Coal burning

[wsmcycle]

I have never met or spoken to another steamer. All that I know about operating my boat I had to figure out for myself. I am a mechanical engineer. I understand the whys but not the hows. When you buy coal, is it packaged in any way. I live 20miles from a coal mine so I get my coal there, but there is a problem. I bring back big chunks (chair size). They are not hard to break apart but, along with the softball size chunks, I get a lot of very small pieces and dust. If I throw the dust and pieces into the firebox, they cover the grill and choke the air flow. So, I wondered in what form you received your coal? Do you have to break it into chunks? Is it pretty flaky? Perhaps like me you just don't throw the dust iinto the firebox.

[Mike Rometer]

You don't say where you are (I suspect Stateside) In the Uk I buy coal in bags of specified chunk size. i.e. Nuts, Small Nuts, peas, beans. Ther are also larger sizes. There will always be a certain amount of dust and small chippings in the bag, 'tis the nature of the 'beast'.

Incidentally, welcome to the forum.

[S. Weaver]

Okay ... Fort Smith - you're getting a local bituminus from just west of Fort Smith in the coal fields. I was just through there May 2010 on a bike trip, but that is another story ...

Walnut size chunks will do you the best, and because it is a lower-grade bituminus, you'll have to keep air moving through it naturally or by forced draft if your stack isn't high enough. If you can poke up through the grates from time to time like our cousins "across the pond," it should keep things from fusing. It is not the best coal, but mix it well with hardwood, keep the chunks uniform and tell us how it goes.

[fredrosse]

A very good book about firing Bituminous Coal, Coke, Anthracite, Wood, as well as Oil and Gas is sometimes available, "Fuels and Fuel Burners" by Steiner, McGraw Hill Publishing, 1946. This book was produced for domestic and small commercial boilers, when much of the country burned solid fuels for heat. Fortunately most of the small steam launches carry fires in this size range. Smoke was often a problem with Bituminous coal, and the book describes firing methods that were developed by several universities back then. It also has good information about casting refractories, insulating cements, etc.