Coal cage

[cheesegas]

I've got a little Villager Heron stove, and it's a real pain to get the balance of air just right so the boat isn't 30 degrees inside, or the fire goes out. Bought one of these and it's much easier to maintain a constant temperature without turning the boat into a sauna. Probably could have done the same with some fire bricks but the two builders merchants I tried didn't have any.

[GUMPY]

23 minutes ago, cheesegas said:

Probably could have done the same with some fire bricks but the two builders merchants I tried didn't have any.

You don't need firebricks, any engineering brick will do or even ordinary house bricks.

The house bricks just won't last as long.

[cheesegas]

Just now, Loddon said:

You don't need firebricks, any engineering brick will do or even ordinary house bricks.

The house bricks just won't last as long.

Growing up, my father had a fireplace in the house, he used a house brick to fill a hole in the grate at the back. Was fine for a month or so until the brick exploded, showering the carpet in front of the hearth in embers. Admittedly it's probably quite rare but I'm avoiding house bricks because of that!

[GUMPY]

The engineering bricks I had in my squirrel lasted longer than the stove🤭

[matty40s]

Morso do a pair of extended triangle thingies which sit at the sides and direct the coals down to the grate. I have found they don a similar job to the fire bucket cage, without having the job of having to remove it and empty it out occasionally.

 

[bizzard]

Ordinary Fletton bricks will do fine. Some soppy folk say ooh!! don't use those they can explode, which is nonsense, they would have exploded during their making, ''fireing process'' if they had trapped air pockets in them, which some do do.

[GUMPY]

1 minute ago, matty40s said:

Morso do a pair of extended triangle thingies which sit at the sides and direct the coals down to the grate. I have found they don a similar job to the fire bucket cage, without having the job of having to remove it and empty it out occasionally.

 

Yes they work but they cost! I replaced my bricks  with a similar thing made by a local metal basher at way less cost. 

They have the advantage of funneling the fuel into the grate which bricks don't do.

[Mike Tee]

Its been burning all day and is doing exactly as we wanted - using far less coal than normal, but not getting too hot so for us, economical. I'm not sure it would keep in all night, but we don't do that anyway. Another plus is just give the cage a shake and perfik raddling!

 

[Tony1]

 

 

Oddly enough, I have the stove in the original pic, the Hamlet Hardy 4. 

I tried a coal cage in that, and I wasn't really a fan. 

I found its main effect was to reduce the heat output of the stove, and I think I tried it around Feb last year, when I wanted a fairly hight heat output anyway.  

Because the hamlet hardy 4 is a small stove it fills up using a smaller amount of coal, and I find that its not too difficult to manage the size of the fire- and its burning rate- just using the airflow controls.  

I didn't try the coal cage in the marginal seasons, and I guess that is when it comes into its own, but I've learned to manage the heat output reasonably well anyway (perhaps the small stove volume helps).

The nuisance in the marginal months (around April or Oct) is that I can get the fire lit to give the saloon a bit of added warmth on a cool morning, but by lunchtime the sun's started to come out a bit and everything is warming up anyway, and half the time the saloon ends up too hot- and of course it then takes an hour for the fire to die down. 

In those situations the diesel CH is often a more convenient alternative, unless its set to be cloudy (and thus cool) all day long, in which case I'll opt for the stove. 

Horses for courses really, it depends on the amount of sun we're likely to get, as well as the temp. 

I'm not rubbishing the coal cage as such, but I think perhaps if you have a small stove, you might not need it. 

I can see how it would help to reduce heat output overnight, but again- In the proper winter you need your stove running well for the whole evening, and it's a bit tricky when it gets to bed time for you to somehow plant the coal cage in there to fit around the already burning coals, and then build up this mini fire within the stove. 

Each to their own, I guess. 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2022 by Tony1

[Machpoint005]

We have an open fire in the front room in the house. The grate is hugeous but we've had the same two half bricks at the sides to restrict the coal consumption for at least 15 years -- just ornery Cheshire Commons. They haven't even split, let alone exploded.

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

24 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

We have an open fire in the front room in the house. The grate is hugeous but we've had the same two half bricks at the sides to restrict the coal consumption for at least 15 years -- just ornery Cheshire Commons. They haven't even split, let alone exploded.

 

 

We always had that at home when I was a kid

 

[waterworks]

On 02/12/2022 at 21:58, matty40s said:

Because in late autumn, and spring,(especially in years like this with mild but damp conditions) you sometimes need the fire to keep going without the full capable output of the stove.

Isn't that called the air intake control ?

On 03/12/2022 at 08:12, Mike Tee said:

If it does this ^^^^ then it’s exactly what we want. It’s for the back cabin which just needs the edge of the cold taken off without having to go back and check it too often - we don’t need to have the temp in the low 20’s in there! I look forward to applying heat and hammer to the coal grate this morning, if nothing else that will keep me warm for a while.

Don't hammer on cast iron.

[LadyG]

On 03/12/2022 at 09:20, cheesegas said:

I've got a little Villager Heron stove, and it's a real pain to get the balance of air just right so the boat isn't 30 degrees inside, or the fire goes out. Bought one of these and it's much easier to maintain a constant temperature without turning the boat into a sauna. Probably could have done the same with some fire bricks but the two builders merchants I tried didn't have any.

I think you get firebricks in an old fashioned ironmongers or a fancy stove retailing shop.

[Tonka]

Do you need a Peat Cage if you are using Peat. It is half the price of coal

[rusty69]

Oh, for Pete's sake. 

[Foggy66]

On 03/12/2022 at 10:13, matty40s said:

Morso do a pair of extended triangle thingies which sit at the sides and direct the coals down to the grate. I have found they don a similar job to the fire bucket cage, without having the job of having to remove it and empty it out occasionally.

 

I have said coal inserts in our Morso and they work a treat. I can keep the fire ticking over by adding just 8-10 brikettes

[blackrose]

On 03/12/2022 at 17:49, Mike Tee said:

Its been burning all day and is doing exactly as we wanted - using far less coal than normal, but not getting too hot so for us, economical. I'm not sure it would keep in all night, but we don't do that anyway. Another plus is just give the cage a shake and perfik raddling!

 

 

Raddling... I thought it was riddling but perhaps I'm thinking of batman?

 

My neighbour who's just got one is telling me it's brilliant. She's going to let me borrow it overnight after this cold snap is over.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

1 hour ago, Foggy66 said:

I have said coal inserts in our Morso and they work a treat. I can keep the fire ticking over by adding just 8-10 brikettes

I've got them too. Work well, but expensive.

[frangar]

13 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I've got them too. Work well, but expensive.

But you only buy them once. Had mine years and our fire rarely goes out over winter…still just as they were when we got them.  

[matty40s]

32 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I've got them too. Work well, but expensive.

Free, someone taking a squirrel out and sticking a diesel Bubble stove in. 

[blackrose]

On 03/12/2022 at 10:13, matty40s said:

Morso do a pair of extended triangle thingies which sit at the sides and direct the coals down to the grate. I have found they don a similar job to the fire bucket cage, without having the job of having to remove it and empty it out occasionally.

 

 

Isn't the difference that the coal cage allows free airflow into its contents, while solid objects like firebricks or triangles that are placed into the stove can't really replicate that?

 

Anyway we'll see when I get to borrow the cage. I certainly wouldn't pay the 26 quid without testing it first.

[matty40s]

36 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Isn't the difference that the coal cage allows free airflow into its contents, while solid objects like firebricks or triangles that are placed into the stove can't really replicate that?

 

Anyway we'll see when I get to borrow the cage. I certainly wouldn't pay the 26 quid without testing it first.

No, its about condensing the coals together so they share heat and flame over more of their surfaces. 8 nuggets in a large flat area will probably die off before burning through, 8 nuggets when piled together will burn completely.

[Mike Tee]

3 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Raddling... I thought it was riddling but perhaps I'm thinking of batman?

 

 

That was fat fingers, brain freeze or autocorrect - I'm going with autocorrect😁

[blackrose]

 

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

No, its about condensing the coals together so they share heat and flame over more of their surfaces. 8 nuggets in a large flat area will probably die off before burning through, 8 nuggets when piled together will burn completely.

 

I disagree, I think it's about both. Without adequate airflow 8 nuggets piled together might not burn completely. I'm often left with part burned lumps at the sides next to the firebricks, while the centre above the grate has completely burned.

 

Again, it depends on one's stove and setup. They all behave differently.

Edited December 8, 2022 by blackrose

[Tony1]

 

I'm not sure if the OP ended up buying a coal cage or not, but I wanted to add a brief update on mine. 

For much of the last 2 months I've not bothered with it, but last night it was 11 degrees overnight,.

In that moderate temp I am tempted not to bother keeping a fire in all night, but I thought this time I would, because its still early January after all.

A pile of coals that is big enough to 'simmer' all night can often produce a bit too much heat in last night's sort of weather conditions, but the coal cage allows a smaller pile to burn all night, and it produces a lower heat output (which is what I wanted last night)- but it's still very comfortable when you get up in the morning, and there's no need to build a new fire. 

So for me, there are a few situations in more moderate weather where the cage makes the interior temperature and the fire a bit easier to manage- and when you want the normal heat output you just take it out. You can manage without it, of course, but for me its handy to have around.

As to whether its worth the £26 cost, I guess that is down to the individual.