Is burning coal a thing again?
Is burning coal a thing again?
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OldGermanHeaps

Original Poster:

4,975 posts

201 months

Yesterday (21:19)
quotequote all
For about the last month on my night time offroad cycling i have smelt the unmistakable scent of people burning coal, its taken me right back to the 80s. The thingis, all the developments i am passing by are mid 90s to present, nothing with chimneys.
Am i missing something , are people putting coal in there log burners, or what is going on ?

Simpo Two

91,395 posts

288 months

Yesterday (21:27)
quotequote all
In multifuel stoves, quite possibly. However coal has to be paid for whereas wood can be salvaged/scrounged/borrowed from a wood for free.

trickywoo

13,641 posts

253 months

Yesterday (21:34)
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You aren’t coastal where sea coal is available are you?

OldGermanHeaps

Original Poster:

4,975 posts

201 months

Yesterday (21:50)
quotequote all
trickywoo said:
You aren t coastal where sea coal is available are you?
Nope, bang in the middle of central scotland.
Its very noticable,the smell brings me back to living in a scheme with no mains gas available.

dbdb

4,890 posts

196 months

Yesterday (22:45)
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I have noticed the smell of coal burning where I live as well (Cheshire).

towser44

4,066 posts

138 months

Yesterday (22:52)
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We always have a layer of coal as a base on our multi-fuel stove then put a log on top

Snow and Rocks

3,107 posts

50 months

Yesterday (22:54)
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Proper coal still legal and easily available in Scotland (or it is in Aberdeenshire at least) unlike most of the UK where I believe it's been banned for domestic use.

I have a bunker full of some premium grade Columbian Doubles as they're described as that I occasionally use on our multifuel stove in particularly cold weather and the heat is phenomenal - face melting stuff.

OldGermanHeaps

Original Poster:

4,975 posts

201 months

Yesterday (23:11)
quotequote all
Where are peolple buying it now? Thought all the distribution channels are gone. Used to wash the coal lorries on the weekends as a kid.
Absolutely love the smell.

-Cappo-

20,505 posts

226 months

Yesterday (23:23)
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Rather weirdly, I passed a small truck today in Kent sign written as "Coal Merchant". Not seen anything like that for a very long time.

Snow and Rocks

3,107 posts

50 months

Yesterday (23:56)
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OldGermanHeaps said:
Where are peolple buying it now? Thought all the distribution channels are gone. Used to wash the coal lorries on the weekends as a kid.
Absolutely love the smell.
As above still widely available from filling stations, rural shops and proper coal merchants here in Aberdeenshire.

0a

24,083 posts

217 months

Yesterday (23:57)
quotequote all
I love the smell. In passing on a winter evening.

Not The Great Smog or the like though!

tim0409

5,724 posts

182 months

OldGermanHeaps said:
Where are peolple buying it now? Thought all the distribution channels are gone. Used to wash the coal lorries on the weekends as a kid.
Absolutely love the smell.
There are a number of fuel merchants that supply it (we are in East Lothian). We get a delivery around once a month of ovals; I use them as a bed in the multi fuel stove before putting logs on, but at the moment I’ve run out of logs so just use coal. The heat is impressive, and it means I don’t need to use the oil fired central heating.


Belle427

11,359 posts

256 months

My Dad used to burn it on his mutli fuel, hardly ever put his heating on in the winter when the fire was lit 24/7.
Forget how much it cost him though, pretty sure it was £600 a Tonne.

markymarkthree

3,388 posts

194 months

Over winter we burn coal on a regular basis in Somerset . Love the smell, warmth and general ambiance from a coal fire.
Get my coal from a merchant in Cornwall.

Gtom

1,850 posts

155 months

I use it quite a lot on my multi fuel stove, I put some on at 9pm last night and it’s still glowing nicely now while I watch F1.

I paid £365 for a ton of smokeless ovals and have used around half of it over winter.

I have got a boiler stove that needs to be fitted at some point, I did some rough maths and it worked out roughly the same as gas for heating water.

Burning wood can be cheaper if you are getting it for free/processing it yourself but you can’t bank the fire up overnight with wood.

mikey_b

2,514 posts

68 months

I almost exclusively burn smokeless coal in my multifuel stove. It doesn't look as good as wood when burning, but a good pile of coal will burn for about six hours without needing any attention. If it looks like a chilly evening, as we're having at the moment, then I'll light it at maybe 4pm as warmth from the sun starts to fade, and it keeps the lounge warm until bedtime.

ARH

1,584 posts

262 months

Loads still burn coal round here and there are at least 2 local companies that deliver coal. North shropshire, welsh border.

some bloke

1,533 posts

90 months

I have a place on an island off the west coast of Scotland, where the main fuel is coal. There are a couple of people getting wood deliveries but most use coal, or smokeless ovoids.

OldGermanHeaps

Original Poster:

4,975 posts

201 months

Someone must have just started using it, never smelt it here before, every house round here has mains gas.

Snow and Rocks

3,107 posts

50 months

Worth pointing out that traditional house coal is, I believe, illegal to sell in England except for some specialist uses (steam engines etc) so what most are burning is "smokeless" ovoid type stuff.

It's alright and burns for much longer than wood but doesn't come close to the big dancing flames of proper old school bituminous stuff.