Handyman Guide > Coal furnaces & fuels

One of the oldest and still most common kind of heating plant for the home is the coal furnace. A good coal furnace fired with high-grade fuel will give very satisfactory service with minimum effort on the part of the owner. When people complain about the work required to coax heat from their coal furnaces, the fault is generally with the fuel, the chimney, or the manner in which the furnace is operated.


Efficient operation of any coalburning furnace is largely dependent upon the chimney. Any leaks about the chimney will interfere with the draft and prevent the furnace from working properly. The stove pipe from the furnace to the chimney should slant upward and be sealed tightly into both furnace and chimney.

There are many minor points connected with operating a coal furnace that should not be overloked' especially if you are having difficulty in keeping the furnace operating properly.

First of all, put only coal on the fire-never rubbish of any sort. Ashes should not be used, as they sometimes are, to bank the fire for the night. Never poke a fire, as this will mix the hot coals with the ashes and form clinkers.

If the basement is tightly shut, air, will not circulate properly, the draft will be feeble, and the fire will burn poorly. Check to see that all the furnace doors shut tightly and that there are no leaks around the check damper when it is closed.

FUELS

There are three kinds of coal used in the home furnace, anthracite, coke, and bituminous. Anthraeitc is probably the most widely used. It is very hard, and because it is low in volatiles it burns without smoke. It does not tend to swell and cake together as do some other coals, and it ignites easily.

Coke is similar to anthracite in that it burns without smoke, and it can be fired in much the same manner. Bituminous is a soft coal, high in volatiles, and produces more smoke and soot than anthracite or coke. It is used mostly for industrial work.

In the United States, coal is graded according to size by passing it through screens or sieves of different sized mesh to separate the pieces. Each size is known by a specific name.

rrhe following table shows the diameter of the mesh through which the largest piece of a given size of coal will pass. Thus, egg size coal will pass through a mesh which is 3 7/16 inches in diameter but not through one which is 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Stove coal will pass through a 2 1/2 inch but not a 1 9/16 inch mesh, etc.





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