which is better? Anthracite or home fire ovals

suki1964

I think he's confusing anthracite with pet coke

Been burning anthracite for 5 years and my stove and flue are both sound

km1423

I am relatively new to Anthracite, and hated it using it initially, but now love it.

I add the anthracite (large nuts) to a glowing bed of smokeless (Homefire) - big hexagonal pieces, or Supertherm. You will hear the Anthracite crackle (a good sign). I shut the lower air down to really low, and I don't have to worry about the stove for at least 6+ hours. The stove temp sits happily between 300-340F. I only have a 5KW stove too.

The glass on my appliance is clean/may have a slight white film, after burning, which I simply wipe off with a tissue, before I relight.

Thanks to another MSE Member, (Muckybutt) I have now got this off to a fine art and have been doing so for nearly a year. Nothing on my appliance has warped, cracked or become damaged.

Always ensure prior to using Anthracite that your ashpan is empty - this goes with any solid fuel, do not allow the ash to build up, or this will damage your grate.

In answer to your question - Anthracite. Simply for the longer burn time, quality heat, and clean glass.:rotfl::rotfl::j

A._Badger

All good advice, km1423. Following Suki's comment recently, I've just started using anthracite in the same way, after starting the fire with a manufactured fuel, and though I don't keep my stove banked down for so long, I've found it works well. All I need to do now is find a sensibly-priced supply!

Your point about keeping air flowing through the fire bars can't be made too often. Failing to do so can ruin a stove in a week.

suki1964

A._Badger wrote: »

All good advice, km1423. Following Suki's comment recently, I've just started using anthracite in the same way, after starting the fire with a manufactured fuel, and though I don't keep my stove banked down for so long, I've found it works well. All I need to do now is find a sensibly-priced supply!

Your point about keeping air flowing through the fire bars can't be made too often. Failing to do so can ruin a stove in a week.

Throws out some heat don't it ?

I usually load it around 4pm before I head to work and come home at 11pm and it's still going strong. If I'm going to head to bed I just riddle it and open up the air a bit more to let it all burn away over night, if I'm sitting up then riddle and add a bit more. Usually have some embers glowing away in the morning to relight it

ktee_uk

2nd weekend using home fire ovals and quite successful. Best result on Sunday we lit up at 2pm and loaded a single layer. It was nicely up to optimum heat within half hour or so and glowing weel for a couple of hours.
Topped up at 4pm and final top up at 7.30pm.
Bottom vents closed and top ones open a tad.
Lovely and glowed
Shut vents down at 11.15pm at bed time. Was on top high optimum.
Next morning still on bottom of optimum and a few glowing coals.
Came home at 8pm and was showing cold on temp gauge but stove still felt warm to touch. Amazed at that really.
So, conclusion is that we will use logs mid week for shorter fires where we want fairly instant heat output, and ovals at weekends.
Loving my stove.

Ron42

Hi Folks,


I Know this is an old thread, but I just joined the forum to post a big 'Thank You'! The conversation above was very helpful to my Wife and me.


We bought a circa 1840s cottage in Suffolk last year - really two knocked together so two fireplaces.


To make a long story short- after putting in two Dimplex Wescott 5 stoves, we started using Home Fire (which we'd used on the open fire) but it seemed expensive. (I just got a quote on line for £514 for forty bags.) However, I found an outfit called Ace Energy that deliver nation wide at (sorry 'new user' - won't let me post the URL). They do a smokeless called 'RealFlame' which has a calorific value of 32632 vs Home Fire's 32275 - not much in it. Couldn't find a comparable value for Anthracite, but found values in KW which seem to say Anthracite is about 15% higher. However, my Wife used anthracite years ago and seemed to think clinker might be a problem. But, talking to the nice lady at Ace, she substituted a bag of anthracite for a bag of RealFlame in the order, so we can have a play.


As for the stoves - their the only multi-fuel stove we've ever used but we're very pleased with them. The savings over an open fire is pretty awesome - about 75% efficiency over an open fire's 20%, so a big savings on fuel. It looks like the two of them are probably going to heat the house without having to turn on the oil.


If anyone is still watching this thread, I'll post how we find the anthracite (delivery is coming Monday).


On - almost forgot - the lady at Ace pointed out you can damage your stove with any fuel if you burn it too hot (fully open on a windy day) though it is more apt to happen with the hotter anthracite.


Cheers,


Ron