Coalpail.com Forum

Just got done helping Duengeon Master (Rich) fix his DWH, and while we were in the basement, he showed me how he burns Bit in his Harman. He loaded up the Harman with BIG Egg chunks of Bit, then when he tried to close the door, it wouldn't close. Closer examination showed the door gasket picked that exact time to fall off. So with the door OPEN, with a load of FRESH Bit smoldering on the coals, we went about reinstalling the door gasket. He held the gasket with gloves while I smeared furnace cement on the back of it. I was choking on the fumes coming out the open door, but we got the repairs done quickly, and had the door shut within a couple minutes.
But as it turns out, thats Wayyyyy too long to stand above an open stove door, full of Bit.
Believe it or not, his neighbors do not complain about the smell

Time to take a shower....

Yikes
Yeah, a fresh big load of soft coal on a relatively hot bed of coals can get real crazy real fast with uncontrolled air because at that stage it will burn with over and under the coal bed air. Once soft coal gets going good it's not easy to calm it down until volatiles burn off.

Nice - that's what it's all about -- coal burners helping coal burners. We gotta start our own wave ... like when riding the motorcycles ... always wave to fellow bikers. We need a chunk of egg to bolt to the roof of our vehicles so we know who to wave to!

Chris, this just proves no good deed goes unpunished.

Too bad you didn't get the door closed, untill the Bit coal got to really gassing-off, then with the smoke pouring out of the gap from the missing door gasket, you open the door...

AND....

WHOOSH !! Backfire !! flame belches out of the stove 2-3', you lose all the hair off your hands, arms, eyebrows and eyelashes gone.. Moustache and beard singed..

yeah that Bit coal really puts out the smoke from the volitiles. And the smoke is very flamable.

Greg L

LsFarm wrote:Too bad you didn't get the door closed, untill the Bit coal got to really gassing-off, then with the smoke pouring out of the gap from the missing door gasket, you open the door...
AND....
WHOOSH !! Backfire !! flame belches out of the stove 2-3', you lose all the hair off your hands, arms, eyebrows and eyelashes gone.. Moustache and beard singed..
yeah that Bit coal really puts out the smoke from the volitiles. And the smoke is very flamable.
Greg L

Wow.... Sounds like you have done that before?

SMITTY wrote:: We need a chunk of egg to bolt to the roof of our vehicles so we know who to wave to!

It would have to be anthracite as the bit would disintegrate by the end of the first road trip. We could meet for coffee and tell bit horror-stories.

LsFarm wrote:you open the door...

AND....

WHOOSH !! Backfire !! flame belches out of the stove 2-3', you lose all the hair off your hands, arms, eyebrows and eyelashes gone.. Moustache and beard singed..

That won't happen unless you're firing the stove/furnace incorrectly....oh wait that's happened to me too when I'm in a hurry and load up a stove with too much coal too quickly and the neighbors think my house is on fire from all the smoke coming out the chimney
BTW...Better chance of having this happen when using smaller varying sizes of soft coal especially if there's fines mixed in.

Thanks for the furnace cement. The door gasket is good as new. There was no danger of a backfire as the door was open too much and let in too much air for that to happen. P.S. the oil line is still dry and the smell of oil is dissapering. Too bad it let out too much smoke. Come on over we'el throw your clothes in the washer and have a cold one while the ladies cook their dead fish.

Duengeon master wrote:There was no danger of a backfire as the door was open too much and let in too much air for that to happen.

You're right, if there's plenty of air going in above the coal bed it shouldn't happen.

ssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh he doesn't know that. let's let him think the house was about to blow up!

Duengeon master wrote:ssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh he doesn't know that. let's let him think the house was about to blow up!

He's never gonna invite you over again!

rockwood wrote:

Duengeon master wrote:ssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh he doesn't know that. let's let him think the house was about to blow up!

He's never gonna invite you over again!

shhhhhhhhhh Nobody likes a rat. What he don't know won't hurt him.