole opening about 2=3inches above the bottom of the stove to allow air into stove for the purpost of coal.

anyone tried stove coal on top of their wood embers in small amounts to supplement heat? this stove is rated for coal\wood but not sure in the way I would like to try it.

So you are saying you have shaker grates for the stove, but don't currently have them installed? Maybe you could install them and try using coal exclusively. You might like it .. Using any coal in a stove with stationary grates will lead to issues. Coal produces 10 times the amount of ash as wood. That ash needs to be shaken out, otherwise it will likely clog the stationary grate and start to inhibit the wood fire.

I would install the shaker grates. You can leave them in for wood burning too. Just be sure that you keep ash cleared underneath them and keep a little combustion air coming in underneath to keep them cool while burning wood. A hot, neglected wood fire will destroy the grates. I've seen it happen.

Hi jimbo970, good to hear from you. I have a V.C. Vigilant 2310 that is a true coal stove so I could burn wood but it does a better job with coal. What model do you have? Why not set it up for coal and and then throw some wood in when you feel like it. If you want to leave it as is then keep in mind, air from beneath the grates and a deep coal bed or the stove will go out on you and then you have a hot mess of ashes and chunks of partially burnt coal to dispose of...relighting is frustrating with out starting over.
How about some pictures!

michaelanthony wrote:Hi jimbo970, good to hear from you. I have a V.C. Vigilant 2310 that is a true coal stove so I could burn wood but it does a better job with coal. What model do you have? Why not set it up for coal and and then throw some wood in when you feel like it. If you want to leave it as is then keep in mind, air from beneath the grates and a deep coal bed or the stove will go out on you and then you have a hot mess of ashes and chunks of partially burnt coal to dispose of...relighting is frustrating with out starting over.
How about some pictures!

my stove in living room is a vc resolute I have a magnum stoker in basement - would love to add some stove coal to resolute after a hot wood burn something to provide heat overnight or on very cold days

harmon keeps up unless day temps are below freezing