Multi fuel stove novice Which smokeless coal?

pearl68

I've just got a Woodford Chadwick 5 installed. The local coal merchant recommended homefire ovals,I'm struggling to get heat from them. Can I burn wood with coal etc? I was going to try anthracite on a bed of wood. Any help would be much appreciated.

Effician

I presume that you are closing the secondary & tertiary vents while having the primary vent open when burning smokeless coal as coal needs only air from below the grate to burn at it's best, this works as it should on a non Defra approved stove or dedicated smokeless only stove.

Wood burns best when built on a bed of sand or ash the primary air is shut off & secondary / tertiary is used.

Defra approved multi fuel stoves do not allow the complete shutting off of secondary air which feeds the top of the fuel so when burning coal you will notice ash forms very quickly over the top of the coals effectively smothering the fire. You could open the primary more & riddle the coals more often to shake down the ash but it's a chore & gets through coal too quickly,  

Burning wood with coal is a bit of a cop out to make it work imo but you wouldn't be alone in doing that , really it's just simulating burning wood on a bed of ash/sand.

The draw on our Defra approved stove is very good but the inability to shut the secondary air off means it kills a coal fire really quickly regarless of smokeless brand so just stick with well seasoned wood now with predictable & very good results, If i were to be forced onto smokeless coal in the future i would modify the stove to block all air inlets apart from the primary.

skycatcher

I burn mostly smokeless ovoids (Capper Multi Glo) in my dual fuel. I have a DEFRA approved stove but the installer removed the screw which allowed the top vent to close fully. It's my primary source of heat and i couldn't afford to burn it 24/7 with wood (plus it wouldn't stay in till the morning).

Ectophile

Are you putting in a good pile of coal?  

Lighting the stuff is like lighting rocks.  You will need plemty of kindling.

Then pile up a good mound of coal - too few and they will lose heat faster than they are generating it, and then they will go out.

FreeBear

pearl68 said:

I've just got a Woodford Chadwick 5 installed. The local coal merchant recommended homefire ovals,I'm struggling to get heat from them. Can I burn wood with coal etc? I was going to try anthracite on a bed of wood. Any help would be much appreciated.

When I had my multifuel stove installed, I tried anthracite - Just couldn't get the stuff to stay alight, and found it to be utterly useless to the point I called the supplier and had unopened bags taken back. Stuck with Homefire ovals, and would mix them with wood. Then the prices rocketed...

Having used up the last of the ovals, I've been burning wood exclusively. Much less ash to clear out, and the glass doesn't get caked with tar deposits. Seem to get less debris in the flue when sweeping it. Wood also seems to be lasting longer with a little more heat being thrown out. With those points in mind, I don't think I'll be going back to using coal again.

Swipe

Smokeless has been way too expensive since the start of the Ukraine war. It pretty much doubled in price. Luckily, I still have a quarter of a bunker left. I only use my stove now during severe cold spells.

pearl68

Thanks for your comments I think it's going to be trial and error. My preference is free wood but that's hard to come by. I'll let you know how I get on. It's all the advice I'm afraid I'm going to wreck it lol.