Hi Jim, I grew up with coal fires and stoves, which was a long time ago now..65yrs +. I seem to remember my Dad always saying, once you got a steady fire going don’t keep poking it about. And we only topped it up once during the evening...and he would put a layering of coal before we went to bed. Wish my memory was better, and l was better at explaining things. Hope you get it sorted, it was nice and toasty in our place.

Well you got me. I got everything needed to build one and I will give it a try for sure. Thanks for sharing.

Morning Jim, looks like a success!

Nicely done! .... When I was a kid we had both open Coal fires Closed coal fires and a coal "boiler" (it did a wet central heating system but it was water not steam! Both types of fire had a back boiler for the same reason (different houses)! We used to light it with a couple of sheets of newspaper rolled into tubes with kindling across it in a small pyramid of cross hatched pieces with a few lumps of coal on them. Once the wood was lit we would pile more col in a mound and hold a sheet of newspaper across the front of the fireplace leaving a gap under the grate ..... this soon produced a roaring fire which often caught the newspaper alight! The trick was to let go in such a way that the burning paper would be dragged into the fire (and often up the chimney! The fire would then have a good draw on it and would warm the whole chimney of not only downstairs but upstairs too! If I remember rightly those fires were a brick construction venturi type with only the bottom of the fireplace having fire bricks in it! For those nerds (like me) who are interested the fires were about 40% efficient ..... compared to my present multi-fuel burner getting over 80%! The joys of wood gasification technology ;O) We did used to "bank down" the fires overnight (there was a register plate that was inside the chimney) ..... you really wouldn't want to do that with wood stoves! OK I'll stop whittering on now!

Coal and wood will work in either furnace it just depends on how many extras you want or how long you want it to last.

Keep on, keeping on Jim. Coal might be the future for heat. It would certainly give the firewood harvesters a break from the woods. I picked up and delivered a 53 footer, full of firewood to a big box distribution the other day. All dried Oak. It was kind of sad how fast those folks cut that beautiful wood down for firewood.

Now you can take your stove out to the barn and begin having a heated shop. You are a wise man. Please keep filming vids and showing us things with educate and entertain us. Love everything about your channel. Terry

I enjoy your videos

Hi Jim. Glad to see it work. I had faith in you. Little ones always seem to win. I enjoyed her comments you miss when they are that age.

Morning, Jim. Looks like a success. Things seem to be sticking to those walls. Ain't the learning curve fun? Wishing you luck with trading for those other stoves, sounds like a great swap.

I have some experience with Coal and anthracite. You mentioned you were going to try anthracite which is trickyer than ordinary coal. I would normally start a Kindling fire as you did and gradually add anthracite by sprinking it so you still see the fire around each piece, Wait 20 mins and sprinkle another layer an build it up. If you put on too much anthracite it will almost put the fire out and then later burn a hole in the bottom of the Stove. Anthracite is the Real deal for overnight, Just don't put too much On. Experiment , But don't throw a bucket of anthracite on the stove and go to bed, Biuld it up and then close the stove down. Good luck.

Good morning Jim, Glad to see the conversion works. Also, from the comments below it looks like you have already got a line on a possible coal stove. No words of advise on using coal, only dealings I have had with coal was a coal fired boiler that produced 600 psi steam where I use to work.

Morning Jim. really nice vid learned a lot from this. Bit of a funny story about coal from my house. Several years ago my much younger son found a few pieces of coal out in our driveway while we were doing a bit of work out there. I told him what it was and left it at that. Months go by and winter came along. We have heated our house with a wood stove for years and he was now old enough to tend the fire from time to time. Well we sat at the dinner table and he spouts out how warm the house is now. I ask why. " I put that coal we found in the driveway in the stove" Now I knew he had only found two pieces less than the size of a baseball and the stove has NO fire brick in it. My comment to him was. " Tom how do they melt the steel in the mills hear in Pittsburgh?" LOL There was a mad dash out of the kitchen from him to go see the wood burner. he returned to tell us that it was not a pile of melted steel on the floor of the basement. Lesson learned........ LOL.

That would be a amazing stove to keep all those critters alive outside during winter

Morning Jim, my reason for moving my heat source out of the house was to get the dirt, dust and ash out. My outdoor wood furnace heats my house and domestic water all from the confines of the great outdoors. You did mention that you were considering buying a new coal stove if this experiment works out. How dirty is it to run one in the house? You do have to clean them out regularly like any wood stove, right? Having the firewood stored in the house and burning a wood stove in the basement did not do my health any good over the years. Just thought I would mention that for your viewers. Not sure if I would consider coal, or even firewood anymore at my age. Would you be able to continue using this stove with your new grate? I mean, it seems pretty small in there. Do you have to remove the grate to clean it out?

Gave me some great ideas

Hi there Jim, Good, we are now going to learn how to make charcoal out of all that scrap wood you have out there....

I found that 'house coal' being soft is unsuitable in my stove as it produces too much smoke and that finds its way back in to the room. Probably also terrible for the chimney liner. Anthracite, or 'hard coal' burns cleanly and 2x longer. Its about £11 for 20kg from my local merchant. 20kg lasts about 2 full days of burn or 5 of just evenings. I find I can heat the main two ground floor rooms using my 8kw stove for about £55 a month. 👍

Looks warm we are going to get a break in the weather this week I think I saw 48 Wednesday I got to cut some spruce today was a perfect day to sawmill. I hope your weather is changing too

Jim I start my fire with barbeque briquets, when they are burning I will add some coal and when the coal is burning good I will fill the fire box up with coal holds about 40 pounds of coal and it will burn hot for about 11 to 12 hr thin i will add more coal my stove is made for coal it was made in 1890

You may have to clean the glass more often. As the air flow past the glass is designed to keep the smoke off the glass and promote secondary combustion with the wood gasses. Bert

Morning Jim. Novice? Words of wisdom from my coal miner grandfather... If you throw coal dust in there, don't open the door back up for at least 20 minutes. The dust can, and often will, flash sending a billowing flame into the kitchen [living space]. (His Benjamin Franklin pot belly coal stove was in the kitchen as grandma used it for baking biscuits and cooked on it, plus it was as close to center of the house as could be used. We took our wash-tub baths right there in the kitchen next to Ben and heated our bath water on him too. I miss coal heat, warmest I've ever felt in the winter, when we actually had winters in Kentucky (70s-80s). Once established you shouldn't need the wood, but if it works for you or is required by you adapted stove, go for it. Well, back to classes this morning. Spotty freezing rain for the first day back, so alert went out that classes won't start until 10:00. Gives me time to run a few errands first, I guess.

304 Stainless Steel flue and 8” chimney liner ok to use?

Hi Jim, if you are going to change the stove get a multi fuel one and the old one put in the barn

Very cool Jim. Do you know of any differences with coal in relationship to chimney deposits? Word on the street is anthracite doesn't produce creosote, an may ever clean your chimney. If true you may be on to something.

Looks good Jim morning to you sir. When I got married 100s of years ago we had a fire what looks just like that even the handle was the same it was coal only well we weren't aloud to burn wood on it uk rules I did of course at night so no one saw the smoke.The coal that we burned was special as in why I don't no but it was about 3" and looked like the pentagon the lumps lasted hours . The grate was dished and made of cast so the fire sat lower in the hearth if any of this is helpful not sure but if it is the same you can rest slightly as I say it was only coal ? Watched Niagara falls on the news last night frozen over what a sight lovely cheers mate

I love it

I highly recommend you save this video as both of you will enjoy the " she's touching my camera honey ". 20 years from now you'll enjoy playing this when she comes to visit and fondly remember that day. :-) She sounds cute as a button. Anthracite when you shovel it on the fire creates breakfast Snap, Crackle and Pop Rice Krispies! When burning coal you never but never shovel coal higher than the fire brick. Anthracite coal will burn a minimum of 12 hours before its time to shake down the grate and remove the ashes. The blue flames you see on the top of the fire are usually called the Dancing Blue Ladies And means your doing good. Cheers

And how many seasons did it last?

Coal will explode if it is very wet. I worked with it on oil tempering furnaces-900-1400 degrees.

So at the en did the burn do you have a lot unburned, or does most of the coal end up burned. This is exactly what we are trying to do with our miniature wood stove on our boat.-Rebecca

Would using fire brick as a perimeter and then setting the coal grate on top of it help with air flow under the cools instead of going around it?

I have 2 Vermont Castings coal stoves in good shape that I used to heat my old farm house. I don't need them any more. I would trade them for boiler parts and advice. A half way drive to you is 3 hours. Also coal is by far more efficient than wood.

"We're gonna throw some shit at the wall and see what sticks" THAT IS NOW MY NEW FAVORITE PHRASE

As you were shoveling in that first load, I'm thinking "No Jim slow down its a stove not a forge!" Anyway, you figured it out - good deal. You've got the right idea- get the draft going good first. Those combustion gasses are heavy on the SO2/SO3 and can stink up the house pretty quick!

I burned coal for heat when I lived in Ny. Can't find it hear in Oklahoma. To bad because I prefer coal over wood hands down. Very good video bro. Thank you

Jim, don't get too close to the stove or you might cook up your chestnuts.

Enjoying the project and the videos, thanks! How is the ash removal working out? Do you poke it through from the top or scrape the underside of the grate? I have an old coal stove that has no shaker so I have to poke from the bottom and it is challenging.

Dear Jim, Just watching that fire warms the cockles of your heart!. Reminds me of my wood burning stove that I had installed in my garage but thanks to HellBoy living next door complained to the local council (just 2 months from statute of limitation, how very frustrating). It's now but a distant memory. I could get my garage up to 34 degrees Celsius ( a wee bit tropical if you ask me but oh so wonderful). Might you consider doing a rocket stove version for your barn where you get to burn all kinds of waste around your property???? 12 more days to go & back in London where I'll be mighty busy catching up with work & other projects. You take care & stay nice & warm this winter. Kind regards to all. N.B: I just thought of something, next time you decide to thaw out your father in law; how about some piping hot coals down his underpants??? That should get him up to temperature???

Jim, can you tell me if your stove is a Lopi Liberty stove? Mine is designed and looks a lot like yours, but mine has the brass trim door, but contoured the same. Thanks for responding back.

I heard if you leave one corner free of coal it help air flow or with lighting new layers of coal just added.

Hey Jim. Those lopi stoves are a great stove. I had the same one yrs ago. Regret getting rid of it. Tired of spending my paycheck to national " Greed " !! One of the guy's I work with has a coal stove he absolutely loves it. But its like the pellet stove style. Not sure how efficient it is. I'll keep my eyes and ears open for ya on a coal stove.

Hi Jim .. looking to buy a Vermont casting vigilant myself .... can you burn wood in those as well as coal ? also I heard you mention in your video that you could burn pea coal ... wouldn’t that fall thru the grates . Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Trying to stay warm in Michigan

Coal does produce good heat. Only drag is clinker in the bottom and sulfur in the smoke and attacking the chimney. Burn coke if you can get it cheap.

where did you get the grating from

very interesting Man. great video and you have a future youtuber helping with the camera.

I don't know much about coal stoves but responded to a chimney fire in our district. possibly over stoked got too hot over heated stack turned very hot and set wall on fire. Man that coal got hot. you are smarter then average just be careful I am sure you are.

Burn the wood till it is hot coals then throw 1 shovel on poke it around 1 more shovel on

Woohoo it seems to work pretty good! Keeping it going still? Ok, So lets spend Jims money. Hitzers and D.S. are pretty bullet proof, one with a bi-metallic stat is definitely a nice thing and will really help with keeping a constant heat..

I've been experimenting with a small, vintage coal stove. By now, you've probably discovered the ratio of the coal firebox. The space above the burning coal has to be twice the depth of the coal. That's so the gases can burn off. You'll notice that most vintage coal burners were kind of tall. I just watched a very good British video on starting a coal fire, in a way that minimizes smoke on start up. He put in the coal first, then, added his starter and put the tinder and kindling on top. Lit the starter and left it alone. The starter and kindling burned right away and warmed the cold flue, so the updraft could flow easier. He had a good brisk updraft going without any smoke. Eventually, the kindling burned down into embers that kept the coal roasting away. At some point, he closed down the flue damper some and had a nice burn going for 6 hours. I'm going to try it tomorrow. I'm still doing test burns outside with my laundry stove and I think I'm about ready to install it in the house. I want to caulk it and add some new rope on the coal door. I doubt that it ever had any rope on it back in the 30's.

I would take the clay brick out and replace them with ceramic.

Yes i have done that to. If ya throw enough shit something will stick.

Good am Jim I have burned antithetic hard chestnut coal in my consolidated dutch west stove Your stove is a lopi reliance same as the stove i now have, i like burning coal but lopi is wood stove. flumes from coal stove are dangerous if it backs up into house Bill Bowe

Do i need a toddler for this conversion to work?

Not a Lopi gasifier? I don't see the tubes.

;-} i,ve got 3 Marilyn's. great fun.

When using building a coal fire DO NOT HAVE ANY FIRE UNDER THE GRATE AS THIS IS HOW YOU BURN/melt your grate. All you should have is ashes below the grate.

Morning from Edinburgh Jim loving the videos but remember what they say about working with children and animals Ha Ha Ha Take care and keep it going.

In uk there banning house coal

is that a wood stove or coal stove if its a wood stove burning coal is dangrus

I miss the heat from coal

If you want to talk to me wait until the kid's go to bed, please.

I want to convert my wood stove to coal

Mike Dillon MAKE SURE U READ THE DISCLAIMER sorry TRADESMAN had to make sure Mike saw that another grate vid

Best part is that cute baby in the background. Of course the video was great as well. Good job. Greetings from the Ozarks of Missouri.

That's hot, HOT !

Looks like a success. In these sub zero temps I find I have to fill the stoves 2 times overnight. once about 11pm and again about 3am. Now that temps are coming up we will go back down to one stove running. It will be nice having half the work. Great experiment. Thanks for sharing. LOL @ "Don't try this at home". Disclaimers to help the ignorant I guess.

Sorry, I can't add much of intelligence to your question, my grandparents burned coal in a fireplace that originally was set up of wood but it was so long ago that my only participation was probably similar to your childs. It was placed in a grate type appliance and sat in the fire box of the fire place. My grandfather would add a lump or two as needed and it kept the room nice and warm. Any of us who felt the need of extra heat would back up to the fire place and warm our hands and things before returning to the far side of the room for comfort. LOL Many fond memories of those times. Oh, his main heat source was an oil fired furnace that blasted air up from the cellar in a location central to the house but out lying rooms had fireplaces to suppliment as needed.

you just put the coals on top of the fire it will light or burn no bs

if you burn coal in a wood stove you could have truble your house could burn down just be carefull

I would still be afraid to do this, coal burns twice as hot as wood does, if the stove is not designed to handle that much more heat eventually something will give.

Now everyday that goes by without you posting a video has me worried that coal conversion has you and your family in dire straights. Are you OK?

Pack coal down it burns hotter and lower

Cover wood with coal

You should probably shoot the video again. Too many distractions there. Hard to watch with the volume on.

Dude! Lose the yellow shirt! It’s screwing with your auto exposure!

Next time you decide to make a video send your family to the store

In the teens outside...yet you hear crickets frogs birds....swamp sounds..... amazing did not think frogs and crickets lasted in the freezing winter....

What type of coal are you using?