How to efficiently burn coal

Sammy-Jo_2

Please ignore my ignorance but have recently started to use coal (new experience due to a house move) and need some advice. Is there any difference to putting a lot of coal on once the fire is established or should we be putting it on a smaller amount at regular intervals? We dont need it to burn through the night just from about 4pm until 10 ish. We are using normal house coal. Any advice would be gratefully received.

grahamc2003

If you want to burn coal (or other fuels) efficiently, then don't burn them in an open fire, burn them in a multi-fuel stove. That way, you get about seven times the benefit, both by burning much more of the fuel, and stopping much of the warmed air going up the chimney.

A._Badger

grahamc2003 wrote: »

If you want to burn coal (or other fuels) efficiently, then don't burn them in an open fire, burn them in a multi-fuel stove. That way, you get about seven times the benefit, both by burning much more of the fuel, and stopping much of the warmed air going up the chimney.

Perhaps. But have you calculated how long it would take to amortize the cost of a stove plus installation?

grahamc2003

A._Badger wrote: »

Perhaps. But have you calculated how long it would take to amortize the cost of a stove plus installation?

No, because that wasn't the question.

A._Badger

grahamc2003 wrote: »

No, because that wasn't the question.

A question to which you offered no useful answer.

andyrpsmith

I burn house coal and wood on an open fire. If you need max heat then build up about three layers of coal waiting until the first layer is well alight (burning red). I usually start the fire with wood and then add a few pieces of coal and build a single layer then add a few logs. Logs burn with about 1/4 the heat output and often with a smaller flame than house coal, I add a few pieces of coal to keep a large flame going. It's true that most of the heat goes up the chimney.

A._Badger

Sammy-Jo wrote: »

Please ignore my ignorance but have recently started to use coal (new experience due to a house move) and need some advice. Is there any difference to putting a lot of coal on once the fire is established or should we be putting it on a smaller amount at regular intervals? We dont need it to burn through the night just from about 4pm until 10 ish. We are using normal house coal. Any advice would be gratefully received.

It's an interesting question and I'm not quite sure of the answer. I do know that back in the days of steam engines, the instruction was to fire them 'little and often' (there's an amusing video about this).

The theory was that smoke given off when you put too much on at one go contained volatile compounds that would be burned if you fired more regularly.

My instinct would be to go by that principle and adds lumps every now and then, unless you are trying to bank a fire for overnight slumbering.

Maybe some one who has researched this might come along with a better answer.

grahamc2003

A._Badger wrote: »

A question to which you offered no useful answer.

I answered the request for any advice which would be gratefully received.

The thread title is 'how to burn coal efficiently' - and I gave an answer to that.

Badger, have you ever asked yourself why you go round every stove thread trying to cause an argument?

A._Badger

grahamc2003 wrote: »

I answered the request for any advice which would be gratefully received.

The thread title is 'how to burn coal efficiently' - and I gave an answer to that.

Badger, have you ever asked yourself why you go round every stove thread trying to cause an argument?

And have you ever paused to read what someone actually wrote before barging in with inappropriate 'advice'?

The OP was quite clear in what she was asking.

prunus

Sammy-jo

If you ever decide to think about changing what seems to be an open fire for something more efficient, there are a few things to bear in mind.

Coal burns from the bottom up so needs a draft from underneath. You control a coal fire by throttling back the draft to the degree you want, or, turning it virtually right off to put the fire into slumber mode.

Open fires do lose a lot of heat up the chimney. A good enclosed stove, coal, wood, or multi, properly installed, does not. A coal stove ought to be tubular in shape to burn economically - the draft from below is concentrated in a small area and fuel can be piled up in a tower shape above it.

I once had a lecture on this from a Scandinavian man who brought his coal stove over to England. His tall and narrow stove comfortably heated an old barn he had converted into an office and he was adamant that it did so more cheaply than burning wood. It looked good, too. No window but rather ornate pictures on the cast iron.

I'm posting this, really, because your post has prompted me to consider a coal stove in my place. Chopping wood is harder work than paying a coalman.

Munketytunkety

Little and often. But the advice about a stove is good, I use a fraction of the fuel now I switched to a stove.