I've been curious for a while how it would work to burn charcoal in a wood stove.
In reading on the Internet, the two most common comments I've come across are, "You'll get CO poisoning" and "it'll get too hot and melt your stove." The first is pretty silly, since the fumes will obviously be vented out the chimney. The second I wasn't too worried about since the inside of my stove is mostly firebrick and cast iron.
So, for science, I decided to try. I got a 10-lb bag of 100% hardwood lump charcoal, which set me back $5.50.
The results were pretty underwhelming. It burnt, and kept the house warm, and didn't melt my stove, and we didn't die of CO poisoning. The 10-lb bag lasted about 6 hours. Toward the end the heat output was actually decreasing even though I had the air wide open - I think the ash was accumulating and slowing the combustion.
In reading on the Internet, the two most common comments I've come across are, "You'll get CO poisoning" and "it'll get too hot and melt your stove." The first is pretty silly, since the fumes will obviously be vented out the chimney. The second I wasn't too worried about since the inside of my stove is mostly firebrick and cast iron.
So, for science, I decided to try. I got a 10-lb bag of 100% hardwood lump charcoal, which set me back $5.50.
The results were pretty underwhelming. It burnt, and kept the house warm, and didn't melt my stove, and we didn't die of CO poisoning. The 10-lb bag lasted about 6 hours. Toward the end the heat output was actually decreasing even though I had the air wide open - I think the ash was accumulating and slowing the combustion.
