Tending a Hand Fired Coal Stove

Demonstrates and explains how I tend my Hitzer model 983 coal stove

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• coal
• anthracite
• stove
• hitzer
• fireplace
• insert

[SimonWeir]

Cherry wood gives a lovely aroma on a solid fuel stove.

[gabigowriel]

My nickname there is gowriel!

I started "exploring" the forum but I had some other things to do+ my eyes "hurt" from too many hours of internet , so I had to take a break!

After all, there are other days ahead :-)

Now it's about 22:30 P.M. here in Romania,and while I took a "snack" in the kitchen, I thought to check on your video and answers!

For NEPA I'll leave it to tommorow!

:-)

by the way:some methane gas installer told me that cast iron heats up quickly and cools down hard!Ideal I would say

[Ashcat743]

@gabigowriel My stove is constructed of 1/4 inch steel, except that the loading door and shaker grates on the floor of the firebox are cast iron. I'll look for you on NEPA Crossroads. Many people there far more knowledgeable than I regarding your ideas about thin stainless construction.

[gabigowriel]

@Ashcat743 The stoves I have are tiled stoves not cast iron(although I'd wish they were cast iron...).

That's why I was thinking about thin stainless for the radiant surface wich should also be as big as possible to dissipate the heat/energy from coals better!

These are just some ideeas wich came into my mind after some "study" of stoves in general terms!

For an insulated home the heat from the burned fuel should be released as fast as possible wich is ideal for the long burn time of coals!

[gabigowriel]

@Ashcat743 I'll join NEPA Crossroads and post some photos of these 2 stoves wich I don't use!

Some say they would be damaged fairly quickly from the heat that coke or anthracite coals have!

Too much calorific value for them!

That's why I was thinking about stoves made out of thin metal sheet(stainless),although the"bed of fire" should be made out of thick steel sheet(high melting point,about 1500 degrees celcius)or cast iron(lower melting point,but almost the same if you forget to close the air)

[Ashcat743]

@gabigowriel Thin stove walls might be best for wood, but not for coal, which takes awhile to start but burns A LONG time (10-18 hour burn times are common). Your heavy cast iron, tiled stove is ideal for coal--assuming it is designed to burn coal, with shakeable grates and underfire air source. Post pictures if you can to NEPA Crossroads.

[Ashcat743]

@Ashcat743 I can't post a link here (I guess), but Google search NEPA Crossroads. It is a message board for us coal burners. Join for free. Have all your questions answered. Do you have the ability to take photos of your stoves? Whatever you're using for exhaust for wood burning can likely be used for coal too--coal exhaust is generally cooler than wood.

[Ashcat743]

Had trouble posting, so tested. Much of the energy (about two thirds) content of coal is lost in energy production, distribution and transmission.

[Ashcat743]

@gabigowriel Test

[gabigowriel]

I mean coal plants for generating electricity use about 1 ton of coal for 2000Kw of electricity!

So what happens to the rest of the heat difference assuming 1 ton of coal contains about 8000 Kw of energy?

What interests me is that by burning 1 kg of anthracite or petroleum coke( wich equals to about 8Kw) at a stove efficiency of let's say 70% the heat value in Kw that gets released in the room would be around 5,6Kw?

If so,anthracite stoves are the best way to heat a house!