smokeless coal question

michaelgordon

So i tried my smokeless coal for the first time last night, i had let my logs burn down to embers and then put about 20pcs of ovals in the stove. They caught, lit and started glowing with the bottom vent about half way open but the temperature didnt really rise on the flue thermometer . I have read how much hiotter coal burns than logs but after an hour or so i put another log on and this then started raising the temp again.

Was i not using enough coal or doing something wrong?

Dieselman

Your not supposed to use both so i wonder was there lots of ash blocking the the lower bed?

Start again clean it out so maximum air can rush underneath and burn, close the top vents and now see how it burns?

suki1964

As above. You need air to the bottom. I open all the vents till I get a nice roaring fire then shut the top off completely and the bottom to about a finger width. That will kill the flames down letting the coals glow red hot for a couple of hours. 20 pieces might just be too small a fire. I give at least a half scuttle to get going then add smaller amounts as the day goes on

alleycat`

My experience with my particular stove is that smokeless doesn't burn as hot as wood but it lasts a lot longer at a stable temperature in terms of re-loading.

In real terms i find smokeless holds the stove at 300 on the stove pipe thermometer very steadily for protracted periods of time.

Wood, and the heatlogs tend to overshoot 300 up to about 400/450 very easily but then falls back until re-load time and it does the same again.

It might be a quirk of my particular stove/chimney but that's how i find it.

On an evening i prefer to use wood as i have the time to tend the fire.

On a cold w/e I'd switch to smokeless as i don't have as much time to be looking after it.

So far i've used zero smokeless this year as the weather hasn't really called for it.

michaelgordon

thanks, thats what i saw as well, it held steady at about 250-280 the coal didnt really increas the temp just kept it steady but i couldnt really feel it in the room, maybe as the room was already upto temp but when i put the log on again i felt the temp rise and again logs the temp goes up and down.

Not as easy as i first imagined it would be this. I thought i was just going to pile logs in add a bit of coal in and let it burn and that would be it, not topping up with more and more.

Another question are bigger logs better to use, i currently have mine cut to about 4 inch cubed and use about two to three an hour but if i cut them to about 6 or 7 inches would the burn longer better and end up using less

alleycat`

Larger logs have less surface area to their relative size so in theory they should burn slower than the equivalent volume of smaller logs.

It is harder to get larger logs to the same level of dryness, again due to the surface area, so they'd probably burn less well generally.

I tend to use smaller pieces whilst getting it going and then swap to larger pieces.

Smaller stoves have smaller fire boxes so you spend more time feeding them.

suki1964

I'm led to believe that smokeless does burn at a lower temp then wood which is why I open my stove up till its red hot and then close her down. I can raise the room temp from 18 to 23/25 within an hour and keep it at that easily. I lit the stove at 3pm tonight and have just walked in to a very cosy 24 and have just added two logs to keep her lit till bedtime. Room won't get any colder then 19 by the morning. I've also opened all the doors leading off the lounge so in effect my stove is keeping 1000 sq ft warm enough to wear t - shirts. Outside temp is 5oC

A._Badger

suki1964 wrote: »

I'm led to believe that smokeless does burn at a lower temp then wood which is why I open my stove up till its red hot and then close her down. I can raise the room temp from 18 to 23/25 within an hour and keep it at that easily. I lit the stove at 3pm tonight and have just walked in to a very cosy 24 and have just added two logs to keep her lit till bedtime. Room won't get any colder then 19 by the morning. I've also opened all the doors leading off the lounge so in effect my stove is keeping 1000 sq ft warm enough to wear t - shirts. Outside temp is 5oC

Sorry, Suki - smokeless burns hotter than wood - quite a lot hotter., It's one of the reasons coal and coke replaced wood in the first place.

suki1964

A._Badger wrote: »

Sorry, Suki - smokeless burns hotter than wood - quite a lot hotter., It's one of the reasons coal and coke replaced wood in the first place.

I can't be right all the time :rotfl:

I'm sure I read on here something about smokeless meant to burn at lower temps or something. Guess I translated it wrong

But I'm human.....sometimes :rotfl:

A._Badger

alleycat` wrote: »

My experience with my particular stove is that smokeless doesn't burn as hot as wood but it lasts a lot longer at a stable temperature in terms of re-loading.

In real terms i find smokeless holds the stove at 300 on the stove pipe thermometer very steadily for protracted periods of time.

Wood, and the heatlogs tend to overshoot 300 up to about 400/450 very easily but then falls back until re-load time and it does the same again.

It might be a quirk of my particular stove/chimney but that's how i find it.

On an evening i prefer to use wood as i have the time to tend the fire.

On a cold w/e I'd switch to smokeless as i don't have as much time to be looking after it.

So far i've used zero smokeless this year as the weather hasn't really called for it.

I think you are right - it's a quirk of the stove. As I replied to Suki - the facts are that smokeless burns hotter than wood (loads of references if you Google them, I'm sure) - but not in an appliance that is better designed for wood burning!

My own stove (a Hunter) is the other way round. It doesn't burn wood as well as it burns smokeless but I still burn wood when it's milder as I like the smell when you open the door to reload and the flame pattern.