Best Fuel for Multi Fuel Stove

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deli

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We have recently installed a Herald 14 multi fuel stove (Back boiler) which is great, but we are still experiementing with the type of fuel to burn. We use wood in conjunction with coal, but the type of coal we are not sure about. We started off with normal coal which was good but some users reccommend smokeless fuel, which we have being trying this past couple of weeks. To date I'm not convinced of the heat output and efficiency of the smokeless fuels we've being using.Think of reverting back to the normal smokey coal !
Any suggestions as to the type of fuel for efficiency would be welcome

Thanks,
Deli
 
Deli hard to get but properly seasoned hard wood is uauslly best but it can be pricey if buying it in small quantities. Ideally if you have somewhere to store buy a large load now for next year.
 
Have you thought about briquettes or turf if you can get your hands on it? At home, I have a stove and use turf and wood together, a great combination and you get great heat with the turf. My brother finds briquettes best in his house, and we both get bags of coal on occasion and through them all in together.
 
I use coal, briquettes and logs in our Stanley Erin.(boiler model)

Coal definitely produces the most heat.

I have used slack (bituminous coal) in it and it generates huge heat, but you do need to be careful with it. I had just topped up the fire and left the bottom door open and i forgot about it. came back ten minutes later and it was so hot the metal bar at the front of the stove was white hot and the wooden handle was smoking!

the thing with the slack is that it's small peices, so they form a crust when they get hot. amazing stuff but i'm a bit scared of now to be honest.:eek:
 
Google what fuel gives off the best heat. Everything has its own rating. coal gives off more heat than wood.
 
deli said:
We have recently installed a Herald 14 multi fuel stove (Back boiler) which is great, Any suggestions as to the type of fuel for efficiency would be welcome
Thanks,
Click to expand...

In my opinion , you could try these :
  • Wood briquettes on sale in Woodies/ Atlantic/Arro and other hardware stores .
  • Union Nuggets are good value in 40kg bags
  • A mix of Ovoids / anthracite/Nuggets is more expensive than a bag of coal but works well
  • Anthracite on its own would be too hot and could damage glass front/grate .
 
I start my stove with timber kindling, topped up with a mix of bituminious (smokey) coal and smokeless ("Country Blend" or "ecobrite"). I think the trick is to keep the air damper fully open until the stove is good and hot, when you have a good bed of hot coals you can close up the damper a little, but not so much that the fire starts to smoke. I burn logs as well but for real heat and longevity I think it's hard to beat coal.
 
If I am lighting mine early in the day i start it with a firelighter and some light kindling and then a shovel of polish coal, it will keep it going for the day or if just starting it in the evening and it is not extra cold, I start it the same way and follow on with some timber (hardwood offcut's from work and starting kindling also offcuts from work - great way of recycling and only use about 3 bag of coal a year).
 
It only causes the glass to blacken if the damper is closed way down, open it up the the black burns off.

I assume it is smokeless as I buy it in the local cooperative store, must double check that.
 
Thank you for your reply. But, if you think that you are already using smokeless coal, I would expect not to see any black at all on glass door?? Have I got it wrong?
 
The finest fuel for a solid fuel stove would be Sickle Wood as in a good quality stove, 3 logs will burn for an average of 20 hours, this is available at West Bio Group in Loughrea and Dublin.
 
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