Coal in a Pellet Stove?

[tjnamtiw]

Saw this on You tube.

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Holy crap. good luck with that one! They are using a hobbyist pellet maker with rollers and a flat die. I'm amazed that they got it to bind! I wonder what the life of the die is. Still, no way would I put that in my stove unless I had a death wish for the stove and my family.

 

[GeHmTS]

Theoretically, you can design a stove for these kinds of coal pellets or I suppose you can simply put them in normal coal stove. Do you think they are easier to fire up?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Saw this on You tube.

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More ash, more corrosive combustion byproducts. more BTUs per pound, not for any pellet stove. You can not even burn torrified wood pellets in a pellet stove. The stoves are not rated, nor built for such fuel. You need proper venting to boot.

Why, oh why, does everyone want to push it into the red zone, is it a secret desire to live on the bleeding edge.

We have examples of that every season, usually leading to many closed to posting and then deleted threads.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Theoretically, you can design a stove for these kinds of coal pellets or I suppose you can simply put them in normal coal stove. Do you think they are easier to fire up?

If you want to burn them in a coal stove, why not just get pea coal, which is about the same size? Makes no sense to me.

 

[hyfire]

What if you burned 15% coal and 85% pellets? Kinda like E85 for pellet stoves?

 

[tjnamtiw]

More ash, more corrosive combustion byproducts. more BTUs per pound, not for any pellet stove. You can not even burn torrified wood pellets in a pellet stove. The stoves are not rated, nor built for such fuel. You need proper venting to boot.

Why, oh why, does everyone want to push it into the red zone, is it a secret desire to live on the bleeding edge.

We have examples of that every season, usually leading to many closed to posting and then deleted threads.

Yep, a lot more ash but if it's anthracite, it burns very clean with no corrosive byproducts. Regular old vent pipe lasts for years. Don't know about bituminous coal.

Yea, with this cold weather everyone is pushing the envelope of what their stove can handle. What do you want to bet that there will be a rash of horrified people complaining that they have found warped and cracked parts in their stoves during the big spring cleaning. These cheap pellet stoves are falling apart will be the cry.

 

[titleist1]

Yep, a lot more ash but if it's anthracite, it burns very clean with no corrosive byproducts. Regular old vent pipe lasts for years.

The fly ash from anthracite if the stove / stoker is kept running won't corrode because the heat keeps it dry. When it is shut down, like over summer, the humidity will react with the fly ash (even fly ash residue left over after cleaning flue pipes & chimney) and rust out the metal, even SS over time.

Theoretically, you can design a stove for these kinds of coal pellets or I suppose you can simply put them in normal coal stove. Do you think they are easier to fire up?

If you mean a hand fired coal stove, at that size they would likely fall through the shaker grates. If they would manage to not fall through they look like they would pack too tightly to allow a good bit of air through them and the heat output would be lower than pea, nut or stove size.

If you mean a coal stoker, they would likely work as well as pea, rice or buck sized coal once you got the proper air / feed rate adjusted for them to burn well.

 

[Bioburner]

Same issue with corn. Keep it hot no problem. Its when the off season condensate starts the horror of corrosion. I remove and power wash after season.

 

[tjnamtiw]

The fly ash from anthracite if the stove / stoker is kept running won't corrode because the heat keeps it dry. When it is shut down, like over summer, the humidity will react with the fly ash (even fly ash residue left over after cleaning flue pipes & chimney) and rust out the metal, even SS over time.



If you mean a hand fired coal stove, at that size they would likely fall through the shaker grates. If they would manage to not fall through they look like they would pack too tightly to allow a good bit of air through them and the heat output would be lower than pea, nut or stove size.

If you mean a coal stoker, they would likely work as well as pea, rice or buck sized coal once you got the proper air / feed rate adjusted for them to burn well.

I thought about using them in a stoker too but they'd probably roll right off the bed! Plus why put more labor, machinery costs, and electricity into a product that works great in it's natural state? It makes no sense.

 

[RKBAGUY]

Why, oh why, does everyone want to push it into the red zone, is it a secret desire to live on the bleeding edge.

Reflecting on the original purpose of my post, the question wasn't about pushing the envelope, it was about finding supply of fuel late in the season. All sellers in my area are completely sold out of wood pellets, and I have only 2 bags left as of today.

It seems some folks can't resist an opportunity to take someone to task over just about anything.

 

[Bioburner]

Reflecting on the original purpose of my post, the question wasn't about pushing the envelope, it was about finding supply of fuel late in the season. All sellers in my area are completely sold out of wood pellets, and I have only 2 bags left as of today.

It seems some folks can't resist an opportunity to take someone to task over just about anything.

I thought my original post was simple enough. NO The sun is up, its Sunday and its only -13F out on the 2nd day of March. At this rate will get the cycles out for a nice run on the 4th of July. Wonder if anybody will have any pellets for sale by then?

 

[tjnamtiw]

Reflecting on the original purpose of my post, the question wasn't about pushing the envelope, it was about finding supply of fuel late in the season. All sellers in my area are completely sold out of wood pellets, and I have only 2 bags left as of today.

It seems some folks can't resist an opportunity to take someone to task over just about anything.

Oh, don't get feeling hurt. We all do it in jest! You just need a thick skin sometimes. Don't forget to dish it back on when YOU have the opportunity. We actually feel for you and perhaps someone will come forward to help you out like they did to another fellow who was running out and had no backup. We all actually are a good group ready to help.

To be honest, being that you ARE in coal country, over the summer I would keep an eye on craigslist for a coal stove as a back-up if you can find one reasonably cheap. Even a hand fed unit could keep you quite warm if pellets become rare again next year when Global Warming shows its ugly head. You don't' need a chimney with a lot of the units. They can be run on power vents.

 

[RKBAGUY]

Oh, don't get feeling hurt. We all do it in jest!

Even a hand fed unit could keep you quite warm if pellets become rare again next year when Global Warming shows its ugly head. You don't' need a chimney with a lot of the units. They can be run on power vents.

There's a difference between humor and snark.

This being my first ever season with a pellet stove, I bought what I anticipated and calculated to be enough pellets for my home, but without the benefit of experience, it turned out to be just a guess.

Given the amount of 'modding' that goes on around here, I made the erroneous assumption that if there were a workaround this would be the place to ask.

 

[NHcpa]

Pic of a coal stove in action.... would be a wee bit too hot for a pellet stove me thinks

View attachment 128624

Awesome...looks like you captured the sun...

 

[GeHmTS]

you can always go ahead and try against the consensus here. After all, we can't stop you!

 

[peirhead]

RKBA I actually was wondering the same thing about coal.....what about a very low mix of something like 1 lb rice coal to 40 lbs of pellets ?

 

[Bioburner]

RKBA I actually was wondering the same thing about coal.....what about a very low mix of something like 1 lb rice coal to 40 lbs of pellets ?

Probably wont light or sustain. SOL

 

[hyfire]

Probably wont light or sustain. SOL

I think it would, but you can;t guarantee the mix will be uniform in the burn pot, its not worth the risk on damaging the burnpot/heat exchanger, or your home!

 

[tjnamtiw]

There's a difference between humor and snark.

This being my first ever season with a pellet stove, I bought what I anticipated and calculated to be enough pellets for my home, but without the benefit of experience, it turned out to be just a guess.

Given the amount of 'modding' that goes on around here, I made the erroneous assumption that if there were a workaround this would be the place to ask.

We DO mod some of our stoves to get more 'available' heat out of them but it's the difference between input btu's staying the same and output btu's going up. To make you feel more at ease, you are NOT the first or second person that I've seen ask the same question on here. It's just a matter of input btu's and what the stove is rated for. There are a lot of pellet burners around you. All you really have to do is ask if someone would be willing to sell some of their stash.

 

[MaryH]

RKBA I actually was wondering the same thing about coal.....what about a very low mix of something like 1 lb rice coal to 40 lbs of pellets ?

*Guess it was missed, that we tried it.

We have 2 coal stokers, also,

Coal likes to be around other coal, to burn.

The lesser temperatures, of the pellets burning, doesn't cut it.

"IF' heaven forbid, you did get a gathering, of coal to go down the chute, enough for it to continue to burn - it would probably vaporize, the next wood pellet feed.

*Think use coal fire, to MELT steel, we haven't tried melting steel, with pellets....yet

 

[Bioburner]

I think it would, but you can;t guarantee the mix will be uniform in the burn pot, its not worth the risk on damaging the burnpot/heat exchanger, or your home!

After I hit post I flashed the thought of the Fukushima disaster but on a smaller scale.

 

[Countryboymo]

Coal burns crazy hot and for an extended period compared to wood or wood pellets. If you were experimenting outside with coal in a pellet stove it might be tricky once it got up and roaring if it could be shut down before reaching or exceeding critical mass lol.

 

[Countryboymo]

I was thinking the same exact thing as you Bio... isn't that scary.

 

[Bioburner]

*Guess it was missed, that we tried it.

We have 2 coal stokers, also,

Coal likes to be around other coal, to burn.

The lesser temperatures, of the pellets burning, doesn't cut it.

"IF' heaven forbid, you did get a gathering, of coal to go down the chute, enough for it to continue to burn - it would probably vaporize, the next wood pellet feed.

*Think use coal fire, to MELT steel, we haven't tried melting steel, with pellets....yet

Pine charcoal is what brought man out of the bronze age into the age of steel. Still used by Japaneese knife makers. Have friend that takes metal smithing classes.

 

[MaryH]

Pine charcoal is what brought man out of the bronze age into the age of steel. Still used by Japaneese knife makers. Have friend that takes metal smithing classes.

Pine charcoal, is far removed from pellets, eh?