Charcoal

[LadyG]

Just been to Tesco, picked up some

charcoal at half price, also Firelighters at a reasonable price, and Heatlogs which were expensive 

I used two Firelighter squares and two big kindling to light a Heatlog, not sure if the charcoal is better than Excel type, but it is cleaner to handle and store  as it is in small bags. It seems to be lighting better than the smokeless fuel. The Heatlog lasted forty five minutes, I see it as kindling for the charcoal.

My chestnuts are not quite ready, so I've added more charcoal.

Any comment?

Edited October 11, 2022 by LadyG

[matty40s]

Yes, your stove will not last long if you burn charcoal as your main fuel.

It burns much hotter than coal/multifuel nuggets and doesnt last as long. Temperatures of up to 1100c can occur and your grate will last weeks only....the rest of the stove following soon.

[Tonka]

16 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Just been to Tesco, picked up some

charcoal at half price, also Firelighters at a reasonable price, and Heatlogs which were expensive 

I used two Firelighter squares and two big kindling to light a Heatlog, not sure if the charcoal is better than Excel type, but it is cleaner to handle and store  as it is in small bags. It seems to be lighting better than the smokeless fuel. The Heatlog lasted forty five minutes, I see it as kindling for the charcoal.

My chestnuts are not quite ready, so I've added more charcoal.

Any comment?

If you are cooking on it you need "restaurant grade charcoal " 

[tree monkey]

18 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Just been to Tesco, picked up some

charcoal at half price, also Firelighters at a reasonable price, and Heatlogs which were expensive 

I used two Firelighter squares and two big kindling to light a Heatlog, not sure if the charcoal is better than Excel type, but it is cleaner to handle and store  as it is in small bags. It seems to be lighting better than the smokeless fuel. The Heatlog lasted forty five minutes, I see it as kindling for the charcoal.

My chestnuts are not quite ready, so I've added more charcoal.

Any comment?

Charcoal is less energy dense than coal, so unless you are getting it cheap it's probably not worth it.

 

I have heard that burning charcoal in a proper wood stove can damage them because charcoal burns hotter than wood and can cause distortion, this apparently isn't an issue in coal and multifuel stoves,  I have also read concerns about the amount of carbon monoxide released by charcoal and it could overwhelm the draw and start leaking back through the vents.

 

I have no idea if these are real issues, just talk over a brew, I know I have tried a couple of bags in the past and thought it was a waste of time, burning too fast

 

The heatlog things are a useful but expensive to get a fire going in the depths of winter, I'd I know it's going to be cold and I am going away from the boat for a few days I will occasionally buy one if I am feeling nesh 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by tree monkey

[Rob-M]

We have a bag of charcoal for the BBQ but wouldn't use it in the solid fuel stove.

[LadyG]

24 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

Charcoal is less energy dense than coal, so unless you are getting it cheap it's probably not worth it.

 

I have heard that burning charcoal in a proper wood stove can damage them because charcoal burns hotter than wood and can cause distortion, this apparently isn't an issue in coal and multifuel stoves,  I have also read concerns about the amount of carbon monoxide released by charcoal and it could overwhelm the draw and start leaking back through the vents.

 

I have no idea if these are real issues, just talk over a brew, I know I have tried a couple of bags in the past and thought it was a waste of time, burning too fast

 

The heatlog things are a useful but expensive thing to get a fire going in the depths of winter, I'd I know it's going to be cold and I am going away from the boat for a few days I will occasionally buy one if I am feeling nesh 

 

 

There are some heatlogs in a wrapper, I tried one, as you say, to get the stove going quickly, about £1.50, but these are just bare compressed wood, need firelighters to get them going, too expensive for everyday use , I reckon a box of ten would last 24 hours, £7.50. but you need to add coal or real logs as they burn out so fast.

UPDATE ON CHESTNUTS , the fire is HOT, chestnuts went straight to black charcoal in about four mins  Experiment over, I might use one charcoal egg in a standard fire 

Edited October 11, 2022 by LadyG

[tree monkey]

11 minutes ago, LadyG said:

There are some heatlogs in a wrapper, I tried one, as you say, to get the stove going quickly, about £1.50, but these are just bare compressed wood, need firelighters to get them going, too expensive for everyday use , I reckon a box of ten would last 24 hours, £7.50. but you need to add coal or real logs as they burn out so fast.

Yup they are the ones I used, although the type I had just needed the wrapper lighting with a match, no Firelighters, far too expensive for a whole nights burning. 

 

I've also had a bag of the compressed wood  bricketts to use as emergency kindling which worked really well, these needed a firelighter 

[LadyG]

22 hours ago, Rob-M said:

We have a bag of charcoal for the BBQ but wouldn't use it in the solid fuel stove.

I'm finding on egg in the top centre of the stove is keeping my fire ticking over nicely. It's not the best stove, possibly a wood stove, but it struggles to keep going without being fed three Excell every hour and a bit of kindling as well. 

I guess there is insufficient draught.  It's flat calm today and I just have a standard height chimney.

Edited October 12, 2022 by LadyG

[blackrose]

Has your chimney and flu been swept out recently and any baffle plate at the top of the stove been cleaned? It's often a cause of poor draught.

 

The other reason is as you infer, a chimney which is too short. I know short chimneys are more practical on a boat but lots of them create insufficient draught and the stove just smoulders all night meaning smokeless fuel doesn't get up to temperature and never becomes smokeless.

[bizzard]

Fire lighters for nothing.  Into a glass jam, honey jar pour about 1/2'' of old used white spirit, turps or diesel fuel, NOT petrol. meths or cellulose thinners as these are too volatile. Into the jar put dry sticks or twigs which will soak up the lickwid quite quickly, put the lid back on.  One or two bits of these sticks or twigs with a bit of kindling will start your fire lovely. I've never bought fire lighters.

[peterboat]

I use used paper element oil filters work great 

[bizzard]

Used teabags make good fuel too, once dried. Save up all your used teabags in fact visit everyone around you to donate to you all their old tea bags.

[blackrose]

1 hour ago, bizzard said:

Fire lighters for nothing.  Into a glass jam, honey jar pour about 1/2'' of old used white spirit, turps or diesel fuel, NOT petrol. meths or cellulose thinners as these are too volatile. Into the jar put dry sticks or twigs which will soak up the lickwid quite quickly, put the lid back on.  One or two bits of these sticks or twigs with a bit of kindling will start your fire lovely. I've never bought fire lighters.

 

I don't bother putting sticks and twigs into jars of old white spirit or diesel. I use scrap paper, cardboard tubes from toilet & kitchen rolls and all the free cardboard I get from deliveries which I save up over the summer. There's plenty of material to use to light kindling without resorting to flammable liquids or solid firelighters.

[MartynG]

I understand pine cones make good fire lighters.

 

[buccaneer66]

Maya Dust is very good for fire lighting, it takes a spark from a firesteel, I use it camping.

 

 

 

 

[LadyG]

3 hours ago, blackrose said:

Has your chimney and flu been swept out recently and any baffle plate at the top of the stove been cleaned? It's often a cause of poor draught.

 

The other reason is as you infer, a chimney which is too short. I know short chimneys are more practical on a boat but lots of them create insufficient draught and the stove just smoulders all night meaning smokeless fuel doesn't get up to temperature and never becomes smokeless.

Well it's been like this since I got the boat, I sort of cleaned baffle and flue, so far no change. It does improve  once it has really warmed up 

I think it's just a poor design, I use a lot of kindling, but it's cheaper than a new stove, and I don't fancy carrying two chimneys , I think a taller chimney would improve things, but I m not sure 

[LadyG]

1 hour ago, bizzard said:

Used teabags make good fuel too, once dried. Save up all your used teabags in fact visit everyone around you to donate to you all their old tea bags.

I've tried tea bags, but I think I don't drink enough tea in a 

year to last a month. The problem is to get the coal to light, I need to use kindling, and often have to repeat  the procedure, or sit by it for an hour to ensure it does not die. I would never get coals to light with cardboard, it's bad enough with Firelighters and big kindling.

 

[Ronaldo47]

The cast iron pot-bellied stove that used to provide the heating for one of the signal boxes at the heritage steam railway where I volunteer, was recently condemned. It developed  a crack starting from the boss for the flue and extending part way around the access plate on the horizontsl top  Excessively high temperature produced by burning coal rather than wood was blamed. And now it is impossible to buy a (new) replacement because that type of heater does not meet current regulations, so this winter they will have to make do with a fan heater. 

 

Although we have central heating, we still have an open fire in our living room that we use occasionallly. For getting fires started I use pieces of corrugated cardboard, small thin pieces of wood carefully split  using a sharp hand axe, and the wax covering from Babybel cheeses.  The local industrial park provides an inexhaustable supply of non-returnable wooden pallets that  they are glad to give away, and which  when cut up,  make excellent kindling.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Ronaldo47
typos

[LadyG]

2 hours ago, peterboat said:

I use used paper element oil filters work great 

So that's you sorted two days a year?

[Jak]

Many ways to light a stove. After a few years what I do now is a little kindling, then a couple of kiln dried logs.  Its nice and hot now, much more quickly than going straight from kindling to smokeless. So now I chuck in some smokeless fuel and then manage the burn with the Squirrel controls. Topping up as needed and banking up to last overnight. 
 

Practice makes perfect. Sometimes it went out, sometimes I woke up hotter than a sauna. Enjoy 😊 

 

[tree monkey]

1 hour ago, MartynG said:

I understand pine cones make good fire lighters.

 

Superb kindling but they need a bit of encouragement, I use a cap full of paraffin 

[Ianws]

These heat logs are local to me. Good for lighting a fire and good heat but smoulder rather than a nice flame. Very dense and heavy and no filler. They do deliver large quantities but not much help if you are on the move. https://www.foxtimber.co.uk/products/fox-blox-single-pack/

Edited October 12, 2022 by Ianws

[MtB]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

So that's you sorted two days a year?

 

No, Peter has an electric boat.

 

so he must be buying the paper filters he says he uses to light the stove, brand new.

 

 

[LadyG]

Just now, MtB said:

 

No, Peter has an electric boat.

 

so he must be buying the paper filters he says he uses to light the stove, brand new.

 

 

He does have some strange ideas, lol,  I reckon firelighters cost about a pound a week, I'm not convinced paper filters would even ignite, lol.

[MtB]

Just now, LadyG said:

He does have some strange ideas, lol,  I reckon firelighters cost about a pound a week, I'm not convinced paper filters would even ignite, lol.

 

 

Maybe he soaks them in old engine oil. That would probably get them to light!