Coal versus briquettes

Saruman

Right now I have my fire going.

I stick in a fire lighter, add two briquettes and then pour coal on top.

Ah lovely warm fire. I can hear this in my mind.

My question is this.

A 20kg sack of coal is under €10 and a bale of briquettes is less than €3.50 I think.

So is the best solution to simply do as I do and mix, or would I be better off with one or the other?

To my mind, coal just gives more heat and for longer. What do other people think?

Caoimhín

I mix.

Add in some wood too, just to be extra kinky.

cruiser178

Saruman wrote: »

Right now I have my fire going.

I stick in a fire lighter, add two briquettes and then pour coal on top.

Ah lovely warm fire. I can hear this in my mind.

My question is this.

A 20kg sack of coal is under €10 and a bale of briquettes is less than €3.50 I think.

So is the best solution to simply do as I do and mix, or would I be better off with one or the other?

To my mind, coal just gives more heat and for longer. What do other people think?

/thread

Saruman

That's what I was thinking Cruiser.

Pookah

Briquettes on their own woudn't be much use, would they?

mikom

Saruman wrote: »

To my mind, coal just gives more heat and for longer. What do other people think?

Turf in the range, running 24 hours a day.
Job done.

General Zod

briquettes on top of coal IMO after the fire is going.

Saruman

General Zod wrote: »

briquettes on top of coal IMO after the fire is going.

Just turfed two on there now

Excuse the pun....

astra2000

Op you would be better off to buy the bigger bag of coal 40kg for between 14 to 16 euro.

soups05

put briquettes flat side down for a long slow burn or on thier edge for a faster burn giving more heat. more controlable than coal but more ash left behind. i like to mix both.

Local-womanizer

Briguettes form a nice base of heat and keep the tempeture up for the coal to go on top.

Its the coal that gives the heat.

FoxT

There is a good comparison here:

http://bit.ly/fqMikS

Briquettes will deliver 1 unit of heat for 5.75c

Now, 10kg coal at 20 per bag = eu500 per tonne and works out at 6.25c

A 40kg bag at 14 euro = eu375 per tonne and works out at 4.7c.

The 40kg bag is much, much better value.

When you take into account ease of lighting though, using a few briquettes to get thing going makes sense.

Sonnenblumen

FoxT wrote: »

There is a good comparison here:

http://bit.ly/fqMikS

Briquettes will deliver 1 unit of heat for 5.75c

Now, 10kg coal at 20 per bag = eu500 per tonne and works out at 6.25c

A 40kg bag at 14 euro = eu375 per tonne and works out at 4.7c.

The 40kg bag is much, much better value.

When you take into account ease of lighting though, using a few briquettes to get thing going makes sense.

Wow, you must have time to burn?:p

Corsendonk

Boiler Beans, basically a small coal lumps grade that you use like slack when the fire burns down a little but it gives you that deep red glow.

johnmcdnl

briquettes are good for getting the fire going with the coal to get the heat later on and to keep the fire going

can't bate it when the good open fire when you get it going :cool:

Coal vs briquettes? Well that's going to be a dirty fight.

/grabs coat.

alwaysadub

When i'm out of turf, i use briquettes at the start of the fire, then coal and logs when it's fully lit.

KeithM89_old

Neither, i just throw a box of firelighters into the fireplace and light it.

dirtyghettokid

i can never seem to get the coals to work properly.
i usually start the fire with a bord na mona firelog and a couple of briquettes. there'll be a layer of coals at the bottom. but it doesn't work - the coals don't really heat up. i also tried putting coals on at a later stage and it didn't work either am i missing something

bigneacy

I would tend to go with a couple of fire lighters, a good handful or two of sticks and when that catches I bung the coal on then. Makes a good hot fire.

Whats the benefits of mixing coal and briquettes, I never tried it?

Also, whats the deal with slack? Anyone use it? My folks always used to use it but I never quite knew why....?

JayEnnis

In this order.

Kindling in a criss cross pattern.

Newspaper in balls.

Coal.

Lights perfect every time.

zom

may I ask where I can buy the bag of coal 40kg for between 14 to 16 euro?

bigneacy

zom wrote: »

may I ask where I can buy the bag of coal 40kg for between 14 to 16 euro?

Black Diamond Premium Polish Coal 40kg €14.25 in McGeoughs on the Faugart/Forkhill Road. Just over the Border.

jimthemental

I like a bit of variety at home, turf we footed ourselves, coal and then our own timber too. Snow day yesterday so I lit the fire and played Black Ops all morning then watched Inception (

the dog dies in the end

). Overall a nice day, since I wasn't going to risk my car over that journey for about 70 measly euros I didn't mind missing out on my wage.