I have been burning a Godin Grand Round coal stove for three years. I bought it used from the original owner who purchased it and used it for twenty five years. I replaced the door seal and the mica in the door, other than that I haven’t done anything to it. I am heating a 2000 square foot house that has an open cathedral ceiling living room area. The stove is in the kitchen because that is where I had flue access. The kitchen, dining area and living room are all open so the air moves easily. A ceiling fan in the living room helps move the heat a well.
I use three tons of nut coal a year and it is almost enough to get me through the whole season. On the shoulders of the heating season I burn wood in it, or us my Monitor. So, basically I am heating our Adirondack mountain home with about $715 of coal a year, with a less than a cord of hard wood on top of it.
The parts I bought were from a company in Canada. I had to call them as their website is not set up to order Godin parts from directly. You can check out their website at:
http://www.drolet.ca
It took me a while to learn how to burn the stove having been “raised” on burning wood. Basically, you start the stove with wood and as some coals start to build up, pour in about quart of coal. I leave the door open a bit to increase the draft. You could shut the door and open the draft nob, but then you have to turn it down again when the coal gets burning so as not to over heat the stove. When the coal/wood mixture really takes off, I add about another quart or two of coal, wait about 10 minutes for it to get roaring, then I fill the stove up about 3/4 of the way to the stove pipe. I only have one exhaust pipe on the back of my stove. I then close the door and let it cook. Before going to bed at night I add more coal to bring it up to the 3/4 level again.
I have not found shaking the grate to be of much use. Sometime I do it, but as others have mentioned, the clinkers/ash build up. Every morning, before adding more coal. I open the door, open the grate and gently shovel the ash and clinkers out until I start to see and hear the ashes start to drop down. Basically I create a void in the stove above the grate and below the burning coal. Once I see the ash starting to cave in, or I see the glow of the burning coal, I stop. I
ALWAYS wear a fireplace glove on my “weak hand” as I shovel with my other hand. Be very careful doing this as sometimes if you try for one more shovel full of ash, you will get a cave in where got coal drops down and may roll out the front of the stove - not a good thing.
After shoveling the ash and cleaning up with a whisk broom and a dust pan, I then add the fresh coal on top of the burning coal left over from last night. I usually don’t touch it again until the evening before bed when I top it off again.