The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1902-10-10
HOW TO BURN SOFT COAL.
Can be Used in Furnaces, Stoves and
Ranges.


Now that the local supply of hard
coal is nearly exhausted, householders
are seriously considering the question
of burning bituminous fuel for
household uses.
Soft coal in range or cook stove
will meet all the requirements of
domestic use if ordinary intelligence
is displayed in the management of
the fire. The same is true of hot air
furnaces With the low pressure
boilers used or steam heating, some
what more trouble may be expected,
but this is largely question of the
type. Even in such devices soft coal
can be burne without an amount of
inconvenience comparable TO that of
an uncomfortably low house temper
ature. Probably the greatest diff
Guilty will be that experienced in
changing the habits of servants who
have never known any fuel except
anthracite. Filling the fire pot of a
range to the lids with soft coal will
not give good results, and attempts
to broii over fresh fuel will be disap-
pointing, though for this purpose a
bed of glowing coke is vastly better
than one of incandescent anthracite.
Care must also be taken in keeping
oven temperatures uniform. Soft
coal ignites very quickly, dies down
with equal facility. and needs con-
slant watching and frequent replen-
ishing to maintain even measurably
constant fire. In these respects it
more resembles wood than anthracite,
but it burns nearly as we'll in an an
thracite range as in one built for
market where only soft coal is used
as domestic fuel.
In an anthracite heating furnace,
soft coal needs to be treated very
differently from anthracite, but the
difference consists in the manage
ment of draughts and checks. In the
feed door of every furnace there is
slide damper to admit air over the
fire. When anthracite is used this
is only opened if it is desired to
deaden the fire and lower the tenn
perature of the house. With soft coal
it must BIZ left open all the time.
The great volume Of gases evolved
from it in the coking process. which
is the first stage in it's combustion,
calls for more air than can be had
through the body of fuel. and unless
this is supplied above the fire the
greatest value of the fuel is lost up
the chimney in unconsumed gases.
Too much air for good combustion
can be admitted over the fire, but
this is not likely to be the case if the
slide damper in the feed door of a
furnace built for anthracite is left
wide open all the time. The draught
opening in the ash pit door, on the
other hand, needs to be less widely
and continuously open than for an
thracite. With the same amount of
bottom draught which it is Gus
tomary to give hard coal, soft coal
would simulate the combustion in a
blast furnace, and call for constant
stocking. The householder must also
remember that the check draught in
the smoke pipe, which with anthra-
cite is usually kept open IN moderate
weather, cannot be opened much, it
any, with soft coal, or the house will
fill with smoke. The best way is to
leave it closed altogether With at
tenti0n to these details, which re-
verse the customary practice with
Anthracite, furnace may be run on
bituminols coal so as to keep house
entirely comfortable.