Proper coal....

[Guest]

Needed coal today and was only able to get a bag of 'Household' coal

 

On opening I could see it was like the coal I seem to remember we used to have when I were a lad and less like the stuff we have been using for the past 18 months which looks not unlike the stuff we BBQ with (Briquettes).

 

On getting it back to the boat I noticed 'for open fires only' but thought 'what the hell' and shovelled a few bits on along with the wood and the Morso is going like a gud un.

 

So (getting to the question) which actually is the best coal to use in a stove......

 

'proper coal' or 'Briquettes'

[mrsmelly]

Needed coal today and was only able to get a bag of 'Household' coal

 

On opening I could see it was like the coal I seem to remember we used to have when I were a lad and less like the stuff we have been using for the past 18 months which looks not unlike the stuff we BBQ with (Briquettes).

 

On getting it back to the boat I noticed 'for open fires only' but thought 'what the hell' and shovelled a few bits on along with the wood and the Morso is going like a gud un.

 

So (getting to the question) which actually is the best coal to use in a stove......

 

'proper coal' or 'Briquettes'

 

Martin

 

For future reference, if you nip to pottery street in Castleford ( about 12 mins drive from your mooring ) there is a coal merchant there sells everything and gas etc and stoves. £8.40 for a 25 kg bag of the usual smokeless stuff.

[Guest wanted]

Do you have a marina policy on using smokeless?

[Guest]

Martin

 

For future reference, if you nip to pottery street in Castleford ( about 12 mins drive from your mooring ) there is a coal merchant there sells everything and gas etc and stoves. £8.40 for a 25 kg bag of the usual smokeless stuff.

 

Thanks Tim.

[nicknorman]

Needed coal today and was only able to get a bag of 'Household' coal

 

On opening I could see it was like the coal I seem to remember we used to have when I were a lad and less like the stuff we have been using for the past 18 months which looks not unlike the stuff we BBQ with (Briquettes).

 

On getting it back to the boat I noticed 'for open fires only' but thought 'what the hell' and shovelled a few bits on along with the wood and the Morso is going like a gud un.

 

So (getting to the question) which actually is the best coal to use in a stove......

 

'proper coal' or 'Briquettes'

Most stove manufacturers seem to preclude use of ordinary coal in the instructions. I think it is because of the tar etc in raw coal which perhaps can burn hotter and/or damage the stove with tar deposits. Probably doesn't matter for occasional use but best to use the type of fuel allowed by the manufacturer when possible. The briquettes seem to work well and are "smokeless" - ie less nasty smoke than raw coal.

[Chertsey]

In my experience housecoal takes more heat to get it going, and burns hotter (not always a good thing) - and smellier.

[Neil2]

Eeeee, you have me on one of my favourite subjects now.

 

Your "household" coal is, as you say, the stuff we were familiar with from bygone days, straight from the colliery. Depending on where it came from (don't get me started) it will have a relatively high percentage of moisture and sulphur compared to more modern fuels and you would find it probably doesn't burn so hot and leaves more ash than a "blended" coal which is what most households use these days.

 

In the days when we produced our own coal and many people lived within sight of a mine and we didn't have smokeless zones, it made sense to just use the stuff that came out of the nearest pit. But now we import coal from all over the globe it is generally accepted that you buy more efficient and eco friendly coal from a merchant who will offer different blends to suit different circumstances. Though more expensive, in the long run it's cheaper owing to the increased efficiency.

 

Though on a boat access is the problem which is why so many boaters end up with household coal.

 

The best stuff I've ever seen is what my sister burns on her multifuel stove. Comes from germany in briquette form and it is incredibly efficient but not universally available. Also it has one of those foreign names that means nothing in english and doesn't stick in the memory which is why i can't remember it! But it demonstrates just how much the coal industry has developed in recent years. Now, just remind me why we closed down virtually all our mines?

[greywolf]

Presumably the old boat stoves burnt coal when they could get it.i suppose the brickettes are a bit like coke which is coal with the gasses removed. Could very well be wrong as i am trying to remember back to when i was a young kid and we had a coal fire.There was various grades of coal then coke and slack which was small broken pieces of coal which you used to bank up the fire at night often dampened.

[Neil2]

Presumably the old boat stoves burnt coal when they could get it.i suppose the brickettes are a bit like coke which is coal with the gasses removed. Could very well be wrong as i am trying to remember back to when i was a young kid and we had a coal fire.There was various grades of coal then coke and slack which was small broken pieces of coal which you used to bank up the fire at night often dampened.

 

In the old days the "grade" of coal was often determined by where it came from ie which mine/seam. Of course Yorkshire coal was the best...

 

Coke was/is normally for furnaces and central heating boilers as it burns hot with little residue.

 

household or more correctly bituminous coal is usually blended with anthracite to make the high efficiency and smokeless stuff.

[Pretty Funked Up]

Bill & Queue's doing their bags of homefire for 'buy 1 get 2nd half price' at the moment.

[alan_fincher]

Apart from any "environmental" or "smoke free" issues, your flue and chimney will soot up much faster with house coal than with one of the processed fuels.

 

If you burn it regularly, you will need to be more vigilant about chimney sweeping, and clearing debris from those bits of the flue-way that tend to fill up with it.

 

A house coal may have a lower calorific value than say a premium processed fuel, so you don't get as much heat out of the contents of an identical weight bag. Any price comparison needs to allow for that.

Edited November 17, 2011 by alan_fincher

[cariad]

In the old days the "grade" of coal was often determined by where it came from ie which mine/seam. Of course Yorkshire coal was the best...

 

Coke was/is normally for furnaces and central heating boilers as it burns hot with little residue.

 

household or more correctly bituminous coal is usually blended with anthracite to make the high efficiency and smokeless stuff.

 

 

na! welsh coal definately the best.

[Guest]

Apart from any "environmental" or "smoke free" issues, your flue and chimney will soot up much faster with house coal than with one of the processed fuels.

 

If you burn it regularly, you will need to be more vigilant about chimney sweeping, and clearing debris from those bits of the flue-way that tend to fill up with it.

 

A house coal may have a lower calorific value than say a premium processed fuel, so you don't get as much heat out of the contents of an identical weight bag. Any price comparison needs to allow for that.

 

Funny enough I didn't clock the price, more concerned about suitability of burning it in a stove as opposed to an open fire, but thanks, appreciated.

[bizzard]

na! welsh coal definately the best.

Most Welsh coal i think was Anthracite,good but is really a furnace coal needing to be burnt rapidly with plenty of air.

Housecoal will also burn clean if burned briskly and fed little and often.But shutting down to tick-over over night will of course cause soot and tar-creosote goo to form.

[cereal tiller]

In my experience housecoal takes more heat to get it going, and burns hotter (not always a good thing) - and smellier.

Yes,if i see the mucky smoke that housecoal produces billowing out of a boat's chimney,i always assume that the vessel's owner drinks "stella artois"!

[Taslim]

Needed coal today and was only able to get a bag of 'Household' coal

 

On opening I could see it was like the coal I seem to remember we used to have when I were a lad and less like the stuff we have been using for the past 18 months which looks not unlike the stuff we BBQ with (Briquettes).

 

On getting it back to the boat I noticed 'for open fires only' but thought 'what the hell' and shovelled a few bits on along with the wood and the Morso is going like a gud un.

 

So (getting to the question) which actually is the best coal to use in a stove......

 

'proper coal' or 'Briquettes'

 

If I am to be away overnight & want the fire to stay in I use 'proper coal' (anthracite) in my Morso Squirrel. I put the front riser bars in &, as another post pointed out, am careful about cleaning flues, dampers etc. It can burn hot so take care with the amount of bottom draught. Once the fire is established it burns cleanly enough.

 

taslim

[Liam]

I have burned housecoal on the boat for the past couple of years, recently moving to Excel...

 

Housecoal used to suit the boat well as it seemed much more controllable in the stove and would stay in for quite a while if backed up properly with the fire set correctly.

 

The bad points are though, is that it throws out an awful amount of dark coloured smoke (although I do tend to think it smells quite nice!).

 

You'll need to keep an eye on your flue when burning house coal. Make sure you give your flue a really good clean out when you've worked through your current bag. I used to have to do mine each weekend and that was with burning from friday afternoon to Sunday evening. Also it doesn't burn down to a fine ash like smokeless, so you'll end up with a fair amount of clinker on your grate that you'll have to riddle now and again. I hope you've got a good liner in your chimney, the tar content is quite alot.

[onionbargee]

You can actually see the ozone layer caving in above your boat when you burn house coal, i love it ! Though i wasn't very popular when i burnt it outside the cafe in gas st basin !

[Yamanx]

My experience, slightly different to others I notice. Is that housecoal actually burns less hot in the stove. And smokes a lot when first lit, a very lot! Works a treat though in the stove. More ash from it as well, I suppose this is because it doesn't burn as hot.

 

Oddly I quite like the smell, a bit of a guilty pleasure as I know its not "good" but when I wander down the toe path and smell "real" coal its pleasant

 

Oh, and to add, it does produce some large bits of black soot from the chimney, which don't wash off so well either the boat or your hands

Edited November 18, 2011 by Yamanx

[debbifiggy]

Apart from any "environmental" or "smoke free" issues, your flue and chimney will soot up much faster with house coal than with one of the processed fuels.

 

If you burn it regularly, you will need to be more vigilant about chimney sweeping, and clearing debris from those bits of the flue-way that tend to fill up with it.

 

A house coal may have a lower calorific value than say a premium processed fuel, so you don't get as much heat out of the contents of an identical weight bag. Any price comparison needs to allow for that.

 

Agreed. One year when we were really skint we burnt house coal. We had to clean the flue every week without fail or the stove wouldn't draw properly. It was also not so good for keeping the fire in and we seemed to use a lot of coal for the amount of heat we got. Over the years we've tried different things and now only burn Taybright as we find it the easiest to control once alight and it will also stay "in" for up to 36 hours without intervention. The only downside of Taybright is the the amount of ash it produces. We always let our ash cool completely (24 hrs at least) and then dispose in the normal household waste on our weekly trip to the tip/recycling place. Never, ever tip your coal ash into the cut due the the pollutants in the the ash which can harm wild-life.

 

HTH

D

[Grace and Favour]

Bill & Queue's doing their bags of homefire for 'buy 1 get 2nd half price' at the moment.

 

Homefire Lo-Coal is the stuff Beggar and Queen currently have on offer . . . . it equates to £11.25 per 25Kg

[NB Alnwick]

Most Welsh coal i think was Anthracite,good but is really a furnace coal needing to be burnt rapidly with plenty of air.

Housecoal will also burn clean if burned briskly and fed little and often.But shutting down to tick-over over night will of course cause soot and tar-creosote goo to form.

 

Although Anthracite traditionally came from deep mines in South Wales, Welsh coal generally encompassed a very wide variety of fuel types - including various grades of house coal, coals suitable for coking/gasification and coal for steam locomotives - the latter being softer and more volatile in content than Anthracite but similar in respect of its clean, low sulphur, properties.

 

We burn pure Anthracite in Alnwick's Morso Squirrel - it burns very clean, as hot as we need it, stays in as long as we want and produces very little ash and soot. However, I will admit that burning Anthracite is an acquired skill - it requires more attention than manufactured fuels and, therefore, it may not suit everyone . . .

 

Edited to add that we sometimes add a few shovelfulls of house coal (or steam coal when I can get it) because we like the brightness of the flames when it burns off the volatiles . . .

Edited November 18, 2011 by NB Alnwick

[luctor et emergo]

Homefire Lo-Coal is the stuff Beggar and Queen currently have on offer . . . . it equates to £11.25 per 25Kg

 

that is an offer? Add your petrol, and dsragging them down the towpath.

Taybright £11, Ovals £12.50, delivered to your boat...

Support your coal boat, not b and qeue

[bargemast]

that is an offer? Add your petrol, and dsragging them down the towpath.

Taybright £11, Ovals £12.50, delivered to your boat...

Support your coal boat, not b and qeue

 

 

On my boat I haven't got a s.f. burner, but if I would have one, and there would be a coal boat that could supply me where I am, by coming alongside, I would be for sure a permanent client, and support the coal boat anytime.

 

Peter.

[Guest]

that is an offer? Add your petrol, and dsragging them down the towpath.

Taybright £11, Ovals £12.50, delivered to your boat...

Support your coal boat, not b and qeue

 

Indeed totally agree - however if nobody sells coal from a boat (Like up here) then you don't have the opportunity.