Rayburn -- fuel characteristics

haussit

Hey all,

Wonder if you can give me some very basic help.

I'm looking after a house with a solid fuel range (a rayburn nouvelle). It works fine, I have no problem lighting it and getting a hot oven and water etc. But I don't really have any idea what I'm doing with the fuel.

Besides kindling, we have compressed sawdust briquettes, compressed peat briquettes, some slack, and some coal bags:

some 'union nuggets', some anthracite nuts, and some 'polish doubles'.

Could you give me a bit of info on the differences between these? First, what do nut/double/nugget mean?

And what's the best way to use these? I know that the sawdust briquettes are used to burn quickly to start the fire once the kindling has caught, but what about the peat and the coal/anthracite? Which is better for cooking and which is better for keeping going for a long time?

Sorry for the basic questions, hope you can help!

Wally Runs

There is a hell of lot of information here http://www.solidfuel.co.uk/main_pages/news.htm but, on a very basic level each fuel, be hard coal, peat, wood etc has a 'calorific value' which will tell you how much energy there is per kg of fuel. The higher the value the more energy in the fuel and the less of it you will need to burn to get heat out. Also many fuels have a high ash content e.g. peat is very high so you end up cleaning the ash pan out more often.

On top of all this is the carbon issue and carbon tax, the higher the CO2 output the higher the tax. Biomass such as wood is considered zero, so no tax should be charged. With solid wood and turf you have to consider moisture content, if the fuel is wet or damp, having a moisture content above 20%, your fire may waste energy drying out the fuel before it can burn it properly. There are also issues with soot deposits building up in your chimney. Next how and when you buy it is important, have you room for bulk storage or bagged, can you keep it out of the rain etc.

So to sum up, you should not just be guided by price; a tonne of coal is not the same as a tonne of briquettes.

PS I burn logs, but I have access to them and can season them so they are good and dry.

haussit

Thanks a lot -- that's really helpful! Good to know about the calorific content.

One quick question-- besides the total amount of heat, do different fuels release it at a different rate? I've been finding that coal runs hotter, but does peat run longer?

Wally Runs

Oh you have me there, I guess that is where your control of the air feed comes in. Also fuels burn differently, wood burns from the top while coal burns from the bottom. That is why you need a bit of ash in the great for wood burning and not so much for coal.