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[andyjs]

Been tearing through a bunch of my wood.been really cold here in northeast Ohio this winter.just wandered if anyone was burning coal mixed in with wood? Any tricks to it and how well it works.i have a heatmaster 1000e.

[CountryBoyJohn]

There is a thread going right now in the General Outdoor area:  http://outdoorwoodfurnaceinfo.com/forum/index.php?topic=4770.0

Several of the comments are from HM owners.  There are 2 or 3 guys running coal in the HM.  Boydz, Scott, and I think one other.  I'm not sure if KYbaseball threw some in or not.  Oh, and Mountain Duck just chimed in too. 

[Boydz]

Ive just been burning Money - Its more fun  

[yoderheating]

 Andy, it will work fine. Just don't over fill it and add a little wood with the coal. Shake the grates every 12 hours and you should be fine.

[CountryBoyJohn]

Ok Coal guys.  I have a line on some coal but they have 2 kinds.  Well, 1 kinds, two forms.  They have "lump" coal that comes in various sizes ranging from basketball to baseball.  I believe it's all bituminous.  They also have it in stoker size, which she said is 1.5" pieces.  Which kind should I get?  The stoker is $56 per ton and the lump is $51.  Also, what kind of volume are we talking for 1 ton?  I know aggregate is generally 2 tons per cubic yard and I know coal is much less dense.  So, how much volume are we talking for a ton of coal?  3 cubic yards?  4? 

[Mountain Duck]

John, I believe the general consensus is that lump is preferable in an OWB.  Wish I could find it for $51/ton. 

I'm not sure on the specific dimensions, but I have a 3/4 ton pickup with an 8ft bed.  A ton heaped up in the middle, just a bit higher than bed level. I'm guessing if you raked it down, it would have have been 5-6" below level.  I could have easily hauled another 1/2 ton, maybe a full one if I pushed it!   

[CountryBoyJohn]

Thank you Mr. Duck.  I'm afraid I'll have to get a trailer.  My short bed 1/2 ton probably won't get a full ton in it.  Not without overflowing the sides anyway.  Well, I may just start with whatever it'll hold for this year. 

How much coal/wood do you put in and what is your goal burn time?  I know our loads are different, but I need somewhere to start my tinkering!! 

[Mountain Duck]

Like I mentioned in the other thread, I'm just tinkering as well.  Just started this week, so I certainly don't claim to be an expert, BUT.........what I've been doing is adding 1-2 5 gallon buckets of lumps (or rough equivalent)  I've been adding this to a good bed of coals.  Then I have been adding 3-5 locust rounds.  They are ~8-10" round by ~18"long. 

My schedule has been more variable than usual this week due to the snow, but that load has been giving 24 hours burns.  I came up a little short this morning, but we have been home with the snow, and kept the thermostat on 75, so that cut me a little short.  Temps have been upper teens to around freezing.

Hope that helps a little.

[CountryBoyJohn]

Perfect answer!  Exactly what I was looking for.   

Glad to see I'm not the only crazy person keeping the house at 75!  Non-wood burners scoff at it saying "oh, that's too hot for me", but we all know they're just jealous!!   

[kybaseball]

I have been using coal when the temps get below 10 and helps keep burn times longer. I usually make aure I have a few chunks of wood and then I have been putting in a 5 gallon bucket size of coal and it last a long time. The wood will get to burning and then fire the coal up. It makes the load last a long time. I actually did it one time and got almost 30 hours out of just one cycle. My biggest thing is getting the coal. Had to drive an hour to get it. I will have a ton on hand next year ready to go!!!

[Mountain Duck]

Little update.... I seemed the last couple days to be having trouble keeping fire with the coal.  Temps would be down in the 140s in the morning, with just a little fire burning.  Still had some wood, but the coal just couldn't get going.  So yesterday evening I raked everything down, and decided to load a little more wood than I had been doing.  Also put in some split stuff on the bottom.  I added my bucket of coal first, then the wood.  Also tossed in a couple big lumps on top of the wood when I finished.  I didn't add a full load of wood, but more than I had been.  Also set my differential to 10.

Big Difference!!!  Bigger, hotter fire, that would have probably given me a 30+ hour burn.  Loaded it back similar this evening.  Saw a 1 ft flame shooting out a bit ago, so i think it's rolling!!    It ran a cycle in ~10 minutes

I believe when I started earlier in the week, I had a good bed of wood coals to keep the coal burning.  After a couple days,my wood coals had burnt up, and the big heavy locust rounds just weren't coaling up good enough to keep a good mix of wood and coal "coal bed".  I think it is similar to the problem I had early in the year when I was under loading my stove, and couldn't keep it burning.

Not sure how much a bucket of coal saves me in wood per day, but it seems substantial.

[kybaseball]

Sounds great glad to see you got the fire going good. I after about 3 days of using coal load the stove with just wood to build the bed back up some and then cut back in the wood and add coal back in and seems to be working great. With the temps going up this coming up week I will back off the coal as the stove will idle longer.

[andyjs]

Got some stoker sat morning and its working great! Back my temp down to 165 with a 10 degree diff seems to work good draft is still wide open .I have been loading two 8-10" rounds and putting 4 small shovel loads of coal on top of wood.

[Scott7m]

Got some stoker sat morning and its working great! Back my temp down to 165 with a 10 degree diff seems to work good draft is still wide open .I have been loading two 8-10" rounds and putting 4 small shovel loads of coal on top of wood.

A little better than your previous set up huh?.  Haha

Glad it's working well

[andyjs]

Scott, I think the coal does help alot.just wish I could find it cheaper paying 101 for stoker coal.