Anybody using this in a dual-fuel stove?
After finally using the last of the logs, I'm down to using the 200 -
300kg of Phurnacite left by the previous owner. It's very different from logs! Leaving the fire to go out overnight I found quite a lot of partially-burnt nuggets left this morning. I assume it's ok to reuse
these once I've got the stove going well with new nuggets - anything
that hasn't broken down completely to ash can be reused.
The voluminous ash is a bit of a problem as I can't use it on the garden
as I do with wood ash.
Does it have any use, or is it just to go in the
general house waste when completely cool?
Anybody using this in a dual-fuel stove?
After finally using the last of the logs, I'm down to using the 200 -
300kg of Phurnacite left by the previous owner. It's very different from >logs! Leaving the fire to go out overnight I found quite a lot of >partially-burnt nuggets left this morning. I assume it's ok to reuse
these once I've got the stove going well with new nuggets - anything
that hasn't broken down completely to ash can be reused.
The voluminous ash is a bit of a problem as I can't use it on the garden
as I do with wood ash. Does it have any use, or is it just to go in the >general house waste when completely cool?
Anybody using this in a dual-fuel stove?
After finally using the last of the logs, I'm down to using the 200 -
300kg of Phurnacite left by the previous owner. It's very different from logs! Leaving the fire to go out overnight I found quite a lot of partially-burnt nuggets left this morning. I assume it's ok to reuse
these once I've got the stove going well with new nuggets - anything
that hasn't broken down completely to ash can be reused.
The voluminous ash is a bit of a problem as I can't use it on the garden
as I do with wood ash. Does it have any use, or is it just to go in the general house waste when completely cool?
On 12/01/2025 10:11, Jeff Layman wrote:
Anybody using this in a dual-fuel stove?
After finally using the last of the logs, I'm down to using the 200 -
300kg of Phurnacite left by the previous owner. It's very different
from logs! Leaving the fire to go out overnight I found quite a lot of
partially-burnt nuggets left this morning. I assume it's ok to reuse
these once I've got the stove going well with new nuggets - anything
that hasn't broken down completely to ash can be reused.
The voluminous ash is a bit of a problem as I can't use it on the
garden as I do with wood ash. Does it have any use, or is it just to
go in the general house waste when completely cool?
Where I was staying over Christmas they had a dual fuel burner. I don't
know what solid fuel they were burning but came as uniform coal like
nuggets.
The burner had different settings for logs and solid fuel. This
particular burner had a control at the back that restricted air flow and
had to be closed down for the solid fuel. It also had front controls for normal air flow but the instructions also suggested that these were left
in the throttle down positions for coal.
Some observations :-
Logs burnt quickly but a large load of coal nuggets burnt for 6 to 8 hours.
For the same length of burning the coal nuggets produced 3x as much ash
as the logs. If coal was used overnight the ash pan always had to be
emptied whereas it could be left for 3 or 4 days when only burning logs.
After 6/8 hour of coal everything was consumed but the skeletal remains
of the nuggets could still be seen. They turned to a fine ash when
poked with a poker. After 8 hours there may have been a few glowing
embers underneath the ash and with the addition of a few morning sticks (softwood kindling) the fire could be started again - but mainly with logs.
This was rural area where large piles of medium size nets of morning
sticks could be found at the local stores @ £4/net.
Where I was staying wood ash went on the compost heap and coal ash in
general waste. However when there was free green waste collection all
ash went it the green waste recycling bin. The council this year
starting charging extra for green waste and have many have decided to
not take the service. In a area where many people have log or dual fuel burners I do wonder how much extra ash in going to be added to the
general waste landfill bill.
Anybody using this in a dual-fuel stove?
After finally using the last of the logs, I'm down to using the 200 -
300kg of Phurnacite left by the previous owner. It's very different from logs! Leaving the fire to go out overnight I found quite a lot of partially-burnt nuggets left this morning. I assume it's ok to reuse
these once I've got the stove going well with new nuggets - anything
that hasn't broken down completely to ash can be reused.
The voluminous ash is a bit of a problem as I can't use it on the garden
as I do with wood ash. Does it have any use, or is it just to go in the general house waste when completely cool?
On 12/01/2025 10:11, Jeff Layman wrote:
Yes, Its hard to maintain complete combustion with Phurnacite,
especially in an open fire
The voluminous ash is a bit of a problem as I can't use it on the garden
as I do with wood ash.
Why not? Mix it with other stuff. Its basically sand.
Does it have any use, or is it just to go in theI wont tell if you dont. It's about as radioactive as low level nuclear
general house waste when completely cool?
waste
About 15 years ago I found myself short of sand to build the base for a small greenhouse,
using some coal ash I had awaiting disposal saved going to get some, no
idea what the ratio was and just mixed it till the mix slumped right. Set nicely hard and is still in place with no deterioration.
On 18/01/2025 18:45, Justin Thyme wrote:stove - room heater only)- with all room doors left open inside. Wood (kiln dried) used from early autumn evenings until November and then anthracite burnt 24/7, without having to relight the fire for many weeks. Just empty the ash pans and riddle
Phurnacite is basically anthracite dust with a fixing agent, like molasses to form into the oval shapes.
We have a Morso Dove multifuel stove we've used for 25 years as our main heat source. We live at 1200 feet above sea-level in the exposed, very rural, north Pennines. The stove works wonders and heats the entire house (no boiler attached to the
Phurnacite is a pain. The ovoid shape means it is difficult to stack as
the top nuggets keep rolling off unless placed very carefully. Also, I
only get away with riddling once, as the smaller pieces of partially
burnt nuggets fall into the circular grill - but not right through it -
and jam the riddling mechanism.
On 19/01/2025 13:30, charles wrote:
In article <vmimju$1tgq1$2@dont-email.me>, Jeff Layman
<Jeff@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 18/01/2025 18:45, Justin Thyme wrote:
Phurnacite is basically anthracite dust with a fixing agent, like
molasses to form into the oval shapes.
We have a Morso Dove multifuel stove we've used for 25 years as our
main heat source. We live at 1200 feet above sea-level in the
exposed, very rural, north Pennines. The stove works wonders and
heats the entire house (no boiler attached to the stove - room heater
only)- with all room doors left open inside. Wood (kiln dried) used
from early autumn evenings until November and then anthracite burnt
24/7, without having to relight the fire for many weeks. Just empty
the ash pans and riddle daily, put on some more coal. Anthracite
burns very well, on a low heat setting, all day and night. Permeates
heat throughout the whole cottage. Anthracite has far less ash then
phurnacite as it's 'naturally' smokeless. We empty the ash into a
metal container, and when it cold put it in the general rubbish
wheelie bin. From about March to April we burn only wood in the
evenings again. Durign the summer we generally don't have a wood
fire, but make one up jsut incase there's a particularly cool evening.
Phurnacite is a pain. The ovoid shape means it is difficult to stack
as the top nuggets keep rolling off unless placed very carefully.
Also, I only get away with riddling once, as the smaller pieces of
partially burnt nuggets fall into the circular grill - but not right
through it - and jam the riddling mechanism.
In our last house - best part of 50 years ago - we had an AGA - it used Phurnacite. Absolutely no problems with it. But thats the sort of item
it was designed for - not a "multifuel" device.
I've run coal, coke, anthracite and Phurnacite in Agas. Anthracite best
IMO, with coal to get it started - and some wood. Phurnacite IIRC was
simply expensive.
On 19/01/2025 14:00, charles wrote:
With Phurnacite you only needed to fill it once a day.
Same with anthracite or steam coal.
In article <vmj1dk$29735$1@dont-email.me>,
The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 19/01/2025 14:00, charles wrote:
Same with anthracite or steam coal.
With Phurnacite you only needed to fill it once a day.
not what I found, but when I came to remove said AGA, I disovered it was a second-hand one and hadn't been properly put together! There might be a connection.
With Phurnacite you only needed to fill it once a day.
On 19/01/2025 14:45, charles wrote:
In article <vmj1dk$29735$1@dont-email.me>,Phurnacite was simply anthracite dust glued together with tar.
The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 19/01/2025 14:00, charles wrote:
Same with anthracite or steam coal.
With Phurnacite you only needed to fill it once a day.
not what I found, but when I came to remove said AGA, I disovered it was a >> second-hand one and hadn't been properly put together! There might be a
connection.
On 19/01/2025 14:52, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 19/01/2025 14:45, charles wrote:
In article <vmj1dk$29735$1@dont-email.me>,Phurnacite was simply anthracite dust glued together with tar.
The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 19/01/2025 14:00, charles wrote:
Same with anthracite or steam coal.
With Phurnacite you only needed to fill it once a day.
not what I found, but when I came to remove said AGA, I disovered it was a >>> second-hand one and hadn't been properly put together! There might be a
connection.
That's what I understood, but where does all the ash come from?
Anthracite produces little ash from what I've read, and surely coal tar
can't produce /that/ much ash when it burns. The ash is much heavier
than an equal volume of wood ash too, so must have a high mineral
content. Silica/silicate of some sort?
Jeff Layman <Jeff@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 19/01/2025 14:52, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Could it be cement dust? Though Phurnacite has been around for Decades it
On 19/01/2025 14:45, charles wrote:
In article <vmj1dk$29735$1@dont-email.me>,Phurnacite was simply anthracite dust glued together with tar.
The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 19/01/2025 14:00, charles wrote:
Same with anthracite or steam coal.
With Phurnacite you only needed to fill it once a day.
not what I found, but when I came to remove said AGA, I disovered it was a >>>> second-hand one and hadn't been properly put together! There might be a >>>> connection.
That's what I understood, but where does all the ash come from?
Anthracite produces little ash from what I've read, and surely coal tar
can't produce /that/ much ash when it burns. The ash is much heavier
than an equal volume of wood ash too, so must have a high mineral
content. Silica/silicate of some sort?
is likely that like most things the manufacturer is always trying to save
on production costs and instead of having a totally flammable binder like
the tar or molasses of old may have substituted some with cement dust in
the binder.
On 19/01/2025 14:52, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 19/01/2025 14:45, charles wrote:
In article <vmj1dk$29735$1@dont-email.me>,Phurnacite was simply anthracite dust glued together with tar.
The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 19/01/2025 14:00, charles wrote:
Same with anthracite or steam coal.
With Phurnacite you only needed to fill it once a day.
not what I found, but when I came to remove said AGA, I disovered it
was a
second-hand one and hadn't been properly put together! There might be a
connection.
That's what I understood, but where does all the ash come from?
Anthracite produces little ash from what I've read, and surely coal tar
can't produce /that/ much ash when it burns. The ash is much heavier
than an equal volume of wood ash too, so must have a high mineral
content. Silica/silicate of some sort?
On 19/01/2025 17:33, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 19/01/2025 14:52, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Where can you get anthracite from nowadays?
On 19/01/2025 14:45, charles wrote:
In article <vmj1dk$29735$1@dont-email.me>,Phurnacite was simply anthracite dust glued together with tar.
The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 19/01/2025 14:00, charles wrote:
Same with anthracite or steam coal.
With Phurnacite you only needed to fill it once a day.
not what I found, but when I came to remove said AGA, I disovered it
was a
second-hand one and hadn't been properly put together! There might be a >>>> connection.
That's what I understood, but where does all the ash come from?
Anthracite produces little ash from what I've read, and surely coal
tar can't produce /that/ much ash when it burns. The ash is much
heavier than an equal volume of wood ash too, so must have a high
mineral content. Silica/silicate of some sort?
Aberpergwm Colliery is the only producer of high grade anthracite in
Western Europe, but all its output (I think) went to the Tata Steel
plant next door. Not too sure what happens now, since that plant closed
a couple of months ago.
To return to the original question, maybe the manufacturers of
Phurnacite substituted a poorer grade of coal - back when anthracite
first became scarce.
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 489 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 48:04:07 |
| Calls: | 9,670 |
| Calls today: | 1 |
| Files: | 13,719 |
| Messages: | 6,170,208 |