Charcoal burning in a wood stove

[mbcijim]

I have been offered 6000 pounds (not a typo) of Charcoal. It isn't in bags (it's in gaylord shipping containers). A friend runs there warehouse and this is the collection of ripped bags. That's about 3 pallets worth.

I am new to wood burning and have a Pacific Energy Summit Classic waiting to be installed in my new home.

Can I burn it in my woodstove instead of wood? Or can I mix it in with wood?

Any danger of burning too hot?

 

[karl]

I can't see how it would hurt the stove to burn it. You would have to mix it with wood to do any good. Or use it when it's not too cold out. It won't burn too hot. I think it wouldn't burn hot enough.

I have a Summit insert and in the fall and spring, a big load of coals are nice to keep the house warm, but in Jan and Feb, it's a curse and you have to work at burning them down.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We've never tried that, but realizing that charcoal is nothing but wood to start with, it seems it would not harm anything at all. Mix it in with some wood and it should be fine.

 

[burntime]

I could be wrong but I though that there is an acid that is released when charcoal is burned vs wood. Check the chimney systems see if there is a difference, or at leasst a charcoal stove. There has got to be a reason.

 

[Jay777]

I thought there was increased CO production from charcoal as well. Certainly there are a thousand warnings around about never burning it in an enclosed space.

 

[polaris]

Charcoal is not just wood. Charcoal is a mixture of wood char and coal. Would it hurt anything? I doubt it would but I really don't know.

 

[begreen]

It would be an interesting experiment and would probably work ok. But considering this is a new stove and you have little (or no?) experience burning, I think you should pass unless you can store the stuff, hold off on trying it until you have a couple months experience with the stove. It might be just fine, but if for example you stoke it with too much and have a runaway, how would you know? Do you know what to do in this case?

OTOH, have you ever thought of getting into the mass turkey roasting business?

 

[burntime]

Email the manufacturer of the stove. They may say go for it but limit it to so much with wood, or they may say it voids your warrantee??? At least you will know. My guess is the stove is tested with wood and they will tell you not to do it but there are stoves like the harmon out there that do both.

 

[begreen]

I'm guessing they would say, untested, don't do it. I've read they burn a form of briquette in Ireland and England in multifuel stoves. It's possible they would burn this well. The PE however, has no lower air supply so it may not work too good. It would take some experimentation for sure.

 

[begreen]

That is not the same as commercial charcoal barbeque briquettes. Polaris has it correct I believe. There is coal dust plus a starch binder in their composition. But there are companies selling all wood charcoal for barbeques so it would be worth checking. The normal composition is something like: coal, lignite, sodium nitrate, limestone, borax, charred sawdust, petroleum binder/starch binder.

 

[mbcijim]

Thanks for all the info guys.

Here is some more input that I should have originally posted. It is the charred wood type variety. It isn't the briquettes. So it won't have the coal content some mentioned. I don't want to mention brand name as I don't know if the guy might get in trouble.

I searched the internet and found the manufacturer post it at 9,000 BTU (per pound? don't remember the unit).

My biggest fear is taking all of it and then not being able to burn it. It is at least 4 pickup loads and I have to shovel it out of the giant boxes into smaller containers and it is a drive also. So I'd hate to do all that work and find out it is worthless.

 

[begreen]

That's a lot of free fuel. I can understand your dilemma. It won't be worthless, but I would get some hours of experience with burning and with the stove before experimenting. It should be ok adding to an already hot coal bed. Regardless, I suspect it will be a somewhat messy process.

Wish I had a couple hundred pounds of it. I would till it into my garden beds.

 

[mbcijim]

That's a lot of free fuel. I can understand your dilemma. It won't be worthless, but I would get some hours of experience with burning and with the stove before experimenting. It should be ok adding to an already hot coal bed. Regardless, I suspect it will be a somewhat messy process.

Wish I had a couple hundred pounds of it. I would till it into my garden beds.

That's the problem. He needs to get rid of it now, and the stove chimney is installed now, but the house won't be done for another two months or so. I'd gladly try some out, but I don't have a means to do so right now.

 

[bartlett920]

I wouldnt worry and just burn it I do know that charcoal draws moisture very easily and will rust out a steel grill in a hurry if left sitting so I would make sure you clean out the ashes as soon as possible. Also hardwood charcoal (lump) burns a lot hotter and faster than briquettes. IMOE

 

[Wet1]

I'll take it if you don't want it, I'm sure it will burn in my stove.

You also might need a bottom fed air supply to get it to burn properly....

 

[mbcijim]

Okay, so I went ahead and got about 3,000 lbs of it today.

I'm going to take 10-15,000 lbs more. My manual says no charcoal, but I think they are worried about the coal content. This is clearly blackened wood. I'll probably call pacific energy anyway just to make sure.

Give me a few months and I'll let every one know how it goes.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

In your position. I'd certainly have found a way to take it. That's a whole bunch of BTU's there. Congrats! Seems to me you could mix it in with hardwoods all winter long. Probably depends on which stove you're running. Mine is built like a battleship, 5/16in steel, all double welded, firebox lined with firebrick. Personally, I'd chance it. Maybe not with some of these lighter stoves, though.

OTOH from what Web is saying about the pressed briquettes formula, that would definitely give me pause. I'd want to know what risk that sort of gas mixture poses to the chimney (if any). Does it have any corrosive effect on metals? (as combustion exhaust) But the wood type, I wouldn't lose any sleep over.

 

[by_the_fireside]

I have been offered 6000 pounds (not a typo) of Charcoal. It isn't in bags (it's in gaylord shipping containers). A friend runs there warehouse and this is the collection of ripped bags. That's about 3 pallets worth.

I am new to wood burning and have a Pacific Energy Summit Classic waiting to be installed in my new home.

Can I burn it in my woodstove instead of wood? Or can I mix it in with wood?

Any danger of burning too hot?

Hiya

I saw your post and thought that I should comment - given that you are still looking for an answer, then...

Your charcoal should not be burnt on its own, but would be fine if it is mixed with dry wood, logs etc.

Burning the charcoal on its own is not really advisable and could result in it not burning correctly.

Ciao ciao,

 

[Corey]

Interesting question - I'd probably give it a try. I mean, afterall - when you have a wood fire and it is done burning, what is that giant pile of glowing embers if it is not charcoal? If this is charcoal meant for food, I would suspect it would be very low in sulfur which would be where any acid would be produced...who would want a steak that tastes like a burned match?

It's also a bit strange seeing a mention of charcoal rusting out a grill. Just this the other day, the wife wanted to take our grill to a weekend outing. This is an ancient weber grill that was used and abused when I got it 7 years ago. That thing has grilled several tons of steak, sets outside in all weather year around, and the ashes usually fall out the air holes onto the ground as opposed to being emptied. Since she wanted to use it, I finally dumped the ashes out and hosed it off. I was amazed at how clean and almost completely rust free the bottom of the grill was. I don't think it is made of stainless or anything that exotic. But still almost zero rust.

I say - for free, you can't go wrong!