Burning smokeless fuel in a stove

Leif

I have a multi-fuel stove, so tried some smokeless fuel, in the form of hard black lumps, like coal but clearly pressed into shape. Anyway, it was a nightmare to get them to burn, and when they did burn, they burnt very slowly with almost no heat. The next morning there were still lumps burning in the stove. When I opened the stove door, loads of heat was produced just like the coal fire at the local indian restaurant, but with the door closed, almost no heat, and the stove itself was not as hot as expected. What was I doing wrong?

muckybutt

Probably not enough air going into the stove, I use Anthracite and that with the vents fully open will burn away quite merrily at about 300 - 350 F, for overnight burn I shut down the vents and then slightly open just enough to keep a trickle of air going through the stove.

I stoke it up around 10pm still red hot next morning, all I do then is open vents fully - pop a few bits of kindling on and away it goes again.

Leif

Thanks. I will try again with the vent wide open.

A._Badger

You might want to experiment with different fuels, which vary widely in the ease with which they light and how they burn.

Anthracite is the hardest to get lit and, I find, doesn't burn in my stove at all well. Do you know what your smokeless is called?

suki1964

Leif wrote: »

Thanks. I will try again with the vent wide open.

I leave mine open only till the stove is hot, then close her down.

Don't poke at the coals too much either as they tend to dissolve whereas left alone they will continue to glow red for hours

Leif

A._Badger wrote: »

You might want to experiment with different fuels, which vary widely in the ease with which they light and how they burn.

Anthracite is the hardest to get lit and, I find, doesn't burn in my stove at all well. Do you know what your smokeless is called?

It is Brazier multipurpose smokeless fuel.

As an aside, I discovered a local post office, in a nearby small village, with large bags of kindling for £4, much cheaper than elsewhere. So that should help get it going. And a local tree surgeon does a huge pile of wood for £70, and I think I prefer wood. It is cleaner to handle.

Leif

Thanks all, leaving the vent open for an hour worked, but I don't like the stuff. I'm sure it is cheaper than wood, but it is filthy stuff, not as attractive to look at, and produces huge amounts of ash that I can't put on the garden. Did someone somewhere say the fumes corrode the liner?

A._Badger

Leif wrote: »

Thanks all, leaving the vent open for an hour worked, but I don't like the stuff. I'm sure it is cheaper than wood, but it is filthy stuff, not as attractive to look at, and produces huge amounts of ash that I can't put on the garden. Did someone somewhere say the fumes corrode the liner?

There have been some claims that high sulphur fumes from some brands of smokeless can corrode stainless liners. The Solid Fuel Association told me that all the products sold in the UK by its members (which is just about all of the brands you will find on sale) 'conform to sulphur standards'. But who knows what that means?

Then again, woodsmoke has its 'issues' too.

The main advantage of smokeless (other than that it's smokeless, therefore permitted in controlled areas) is that it produces a lot more heat than wood and, unlike bituminous coal, doesn't clog a stove's passageways and fill the liner with soot.

It's unattractive to burn, compared to wood, I agree.

suki1964

The ash is a nightmare. I'm lucky that we have enough ground to lose it in, I'd hate to have to find a space to cool it before bagging and binning

But the heat, well for me that's the compromise. Sometimes when hubby is home, he has the stove so hot I'm close to fainting, was 28 in here the other night, - 3 out, but when I'm in control, one scuttle will keep this room 7x6 metres and a staircase to a nice 21oC, the rooms off it to about 16-17

grahamc2003

I've been burning soot in my stove over the last couple of weeks - probably quite close to smokeless fuel - in fact, I've often wondered if those smokeless compressed nuggets are simply compressed soot mixed with glue.

It's difficult to burn, because it has to be very hot to get going. It also burns in a strange way, with no flame (usually) - it just starts glowing reddish yellow for quite a long time until it's all converted to co2. Completely smokeless of course. Certainly slows down a lot the rate I feed logs into the stove.

suki1964

You are burning what the chimney sweep pulls out of your chimney?

Phurnacite which is the smokeless eggs is a mix of anthracite dust and cement