Whats the best grade of Coal for overnight Slumbering ?

nande2000

Hi,
I have a SF range cooker with back boiler and I generally only use wood to heat it. For those very cold nights I use a bit of Coal. Question is what grade is best for overnight 'slumbering' ?

It needs to burn as slowly as possible and create as little ash as possible. Many people recommend standard Anthracite, but wonder what other people think about some of the compacted variaties....? Is there a cheaper option to anthracite ?

[Deleted User]

I have only used standard smokeless ovals from the coalman which if you bank up will happily slumber overnight but does leave a lot of ash/clinkers behind...

muckybutt

Anthracite or Phurnacite is the way to go, bank it up well but dont close completely.

A full on slumber burn is not a good idea, you wont get correct combustion of the fuel which will lead to hefty deposits of soot and tar up your chimney, never be tempted to slumber burn wood.

spinningsheep

I know someone who owned a Wamsler solid fuel cooker and they swore by Phurnacite to keep the fire in overnight successfully.i use it in my multifuel stove sometimes and it gives a good overnight burn but LOADS of ash.

Marc32

Hi i personally use Supertherm which is a smokless oval and this will slumber well overnight. If i put some in the stove fresh at 2000, let it burn until 2200 and knock her down for a nightime burn, she is still warm at 0800 and after knocking off the ash there is a little pea size glowing coal here. Great value solid fuel and i would recomend!

s_b

didnt Phurnacite tend to burn hot and burn out grates and fire walls?
im sure i had this problem many years ago when i lived in my cave

Marc32

I have tried Phurnacite and found it really hard to keep slumbering and left a cold moring stove. It only burned about half of the oval and was not a good slumbering fuel imho

A._Badger

s_b wrote: »

didnt Phurnacite tend to burn hot and burn out grates and fire walls?
im sure i had this problem many years ago when i lived in my cave

Phurnacite is regarded by many as the best of the smokeless fuels (it was one of the first, too) but it's woefully expensive. It certainly isn't known for causing damage.

I'm hesitating from commenting more as I don't have a cooker and every appliance is different. If it were me, though, I'd buy small bags of whatever was available locally and experiment till I found what worked best.

suki1964

Marc32 wrote: »

I have tried Phurnacite and found it really hard to keep slumbering and left a cold moring stove. It only burned about half of the oval and was not a good slumbering fuel imho

If its only partially burning theres not enough air supply. Try tweaking the airflow

I prefer anthracite esse for long time burning

nande2000

I wander if there is a wood based alternative? I'd prefer non-fossil fuel, but it needs to burn for at least 8 hrs unaided.

smcqis

fill up with mixture of standard anthracite and phunacite (sp) and put layer of esse on top...works a treat