New to Sub Bit

Just started burning coal and sub bit is all that we have here so the question is have burned wood when I was a kid so know about creosote buildup in pipe and catching fire so am getting the same kind of buildup with the coal looks just like creosote but have not burned but just enough wood to get the coal started so will this catch fire and burn like creosote

The chimney buildup from coal is mostly fly ash (which will not burn), and carbon (soot)

which could burn ,but it needs a temperature of over 1200* to do so.

In a normal chimney these temperatures are usually not this high, mostly at 500*

and less.The 500* point is usually reached only with an unlimited draft and a

large fire with a lot of volatiles being generated by the newly added coal on

top of a hot fire.Even the coal tar oils need over a 1000* heat to burn.

I would clean out the chimney periodically, mainly to keep a good

draft,because these deposits also slow the flow of gases up the chimney.

BigBarney

This table lists the temperatures where these fuels ignite.

Notice that CO also takes 1128 to ignite,this is the minimum needed in the

secondary air combustion to utilize these gases for more heating efficiency.

Fuel or Chemical Temperature
(oC) (oF)
Acetaldehyde 175 347
Acetone 465 869
Acetylene 305 581
Anthracite - glow point 600 1112
Benzene 560 1040
Bituminous coal - glow point 454 850
Butane 420 788
Carbon 700 1292
Carbon - bi sulfide 149 300
Carbon monoxide 609 1128
Charcoal 349 660
Coal-tar oil 580 1076
Coke 700 1292
Cyclohexane 245 473
Diethyl ether 160 320
Ethane 515 959
Ethylene 490 914
Ehtyl Alcohol 365 689
Fuel Oil No.1 210 410
Fuel Oil No.2 256 494
Fuel Oil No.4 262 505
Heavy hydrocarbons 750 1382
Hydrogen 500 932
Gas oil 336 637
Gasoline 280 536
Gun Cotton 221 430
Kerosene 295 563
Isobutane 462 864
Isobutene 465 869
Isooctane 447 837
Isopentane 420 788
Isopropyl Alcohol 399 750
Light gas 600 1112
Light hydrocarbons 650 1202
Lignite - glow point 526 979
Methane (Natural Gas) 580 1076
Methyl Alcohol 385 725
Naphtha 550 1022
Neoheaxane 425 797
Neopentane 450 842
Nitro-glycerine 254 490
n-Butane 405 761
n-Heptane 215 419
n-Hexane 225 437
n-Octane 220 428
n-Pentane 260 500
n-Pentene 298 569
Oak Wood - dry 482 900
Peat 227 440
Petroleum 400 752
Pine Wood - dry 427 800
Phosphorous, amorphous 260 500
Phosphorous, transparent 49 120
Production gas 750 1382
Propane 470 878
Propylene 458 856
p-Xylene 530 986
Rifle Powder 288 550
Toluene 535 995
Semi anthracite coal 400 752
Semi bituminous coal - glow point 527 980
Styrene 490 914
Sulphur 243 470
Wood 300 572
Xylene 463 867

Ted

thanks for the info now I know had been planning on doing a cleaning every so often any way thought that the buildup I am seeing might be due to the fact with the outside temps are in the 50s in the day and 40s at night and keeping the stove shut down so tight might have been why am seeing the buildup

no real danger, nothing like wood-tar creosote. You can light the soot buildup on fire by creating a hot fire and opening the ashpan, the soot will ignite and burn, but, it is much lower intensity, it goes out as soon as the roaring fire below it is calmed, and is NOTHING like burning creosote from a wood fire. When I used my hand-fired stove I would wait until it was raining or the wind was blowing strongly and burn out the chimney about once/month; it is nothing like a "chimney fire". the soot would start glowing a little bit, and, after it burned down to 1/4" it would just go out. rarely if ever would I even be able to get the chimney itself to ignite, with the ashpan door wide open on a bed of glowing coals and the stove pipe temp around 900, it was almost impossible to actually get the soot inside the stack to glow, mostly any buildup was blown out from the heat and draft generated by the coalbed and what had started glowing in the stovepipe. don't worry about buildup from bit or subbit coals, it's almost completely non-flammable and even if you try to "burn the chimney" out you won't have a "chimney fire", but you will have a bunch of little soot balls down wind from your stack (do it when it's windy so they blow away or when it's raining/snowing).

What are you heating with -- Burning coal in?

Where did you find the appliance?

Are you going to the mine to get it?

sting I have a Harman tlc2000 got it new from a store in town that was not going to handle the Harman line no longer got it at a 25% discount so was happy with the price I was going to go to the mine 200 miles from here but with the cost of fuel it is just about as cheep to buy it from the local dealer so that is what I have been doing so far with the outside temps havent been able to run much of a fire in it with out turning the house into a sauna but so far am quite happy with the heat better than gas

That was a good deal

I am still trolling for parts or? for a wet system to use near Fairbanks