Smokeless anthracite substitute

[Gareth J]

Of course if you burn mainly free wood then it's cheaper than anything!
I assumed you were running on coal all the time.
My AGA uses about 30L of oil a week but no hot water or radiators.
I love it. Stays on 9 months of the year around here. Woodburner the other end of the house. Saves me using oil central heating- we have 23 radiators here!

An aga is a much better insulated thing than a Rayburn. Hotter cooking is more achievable without having to hose the oil in while having to cook in your underwear as the kitchen is so hot

 

[Gareth J]

Its ok, I have no intention of converting it to oil! I would have too much wood then as there is only so much the furnace (stupidly large log burner that was here when we moved in) in the lounge can burn without making the house too hot. I am considering connecting that to the thermal store to take heat out of the lounge and use it around the rest of the house more efficiently but the Rayburn coped just fine alone this winter to be honest so there may be no need really.

You could try layering up fireboard inside the stove. It will make the firebox smaller, while reducing heat loss from the sides. Should let you run a smaller, yet still hot to efficiently burn, fire. Reducing the output without turning it down so much it smoulders.

 

[AVI_8]

Which one are you using - I found them when i posted the thread up - their Newflame is the cheapest I have seen and as above, its all much of a muchness. I just need a long overnight burn on the coal and then can wake it up with wood the next morning. I was doing overnight on wood but it was sooting up badly as I had to shut it down too much to make the wood last all night and I found you need to let it burn the wood well which I can do in the day. This is well seasoned stuff so its not wet so no need to take the thread off on a tangent about wet wood.

I‘ve used both, there‘s not much in it to be honest, both are good, I’d go for the dearer one if the price difference was £20 per tonne but with the sale price, the cheaper one is better value.
A couple of years ago I was paying £300 per tonne!

 

[gaz1]

You could try layering up fireboard inside the stove. It will make the firebox smaller, while reducing heat loss from the sides. Should let you run a smaller, yet still hot to efficiently burn, fire. Reducing the output without turning it down so much it smoulders.

if your going to do that you might as well consider using secondary air and preheating that secondary air

instead of using primary air

some rayburns, aga, esse stoves do use secondary air and some stoves are better insulated than others and that also depends on the model that you have as well

 

[Erie Fred]

Never heard of this, we have Bituminous close by (Pizzaborg) and Anthracite eastward (Scranton).
Is this stuff Coke ?

 

[gaz1]

Its ok, I have no intention of converting it to oil! I would have too much wood then as there is only so much the furnace (stupidly large log burner that was here when we moved in) in the lounge can burn without making the house too hot. I am considering connecting that to the thermal store to take heat out of the lounge and use it around the rest of the house more efficiently but the Rayburn coped just fine alone this winter to be honest so there may be no need really.

you would be far better off getting a wood boiler and using that to heat a thermal store up

even the newer models would provide you far better heat to water transfer than your fire would do as that would chug it up the chimney whilst being unefficent

 

[gaz1]

Never heard of this, we have Bituminous close by (Pizzaborg) and Anthracite eastward (Scranton).
Is this stuff Coke ?

it comes from poor coal mines thats more dust than anything else

its this dust thats crushed to form cheap coal lumps

 

[reb78]

you would be far better off getting a wood boiler and using that to heat a thermal store up

even the newer models would provide you far better heat to water transfer than your fire would do as that would chug it up the chimney whilst being unefficent

Not really as the Rayburn provides most of the heat. This was just to make use of the silly amount of heat our log burner puts out even with a small burn. Its probably more effort than its worth to put the pipework in though and as I said, the Rayburn copes fine. The oil boiler can top it up if really needed but i didnt run oil once last winter for our house (had to have it for the cottages but not for our house).

 

[reb78]

I‘ve used both, there‘s not much in it to be honest, both are good, I’d go for the dearer one if the price difference was £20 per tonne but with the sale price, the cheaper one is better value.
A couple of years ago I was paying £300 per tonne!

I know. Prices have gone crazy really.

 

[Erie Fred]

it comes from poor coal mines thats more dust than anything else

its this dust thats crushed to form cheap coal lumps

Doesn't this pose an explosion hazard with the dust ?

 

[waddycall]

Manufactured smokeless fuel is usually a mixture of anthracite, bituminous coal and pet coke bound together with either molasses or potato starch. It has the benefit over anthracite of being easier lighting with less clinker forming but it will burn for long periods unlike pure bituminous coal.
i used to design solid fuel appliances and totally agree with this -

I wouldn’t u beans, bigger sized blocks allow better airflow and should burn better

home fire ovals was always a good bet

 

[Erie Fred]

Manufactured smokeless fuel is usually a mixture of anthracite, bituminous coal and pet coke bound together with either molasses or potato starch. It has the benefit over anthracite of being easier lighting with less clinker forming but it will burn for long periods unlike pure bituminous coal.
i used to design solid fuel appliances and totally agree with this -

home fire ovals was always a good bet

....and you people call yourselves environmentalists.......

Just kidding....

 

[arian]

We had a coal fired aga when I was a kid. I remember it had to be stoked twice a day, but only once a day on anthracite. It ran the immersion heater but no radiators because they were impossible to fit, and did all the cooking as well as heating the huge kitchen. Mum would make a casserole using the cheapest meat and bung it in the bottom oven before she went off to work in the morning and it would cook gently all day and be melt in the mouth tender when we all got home. Made the best toast ever too!

Yep. Rayburn, back boiler, hot water, no radiators. Fill it up in the morning, clear out when you came home from school and fill again, and then overnight fill. Unless it was very cold, or you wanted it to burn up, always set on zero.

Oh, the slow cooked stuff is perfect for this. I do it loads in the winter as there is no need to have it racing as the oven sits at a perfect temp for slow cooking meat. Put something in at lunch time and it can sit there slowly getting more tender until whenever you are ready from 6,7,8pm... perfect. I use beef shin a lot - noone wants it but it makes a delicious stew.

Oh yes they do Problem is finding it. Uncut slabs is difficult; Sainsburys's have diced, which, as you say, no one wants, so often cheap as smelly (close to sell-by date)

Lamb boulangere is another of my favourites. But now I am guilty of taking the thread off topic!

Tom Kerridge's slow-cooked lamb shoulder recipe

Tom Kerridge's slow-roast lamb shoulder cooked over potatoes is a great dish to cook for Sunday lunch – just stick it in the oven and forget about it.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[reb78]

Oh yes they do Problem is finding it. Uncut slabs is difficult; Sainsburys's have diced, which, as you say, no one wants, so often cheap as smelly (close to sell-by date)

Tom Kerridge's slow-cooked lamb shoulder recipe

Tom Kerridge's slow-roast lamb shoulder cooked over potatoes is a great dish to cook for Sunday lunch – just stick it in the oven and forget about it.

www.bbc.co.uk

I have loads of it. But direct from my neighbour!

Thats the job re the lamb.

 

[arian]

I have loads of it. But direct from my neighbour!

Thats the job re the lamb.

Can I talk to your neighbour

 

[Pond frog]

....and you people call yourselves environmentalists.......

Just kidding....

Actually the smokeless coal I used last winter was a product called ecoal
Made of 50% coal products and 50% waste olive stones so it could be worse
it’s not bad stuff equal to most smokeless products but by the back end of winter it started to get pricey so I switched to newflame

 

[Erie Fred]

Actually the smokeless coal I used last winter was a product called ecoal
Made of 50% coal products and 50% waste olive stones so it could be worse
it’s not bad stuff equal to most smokeless products but by the back end of winter it started to get pricey so I switched to newflame

Sometimes the smoke isn't what kills you.....

 

[Pond frog]

Sometimes the smoke isn't what kills you.....

that wasn’t really the point, it reduces fossil fuel consumption

 

[8ob]

I’ve tried various smokeless fuels over the years and to be honest apart from the shape of the nuts I can’t really tell any difference between them, just go for the cheapest

My nippers about to fit a Raburn type cooker with a backboiler for hot water, he reckons he is going to burn wood on this. Is this feasible/practicable or is he in for a lot of pain? I have visions of him needing to sit next to it 24/7 feeding it tiny sticks.

Bob

 

[julianf]

My nippers about to fit a Raburn type cooker with a backboiler for hot water, he reckons he is going to burn wood on this. Is this feasible/practicable or is he in for a lot of pain? I have visions of him needing to sit next to it 24/7 feeding it tiny sticks.

Bob

We lived for years with the only heating / hot water being a Rayburn on pallets.

It's possible, but you do need to keep feeding it, and it won't stay in over night, but our home is high thermal mass anyway, so fairly stable.

If he has a massive pile of oak, then life would be easier (we are currently burning solid oak flooring on ours) but pine pallets are a bit of a labor.