educate me on woodburning stoves

[nynor]

two questions:

1. (two parts) can i burn coal in it if i put firebrick in it? how hard is it to do this?

2. it has rust. what paint or process should i use to restore the black surface and make it aesthetically acceptable?

[porsche4life]

You can get High Heat paint.... We have some in rattle cans but I bet you can get it in larger quantities. Just wire brush the rust and get the metal clean and spray the high heat....

[nynor]

high heat paint will work? how high a heat can the stuff stand?

[porsche4life]

Stuff I have claims 1200f...


Oh I forgot... Supposedly they can do a high heat powder coat.... Might be worth having it blasted and going that route...

[nynor]

ok, 1200F should cover it.

anyone know about the fire brick?

[greglepore]

You can only burn coal (if you're not cutting your own wood, perceptive question) if it has shaker grates ie it was designed as a dual fuel stove.

[nynor]

i did a search and didn't find the answer....

i am coal stove stupid. what is a "shaker grate"?

as i recall, my father had a wood burning stove, rated for coal, that he burned a lump or two of coal at a time. there seemed to be nothing special about the stove.

[john70t]

I don't know much about fireplaces, but several things I'd be warry of them is:
1). Coal and gummy wood, like pine, leave more creosote in the flue, which build up and can cause fire.
2). You might want to retrofit to a double-flue, a tube inside a tube. The outer tube draws in fresh air for combustion in case there are leaks in the inner tube. Caveate:I'm not sure these are used with woood burners or not.
3). There might be standards for flue diameter. Too big/high, and the stack won't pull. Too small and the firepit will back up.
4). Kindling first to build heat and prewarm the flue while the bigger pieces are drying out nearbye.
5). CO meters and fire extinguishers are a must.

This is for info only, check with a proffessional.

[nynor]

Originally Posted by john70t

I don't know much about fireplaces, but several things I'd be warry of them is:
1). Coal and gummy wood, like pine, leave more creosote in the flue, which build up and can cause fire.
2). You might want to retrofit to a double-flue, a tube inside a tube. The outer tube draws in fresh air for combustion in case there are leaks in the inner tube. Caveate:I'm not sure these are used with woood burners or not.
3). There might be standards for flue diameter. Too big/high, and the stack won't pull. Too small and the firepit will back up.
4). Kindling first to build heat and prewarm the flue while the bigger pieces are drying out nearbye.
5). CO meters and fire extinguishers are a must.

This is for info only, check with a proffessional.

yeah, you should stay away from fireplaces and fires in general.

[GH85Carrera]

One question I have is do you have an easy source of cheap coal? I have to presume you do or you would not ask the question about coal. Where does one store a pile of coal?

I can't help you on the coal or wood question. I use natural gas

[Racerbvd]

Some of my best Thanksgiving meals were cooked on a wood burning stove, and kept warm sitting by an old Pot Bellied stove that came off the caboose of a train..

[aways]

Burn hardwood... It's difficult to get going, but it'll burn long and beautiful and won't clog up your stove pipe.

[john70t]

Agree. With bivenator's house burning down yesterday it's a time for everyone to have a little paranoia, and inspection. Last year I witnessed two burst-pipe floodings(one in a newly remodeled unheated attic and one over an attached garage).

A shaker grate sounds like a cast-iron grill on the floor which holds the combustables up while letting the ashes drop out of the burn area(too lazy to check "that' search engine).

[nynor]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

One question I have is do you have an easy source of cheap coal? I have to presume you do or you would not ask the question about coal. Where does one store a pile of coal?

I can't help you on the coal or wood question. I use natural gas

coal is cheap. cheap. cheap.

one stores a pile of coal in a pile.

[nynor]

Originally Posted by john70t

Agree. With bivenator's house burning down yesterday it's a time for everyone to have a little paranoia, and inspection. Last year I witnessed two burst-pipe floodings(one in a newly remodeled unheated attic and one over an attached garage).

A shaker grate sounds like a cast-iron grill on the floor which holds the combustables up while letting the ashes drop out of the burn area(too lazy to check "that' search engine).

you have a search result for shaker grate "that" i can peruse?

[nynor]

Originally Posted by aways

Burn hardwood... It's difficult to get going, but it'll burn long and beautiful and won't clog up your stove pipe.

i have been doing this. the downside is that with a traditional fireplace, the heat is most likely at negative efficiency. i am trying to get things more efficient.

[Tishabet]

You only really need a shaker grate if you are burning rice coal, which is the type used in modern coal furnaces (it is, inexplicably, rice sized). If you are looking to burn some in your woodstove, you'll want to get nut coal which is pieces ranging from striker marble to tangerine size.

Is the coal you can get in Utah bituminous (sometimes called bit coal or brown coal or soft coal) or anthracite (aka hard coal)? I would avoid bit coal as it smells and is smokey... anthracite burns very clean and hot.

As for the suitability of the stove, I'm not sure what to tell you other than that coal can burn VERY hot. Also, you will want to be able to control the draw with some precision in order to control the burn rate and heat, especially in order to cool the burn if it is getting too hot. You'll also want to make sure that your chimney is up to the task of handling the increased heat.

Last but definitely not least, get a CO detector if you don't have one already. Coal has a somewhat deserved bad reputation of burning anaerobically in stoves with a tight draw, which can lead to CO generation.

If you are looking for more info there are some threads over on the hearth.com forums.

Good luck!

-Grant, great-grandson of a blacksmith

[Tishabet]

Originally Posted by nynor

you have a search result for shaker grate "that" i can peruse?

A shaker grate is a fire grate (sometimes basket shaped, usually with very small holes) that can be shaken while the coal fire is burning to loosen the ashes. It's critical when you are burning a smaller sized coal, which can smother under its own ashes. You will still need a grate of some sort to burn nut coal (i.e. you can't just have it sitting on the bottom of the stove) but due to the larger size of the coal lumps the shaker is not absolutely essential.

[flatbutt]

I burned wood for 25 years before going to a pellet stove.

Coal requires air to come from beneath the fire bed to burn more efficiently. You can burn coal in a wood stove but not very efficiently.The shaker grate helps you remove the ash from the hot coals again for greater efficiency. You'll find coal ash to be more of a pain than wood ash as it flies around much easier.

The paint in the shaker can is just fine but you need to "cure " it with a small fire and it will smoke like the devil when it is curing so keep the windows open.

Check all of the "rope" seals around the door for breaks. Does the stove have a secondary chamber or a catalytic converter? If so check the condition of the insert making sure it is not clogged.

Invest in chimney cleaning kit and use it! Burning well seasoned hardwood is best. Softer woods will coat the chimney with creosote increasing the chance of a chimney fire. But hardwoods are not perfectly clean either.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by nynor

you have a search result for shaker grate "that" i can peruse?

My comment was only intended to be reflective on how dependant we've become on that useful site for information, nothing more brother. What happens in barf stays there.