Types of coal

[Dovetail]

This is great advice, thanks everyone! Im pleased I asked

 

So am I

[onionbargee]

All the manufactured ovals contain sand, and coal dust in varying amounts squashed into nuts, Taybrite a lot of sand ! but then it's cheap, or it was. Your paying for sand you then chuck away !

 

Pure anthracite is the best coal you can get bar none.

 

 

And i hate the term "woodburner" that's been invented by the lazy, it's a stove.

[Starcoaster]

Surely it takes longer to type 'woodburner' than it does 'stove?'

[linwil]

Just bought a couple of bags of "burning peat" from my local supplier. Made(?) by this firm http://peatheat.co.uk/index.html

£5 for a big bag (dosen't work for comparison by weight)

Looking at their web site the heat produced vs. price seems to be good.

Trying it on my squirrel at home, burns more easily than other peat I have tried.

Anybody else tried it?

Thinking of taking some down to the boat.

Regards

 

Also posted in coal price thread by mistake

[bowten]

Hello, we have a Morso wood burner on our new boat but were thinking of burning coal over night to keep the boat warm for the morning. Is there a certain type of coal I should buy that is suitable for that type of burner? I have seen house coal and smokless house coal but having never bought coal before I thought I better check!

Thanks

If this is a woodburner,I hope you still have the grate that you need to burn coal.

[NB Alnwick]

We haven't used peat or any of its derivatives but we did buy a few bags of compressed straw at Crick this year and found it excellent - albeit a tad expensive . . .

[wonderdust]

Just bought a couple of bags of "burning peat" from my local supplier. Made(?) by this firm http://peatheat.co.uk/index.html

£5 for a big bag (dosen't work for comparison by weight)

Looking at their web site the heat produced vs. price seems to be good.

Trying it on my squirrel at home, burns more easily than other peat I have tried.

Anybody else tried it?

Thinking of taking some down to the boat.

Regards

 

Also posted in coal price thread by mistake

 

That will go down well with the environmentalists!

[BargeeSpud]

If this is a woodburner,I hope you still have the grate that you need to burn coal.

Its probably multi fuel as most Morso's are. I've seen Squirrels on sale in proper outlets described as wood burners. When I've queried this, I was told it was the "Escape To The Country" effect where they describe any solid fuel stove as a wood burner & so thats how they market them, as thats what customers expect. Don't see it myself.

[Tony Brooks]

Hello, we have a Morso wood burner on our new boat but were thinking of burning coal over night to keep the boat warm for the morning. Is there a certain type of coal I should buy that is suitable for that type of burner? I have seen house coal and smokless house coal but having never bought coal before I thought I better check!

Thanks

 

 

I do not know the Morso but two points about solid fuel in wood-burners.

 

1. A true wood-burner does not have a grate as such so using solid fuel would quickly smother the fire in ash.

 

2. Stoves designed to burn solid fuels use fire bricks to protect the metal of the stove from the heat produced. Wood does not produce so much heat so a true wood-burner may well not have any firebricks inside.

[mykaskin]

As you're a professional, I'd be very interested in your views on the acid problems associated with some coals, Taybrite for example. Have you ever come across this problem?

 

They all produce some, the trick is to have a double skinned chimney that drains back down the flue. Since doing this I've had little issue with it.

 

Mike

 

All the manufactured ovals contain sand, and coal dust in varying amounts squashed into nuts, Taybrite a lot of sand ! but then it's cheap, or it was. Your paying for sand you then chuck away !

 

Pure anthracite is the best coal you can get bar none.

 

 

And i hate the term "woodburner" that's been invented by the lazy, it's a stove.

 

The sand/cement controls the burn, and may even make it more efficient as heat is trapped and held in the lump. It's true you are throwing it away at the end, but after it's done it's job.

 

Different stoves are built differently - if one is made just for burning wood it may not be suitable for burning coal and vice vera. My stove for example has no top air supply to the fire so isn't all that good for burning wood.

 

Mike

[mrsmelly]

I do not know the Morso but two points about solid fuel in wood-burners.

 

1. A true wood-burner does not have a grate as such so using solid fuel would quickly smother the fire in ash.

 

2. Stoves designed to burn solid fuels use fire bricks to protect the metal of the stove from the heat produced. Wood does not produce so much heat so a true wood-burner may well not have any firebricks inside.

 

Hi Tony

 

I would agree with point one., however whilst most stoves I agree do use fire bricks my stove has none as is designed for use without any. It is an expensive stove built of thick cast and works superbly well as with most multi fuel stoves.

 

Tim

[mykaskin]

Hi Mike

Have you any experience of 'pureheat' ?

We re experimenting this years and have a few bags of pureheat, supertherm and excel to try out.

Les

 

I'm not sure I have, certainly not recently anyway. It might have been what I was burning a long while ago but my memory isn't what it never was, and then I went onto Supertherm.

 

Mike

[Tony Brooks]

Hi Tony

 

I would agree with point one., however whilst most stoves I agree do use fire bricks my stove has none as is designed for use without any. It is an expensive stove built of thick cast and works superbly well as with most multi fuel stoves.

 

Tim

 

 

Point taken, maybe I should have said most/some. I think that boiler plate stoves may be more prone to damage from excess heat than cast ones but then cast can suffer if the warm up is too fast.

 

I would like the OP to check a dual fuel or solid fuel variant of their stove to see if fire bricks are required just to be on the safe side. I think the Morso is a cast stove but I have no idea how thick the casting are. My Stovax Brunell certainly uses fire bricks and that is a cast iron stove.

[Nickhlx]

Point taken, maybe I should have said most/some. I think that boiler plate stoves may be more prone to damage from excess heat than cast ones but then cast can suffer if the warm up is too fast.

 

I would like the OP to check a dual fuel or solid fuel variant of their stove to see if fire bricks are required just to be on the safe side. I think the Morso is a cast stove but I have no idea how thick the casting are. My Stovax Brunell certainly uses fire bricks and that is a cast iron stove.

 

A thick walled cast iron stove will take longer to corrode through, but will be more liable to cracking with high temperature gradients or thermal shocks

 

Nick

[BargeeSpud]

I think the Morso is a cast stove but I have no idea how thick the casting are. My Stovax Brunell certainly uses fire bricks and that is a cast iron stove.

Yes, it is cast in several pieces with the top being about 8-10mm & the sides being around 4-5mm or maybe less. Can't swear to those dimensions as I've only a vague idea from the wreckage of the Squirrel I recently replaced!

[Psycloud]

So if I read this correctly the best all-round fuel for a multi fuel burner would be:

 

Pureglow - cheapest smokeless I sell, little ash, huge amounts of heat (maybe too much in a small cabin like mine) right through the burn to the last, in fact I've managed to accidentally run it out as the stove was so hot I thought I had plenty in it when there was just a couple of little lumps left! Very controllable, lasts an age - 18 hours my record so far, and opening up made it jump straight into action, must have had a few hours left in it I recon.

 

?

 

Thanks

 

David

[Grace and Favour]

Or Anthracite

[Lesd]

So if I read this correctly the best all-round fuel for a multi fuel burner would be:

 

Pureglow - cheapest smokeless I sell, little ash, huge amounts of heat (maybe too much in a small cabin like mine) right through the burn to the last, in fact I've managed to accidentally run it out as the stove was so hot I thought I had plenty in it when there was just a couple of little lumps left! Very controllable, lasts an age - 18 hours my record so far, and opening up made it jump straight into action, must have had a few hours left in it I recon.

 

?

 

Thanks

 

David

 

I've never heard of pureglow. We're in trial mode this year buying a few bags of various types, so I'll ask our two local fuel boats if they stock it and try it if they do

[bizzard]

Some solid fuel stoves don't have fire bricks, they have an inner cast firebox with a gap between it and the outer cast casing. Some of the Chinese imports have this too, i've installed a couple of these and i think they're jolly good little stoves for the price, excellent value as apposed to the likes of Morso which i think are a rip off price for what they are.

A really proper pucka serious wood log burner is incredibly efficient but a bit ugly to look at as they are long bodied to suit longish logs with the flu at the back and long legs and would only really fit in a narrowboat sideways on as they would stick out halfway across the cabin and of course they burn their wood on a plate not bar grates and no lower ash compartment.

[Duchess Omnium]

I have just checked the documentation for my Morso Squirrel as I thought I remembered it was described as a "wood-burning stove" by the manufacturer. It is, and the main instructions state that it is "recommended to be fired with wood" although it has a grate, ash can, firebrick back, etc. Only in the extra booklet "supplementary installation & operation instructions for the UK market" does is reveal that it is suitable for "multi-fuel" -- which of course it is.

[BargeeSpud]

I have just checked the documentation for my Morso Squirrel as I thought I remembered it was described as a "wood-burning stove" by the manufacturer. It is, and the main instructions state that it is "recommended to be fired with wood" although it has a grate, ash can, firebrick back, etc. Only in the extra booklet "supplementary installation & operation instructions for the UK market" does is reveal that it is suitable for "multi-fuel" -- which of course it is.

That's because on the Continent, where most sales take place, thats the state of the market. There is no concept in wider Europe of a multi-fuel stove, or demand for them, & they are all considered to be wood burners. Technically, as you & the UK supplementary manual point out, they are multi-fuel & are constructed to be so, hence the fire bricks, grate & ashpan.

Edited November 2, 2012 by Spuds

[pearley]

No real mention of Coalite.

 

Last winter was spent in Yorkshire where the local coal merchant sold Excel and very good we found it too in our Boatman stove.

 

The summer being so wet and cold we had to buy some more fuel when on the Witham which was Burnwell. This was also good but by the time we got to Birmingham last week we needed more fuel. There was a coal boat moored in front of us at the back of the Sea Life Centre but all he had left was Coalite. Not having tried it before he gave me half a bucket to try. It seemed Ok but we had only used it for the day. So I bought 6 bags. Firstly being stored under bags of House Coal and logs it was very broken up with lots of wet 'slack', it generates prodigious amounts of ash and it is very difficult to keep in overnight. Have now bought a couple of bags of Taybrite (don't like to store more than 6 or 7 on the roof) which we'll use overnight and the Coalite in the day until it's gone.

 

Regards

Pete

[mykaskin]

So if I read this correctly the best all-round fuel for a multi fuel burner would be:

 

Pureglow - cheapest smokeless I sell, little ash, huge amounts of heat (maybe too much in a small cabin like mine) right through the burn to the last, in fact I've managed to accidentally run it out as the stove was so hot I thought I had plenty in it when there was just a couple of little lumps left! Very controllable, lasts an age - 18 hours my record so far, and opening up made it jump straight into action, must have had a few hours left in it I recon.

 

?

 

Thanks

 

David

 

It does seem to be good stuff - after trying a bag of Excel, instead of clearing the pan twice a day, I'm only do it once a day again. I believe it's a WJ Hills and Sons mix, and in the south will be available from Archimedes and Ara, and on the River Lee by Indus amongst others.

 

Seems to burn well in my Classic (http://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/Products/Heating/SolidFuelStovesRanges/Ranges/HS002.aspx) anyways.

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

[John V]

Some solid fuel stoves don't have fire bricks, they have an inner cast firebox with a gap between it and the outer cast casing. Some of the Chinese imports have this too, i've installed a couple of these and i think they're jolly good little stoves for the price, excellent value as apposed to the likes of Morso which i think are a rip off price for what they are.

A really proper pucka serious wood log burner is incredibly efficient but a bit ugly to look at as they are long bodied to suit longish logs with the flu at the back and long legs and would only really fit in a narrowboat sideways on as they would stick out halfway across the cabin and of course they burn their wood on a plate not bar grates and no lower ash compartment.

 

I have a proper woodburner in the main saloon, in shape it is similar to many of the multifuel stoves about 22" wide 16" deep about 24" high on 3" legs enameled with a glass door big enough to get a 15" long log in. It has a row of firebricks for a fire bed and another row just below the flue to recirculate the fire. One immediate give away that its a woodburner is the air regulator is at the TOP rather than the bottom as in a multifuel. Not all of them are unsuitable for boats though I must admit mine probably is a bit big. Incidentally it came from a well known stove shop in Hatfield Peverel about 14 years ago

[John V]

Although not a coal I don't think this is has anyone else come across "Outback Multifuel"?

They look like charcoal briquettes but the box says "not fossil fuel" and "No trees cut down"

They don't smell of cow sh*t and they seem to burn quite well in my woodburner

My local chandler is flogging it at £4.50 a box (10Kg)

1/2 a box lasted about 12 hrs at tickover so I have stocked up with a dozen boxes as an emergency fuel supply (being boxes they stack away easily)

Can't work out what they are made of unless it's scrap wood and the no trees cut down is just flannel