What to burn?

[storm monkey]

Having recently moved to the lake district, we now live in an old and some what delapidated farmhouse. The main heating system is a gas boiler, about 15 years old, and on stretched a little beyond its limit. To top up the heating we have a multifuel stove/room heater (shiney black metal box, winodw'd doors, thermostat on the side, that sort of thing!), and have been merrily burning logs for the last month. Although I have some left, and load of wood lying around still to cut up, it isn't enough to keep the thing going all night, or ticking over during the day, while the place is empty. I need soem sort of coal, trouble is, I'm a bit lost in what to burn. I've looked at a few websites, and the list is endless....Pharmacite, Ancite, Anthracite, Stoveheat etc. Also, I've only found one price list (here) which I suspoect is quite expensive, but have no idea. Obviously I'll be calling the local merchants this evening, but have no idea even how much to order.

So, can any of you seasone pyro's help me out? I'm after a fuel that is efficient, will burn over night, won't fill the chimney with crap too quickly, and isn't too expensive. Also, some Idea of how much I should expect to burn would be good.

Many thanks,

Phil

 

[English Steve]

Hi Phil, don't know if this helps but ...

In my last house (small cottage) we had one open fire in the lounge to heat the entire house. We bought 1/4 ton of ordinary household coal each year, and supplemented this with logs and home-made newspaper bricks. By shutting down the hearth and banking up the fire with coal, coal dust and veg peelings etc, it would stay in all night but we never tried for all day if the house was empty for reason of the obvious fire risk. I only remember having to buy extra coal once during a particularly cold winter when my wife was not working so needed heat all day.
All this was over eight years ago so I can't help with current pricing of coal. Our logs came from anywhere I could get them free. I used to drive around with a bow saw in the boot all year, just in case I noticed a likely log-source
Back then, discounts were available if you bought the coal in the summer months.
I would suggest contacting a proper fuel merchant, and unless you need smokeless, I would avoid the brand name fuels which cost more because of their pretty shape. Our chimney sweep once commented that Coalite was shaped like fifty pence pieces so that you could see how much it was costing to burn

Edit: a list of options and a possible supplier here.

 

[rtbcomp]

It will probably burn coke OK, that's the cheapest smokeless fuel (or it was last time I actually bought some fuel).

 

[Drains]

Normal housecoal is fine in a stove in my experience. Bank it up overnight, still going next morning. Open it up next day and throw in some wood (oak is the best. Eucalyptus is fantastic but a bit rare in the lake district....)

 

[wallopadonkey]

hi there i know you said it was a multifuel stove you have but sometimes people refer to them as such without them being so

you cannot burn any of the fossil fuels ie coal coke etc in a stove unless it has a multifuel grate in the bottom of it normally looks like a cast iron grate bottom normally with a lever to riddle the ashes.
if you burn this type of fuel directly on the bottom of the stove without a grate you will damage it, possibly irreparably.

for maximum heat from any stove you need to burn seasoned (dried out for 10 - 16 months they can be bought like this) hardwoods they give the best heat and give off less creasote etc.
to burn coal efficiently it needs airflow from the bottom flowing up and through it, whilst wood requires to be seated on a bed of ash and fed air from above it.

we have a local coal merchant to us and we get coal in doubles and triples (medium and large pieces)

a normal size galv coal bunker costs about £60 and will hold 125-150 kilos
25kg bags of housecoal about £6 (blue plastic bags)
50 kilo sacks around £12 (these are the large whitish bags with open tops you used to see on coal wagons normally delivery only)

we buy 2 x doubles and 1 sack of triples large coals take ages to burn through we only use coal on the open fire in the dining room



anything else just ask

 

[rtbcomp]

Where we used to live (1950 ish) our street was unmade and when the coalman came round all the housewives would stand at their front doors with a shovel waiting for a sack to fall off when the lorry hit a pothole. Playing with coal is a pastime denied to modern kids!

 

[wallopadonkey]

lol pmsl
i used to come in from the garden black lol

quite often i used to wash and clean coal in water and show mum the jewels i had found

god i must of been 6 or so lol

good times

now my boy wont even pick coal up with a blody shovel in case he gets dirty!

 

[storm monkey]

Thanks for the info guys......

Wallop..... Rest assured it is indeed a multifuel stove, complete with adjustable griddle plate, so I can remove the ash from wood burning and adjust the airflow to suit coal, mid burn, when I put the coal on.

I'm struggling with seasoned drylogs at the moment, as we only found out we were going to place on a few months ago, so only started loggin in June. The weather has been really wet too and the log shed is not ideal for drying (its full of cold damp logs for a start!). My pile for nest year is starting to get there, but I'm going to have to find all the inside, processed scrap wood I can for this year. Time to make friends with a local carpenter or warehouse!

I've found the details of 2 local coal merchants, so once I've cleared enough space for a couple of hundred kg's I'll give them a call.

Phil