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house coal and when to use it


Dave Payne

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Mainly house coal is had too many volatiles for burning well in a stove, lots smoke but with it you quickly soot of the flu etc. A harder coal such as a welsh steam grade, or antricite is better. Or a processed smokeless.

 

That said, its cheaper, easier to light, and with plenty of secondary/top air it should burn fine.

 

Will look forward to others comments.

 

Daniel

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Outside of a smoke control zone, such as most towns I think, you can use house coal. Just be aware that any neighbours may not appreciate the smoke on their washing lines or coming in their windows. You will also need to think about cleaning the chimney more often than when using smokeless.

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Outside of a smoke control zone, such as most towns I think, you can use house coal. Just be aware that any neighbours may not appreciate the smoke on their washing lines or coming in their windows. You will also need to think about cleaning the chimney more often than when using smokeless.

 

This reminds me of the first time my first wife hung her washing on the line at our house in the late 70s in our mining town we lived at the time. She brought the washing in with black marks on and I of course said well why didnt you wipe the line clean before you hung the washing out? She looked amazed and said dont be daft why would I ever do that? she thought I was joking. She was a Cornish lass and they never cleaned their line there as there was no soot in the air.

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I though boats were exempt from any 'Smoke Control Zone' regulations? Hopefully I haven't got that wrong or I'll look a bit of a twit.

 

Just be aware that if you do decide to burn house coal it is quite mucky stuff and smelly for other people around you. So whilst afaik boats don't have to comply with Smoke Control Zone' regulations, it's worth having a think about where you are and who's around you if you are the courteous type.

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Outside of a smoke control zone, such as most towns I think, you can use house coal.

 

Boats are exempt from the 'smokeless regulations' so legally you can use it where you like - if you were to use it in the middle of a built up area, or a marina you would not 'make friends', and you may wake up to find yourself adrift.

Use it wherever you would not be upset if someone else did the same.

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I though boats were exempt from any 'Smoke Control Zone' regulations? Hopefully I haven't got that wrong or I'll look a bit of a twit.

You are nearly correct. Boats are exempt from all aspects of smoke control regulations EXCEPT for the requirement to cease making black smoke 30 minutes after lighting up.

 

Others have pointed out the social undesirability of smoking the neighbours out. smile.png

 

George ex nb Alton retired

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I always used smokeless, nice and clean, sometimes hard to light though, inadvertently bought some 'safety coal' once, could not light the blasted stuff, ended up burning a couple of pieces a day on the fire just to get rid of it.

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When I was mooring in London, especially around the Tottenham area, I used to throw a few nuggets of proper coal on the fire on top of the smokeless when going to work so passers by knew the fire was lit and somebody probably on board.

Edited by matty40s
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When I was mooring in London, especially around the Tottenham area, I used rob throw a few nuggets of proper coal on the fire on top of the smokeless when going to work so passers by knew the fire was lit and somebody probably on board.

Have The people of Tottenham lost their sense of smell then?

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Have noticed a few boats with smokeless coal and also house coal stored on the roof, just been and picked some smokeless up and noticed the price between the two is a fair bit, so the question is when can you use house coal on a boat, away from other boats and houses?

Never if you've got any sense
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A harder coal such as a welsh steam grade, or antricite is better.

 

I don't like to disagree with the site owner, but...................

 

The current stuff sold as 'Welsh Steam Coal' comes from Ffos-y-Fran, where the sunshine miners have taken the lid off and are opencasting old workings.

It is shiny and very soft. So much so that you can break it up with your hands. It burns beautifully but at the end of the day there is a load of dust and small stuff in the bottom of the bunker.

 

ETA It is 'real' coal, ie not a manufactured fuel but it burns with very little smoke.

Edited by Victor Vectis
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I don't like to disagree with the site owner, but...................

 

The current stuff sold as 'Welsh Steam Coal' comes from Ffos-y-Fran, where the sunshine miners have taken the lid off and are opencasting old workings.

It is shiny and very soft. So much so that you can break it up with your hands. It burns beautifully but at the end of the day there is a load of dust and small stuff in the bottom of the bunker.

 

ETA It is 'real' coal, ie not a manufactured fuel but it burns with very little smoke.

I'm not Ffosy as long as it burns well

 

CT

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I don't like to disagree with the site owner, but...................

 

The current stuff sold as 'Welsh Steam Coal' comes from Ffos-y-Fran, where the sunshine miners have taken the lid off and are opencasting old workings.

It is shiny and very soft. So much so that you can break it up with your hands. It burns beautifully but at the end of the day there is a load of dust and small stuff in the bottom of the bunker.

 

ETA It is 'real' coal, ie not a manufactured fuel but it burns with very little smoke.

Disagree away.... however while I would very much stand by my comments that the Ffos-y-Fran is harder than a bituminous house, that does not as such have to corrilate with strutural integrity, as I would agree it's quite fragile. We get a fair bit of slack, which is a shame, although its better the last few years than when it first became available and as long you don't over handle it not to bad.

 

Certainly nothing we have found comes close for steam raising, and at under £300/ton the price is also good.

 

 

Daniel

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With regard to the exemption for boats in smokeless zones, my understanding is that they are indeed exempt under the Clean Air Act which allows councils to set up smokeless zones, but that a boater may still be prosecuted under the Environmental Protection Act if their smoke causes a significant nuisance to others.

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Well I have almost gone through the bag I bought, ha e to say it's nasty stuff in the squirrel, if I burn it on its own then it kind of forms a big fat lump in the middle, welds itself together...

 

Smells rancid and the smoke does bellow out the chimney for a while till is settles down.

 

Heat was ok, ash was ok, but the need to break it up when glowing is a pain.

 

Think I'll stick to smokeless this winter.

 

 

On a positive note, spotted a huge log by the side of the canal today, looks like it was used as a bench for people sitting round a fire in some woods, a bit of huffing and puffing and I managed to get it on the roof of the boat, just need to chop it up and let it dry.

 

Love free fuel!

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I though boats were exempt from any 'Smoke Control Zone' regulations? Hopefully I haven't got that wrong or I'll look a bit of a twit.

 

Just be aware that if you do decide to burn house coal it is quite mucky stuff and smelly for other people around you. So whilst afaik boats don't have to comply with Smoke Control Zone' regulations, it's worth having a think about where you are and who's around you if you are the courteous type.

 

Some years ago a chap on the Scottish canals pleaded that boats were exempt from the Clean Air Act to which the courts agreed. However the local council then prosecuted him for causing a Public Nuisance and won.

Edited by Maffi
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We have both we burn half and half, smokless burns a bit hotter but find it burns for not as long so we use house coal as its cheaper but it can be hard to get it to burn hot enough so we add smokless to aid this.

If using the oven we burn a little more smokeless.

Coal will boil a full kettle in around 1.5 hours from lighting the fire cold. Smokeless dose it in about an hour.

 

When keeping the fire in at night i burn a bit more coal with a bit of smokless in the middle and on top.

 

Its an open fire at home or on boat never had a problem buring just coal. At worst it smokes when you first put it on then smoke drops. I also use the diesel heater if not cooking much or only want to boil a kettle as i just use a primus so alot of the time dont light the fire. The deisel i burn for the diesel heater is free.

Edited by billybobbooth
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I have never found a massive price difference between house coal and smokeless. My merchant 2 years ago charged £7 for house coal and £9.25 for smokeless.

 

I tried a bag as very skint for a week and the house coal burnt very hot but needed refuelling much more whereas the smokeless I could refuel every 3 hours and if shut down could last 13 hours.

 

As I live in a Marina I only burn smokeless and recently everyone got a note to say no logs to be burnt, and only smokeless to be used.

 

Jamescheers.gif

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One peice of house coal in my stove, which is a Squirrel that I re built myself and is so well sealed that the only air leak is from the roll pin in the door catch, gives me a banging headache and a sore throat, please don't burn this stuff anywhere near any civilisation.

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