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[CountryBoyJohn]

I don't know for sure. I must be getting something out of them because half of my bucket I dump each time is fines and I don't see me getting 12 hour burns on 2.5 "gallons" of coal. I bet they all burn up quickly in the initial fire cause of all the black smoke. I don't know.

[Sloppy_Snood]

I don't know for sure. I must be getting something out of them because half of my bucket I dump each time is fines and I don't see me getting 12 hour burns on 2.5 "gallons" of coal. I bet they all burn up quickly in the initial fire cause of all the black smoke. I don't know.

Maybe  those fines are going up the stack on your first 2-3 cycles John? 

Does it smoke "more" than when you were putting in 3" nuggets?  Curious. 

[CountryBoyJohn]

I'm not sure. I'd say the smoke is the same. I haven't gotten all experimental or anything, but I those first couple cycles are black and smokey no mater what!

[Mountain Duck]

I'm loving my coal burner too.  My wood pile has really been stretched with the ton of coal I bought.  I'm getting 24+ hours without adding any wood or coal.  I usually check and stir it at 7:30 AM which is about the 14 hr mark.  Not sure it needs it, but it's part of my morning routine.  I've been burning coal for 3 weeks, and still have over half a ton.

The smoke is really bad though!  Like John said, thick black, "I just set a pile of tires on fire" smoke!  But like John, it smokes very little after a couple cycles.  I'm thinking I may put my wood load in at my normal 5:30 time, then go out after dark and toss in my coal, just to be a little less conspicuous!

[Scott7m]

Yea load it at night, all we need is some dang nut standing in the bushes videoing the smoke coming out

You guys are burning more coal at a time than me, I never see a huge amount of smoke even on first burn but I'm only throwing in a few lumps and not all those fine

[kybaseball]

What works best for me is just enough wood to keep the coal coming back to life. I usually put about 5 stcks of wood around my coal bed and let it cycle a couple times then add a 5 gallon buck of coal. That will last 24 hours easly. The first cycle with coal does smoke some but not bad. Saves a lot on wood but I have to buy coal and I get wood for free so I save coal for cold nights.

[Sloppy_Snood]

....the argument could be made that coal is nothing more than compressed, "really, really, old" biomass....   

Read this:  http://www.indianacoal.com/doc/whatiscoal.pdf

Great argument if one ever gets "questioned."