Burning Coal

Moman

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Sonoma County, CA
I wasn't sure where to post this so giving it a shot here...

I've been thinking about burning coal in my stove this year. Stove is a three dog model from Four Dog Stoves. I'm only considering this because I no longer have a place to cut wood and not sure I want to buy it. Is anyone burning coal in this stove? Better or worse than wood? What coal grate do I need?
 
Absolutely love the smell of burning coal. Brings back childhood memories from grandparents house. Get the best grade coal you can if not you'll have a lot of chinkers. Which is bad coal that won't burn up . We burnt coal a couple winters ago to save on wood at our place it wasn't a horrible experience. It creates a lot of very dry heat but you've burnt wood and understand the dry heat thing. Use the smallest grate you can if the coal you get is crushed . I got lump coal when we done it and didn't have any problems other than quite a few chinkers
 
A friend's dad burned coal forever. He worked at a coal mine here in Wyoming. The stuff stunk when burned and it was messy. He got it for free and didn't care.


Yeah, the sub bituminous powder River coal isn't the nicest stuff for burning. Much different than the eastern anthracite fields.

It will work for heating and the 4 dog will burn it. I would run a longer flue pipe to get the smoke up higher, be mindful of surrounding terrain and its effects on draft, and be careful to avoid roll out when opening the door.
 
A friend's dad burned coal forever. He worked at a coal mine here in Wyoming. The stuff stunk when burned and it was messy. He got it for free and didn't care.
As Johnny Cash sang....."He got it one piece at a time..... Carried it right out the door...... The bigger pieces he drove out in a buddy's motor home....." :) :) :)
 
I like to burn coal from around here in Gillette, Its cheap and burns alot longer than wood. If you are familiar to our area, I like the stuff from north of town, less btu, so the stove doesn't turn red. If the wind is blowing back on my tent, i will burn wood. I get a nice constant heat, not the burst of heat from wood!!
 
We burned coal for years. When it is 40 below you can go through a ton of wood and wood will not keep the tent heated well over night unless you get up and stoke the stove every couple of hours. A good load of coal will burn all night and provides good even heat. We have access to good hard coal that doesn't smell bad as it is low sulfur. We used it in stoves as light as the old Air Tights, as long as you had a good layer of sand in the bottom it worked fine. Heavier stove was better but you run what you have.
 
It burns hotter than wood and last longer to me with more heat output. Build stove house outside and run heat inside. A lot cleaner that way. .......good luck. Heavy iron or steal crate 1/4" holes or squares.
 
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