How Do I Like Burning Coal? What About the Environment?
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- Here is a long but information filled update video on our family's switch to heating with coal and some of the reasoning behind it. There is a lot of misinformation out there in regards to coal being a deadly and contaminated fuel that will destroy the planet. It is like any other fuel source in the world in that there will be pros and cons that each user needs to weigh for themselves to make an educated and informed choice on how to heat their home. This is my take.
I grew up in rural northwestern New Jersey and our house originally had a wood burning stove. My dad switched it out with a Vermont Castings coal burning stove in the early 90s. That thing heated the whole house very well and saved our family money since we did not need to use the electric heat much.
We love it and love burning the coal.
@@TheTradesmanChannelfound this today after two inches of rain. Plenty of wood, but coal is going to be looked at seriously. Thanks for explaining everything.
The snap crackle and pop is normal for green coal added to a fire even if it is dry.
I had to teach a retired friend of mine in Kennebunkport, Maine how much easier using anthracite coal is as the stove that was in the house when he bought it back in 1969 he used wood though the stove was designed to burn coal. By 2004 he was complaining how hard it was for him to saw, cut stack and dry an average of 8 to 10 cords of wood. I bought two 40 pound bags of coal and after starting a coal fire from just red hot wood coals he was amazed when I told him it would burn for roughly 48 hours without touching the stove. It has a thermostatic flap to control the air into the ash pan to control the fire. He wound up building an outdoor coal bunker here he sets the shuttle under the door cracks it open and closes it when he has a full shuttle, walks inside after already shaking down the grate opens the top and dumps the entire shuttle into the firebox. One shuttle every two days keeps his house and him snug as a bug in a rug. He's still living by himself at 92 years old and gawd! It was like pulling teeth to get him to try two bags of coal I bought to show him there is an easier way to heat the house. The 2 bags of coal lasted him 8 days before it was gone and finally convinced him, it cost him just over double what he would pay for firewood. He was able to find a local who hired a truck to bring up an 18 wheeler load (38 tons) and buy 5 tons delivered to his new coal bunker.
This takes me back to my grandpas coal burning stove. Today in Salem Oregon no one uses coal for anything. That was television we would set in from of it and watch it glow with such relation that is very hard to describe. How I miss that warmth.
+Daryl Iams we really like it, no plans to burn wood again.
TheTradesmanChannel 2017 tnx for such memories.:-)
Morning Jim.... what a great video! I never thought once of using coal to heat anything, always thought it was dirtier than wood. As I've mentioned in one of your earlier videos, I have an outdoor wood furnace, had it for twenty one years now and I love it... if anything, all the dirt and mess is outside and I only have to feed it once a day, twice when it's thirty below. In the Winter time I usually clean the ash out once every two weeks or so, and in the Summer (I heat my hot water in the Summer) I hardly ever have to clean the ash out. But I'm getting up in age now and wood is becoming more and more difficult to deal with each year. So, it's either a six pack of corona on a beach for my retirement or I need to look at alternative heating sources. As far as the ash that falls in the front of your stove, get yourself a small ash vacuum, they work great and you can hide it behind the stove when you're not using it. Keep us updated on the progress if this stove.
+John Collado good morning John. They make coal boilers too...
If they are half as good as my wood burner, I'll definitely be looking into it. If I'm shoveling snow or sand in the winter, I might just as well shovel coal too!
+John Collado might as well!
Great video. That stove obviously serves your needs better. It's a shame you didn't have a modern wood burner to compare it to.
I am still a firm believer in wood so long as the woodland is managed, as a Finnish man said to me " the more you cut them the more they grow"
I coppice my fuel and my wood burner with back boiler suits my needs.
Thanks Jim, another great video. In our area of the country we don't need that much heat and even a wood stove is too much most of the time. When we lived up north a coal stove would have been great. Keep the videos coming.
Good afternoon, Jim. Great little ballet you've got the blue ladies doing there.
This is how I heard it from my coal-miner grand father...
"Shovel often, shovel little, place it around the edges then the middle, while you're waiting for the griddle, rock on back grab some wood and whittle."
I can't seem to get those words out of my head when I see a coal stove livened up in the morning.
Thanks for bringing back the fond memories of the only times I really saw my grandfather relax and let time take its course.
+Thomas Russell you're welcome Thomas.
I found anthracite on Coney Island and Brighton beach in New York City. I put in on the flame on the stovetop and it glowed, but a single bit of soot came from it. I was shocked how clean it burned, some smoke came off when I shut the flame off, and it smelled a bit for a few seconds but that's a about it, but that smell could be from the sea and it was sea coal.
Also, coal actually could be the best source of energy and the best thing for the Earth and Coal and renewable energy could go hand in and as Coal could be made into graphite and graphite into graphene, and graphene batteries are much better at energy storage and transfer than anything today, especially many times better than Lithium Ion.
Anthracite coal is the cleanest burning solid fuel, that has been lab tested and proven. I'm a big fan.
Thanks for another great video. Even though I don't think I will ever be using coal for heat, I do enjoy learning about the use of coal for home.
+Chris Cox hello Chris
Realy interesting, never seen a coal stove without a "rattle-stick" in the front. We have that on all coalstoves. It's basically a metal stick sticking out of the front under the ash-lip you have. You grab it and shake it from left to right and back a couple of times and that's it. A coal stove's front doors never get opened in years and years.
Loved it. Makes me look forward to a cold night and a cozy home.
Thank you
Evening Jim, very cool. Closest coal I have is Wyoming coal from the powder river basin. Not sure what type it is. I can get anthrocite at tractor supply here though. Good info as always, and good trade on those stoves. I ran a Woodstock soapstone wood stove in my last house, should have taken it with me. It burned for 12 hours, but not like that coal stove.
+T W anything to make the heat last
You explain everything so well and I agree, what grown man doesn’t love fire. Well as a retired firefighter for the past 27 years I think you have made two great videos. I’m trying to join the club and still doing my research. Thank you so much for these videos. I only have the Vigilant without the lower area for ash so trying to get a coal kit to work in my stove. This is very helpful though and I love your knowledge with how the gases burn etc. It is never the wood or furniture or coal burning which I know you understand. It’s the gases that are burning which creates the flame. Gases created from the materials off gasing. Great job bud and thanks so much for the long videos. I’m also a UA-camr and do my videos raw as well. My only one critique was I wish you told us what you were using on the stove on your other video to clean it up. You did mention much later some sort of polish which helped me figure it out and find some. My wife doesn’t like the color of our stove. We just bought the house and this stove was here. I have been as you did trying to figure it all out and now know how to address the look of it. We have a Vigilant 1 I assume made in 1977. No ash tray but hopefully I can figure out how to make it all work. Got a lead on a coal kit that may fit. May be a bit harder to work with not sure yet. Regardless, god bless for your video and the explanations. One last thing. If you experiment with other coals like rice or nut, please let us know or make another video. Cheers mate.
Coalpail forum is a great place to do research. Lots of knowledgeable people.
Hi Jim great video
We live in Northern Ireland and have what we call a multi fuel bolier stove that can burn wood or coal. Our stover heats our radiators and hot water. We live in a 400 year old cottage with very high ceilings and no cavity wall insulation or damp proof course. Our house is very cold in winter as we have lots of draughts even with all our draught proof measures. We tried wood but it burns to cold and as we don't have a free source it's very expensive. We also tried our local turf but it was expensive and burns away to quick. We then tried normal coal but it blocked our chimney. So we now burn cosy glo smokeless eggs but it's costing us a fortune. Now we are very experienced in fire lighting and have an open fire too and we grew up in coal fired homes but our stove just seems to eat coal. We go through a 25kg bag a day and over a tonne a month which costs us over £200. Even with the stove on it's still cold. Do you think we could put in firebricks to reduce the size of our grate so we could burn less fuel? Our stove is 20kw and has to heat our water and radiators and works via an electric pump to circulate the water. Also we have to stoke every few hours as if we put too much fuel on it chokes the stove and won't burn well. We tried anthracite but it was no good in our stove produced very little heat. Any advice on how to cut our fuel costs and stay warm would be great thanks for the great informative video.
Spend your money on insulation and house wrap. If you dont you arr just throwing your money up the chimney.
Dr fft5 hi 7u77
Hello Jim, I really appreciate the way you had the patience to move the camera to the correct place to show what you were explaining. I really enjoyed the video. Watched most of it this morning and just finished watching it now that I am back home. My dad who is 85 says that his dad installed a stoker system on their basement coal furnace when he was about 7 or 8 down here in Kentucky. Of course, there is no shortage of coal in Kentucky.
+Allen Hunt hi Allen. We love it.
Hi Jim - John from Putnam again. Now that you're hooked on burning coal, save yourself some money. Look for a place that sells coal by the ton. It's much cheaper than bag coal. I bought 5 tons a while back and had it dumped in one of my garage bays. The coal lasted 2 years. I have a cutout in the floor (to work on cars) with a room below. I pushed the coal through the cutout. I didn't look before sending the coal below. I wound up burying an old push mower I used for trim work. I didn't want to dig it out - figured I would sacrifice it to the coal gods. To prove your point about acid - 2 years buried, the mower's metal didn't corrode at all. The mower started right up - I was amazed. What to do with the ash - it's works great if your tires start spinning on ice. It adds grit. My neighbor got stuck on her hilly driveway. I threw ash on the ice and she drove right out.
+nyjohn12 I know who you are John. For next year I'll be buying it by the ton. Going to get it in the summer when the price is down. I love the heat this puts out. You still burn it?
Yes but only by the bag. This year I'm burning off trees that I cut down. With the extreme cold temps I burned off 3 bags. My oil burning couldn't get up to the thermostat setting - it ran constantly. I went through a 275 tank of oil in less than 3 weeks. I had the oil burner going, electric heaters and the coal/wood stove going all at the same time. Another point, you may hear talk about the dangers of Radon. I retired from working at our local nuclear power plant. I have a college degree in radiation stuff. Radon comes from the disintegration of Radium. Trace amounts of Radium are in the ground. Any substance mined (such as coal, uranium, cement products and other materials will have these traces amounts of Radium in them. Since Radon is a gas and has a short half life, good ventilation will eliminate any danger. If you can't ventilate, sealing the floor of a building with paint or plastic sheeting will do the trick. The little bit of coal you have in the house will not be a problem.
+nyjohn12 i used to do radon remediation with the first mechanical contractor I worked for. We would core drill basement slabs and run vents through attics to exhaust fans. That's one reason I like a well vented house.
In Buchanan, NY there was a brickyard that made the bricks for the Revolutionary War Era houses and other structures. A coworker's house was built on a big pile of broken bricks. He sent an air sample to Pittsburgh University. The results were the highest concentration of Radon they had ever seen. Another time, we had a plant worker come in at 5:00 AM to get a reading (special job). He showered, left his house, made the short trip to the plant and went into the controlled radiation area. I worked Radiation Protection with an office at the exit point for this area. He was inside for no more than 5 minutes. When he came out he set off every radiation detector array - head to toe. After questioning and scanning him with Alpha detectors we found he was covered in Radon gas. It wasn't from the plant - it came from his well water at home. The shower left Radon all over his body. A water sample confirmed this.
+nyjohn12 wow
While I've never had as much as one shovelful of coal in my hands in my life, I've watched tons of video on coal fired steam locomotives. That's what bonafides I might have. Of course, not every video has every bit of coal firing info in it--some of them just plain gloss over the heat. However, I did hear once that in answer to how often to shovel, firemen recommended, "coal lightly, and coal often". Naturally running a steam engine and heating a home are two entirely different operations, but I needed to share that.
Another thing the old firemen used to do when refueling the firebox was deposit each shovelful in a specific location--not all in one spot through the door. Back left, middle left, front left, back right, middle right, front right, back middle, middle middle, in front of the door. Kind of depends also, on whether it was a 4-4-0 or anything with four tender wheels (super power, LARGE firebox). Again, the home stove is a different operation.
Your living room color is exactly (as near as I can tell) the same as the room in which I have my home theater, which we call "the media room". Serves to darken the room extremely well.
I remember my grandfather spreading the ashes from his coal furnace on the snow in the driveway, but that was more than 60 years ago, so what do I know? Interestingly, we burned wood at the time, but I have no memory of what Dad did with the ashes. I know we converted to fuel oil at some point and instantly the house was much warmer.
Finally, in the previous video, you were having some difficulty with the right front door not closing properly (as if something was binding or blocking, although you mentioned warping). Now it seems to fit perfectly. What was the solution?
+Rod Peterson rope gasket was rolled a little
No disrespect buddy but I watched it with sound on and then watched it with sound muted and it made me feel warm and comfy.love your videos. Go go. Well done buddy
+Jacques Scholtz thank you, I'm glad you liked it. Best part is is that my wife loves that stove as well.
Hello as an Environmentalist/ Safety Professional I have to say Anthracite coal is the way to go even with a few logs in there. Keep a Carbon Monoxide Detector and monitor. Close Stove Doors at Night and be Safe. Caution w/ Children and teach them not to touch the Stove and play with any Fuel.
I agree 100% with you.
Great vid to watch and refreshing no bull thoughts from you Jim. Glad I found your channel about 6 months ago. You are a guy who deserves success in your endeavors. Good luck from Sunny Ireland!!
+Richard McKinlay thank you
Great video. I know this is an old video but it's still pertinent. I'm an expat living in a yurt camp in Mongolia. Semi-coke briquettes and wood are widely available. We're on the grid too but we get too much voltage drop to effectively heat our homestead. We have several outbuildings too. We have hybrid boiler which can burn coke, wood or use electricity. We tried to use briquettes but it's a lot of work and doesn't generate enough heat OR overfires and boils the water.
So we're thinking of converting the wood stoves in the yurts to burn coke briquettes. They are quite cheap and widely available. So that's appealing. About $1 per 25kg bag. Our intent is to get to room temperature in at least the yurt where we sleep and stay at room temperature overnight without any need to attend to the fire.
I noticed you have glass in your woodstove. We were told that the glass would be the biggest problem. So we're thinking of replacing it with a steel panel. Otherwise we'd have to only add small amounts of briquettes towards the back of the stove.
I'm trying some tests. A few briquettes work nicely placed at the back and the stove doesn't get too hot which could hurt the components. We'll keep doing tests as the temps have dropped to -25C and will get to -40(C/F) by January.
Thanks, a great introduction to your stove. Either brown coal or peat would have worse air and ash emissions than your anthracite coal , so you're cleaner than the worst. The coal may look clean because it burns with less visible smoke, but the visible part of wood smoke is usually harmless unburned carbon and water vapor. I do get the point that the coal is a lot less labor than wood, might be something for seniors to consider.
+Doug Mcdonell I am going to enjoy having you around, I think we can have some good discussions. Anything you burn is going to put nasty stuff out there when it is not a complete combustion. To get a complete combustion out if firewood you need to burn it at temperatures that most woodstoves can't handle, meaning if you want get all of the volatiles out of the wood smoke. Masonry heaters and rocket stoves do this very well because of the temps they can handle, it's usually around 2,000+*F.
The way coal is formed determines how much pollutants it puts out. Lignate and bituminous coal is formed closer to the surface and doesn't get the heat and pressure put to it that anthracite does, so in the process of its formation it keeps most of its contaminates and therefore it does not burn very clean and is left with ash that is laden with some nasty stuff. The above coals are considered sedimentary rocks. Anthracite coal is formed much deeper with a lot of pressure but more importantly a large amount of heat. The heat and pressures put to it during formation actually allows most of the contaminates to escape the coal and it is left with a carbon content higher than 87% which gives it the clean burning characteristics. Anthracite is considered a metamorphic rock due to the way it is formed. It's also neat that coal starts out under swamps and is possible to form because of the low oxygen content of the water.
You are tending two times a day? and the fire dont die inbetween?
It is an amazing improvement.
+Free 2 Woodwork that's right, it works great.
I feel warm just watching this !
The Tradesman,
I enjoyed your last two video’s on this old stove. Interesting the front grates were damaged. I am surprised the shaker grates were not damaged as I have seen in other videos indicating the stove was overfired.I am not sure if you mentioned how old it is. I heated with coal for several years and loved it. The heat output was fantastic. The length of burn outstanding. I could bank a fire on Friday go away for the weekend and return Sunday night to a still active stove. It would still be putting out some heat. I would have to do a full shake down and restart at that point. My stove had an internal feed hopper to allow long burn times. One match one fire and you can heat your home all winter long if you maintain that one fire as needed. The only thing I did not like about a coal stove was the dust created at shake down and clean out time. My unit was in a finished basement so I did not have to track it thru my house it went out via the bulkhead. I did not like the shake method, I used a slicer and poker to remove ash. Shaking broke up and destroyed the base fire (AKA the fire pot) the other method did not. Every stove is different, my Efel liked nut vs pea. I tried both and liked good quality nut the best. I had a local dealer who sold high quality anthracite coal. Please post more videos.
Good morning. That stove came out well for the abuse it had. As for new content, I put out at least two videos a week. There are over 500 on my channel, a lot of timber framing, blacksmithing and pretty much whatever I'm into at the time.
I have burned with wood, pellets and coal....I'll take coal anyday!! The amount of heat is unreal!! Absolutely love it!!
+Donnell Smith so do we.
@@TheTradesmanChannel black gold, i love it.
Me too, thanks for watching.
I live in PA right near the Anthracite mines that have the best coal in the world. Its so much better than other coal types, heats way hotter and much longer. We have a Harmen Mark 3 and we get 24 to 35 hours of burn time in between needing to add more coal heating a 2400 sq ft older home. If you ever get to PA pick up some Blasck coal, they even sell it in bags if you dont have a pickup. Youll be glad you did
My local supplier used to carry it, best coal ever. Now I'm stuck with Reading coal, just one step higher than TSC coal.
well jim thats about the most informative video I've seen. I know you probably couldn't start the video from the beginning of the burn. Did you start with charcoal or paper and kindling? great job, I have a coal stove and have had such a hard time I went back to wood. But after this video I might give it a try again. Wonderful video and explanation. love it Jim. bob
+Robert Canning anytime Bob. I used match light charcoal, the stuff that comes in the small bags and you light the bag.
I like the way you talk & explain things Jim your a good guy
+Stephen Martin thank you, I try.
I respect what you are saying. Just one point about wood from trees and coal from mines. The trees took CO2 out of the atmosphere during it's lifetime (average tree felled for firewood ~ 10 years) while coal was created from plants that took CO2 out of the atmosphere ~300 million years ago. Stated another way, trees are renewable in a decade or two, coal is not.
I think of myself as being a good Stewart of this planet. I don't have anything against what you're doing. Coal ash has traditionally been a carcinogen. With wood ashes I am careful not to burn treated wood or printed paper so I can dispose of the ash in my garden. I personally wouldn't want coal ash near my food or well water. Dust mask and a 55 gal drum, haul it away to a landfill that controls groundwater runoff. I agree that the chimney output is better than a non certified woodstove. 11 outside? It was 65 and I ran into my next door neighbor at the trout stream. Have fun shoveling your coal! I moved south for my golden years. It's getting too hard to stay warm.
+Michael VanGundy happy fishing my friend.
Nice vid Jim, and good (warm) morning. Actually it's afternoon now. Your info on coal is pretty much spot on. With regard to ash, the composition is mostly silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide and iron oxide as the major components. The are trace levels of heavy metals, depending on source, but typically: mercury- less than 50 parts per billion, arsenic- ~8 parts per million. Those are the 2 most concerning and are at very low levels. In my opinion, you should be fine disposing of it as you see fit. Been doing coal lab work for 28 years and no brain damage yet (maybe debatable, HA!)
+Chris Peters we can see the effects
@@TheTradesmanChannel the effects of what?
Thank you for this video, loved the Buffalo Hummingbird among many other excellent points.
Very nice. I use a hitzer stove. I can fill it with 120 lbs and it lasts for 3 days. I just keep adding coal to the hopper. It has a shaker grate.
Hitzer makes a great stove.
Hi Jim, I burn wood, coal and manufactured 'smokeless' fuel. Coal gives most heat per penny, 'smokeless' gives most heat but wood makes my kids happy! What do I do?!!!
+Paul Owen you do it all!
I Grew Up In Anthracite Coal Country ...Pittston, Pennsylvania To Be Exact.... Anthracite Coal Rules/Rocks.....IF Not For The Knox Mine Disaster We Might Be Using This Type Of Coal To Fuel Modern Power Plants. I Appeciate Your Videos And Hopefully More Folks Will Realize How This Type Of Coal Can Be A "Bridge" To The Future Until Fusion Power Is Commercially Viable.
This was in my mind Jim, one of your best informed video’s.....I really am interested in this source of heat.....you have done your homework and I certainly trust your information on this matter......loved it Jim......I only have one question is, how reliable is the source of coal and is there a solid supply of it? Th@nks bud
+Lorne Lepage i am told that as of right now it is one of the most abundant fossil fuels we have in the country. Apparently it is in every state of the union, just how deep is the other thing to think about. Right now the anthracite we are getting is mostly from old mining operations and was often cast aside as waste and it is very close to the surface if not on the surface. So I would think the supply should be steady for many years to come.
There is a railroad in eastern Pennsylvania called the Reading and Northern that shipped from an online shipper over 100 hopper cars of anthracite coal a day. If you have a coal dealer in your area he can still order carloads prof hard coal as little as one at a time from 50 tons to 100 tons per car. I am a retired locomotive engineer and have run all types of locomotive's including steam locomotives. The coal breaker is in Reading, Pennsylvania. I can't remember the name of the mine the Reading and Northern serves but they will be happy to give you the name and phone number.
Friend of mine bought an old house that is steam heated still had according to the manufacturer plate a hand fired soft coal boiler installed in 1907. He has repiped the entire house and repaired the Leakey radiator's and replaced the old hand fired boiler with a new model 700 EFM stoker fired soft coal boiler and loves it. Of course part of the reason he loves it so much was when he bought the old farm the coal bunker had over 37 tons of soft coal in it. Over the course of one summer he had the entire house repiped with code 80 steel pipe and hauled all the radiators to a shop in Somervile, Massachusetts that went through them and when we picked them up 12 hours later were and are like new. And most date from the early 1900's. Had to replace 7 radiators. All are still cast iron.
I recommend you find a dealer who used to sell coal that is on a still active railroad line. He may have to fix his siding by having new ties installed if it hasn't been used in over 20 or more years but as people discover the beauty of heating with coal and stoker fired boilers are easy to maintain, EFM around since 1922 still builds the efm520 stoker fired anthracite burning boilers are still available new in addition to in house stoves like yours. If the local dealer doesn't have a rail siding like a dealer I grew up with as a kid in the late 50's early 60's hadn't had a load of coal delivered since 1966 and while the siding is still there was in terrible shape and the switch on the mainline was removed years ago by the railroad. He was willing to get coal by the railcar but was quoted by the railroad over $27,000 to reconnect the siding. I told him talk to the local track foreman and get a price to fix the siding without hooking up the siding. He did, cost him just over $4,000. Then as I recommended ordered three 100 ton carloads of coal, naturally the railroad could not deliver the cars. The next day the railroad installed a new switch hooking up his siding and delivered his three carloads of coal the day after that, no charge. Last winter he was surprised and sold over 2800 tons of soft and hard coal. Had to buy a new cab and chassis truck to install the old coal delivery sizzler jack coal delivery body on. Instead of shoveling the coal onto a belt driven elevator to unload the coal cars he uses a bobcat machine to unload the cars at the same unloading point in his siding. His dad told him the unloading point is simply granite large stones set in place without mortar that was originally installed in 1867' just wide enough for a modified bobcat bucket to fit into at 3 feet wide. When I spotted an old chain unloaded parked in the weeds and rusted to all get out I informed the owner this machine was what you shoved into the railcar unloading opening and when turned on would bring the coal out a pile into a 4 foot high pile onto the transfer belt machine. He bought a used transfer belt transfer elevating machine and after a local repair shop rebuilt the chain drive machine found unloading the coal capers much easier. His coal business is up over 100 percent this year but is more than 300 miles from Burlington, Vermont.
My apologies I type too much once I get going I forget to look at how big a story I'm telling, the curse with turning into an old bat.
+James Shanks it's a darn good story.
Gott'a say I really like the warped front grill. I think it looks much better than a straight grill. Think you should keep it unless there's some sort of functional problem with it.
+Jeff Knox good morning Jeff.
Great video Jim I always look forward to see your videos.
Now dear Jim,
This has to be the most epic video recording you've ever done. I wonder what you'll do when you get that monster burner that challenged you last time. It certainly was informative. I did have a wood burning stove which could also burn coal & after several tries; I do concur with your good self with regards to feeding times were far less frequent. However at the cost of it, I had to abandon it as pallets were free fuel readily available from my former employer (about 5minutes walk from home, that's how far)whereas the coal was not & had to bought from some reasonably local DIY store by car. Because of local laws, one can only have a smoke free approved stove which mine was. But thanks to fuckface ( a rather long story) next door complaining about the supposedly eyesore my double wall stainless chimney was, I had to remove it & now no longer able to burn. It was absolutely wonderful & quite tropical (about 34 degrees Celcius). It didn't mater about outside as one was in a cocoon. How I miss that stove. I look forward to seeing the major movie from Jim next time. Kind regards.
+ToolsConsumables i think fuckface needs a kick in the balls. That is ridiculous that that can even happen.
Dear Jim,
Thank you very much for your kind support. I fear Fuckface is a thirty something young arrogant pup (Vice pPresident of some IT company, hence the utter contempt for others)who came to buy this house as it was inherited & as is often the case youngsters sell at a substantial discount to liquidise the property as quickly as they can. Suffice to say Fuckface came in one fine day & told us of his master grand design he had in mind for next door; but whilst in my home informing me what an eyesore my brand new stainless flue was ( a mere 5 feet tall, not exactly the Empire State building!!!). A few months later on I got a visit from the local council inspector followed by a letter informing me that the chimney has to go (no chimney=no burning possible). What really galls me is that I was 2 months away from statute of limitation. So working in winter used to be fun, no longer the case. Never mind we'll live with it as is from now. I wasn't prepared to pay the local council (Mafioso if you ask me) some £400.00 to appeal against the decision. So there we are! It would have been nice if there was a law that allowed one to hang Fuckface by the ballbag!! Thank you for your indignation. We'll live & fight another day. Kind regards.
+ToolsConsumables i couldn't live there. Even in New York state I can go out my back door and shoot all I want, burn wood or coal...I feel for you brother.
Presuming you still have your pellet stove you simply reinstall it with a horizontal power vent, a small power vent is a little vent that brings in outside ait a blows the exhaust out the double wall pipe. It normally is installed a few feet above the ground. Check with your local fire department for a permit instead of the political axxholes. The chief of the fire department gives you the ok it will make your neighbor and the councilman the ability to prevent you from installing it. Or simply show the fire chief what you had installed and ask of that is acceptable and when your neighbor and councilman show up simply tell them to pound sand and tell the councilman I WAS HERE BEFORE HE MOVED IN. HE KNEW WHAT WAS HERE. DONT LIKE IT? Move. I wouldn't let him win.
Dear James,
Thank you very much fo your advice & kind support. However the council's enforcement notice was supposedly because my chimney represented "a visual pollution" would you believe ( nothing to do with either smoke &/ smell oddly enough). I did toy with the idea of a mass rocket heater but I have a 6 inch concrete slab on the floor. There are approximately 6 or 7 properties at most that could physically see my chimney.There is nothing to look at from the back of anyone's property other than a few trees & fences to look at. Not exactly a view with outstanding beauty!!!. To install a wood burning stove; I asked the local planning department if I could do it provided I followed all guidelines & sadly must be done by H.E.T.A.S registered personnel who also normally supply appliance too at grossly inflated prices to boot. The moment I told them I purchased one, they were not interested ( less money to be made!!!). The complete stove cost less than the double wall stainless flue pipes. The labour for connecting three pipes (£1200, approximately $1800, discuss!!!) cost more than stove & pipes. If I wanted to reinstate stove, I would have a devil of a job finding someone willing to recommission existing stove as I found out. The headache & cost involved to do it all over again are far too prohibitive to make it worthwhile I fear. Equally upon being served with said notice I had 1 month to appeal at the extortionate cost of £400 (approximately $600) which I was not willing to gamble as the decision could still go in Fuckface's favour. I must also point out the stove is not a pellet stove just a smoke free multi fuel appliance ( I burned pallets not pellets). Because we were a facing a financial drought in the building industry in 2011, to promote house owners to spend in order to keep the construction industry's economy running, the planning permits were quite relaxed & thus Fuckface was able to flatten his newly & very well built extension (already built to max. size from previous owners) to make it even taller & longer. I think if opportunity arises I will want to move into the countryside where one has no immediate neighbours to look at, never mind hear. In the UK we do have some strange laws regarding building permits but then again I dare say every country has them too. May I take this opportunity once again t thank you for your concern. Kind regards.
I'm in Ontario where our government banned the burning of coal in power plants. I'm not even sure where I could buy coal, or how much it costs but think I would try it if I could. I am surprised how long it burns. I burn 15 chords of wood every winter. That reminds me...I've got 30 chords of logs out back that I have to buck, split and stack. Interesting and informative video, Professor Jim :)
Professor Jim...nice ring to it.
I could not agree more with your closing comments
you look up any chart on line that has BTU, CO2 AN SO ON YOU WILL SEE co2 is a lot lower with coal then any wood, coal burns cleaner then wood
+Arnold Romppai you got it.
Yeah, but you tell this to these environmental warriors and they will tell you that you are crazy. Good quality heating coal burns cleaner, longer and hotter than wood. However, there is nothing more atmospheric and cozy than sitting by an open fireplace.
Great video sir. I grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania, with cousins up in the Northeastern part of the state by the Pocono mountains. I've always found coal to be interesting, and despite what I was told about coal in my time with my college's Outdoor Adventure Club and our trips to Appalachia, I always felt that coal got the short end of the stick from people who didn't know all the facts. I'll have to see if I can find your follow up video using the combustion analyzer. I'm very happy to have found your channel tonight, I feel like I'll learn some important things here.
Pleasure to meet you. There's a bit of everything on this channel.
Great video. Thanks for posting.
Some good points!
One point to the haters ..... If coal is worse than wood ... How was the coal made?
In the UK we used to have cinder paths made from the old burned coal that was left after the fire had died! It is also excellent for bedding Paving Flags down with!
+Dave W good point Dave.
Hi Dave, any idea if the cinder path would slow down grass growing back any more than pea gravel would?
If there is an asphalt company near you ask if you can dump your ashes in the rap pile ( recycled asphalt product ). They will probably give you permission. They other good use is to keep you and the wife and kids upright bye using it on your walkways and driveway. It will not hurt the environment. A neighbor where I grew up still uses coal to this day to heat his house and in winter he spreads the ashes on the driveway and sidewalks for up to 3/4 of a mile in one direction and 1/2 a mile the other way. The neighborhood told the town to take a hike as due to his diligence the sidewalk is slip free all winter.
Cheers
I love the Vigilant Stove..mine is a wood burner but I may be able to get the conversion kit, not sure how it works. It does not have the swing out ash drawer. I need to let the wood fire die down and shift the coals to the side and shovel out ash from the top loading griddle.
I posted on a neighbor site asking where I could but anthracite coal nearby and my neighbors went nuts calling my co-op board and they recited every myth considering me as a major electric power plant polluter.
Your neighbors need to learn to mind their own business. You'll put out less pollution burning anthracite than wood by a lot.
Great video and great information! Very interesting. Thanks brother
Love your videos, just got me a "warm morning" coal stove - the older kind i refurbished
thanks so much Jim
+Robert Canning no problem Bob.
Stop apologizing for smoke ,, both my grandpas worked their whole life in a coal mine and lived in their 80's and they burned coal also,,,, great video,,,,
Thank you
Very good information God BLESS you (where in India is available this wood burning stoves)
Jim, it would have been nice to see your supply of coal. Just a look in the bucket and have a piece in your hand. Plus, how hard is it to light up?
+Tynyyn lights up real well with matchlight charcoal.
You just can't beat anthracite for easy clean burning coal to heat your house. One ton of anthracite = 200 gallon of #2 fuel oil. The wife was ready to leave me when I told her I was putting a coal boiler in the house, After that first winter, she loves it. Keeps our house warmer for much less money.
Will have to come back to this . Interesting fact about the BTUs generated from Anthracite coal vs nat gas and fuel oil.
Very good informational video. Glad it's working out really well and keeping you and the family nice n toasty. So once the barn is done we get a coal bin build right? It's a good group of people on coalpail.
+Craig F yes we will and yes they are.
I used a Walker Riserless Core design for the combustion core of a masonry stove. It boasts an incredible 95+% combustion of available fuel in the log... Which is 190% efficiency! That's all well and good, but what takes the cake is: The exhaust path travels through 7-tons of clay and brick which extracts the heat that would be sent up the chimney. The 1600 sq foot house heats with 1 cord a season instead of 5 (which is what the box stove ate).
Broaudio here on youtube is Matt Walker. StoveChats start back up soon, I think.
I make my living with combustion analysis, know a bit about it. I agree with the 95% combustion on a properly built rocket mass heater and that's because you can achieve the +2,000*F burn temps that are required for truly clean combustion. Masonry heaters run the same numbers. Not sure where the 190% efficiency rating comes from. Normally that number on a combustion analyzer is not indicative of a proper burn.
@@TheTradesmanChannel The 190% is my own selling point. A modern box stove needs to be rated 80% efficient. In the regulators' "legalese" the term "efficiency" is similar to the "proof" of alcohol. 80 proof=40% alcohol. An 80% efficient stove burns 40% of the available fuel! 95% of fuel consumption equates to 190% efficiency in LAW. It's their language, not mine. lol.
I came here while brainstorming a 6" coal mass heater/masonry stove. With the riserless core the only change is the fuel chamber and air ports. The 8"x18-22" fuel chamber wood version modified for the coal process.
Now that I've been ridden hard cold and put away wet for so long I'm thinking a bucket is better to carry than 80# of dirty logs. lol
Hey Jim. Great video. I really appreciate all of the information. I may look at replacing one of our wood stoves with a coal stove some day. Lots of great information here. Really helps others understand what goes into tending the stove. Thanks and see you next time.
+Dillons Woodworks hey Mike, good evening. We love it, Wish I put one in when I built the house.
Please make a short video about your flue pipe and chimney cap. Is the double wall pipe at the top, 316L or 316Ti? Brand? Thank you for telling about poking. I just got a never used King Oak 19B with a round grate with only the inside that moves.
This is stainless steel Metalbestos brand stove pipe. Folks call it triple wall but it's not a true triple wall. It requires a 2" clearance to combustible materials and there is a cap that is made to fit it.
Can I burn open fire coal in a multi fuel burning stove. I know it's not as environmental friendly but it gives off a much better flame. But online it says it can cause a flash explosion and damage the stove? Failing that can I use the smokeless coal and put logs on top to get the flame? But again it says online this damages the flue? Getting a multi fuel burning stove fitted next month so new to this.
Good sound track intro.
Are you concermed about future legislation that may make it difficult for you to get your hands on coal? Can you burn wood in it if you cant buy coal?
+William Kolis I'll have to cross that bridge if or when it gets here. I figure that if coal survived the last eight years then for home heat it'll probably be around for a long time.
True. Obama wasnt a friend to it by far.
+William Kolis not by a long shot.
As long as we still have ammunition there will no legislation to outlaw burning coal to keep warm or mining coal to keep warm.
+gary kidd right in
Jim FANTASTIC keep on keeping on.
+MandJ c thank you
What you mentioned about wood.... BINGO!!! That's exactly what I've been doing for years.
I'm gonna get a Chubby coat stove and heat my 1250 sq ft ranch. I live in Massachusetts and
we get some real brass monkey weather here. So..... as soon as I can afford this Chubby,
the wod stove is gone and the Chubby is in. Great, fantastic video. Thanks.
Just seeing your comment. You will love the stove.
You da man !!! I'm no longer spending 3 solid months finding wood, cutting wood, transporting wood,
stacking wood, carrying it into the house, burning wood and feed a my wood buring
furnace and wood stove in my sun room ... every four hours. Nope.. done with all that, thanks to you and yor fideo/
I', selling everything .. cha in saw, chains, farmer's jack, hoisting equipment, Englander wood buring furnace. Heartland wood stove, log spliter, etc. I can manage a bag of nugget coal, a US stove model
pot belly, and relax.I', going on 80 and I don't have the longevity with my strength like I used to.
Thanks to finding your video, I can still keep my Mrs. and I warm, heat our 1200 sq ft ranch, with little or not big effort o nmy part. Thanks again !!
Good vid. Jim, I have burned them all. I remember the day the wood didn't catch and it was 40 degrees in the house. The old lady threatened to divorce me and I should have called her bluff.Sure would have been an ideal time to kick her to the curb. We went to oil instead. In the mean time I heated the shop with wood and I got into precision tool work when one thousandth was on the high side of tolerance. You just couldn't have the temperature go up and down 50 degrees every shift because the machines didn't know what size they were. So I switched to coal and the slow even heat made it possible to work in "tenths" . I eventually had to hire employees and any sort of Interactive heating system would keep them occupied for the day so I had to switch to gas. Coal is good but the lack of smell doesn't mean you don't have carbon monoxide. Make sure you have a good CO detector and a good chimney and you won't have a problem. Coal does not produce creosote but wood is carbon neutral because it doesn't produce the CO when it decays. Coal already has and does it again when you burn it. Don't worry the amount of foscile fuels you burn is tiny.
+KrugerrandFarms good story, my wife liked it. If the burn is complete CO can be down to 0 ppm, when I set up PowerFlame burners I have to set them to 0ppm to 50ppm CO. I can generally get them to 0. It's all in the fuel to air...too much excess air will make CO skyrocket, too little will do the same.
Great reply and verrrry interesting, talk about more of this. I almost took the dirt nap testing the cheese vat because of poor ventilation it was scary even propane makes enough CO to poison you.
+KrugerrandFarms they all can if the fuel to air mix is wrong. The CO is a result of fuel not getting burned off.
A couple of points, wood produces methane when it decays and carbon dioxide when it burns well, carbon monoxide when it's burned with too little air. Coal ash contains arsenic, mercury, lead, and other heavy metals, it's not good with wind or water.
GOOd answer Doug thank you!
Enjoyed your video and subscribed to your channel but your BTU stats on coal to fuel oil and pane are off by a huge factor. I backed it up and listened to it 3 times just to make sure I heard you correctly. 200 gallons of #2 fuel oil puts out more BTU's than a ton of anthracite coal, not 1000 gallons of fuel oil putting out 1/5 a ton of coal. A single gallon of fuel oil is roughly 135,000- 140,000 BTU's.
Sincerely, J
super nice. my house had an old coal furnace, the last owner told me it would last 3 days before having to add more,,,but it was converted to oil years ago because it was so cheap, boy i wish i had that setup.
I love this coal stove. The colder it gets outside, the warmer the house is.
@@TheTradesmanChannel im going to see if i can still get a coal grate for my furnace ?
I bet you can, just start hitting the keyboard.
I found that using a heat gun (youtube it)was the best way to start the coal fire. And with a stone driveway, the ash makes a nice filler.
+smokedtires good tip
It has plenty of stuff in it, much less than bituminous though.
Great video. Hey when your stove is burning do you get any smell at all from it? Or is it burning hot enough no smell?
Also when you load the coal on how much smoke then outside if you were to go look?
Just curious if my neighbours would begin to hate me if I switched to coal lol.
I sure like the idea of 15 hr burn times producing heat. Most wood stoves need to be baby sat it seems and playing with that air control.
How come you don't put the coal in stove with the front. Loading door
I loved the lesson on coal. great vid. I still will not go to coal, actually not aloud where I am at. I will stick with my pellet stove with auto feed. I tend it once a day by adding about 40lb of pellets and dumping the very little ash. Thinking of trying to make my own pellet mill and convert all my saw dust into pellets for my own use. You ever think of doing that with your saw dust?
Oh yea... LOVE the new hat. or did it just come out of the wash?
+jim stew new hat..,good morning Jim
wow 40 Lbs a day.. I head they were hard on pellets but didn't think that hard, I see the cost of them, they do give off as much CO2 as wood, and who know what they add to the mix to bind it, it is not listed, that why I would never use them, I know when they converted the hydro plant here from coal to pellets, the smoke coming out the stack was a lot, when it burned coal you seen nothing except on really cold days you see steam, only problem is after 6 months after the conversion they shut the whole hydro plant down, do to pellet shortage we were told, they spent millions doing to conversion, if we could get coal here id use it in a hart beat, the cost to have it shipped it is very costly, out west coal is all they use
There is NOTHING added to bind the wood back together, the wood is simply pressed threw a die and it stays pressed that way. I do not thin 40 lp of wood pellets is all that much. Add up how much cord wood you would put into a stove in 24 hours. LOT more than 40 lp. I see NO smoke out of my chimney I smell NOTHING inside or out the entire time it is burning. Ash from it is next to nothing also. During an entire winter hear in Pa I think all of the ash from my pellet stove would fit right into a 5 gallon bucket. previous years with a regular wood stove would give me 5 gallon of ash in just 2 weeks and smoke like hell out the chimney.
What jim stew said is accurate with my pellet stove also. Had a friend with coal and he loved it. Had another friend with coal and he hated it,lol. The both of them had very dark ceilings from the dust after 6-7 yrs but they had some warm homes and tended the fire about the same as Jim does, twice a day.
Hi Jim I think a proper fire is something else your one look's like it is burning really clean. Great video.
+Douglas Mungham good morning Doug.
Good morning Jim, the fire looks great and should bring the amount of care that the wood stove needed down and be warmer, I hope you and the family are all doing fine
Nice Video Jim. I know what you mean when winter catches you with your shorts down. I have an antique stove that burns either wood or coal. There are dampers on the top door and the bottom ash door. The bottom dampers control wood burning while the top door damper helps with coal. The issue I found with coal is this...... where the hell do you buy the stuff cheap???????? In colorado, they treat you like your buying some form of controlled illegal substance. It would be nice to buy a truck load of coal cheap.
My buddies in new england wont burn pine as its not hot enough. They stick with hardwood. We are stuck with ponderosa pine and spruce. Burns like paper. The times I have burned coal, the difference is insane. Just a bitch to find it.
..... and just remember, the most fancy new car on the market, the tesla, is really COAL FIRED.......
Were do get the coal from heat with wood hear in Wisconsin
can you please tell me the name of the song and who sings it at the beginning of the video.
When the stove is empty of coal, how big is the grate on the bottom? And how many inches rises up is it? I am asking because I want to have a custom grate made for my woodstove. Manufacturer says ok to burn coal in it, but we find it doesn’t really burn probably becuase little air from below. It has an air in from the bottom, but the ask blocks it I think. Thanks
I just watched another video that said you should leave an opening on one corner of the stove for better more even burning.
I just started looking into coal last night because I was explaining to my kids and wife about people heating with coal last week (during the Texas freeze of 2021). My first thought for using the ash is to make soap. If you’re going to generate ash, you might as well use the ash to generate funds.
That's a pretty good idea. I'm not sure though on what else is in the ash.
I would never use coal ash for such uses. Coal ashes contain lead, arsenic and other heavy metals in quite high levels plusnthey contain trace amounts of radioactive elements as well. Soap made from coal ash lye can be very toxic. Only use wood ash for lye
You would want to use hard wood ash (ash, maple, oak) for soap making.
Still going strong? My Grandfather heated his ranch with a VC Coal Stove.
Anthracite is perfect, very clean burning!
Hi Jim, love your video's. One question how much does a ton of coal cost and how long will it last.
+steve647my up here it's $250 a ton and should go a month in really cold weather, two months in milder winter.
Can you share the audio info of the song?
Hey Jim, I missed the resource you mentioned in regard to the (experts on coal). It sounded like "Coal Tales" but I bet I have that wrong. Who are you referring to so I can do some more research. We are in Cambridge, Vt right now but planning on moving to the Derby / Newport area this spring and a coal stove is something I have been seriously considering.
Check out coalpail.com, great information on anything coal related plus a ton of knowledge from people who use it.
I do believe you are now a total convert to heating with anthracite 😍😍😍😍😍😍
Actually adding the coal shuttle full of coal and spread and dump it on the fire won't hurt it at all, you will hear rice CRISPIES.
Snap crackle and Pop is what you hear after dumping a full shuttle of coal onto the fire not exceeding the top of the firebrick. Within 1 to 2 minutes you will see the dancing Blue Faries.
Congratulations again.
+James Shanks thanks James, I love this stove.
This guy sounds warm. He sounds like Ray from everybody loves Raymond, a good family man.
Thank you for the compliment.
I feel your passion Jim. Funny how a coal burning stove can do that. LOL.
I see you're a fellow "coalpail" member too. Very entertaining winter sport. (with a side benefit of heating your home). Thanks for the tutorial, and job well done.
Glad you liked it. I run coal in my forge as well...anthracite no less.
have you done a cost analysis of coal versus oil or propane? propane especially since that is a popular home heating and cooking fuel in warm climates.
I have. The coal is a little over half less than oil or LP...it is a couple $100 more than firewood if I buy it in log form and cheaper than wood cut, split and delivered.
Great video
interesting topic - it sounds like a very good source of heat for your family. How much is a ton of coal and any idea how much you will use in one season?
+Robert Cline 3 to 4 ton per winter at $250 per ton locally.
That seems to be a very good solution for heat in the northeast. And the cost compared to LP, NG, electric or home heating oil is great. It's great that your wife does not need to feed wood to the stove every hour now. Cheers
+Robert Cline good morning Robert. We like it.
I wrote to you on the coal stove refurb/install install video, Jim ... and, on top of the fact that we're both into traditional square rule joinery, we have something else in common: we both don't like burning propane for home heating. After watching this video, it would seem that you [used to] burn wood to keep the propane truck away and, after laboring with the wood for way too long, you've moved on to the refurbished cast iron stove featured in more than one of your great videos. So, long story long, it would seem that we're both on the same page when it comes to heating fuel, so my question is this: If you owned a lot of standing timber, would you have stuck with burning wood? We own and manage a large parcel of forest land, BUT we don't have a very efficient cordwood operation going (yet). For over a decade, the timber has been milled for both heavy timbers and dimensional lumber, so the cordwood aspect of managing our timber has languished a bit.
Regardless, we moved into a new (to us) home late last year and, after our first major snow storm, we learned very quickly that we were unprepared for a winter season in the mountains. We started out using propane, but, after seeing how quickly the gauge on the tank dropped when heating our new house, we quickly decided to clean out the old [steel] wood stove in the basement. Just as you've indicated in this video, we don't want to continue using a fuel source that requires so much tending ... so, needless to say, we're now interested in adding a third fuel option: coal.
A good friend of mine purchased (2) Model 1557M stoves from Tractor Supply Company (TSC) several years ago and, despite being specified as "coal only," they have been used to burn nothing but cordwood for several years now -- with no ill effects. After closely inspecting one of his 1557M stoves (last night}, I noticed that it's made of steel. When I asked my friend about burning coal in a steel stove, he remarked that "It's lined with fire bricks, so it really shouldn't matter." Obviously you went with an old-school cast iron stove for your needs, Jim, so I'd also like to ask you for your thoughts on the modern steel "coal-only" stoves -- like the Model 1557M I just mentioned. My apologies if this ran long for you, but I simply don't know how to shorten an important subject like this one. Thanks again for your time. Keep your chisels sharp.
Hey there. The steel stoves with brick are even better. Steel is much more forgiving of over firing than cast. If I had a wood source I'd probably burn both.
@@TheTradesmanChannel You know what, Jim, I think you're right. I looked inside of my buddy's stove last night -- and it didn't look bad at all. Hell, I didn't even see any cracked fire bricks in the damned thing, so that bodes pretty well. You see, the old wood stove that came with our house has an air-jacket-surround and a fairly large blower mounted on the lower part of the rear panel. It also has both an 8" output duct and a 6" chimney duct -- both on top -- which both keeps it blowing air through a duct that leads upstairs (to the main living area) -- and keeps it tucked into a corner of the basement. In short, the top mounted chimney duct makes the stove nice and compact. The USS 1557M I described in my last has a rear chimney duct, which isn't ideal, but it does feature two 8" outputs (both on top) with two separate blowers. In my mind, we could potentially burn coal and force air into both ends of the main floor of the house. I'm an old southern vet -- who never owned a heating stove before last year -- but this seems to make pretty good sense to me. Thanks for the kind response ~ Red
Do you have your Vermont castings coal stove hooked up to an outside air vent?
I do not.
What's a clinker?
+Jose Ortiz it's a really hard deposit of mineral that gets fused together by burning the coal and gets hard as rock.
Is it about $10 a day = 40lbs of Anthracite a day? $300 a month?
And you do this cleaning of the ash and fill the stove, once every day?
+James Culp it's about $4.00 per day at 20#'s a day to 30#'s when it's really cold. I tend it before I go to work and before I go to bed. Buying coal in bulk per ton will be $250 per month in say January and February, $125 per month in the warmer in between months.
+James Culp $6 for a 40# bag of anthracite.
Will you need to build a storage area to hold a ton of coal?
I remember back when I was loading 16 tons a day and I owed my soul, to the company store.
My left fist was made of iron and my right was made of steel ... ;)
+James Culp nice...yes I will build a big coal bin.
James Culp is an alias, real name is Tennessee Ernie Ford. Or maybe Johnnie Cash.
What would happen if I threw a shovel full of coal in with my wood fire without a grate?
Just saw your video and am considering switching to coal as I realize that I won't be able to cut fire wood forever, (gettin' old). What about your flue damper? Where do you keep it? Do you even have one?
With coal you need as much draft as you can. The air intake is how you control everything with coal. Most newer coal stoves do have a bypass damper in them that diverts the flow of exhaust and it works really well.
Good video. Looks toasty! How did you get a grate as high as that?
I made it, didn't work out that well because the coal needed more air.
I love my coal fire, i know i probably shouldn't, but i do.
I can see why your video has such a ridiculously high like to dislike ratio. That was extremely informative. Only five dislikes on a piece about burning coal. Wow. I've been experimenting with anthracite as a supplement in my old Fisher Baby Bear (I never burn it all coal, it would warp), and you answered like 7 questions that had been floating around in the back of my head somewhere. I'm in Idaho, and the best wood we can find around here is Tamarack or Fir, occasionally you'll run across some black locust if you're lucky. Even the best airtight will necessitate tending in the middle of the night. Anthracite is expensive here, you can only get it at Tractor Supply Co at 7 bucks a bag (40 lbs), but I managed to find a local dealer that carries bituminous. I'm seriously considering finding a Hitzer or Ashley. I'll deal with the clinkers if I can sleep all night warm.
Either way, thank you for the video, and thank you for NOT being overly political about the subject. I prefer practical to political any day of the week. Subscribed.
Good morning sir. Thank you for a great comment. Good luck on your quest for a stove.
thank you for the video. you are always a good source of information.
+PowerCosmic thank you.
Now this one interesting and, as advertised, a lot of info. Thx.
I like this comment a lot better than your last one. Are you looking to burn coal?
@@TheTradesmanChannel Yes, on a boat, if a small enough stove exists. (respectfully, the comment you liked better was, simply stated, for a better, more informative vid.....the one you didn't like was for a vid which was little more than a rehash.....seen it heard it. No harm, no foul.)
All good. There are some tiny coal stoves out there that can still be found in good shape. It's amazing the different types of coal stoves and appliances that were used historically.