Getting coal from bag to stove

[magnetman]

I know it seems a bit anoraky and silly but this is something anyone with a coal stove does and if its your main heating and you are aboard most of the time you do it quite a lot.

 

so.

 

What is the procedure, what are the drawbacks and how could things be improved.

 

I get the bag off the roof, place on back deck (by entrance) cut a slot in the top about 8 inches then lift it with my hands, holding the bag between my legs and pour into a small coal bucket. This is brought inside and tipped into the top of the stove or single pieces are loaded with tongs or a shovel. I use homefire which has quite big lumps.

 

My main gripe is that its quite mucky getting the coal from bag into the bucket. I have been considering constructing some sort of coal store like you get at houses with a chute of some sort, but not sure how good they are or if they work. Ideally I'd have a box on the roof and some sort of letterbox arrangement to drop coal through into the bucket indoors but thats very technical and means a hole in the roof. I wonder if there would be some sort of funnel arrangement capable of loading the fire directly from a store box outside? I suppose this might work with small beans but Homefire are quite large so may not work properly I guess.

 

If any bright spark has clever ideas I warmly welcome them

 

Nothing serious just a topic I thought up.

 

edite to corect a cuple of typos

Edited November 25, 2014 by magnetman

[Geordie.narrowboat]

Swap to a diesel stove maybe?

 

Although I use the process you describe and it's good enough for me.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Geordie.narrowboat

[Bettie Boo]

we follow the same regime as you've described with the exception of move from the roof to the front well as our stove is at the front of the boat. from bag into coal bucket, coal bucket into stove.

 

As Dave manages all of the movement of the coal it really has no bearing on me and he manages to do it without making much of a mess.

 

However, would be very interested to know if there is a way of chopping wee logs into kindling without small bits of wood getting everywhere!

[system 4-50]

I get ~10 bags of Excel at a time delivered to my well deck. I then shovel the contents into a scuttle and empty the scuttle into a plastic rubble sack. I get 3 rubble sacks per delivered sack. I then put all 30 rubble sacks into my bow coal locker. Each sack is then not too heavy to lift, unlike the Excel sacks. This is a tad heavy on rubble sacks but they can be reused. I can then just empty a rubble sack into the scuttle as necessary.

A hopper system off the roof would be great fun!

[GUMPY]

I just decant from bag to scuttle, but always do it on the bank.

Scuttles live in the well deck next to the tippyash under the cover and only come in when stoking the fire.

[b0atman]

Be more careful with the pouring cut one corner grip piece of coal in opposite corner lift and pour .I fill 2 scuttles at a time

[Alan de Enfield]

Coal lives in well deck locker - open bag - insert 48 lumps into coal scuttle - scuttle then lives next to fire - lumps fed into fire via tongs.

48 lumps lasts 24-30 hours.

Bag last 3.5 days (approx 168 lumps to 25 kgs) with boat maintained at 25^o C during the day and 20^o C at night

[ChimneyChain]

How long have you lived on a boat now?? I would have thought you would have cracked it by now.

 

Darren

[magnetman]

20 years

 

just wanted something to chat about

thanks for the replies

Think a bigger scuttle will be the thing to get probably. Do quite fancy the roof mounted hopper

no I am not getting a diesel stove

[Geordie.narrowboat]

Lol

 

I did hear of a guy who loaded his under a bow seat and used an Archimedes screw to lift the coal into a mini hopper which fed the skuttle

[Proper Job]

Coal lives in well deck locker - open bag - insert 48 lumps into coal scuttle - scuttle then lives next to fire - lumps fed into fire via tongs.

48 lumps lasts 24-30 hours.

Bag last 3.5 days (approx 168 lumps to 25 kgs) with boat maintained at 25^o C during the day and 20^o C at night

 

Alan - you need to get out more

[Ray T]

 

A hopper system off the roof would be great fun!

 

What you need is a set up like this:

 

 

[Pykebird]

I put coal bag on dinette table through side hatch. Then go inside and cut end of bag, dropping coal into large box under sofa which has wheels.

Most of bag fits into box, the excess goes into coal skuttle by fire. I replace coal with shovel when needed, amount of black soot varies, I try not to clean up before I do coal!

[Alf Roberts]

What is the procedure, what are the drawbacks and how could things be improved.

 

I....cut a slot in the top about 8 inches

One of those picky picky little points but I find the only way to get the coal to flow so it doesn't make a mess is to slit the whole of the top of the bag. Much easier to handle. Not something I've ever shared.... until now.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Alf Roberts

[Ssscrudddy]

20kg coal bags live on the roof. The one I'm using gets brought into the well deck where it stays (dry under cratch cover), I then tip some of this into the coal scuttle & bring the scuttle inside the boat. When the coal bag is empty I throw it away & bring another bag from the roof into the well deck.

Sometimes I put single pieces of coal onto the fire using gloves, sometimes I get the scuttle & tip a load of coal into the fire.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Ssscrudddy

[Peter-Bullfinch]

I have cut two hatches into the top of the cratch bow bench seat and we use this as a coal bunker. It holds three bags plus room for a pile of kindling. I was going to cut a floor sliding entrance but I never got round to it because we found a large trowel was easy to move the rounded lumps into the coal scuttle. The other bench seat has a matching pair of top hatch lids but this holds hosepipe, fenders and the rarely used huge heavy mooring pins.

[tommytelford]

When I was younger and keener I bought a load of brown paper bags and put the fuel in these and taped them up so I had a supply of clean packets of coal. A bit tedious and dirty when you are filling the bags but I only had to get dirty once and it was great if I had decent clothes on.

 

I don't do I now I just don't have the time and I've run out of decent clothes

[Felshampo]

Whats all this pouring business? I open the bag of coal all along the top and then pick the coal up with my bare hands and put it in the scuttle till its full. Then carry the scuttle to the fire ( in my house) and wash my hands. Then put coal on the fire with tongs.....simples!

[Athy]

I have cut two hatches into the top of the cratch bow bench seat and we use this as a coal bunker. It holds three bags plus room for a pile of kindling. I was going to cut a floor sliding entrance but I never got round to it because we found a large trowel was easy to move the rounded lumps into the coal scuttle. The other bench seat has a matching pair of top hatch lids but this holds hosepipe, fenders and the rarely used huge heavy mooring pins.

This is the most sensible and practical idea on the thread so far. Have a greeno.

 

Mind you, one of those Duplex Stokers would be fun, but I don't think Trojan has room for one.

[magnetman]

When I was younger and keener I bought a load of brown paper bags and put the fuel in these and taped them up so I had a supply of clean packets of coal. A bit tedious and dirty when you are filling the bags but I only had to get dirty once and it was great if I had decent clothes on.

 

I don't do I now I just don't have the time and I've run out of decent clothes

 

I like that

 

Someone once told me to wrap firewood in wet newspaper to make it burn longer - i wonder if it'd be worth trying that with the coal ?

[Mac of Cygnet]

Cygnet has one of the best arrangements for this that I've seen, and I don't use it, as I burn only wood. A front deck locker extends all the way down to baseplate level and connects via a sliding flap to a metal tray next to the stove.

 

Slide flap, insert shovel, withdraw coal. Because of the depth, about three bags of coal could be tipped into the locker.

 

It was full when I bought the boat and I gave the coal away, keeping a little at the bottom for emergency use (it's been there 10 years). Shelved the locker for more useful things. But it was a good idea.

[magnetman]

That does sound good

[GoodGurl]

coal from roof to bow, open door and rest coal bag at the plinth, place plastic builders bucket on step inside, cut the bag open and tip the whole bag into bucket, take to fire good for 3 - 4 days.

[Quinafloat]

Nobody has mentioned the clothes peg. Once a bag is open, whether it be a corner cut off or a slit along the top, you fold it over and put a clothes peg on it. Keeps out the rain even if it's windy. Obviously a bit over the top if you have the bag of coal in a cratch, or under cover but essential if it is out in the open. It stops water accumulating in the bottom of the bag and going all over your shoes when you empty the last bit of bag into the scuttle/hod.

[magnetman]

another good tip