Coal Fires

[Malt 379]

When I was a kid, I can remember my dad lighting a coal fire with nothing more than a match and a scrunched up newspaper. Each night he used to empty some ash on the fire before he went to bed, and in the morning just threw some coal on and it roared back into life.

When I try to light one, it takes firelighters, wood, and it's still not guaranteed to light. As for putting coal on the embers in the morning, it does nothing.

Is coal nowadays made to be flame resistant?

maybe opencast from this country its shite

My older neighbours reckon that. They've had a Rayburn for donkeys years and they reckon the coal has been is crap since its been coming from the opencast mines..

[satan and todd 125]

thats cause open cast dont take it from the deeper seems that have been forming for millennia.......coals just trees from millions of years ago aint it so the deeper its mined the better thats my take on it anyhow

[Nik_B 3,791]

House coal burns much easier and faster than smokeless, you might be using smokeless then.

[twobob 1,507]

have you seen how deep some open casts are?during the strike there was a seam that came to the surface that burnt like fxck,imo they leave shit in it from opencast to spin it out

[Malt 379]

have you seen how deep some open casts are?during the strike there was a seam that came to the surface that burnt like fxck,imo they leave shit in it from opencast to spin it out

Thats exactly what my neighbours say - there's too much shit in it!

[satan and todd 125]

have you seen how deep some open casts are?during the strike there was a seam that came to the surface that burnt like fxck,imo they leave shit in it from opencast to spin it out

thats true it aint clean

[J.DOG 1,355]

I've got a couple of multi fuel burners in the house , great when there going always remember my grandad lighting it and I'd huddle round it keeping warm Lol now I light the fire and sit keeping warm, and the dogs always first infront of it

[The one 8,585]

I can remember the coal fire in our house as i grew up it was always the kids that where sent out to the coal shed for coal and we used to spend a day cutting kindling for the rest of the week and everybody huddled road the fire in the living room as it was the only room in the house that was warm ,them as my parents retired the good radiators put in the whole house fed from the fire

[walshie 2,804]

This is all good to hear. Glad it's bad coal rather than technique.

[The one 8,585]

have you seen how deep some open casts are?during the strike there was a seam that came to the surface that burnt like fxck,imo they leave shit in it from opencast to spin it out

Thats exactly what my neighbours say - there's too much shit in it!

Thought most coal now days comes from Poland due too costs

[forest of dean redneck 12,022]

Back at old house it had a open fire,I used local free mined coal about 7 quid a sack,roughly 4 year go.

Start with empty fire,scrunch paper up,then layer kindling wood,then layer of coal making sure not too much dust in it.

Then make sure air intake is open,light paper with match either side,then I would place a sheet of tin up against fire basket lean poker against it,

When it was roaring a goodun,take poker away knock tin down and close air intake up.

After it was caught everywhere I would add a log or some peas coal which was like pebbles and about fiver a sack,they were too small for starting to light fire with as it would fall through grate.

I would give it a Good poke at night bank it up ,and next morning I would poke it again,clean out ash underneath then bank it back up,open vent and use tin sheet again,

After about 3 days I would let it die out complete clean an start all over again,lol.

Edited January 21, 2013 by forest of dean redneck

[haymin 2,465]

it's a 50/50 that we have to light our stove the following day. To do that we need to top it up with coal at night and not shake the ash out of the grate so it is oxygen starved then shut the vents down.

if you stock it up with coal then cover it with ash close it down it'll still be red in the morning ours has been on 24/7 for months !! Give that a try nik )

[Nik_B 3,791]

This is all good to hear. Glad it's bad coal rather than technique.

 

What kind of coal are you using?

 

I rarely have trouble with smokeless, they are fairly large lumps and often quite wet. The house coal I've used comes in much smaller bits which stops airflow through the fire. This is why your kindling pile needs to have a strong structure, if it all collapses under the weight of the fire there will be no air flow and it will die out.

 

Use brown cardboard from boxes rip in to pieces and give them a soft scrunch and twist so they're not flat the cardboard pile should be quite big. The put kindling in at angles so it wont collapse flat under the weight of the fire, don't be stingy with kindling! Let the fire start roaring and the wood is starting to go orange then start dropping the coal on to i but not so much that you will crush the fire or choak it.

 

This never fails me

 

bad coal??

[twobob 1,507]

have you seen how deep some open casts are?during the strike there was a seam that came to the surface that burnt like fxck,imo they leave shit in it from opencast to spin it out

Thats exactly what my neighbours say - there's too much shit in it!

Thought most coal now days comes from Poland due too costs

have a look opencasting in the uk is booming power stations stockpiling so they can tell the poles to go fxck the sens if they start increasing the price

[walshie 2,804]

This is all good to hear. Glad it's bad coal rather than technique.

 

What kind of coal are you using?

 

I rarely have trouble with smokeless, they are fairly large lumps and often quite wet. The house coal I've used comes in much smaller bits which stops airflow through the fire. This is why your kindling pile needs to have a strong structure, if it all collapses under the weight of the fire there will be no air flow and it will die out.

 

Use brown cardboard from boxes rip in to pieces and give them a soft scrunch and twist so they're not flat the cardboard pile should be quite big. The put kindling in at angles so it wont collapse flat under the weight of the fire, don't be stingy with kindling! Let the fire start roaring and the wood is starting to go orange then start dropping the coal on to i but not so much that you will crush the fire or choak it.

 

This never fails me

 

bad coal??

 

Just used homefire from the petrol station. Once it's going, it's terrific.