Can I burn coal....

[willsken]

in my wood burner. My logic can't see any reason why not. Can anyone enlighten me please?

[Lupin]

I think that it wouldn't be safe without a grate as the coal bed gets crazy hot. My friend uses a shovel of coal at night to keep his kent in but only does so a *really* thick bed of ash.

Also, coal is discouraged because it's seriously less environmentally friendly, afaik.

[willsken]

That's all want to use it for, at night so it stays alight. It's like having a baby again having to get up to it in the middle of the night!

[Lupin]

or like having a puppy

[Moorf]

Hey Nic

I've managed to sort a few people's "stopping down" probs - here's what I usually email them - not sure if it's "text book" but it's worked for us, and others.

Re fires – firstly do you have an older fire, i.e not an Eco one so perhaps 4 yrs older or so? Eco ones don’t allow you to stop them down overnight, cos that’s what causes the smog, smoke from smouldering stopped down fires… so, you probably already knew that and are probably yawning… soo…. Assuming you’ve found the knob that opens/closes the vents that controls the burn then you need to literally “stop it down” to closed after having stuffed as many logs in the woodburner as you can fit in. (when running a woodburner during the day etc you shouldn’t overfill as won’t get as hot). Obviously the firebox/ashes etc should all be piping hot from your evening’s fire… a fire that’s been on a hour or so won’t stop down as well as one that’s retained a lot more heat, if u get my gist. Turn off any fans you might have on your woodburner too.

Ideally you want to be putting in your logs on to a bed of existing burnt logs so there’s a nice bed of coals developing. When we had our w’burner (we now have coal and wood is for open fire) we were able to stop it down and just throw a log on the embers the next morning to get it going again. Sometimes, if I was up in the night for the loo, or the dog woke me, I’d go and shove another log in it

PS - Remember - don't completely clean out your woodburner - always leave a nice bed of ashes - 1.5 - 2 inches thick.

PPS - You can't burn coal effectively in a woodburner because, as has been said before, no grate to keep coals raised. In theory, yes, you could probably get some sort of warmth but I doubt if it would be effective. Plus, I think, can't be sure, that different flues are made for different fuels in terms of heat/temps? I'm sure someone will put me right on that...

Moorf

[willsken]

or like having a puppy

Oh dear.... I remember getting Pepper a couple of years ago, nightmare aren't they!

Thanks Moorf, we unfortunately have an eco burner, although I'm told there are ways to keep them burning over night but sometime it works and other times it's not so good. Not so bad on a week day as we are up really early but at weekends when you don't want to get up before mid day......

[migratory birds]

I am out of the loop when it comes to heating homes in NZ but when in China the burning of coal was common and air quality was horrible. Here in the central US we still have many coal burning plants that are the cause of high mercury emissions that are poisoning our fish and people throughout North America.

Burning coal in your home burner is on a much smaller scale than a coal powered electrical plant but could there be better options than coal? We gave it up here in our homes in the US probably 50 yrs ago. Or is this part of what I can look forward to in NZ?

[Nathan]

Can I burn coal in my wood burner. ...

Coal can damage woodburners. It burns too hot for some woodburners.

I had a woodburner with a cracked and warped firebox (from a previous owner of the house) because he brought coal home from work and burned it in the woodburner. You should have seen the layer of black soot all over the inside of that house!!

[crispyking]

... real estate agents ... do they burn well ??

[Moorf]

Thanks Moorf, we unfortunately have an eco burner, although I'm told there are ways to keep them burning over night but sometime it works and other times it's not so good.

This is very eco-unfriendly of me, but have you tried the "modifications" you can do to an eco burner to re-enable it's stopping down ability?