Stovemaster smokeless coal

A._Badger

Effician said:

alleycat` said:

I have, personally, found a lot of stuff that works for other people didn't work as well on my stove - so i understand where you're coming from.

Same here, i often wonder if it's more to do with stove design than the fuel, ie a stove primarily designed for logs but supplied with a grate for multifuel vs a multi stove geared more to  coal burning .

Just so many variables from one user to another which normally means biting the bullet & giving it a go.

I've given up with coal ,even as a backup, the downside is i have to spend more time sourcing free wood.

I think you may well be onto something with your comment about stove design. For example, my stove (a multifuel Hunter) happily burns just about any smokeless fuel but can be temperamental with logs,. This is unfortunate as this year I have switched to entirely burning logs for the first time as I'm tired of trying to cope with 1 tonne pallets of smokeless being dumped at the end of my drive and having to be unpacked and moved.  

The other major variable factor (as any steam locomotive designer would have told us) is draughting. Wind direction, the shape of the chimney, the internal design of the stove, the use (or not) of chimney cowls, all play their parts in how a fire burns, which is another reason why different users get different results, even with near identical fuels and even stoves.

Effician

A._Badger said:

Effician said:

alleycat` said:

I have, personally, found a lot of stuff that works for other people didn't work as well on my stove - so i understand where you're coming from.

Same here, i often wonder if it's more to do with stove design than the fuel, ie a stove primarily designed for logs but supplied with a grate for multifuel vs a multi stove geared more to  coal burning .

Just so many variables from one user to another which normally means biting the bullet & giving it a go.

I've given up with coal ,even as a backup, the downside is i have to spend more time sourcing free wood.

I think you may well be onto something with your comment about stove design. For example, my stove (a multifuel Hunter) happily burns just about any smokeless fuel but can be temperamental with logs,. This is unfortunate as this year I have switched to entirely burning logs for the first time as I'm tired of trying to cope with 1 tonne pallets of smokeless being dumped at the end of my drive and having to be unpacked and moved.  

The other major variable factor (as any steam locomotive designer would have told us) is draughting. Wind direction, the shape of the chimney, the internal design of the stove, the use (or not) of chimney cowls, all play their parts in how a fire burns, which is another reason why different users get different results, even with near identical fuels and even stoves.

Been giving this a bit of thought recently & in my case with a sia eco design multifuel stove the constant secondary air feature,( for efficieny with wood, which is made worse by very good flue draw) is the main drawback to burning smokeless for us.

I guess a non defra spec multi stove would give more consistant results with coal as the secondary can be fully closed & all the air directed through the bottom of the coals.

Edit:  As for burning logs , that's as much a minefield as smokeless varieties .

All woods have their own characteristics which also varies with size & level of seasoning, as you probably know not all hardwoods are good & not all softwoods are bad.

A._Badger

Effician said:

A._Badger said:

Effician said:

alleycat` said:

I have, personally, found a lot of stuff that works for other people didn't work as well on my stove - so i understand where you're coming from.

Same here, i often wonder if it's more to do with stove design than the fuel, ie a stove primarily designed for logs but supplied with a grate for multifuel vs a multi stove geared more to  coal burning .

Just so many variables from one user to another which normally means biting the bullet & giving it a go.

I've given up with coal ,even as a backup, the downside is i have to spend more time sourcing free wood.

I think you may well be onto something with your comment about stove design. For example, my stove (a multifuel Hunter) happily burns just about any smokeless fuel but can be temperamental with logs,. This is unfortunate as this year I have switched to entirely burning logs for the first time as I'm tired of trying to cope with 1 tonne pallets of smokeless being dumped at the end of my drive and having to be unpacked and moved.  

The other major variable factor (as any steam locomotive designer would have told us) is draughting. Wind direction, the shape of the chimney, the internal design of the stove, the use (or not) of chimney cowls, all play their parts in how a fire burns, which is another reason why different users get different results, even with near identical fuels and even stoves.

Been giving this a bit of thought recently & in my case with a sia eco design multifuel stove the constant secondary air feature,( for efficieny with wood, which is made worse by very good flue draw) is the main drawback to burning smokeless for us.

I guess a non defra spec multi stove would give more consistant results with coal as the secondary can be fully closed & all the air directed through the bottom of the coals.

Edit:  As for burning logs , that's as much a minefield as smokeless varieties .

All woods have their own characteristics which also varies with size & level of seasoning, as you probably know not all hardwoods are good & not all softwoods are bad.

The whole business is a bit of a minefield, I agree. To make matters worse. I've just been sent a chart which suggests the figures I was given for both Stovemaster and Smokeless Ovals (as supplied by Housefuel) were completely adrift. It would seem, assuming this chart is right, that the latter can contain as much as 80% petcoke, which is a far higher percentage of the stuff than I was told I should be burning. I wish there was a reliable source of information on this!

As for wood, I couldn't agree more. It took me nearly ten years to find a reliable supplier locally and even his wood, though well seasoned, is composed of mixed types though, to his credit, no hornbeam, which I find spits horribly.  

Effician

I wonder if branded smokeless coals are nothing more than a name and are subject to recipe changes dependant upon what materials are available, a strange game to play though if it is the case with regards product loyalty.

Had a good run the last 3 yrs of aquiring a wide variety of free wood & find by firing mixed loads the results are often better than single species. ie i'll burn  new scaffold board offcuts or birch/red cedar with large ash log  ,  also sycamore with eucalyptus . The idea being the quicker burning wood will push along the slower burning log & vice versa the slower burning wood will stop the quick burning wood from running away.  

jblakes

I have got a 2 big builders bag full of seasoned hardwood, for a good price round here.

Once I figure out what smokeless I'm gonna get I'm gonna mix and match (not at the same time) wood seems to get the burner to temp quicker so usually start off with that then add coal. If we are in all day I just top up with wood, I've noticed it doesn't last that long so needs adding to every 2-3 hours.

Im gonna go abit more digging and see if I can find more info on the best.

Regards
James