Old Coal Stove

[Rutnbuck]

I have a old coal burning stove that I would like to put in my Cabin.  It is in real good shape.  When I bought it I thought I was getting a wood burning stove.  As I was cleaning it up I realized it was a coal stove.  Coal we be hard to come by for me, so I was wondering ifI can use the new wood pellets that I have been reading about in it?

Thanks,

Mike

[glenn kangiser]

I'm not sure about that, Mike, but the stove we use is a  c.1920 P.D. Beckwith Round Oak, which would burn either wood or coal.  The only difference was that the coal model had a grate in it.  Wood fires were built right on the bottom.  Possibly you can just burn wood.  Depends on your design I guess.

Anyway, Welcome to the forum.

[Rutnbuck]

Thanks,  This one has a grate in the bottom also.  It just has a very small opening in it to add coal or wood unless you remove the eyes from on top.

Mike

[MountainDon]

Coal burners need that grate to get air to the fire. Some modern coal burners state not to use wood in them except for starting the fire. Others are somehow "convertible". I'm not sure if there's more to it than changing/removing the grate. I suppose the stove you have is too old to be able to find the manufacturer??

... and 

[John Raabe]

My new wood burning stove has a grate that allows ashes to fall through into an ash drawer. Now, there is an airtight gasketed door to this ash drawer so the fire doesn't get too much air. The stove is designed to sip air through the controlled air channels.

That said, we have learned to open this door a bit when first starting the fire because the strong draft gets things going quickly. You wouldn't want to leave the thing open for a long time when fully loaded as it might run away from you and get too hot. Maybe that's why the stove manual tells you to always have the door sealed before starting a fire. 

I would think if you can control airflow into the lower end of the firebox you should be fine with a wood fire.

[glenn kangiser]

I used to build stoves like you are talking about, John - knew the manufacturer personally. 

We  always opened the ash pan to get the fire ripping fast then closed it up to enjoy the heat. 

The old stove we have now - 1920 Round Oak is one of the most advanced in proper air and quality work.

The castings are made tight enough  that they do not need seals.  It has an ash removal door with sealing vent in it (under fire air) ,  vents in the door - at or overfire air, and a vent at the chimney exit, I'm guessing for helping to ignite volatile gases or reduce draft to keep the fire in the lower part of the stove burning slower.  Hard to tell exactly.