Coal vs coke debate finally settled for me

Old timer at the guild meeting showed me his forge running straight coke. Said he burns 30% less fuel per hour. Now I'm ditching the bagged coal I've been using for 5 years.

3 comments

3 Comments

the_hugo1mo agoMost Upvoted

Hit him with the question I've been itching to ask - was the coke a specialty buy or did he just run it through his regular forge setup without any modifications? I've heard conflicting stuff about needing different air flow or grate setups for coke vs coal, but nobody ever seems to get specific about it. The 30% number is wild enough that I'm tempted to try it myself, but I don't want to mess up my forge if there's some trick to getting it to work right. Did he mention anything about adjusting his blower or firepot for the coke?

paige4272mo ago

30% less fuel per hour is a huge number. I've been burning bagged coal for about three years now and I go through it pretty fast. The smoke and clinker build up is the worst part for me. That much savings would pay for a new fuel setup in no time.

the_cole2mo ago

Did you ever look into the anthracite vs bituminous coal breakdown? I heard that coke burns way cleaner because most of the impurities are already cooked out during the coking process... makes sense you'd get less clinker.

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