Why shouldn't I burn coal?

[Annpan]

Apart from the obvious environmental reasons....

My neighbour has just got electric central heating fitted and they had quite a stash of coal left (they used to heat by open coal fire) Anyway, they can't burn it now and have donated it to us. I was thinking of keeping it (1.5 tonnes of it) until we get our rayburn/aga/thing put into our new kitchen, but considering demolition work hasn't yet started on the old kitchen this might be planning a bit far ahead...

So I am lighting my clearview multi fuel stove this morning and I have a big pile of coal outside.... but I was told we should burn wood and anthracite on it, but not regular coal... Why?

I thought it might be connected with the fact that clearview make stoves for smokeless zones, and coal obviously gives off lots of smoke... or could it be something else?..... thing is, many friends of mine have moved in to a place with a woodburner and burned coal without even considering any possible dangers... so are there any?

[JulieSherris]

Ann, I'm no expert, so I can't offer an opinion on possible 'dangers'....

The one thing I will say, is that in our Stanley, when we've burnt coal (not often, mind, because we burn peat) it leaves the little hard clinkers - these then get stuck between the bottom grate & makes it impossible to riddle! We then have to let it go out & clean the firebox & grate out to get the obstructions out.
Personally, I'd burn it - would be a shame not to......

As an aside.... out here we're not allowed to burn anything outside... so no garden bonfires, nothing.
It's all on the department's website & cites air pollution etc for outdoor burning - even if performed inside an incinerator, it's still illegal. (Unless you do it on a foggy day, then who would know?)
So... we have the derelict cottage & a lovely huge fireplace & clear chimney - so that's where I shall be burning our branches & rubbish - but what makes this different to burning it outside? (To the 'air' issue, I mean?)
Bit of a stupid law really, when you consider the percentage of folk who are on peat fires... and worse!

[Annpan]

I think in Scotland the clean air act only applies to cities... certainly around here people burn everything in their fires (indoor and out) last year someone in our village burned an entire mdf/chipboard kitchen and furniture on a huge bonfire - the black smoke could be seen for miles, and the stink was everywhere.

We burn some garden waste outside, but over the winter we have been cutting it down to size and bringing indoors. Free heat, plus because you can control the air intake you get a alot of heat from just a few branches and twigs.

Our burner has a big firebox though, 18 inches wide, 10 deep and 10 high, so we can really pack the stuff in.

[Odsox]

The major thing against coal is the soot it produces.
My daughter has a multifuel Stanley and have burnt coal in it for the last 5 years because it's cheap.
The result is all their ceilings are black, their chimney (insulated stainless steel) is clogged, they recently bought a spinning cowl for the top as they have a downdraft problem and that siezed up in about 3 weeks and still doesn't work properly even though it's been taken down and pressure washed inside to within an inch of it's life.
Plus the glass blacks up almost immediately and it stinks outside when the wind is in the wrong direction.

Now, thanks mainly to my comments, they burn smokeless stuff that costs twice as much but lasts three times as long, and of course no smoke.

[JulieSherris]

Ann, I spend hours cutting & snapping the ash branches & twigs to size... and have had many pleasant evenings sitting feeding it all into stanley... usually when Andy's at work - he's too impatient for 'twigs' as he says.....

In the meantime, we have a whole garden by the old cottage full of branches - hawthorn, conifer, beech, birch, and then there's much much more been dragged into the woods until I drag it back out again to dispose of... it's going to take me ages to get rid of it all, but we had to get the trees down from the main gardens before we could start to use the land for growing. It was SO dark, you just couldn't imagine.
We wouldn't mind, but we're bordered by woods on 2 sides of the garden - the people here before just used to lift the saplings from the woods & replant them in the garden - why didn't they just move INTO the woods??
The good side is that nearly all the moss on the house roof is nearly gone & the garden is finally getting some warmth & light - we also have a hayshed which is very nearly full of wood that's chopped/not chopped/ waiting for next year.... yay!

[Odsox]

As an aside.... out here we're not allowed to burn anything outside... so no garden bonfires, nothing.
It's all on the department's website & cites air pollution etc for outdoor burning - even if performed inside an incinerator, it's still illegal.

This is something that I have heard before but never actually seen written down Julie.
Around here at this time of the year there are many bush fires lit by sheep farmers with whole mountains alight sometimes.
The only outcome is a wrist slapping and possibly a bill for the fire services time.
I just looked at the Cork Council site and all I could find is this ..... http://www.corkcoco.ie/co/web/Cork%20Co ... =260022624
As you can see, it's frowned upon but only illegal if you cause a nuisance.