Berliner coal stove conversion ideas?

In May I bought an old house with (apparently) a really good coal stove/heater. A big piece - aprox. H 170 x W 90 x D 50 cm. It has a normal burning chamber. According to the chimney-man it can't handle the heat from wood, only coal.
Does anyone here have any suggestions/ideas for how to convert it too not burn coal? Prefer wood, pellets etc.

Have a great 2016. Keep that fire burning ya'll.

- Any buddy? Could this unit have been designed to burn Sea Coal and not a high grade coal ? When I was growing up it was taken as gospel that any coal stove

burned hotter than the best wood stove ! Was I wrong ? Anyone ? Big AL


Late note : Marcus, is your chimney man now saying that the coal furnace can't burn coal now? Or is he saying the Chimney is usable for wood fires, and not for

coal fires ? Also your coal furnace should have ''Shaker grates'' in it! are they functioning well, and are they uniformly whole, and symmetrical in appearance ?

A.L.

Hi Marcus,

an idea of the things I have learned so far.
Wood sticks burn hotter than big chunks of wood.
So I would imagine, as soon as you have your kindling burning, use some sticks to heat up and put a big chunk of wood on top.
I would also suggest a good flow of air, so that gases can burn as good as possible, and you won’t annoy your neighbours that
much. How old is your Kachelofen? Looks like the 1930s era with that classy double windows in the back.

I would get another chimney man because coal burns considerably hotter and longer than wood.

Now not all coal stoves can burn wood, and not all wood stoves can burn coal, but a majority of them can do both. It all depends what they have for grates and dampers. That is because with anthracite coal the air MUST come up from the bottom of the fire. In fact that is how the coal stove is regulated, by how much air it gets. If you allow air to go above the coal the fire will go out. Now with bituminous coal it is a bit different, as with anthracite coal the fire is regulated by air coming up through the coal bed, BUT you also need a small amount of air on top of the coal bed to burn off the excess gas that bituminous coal has. With wood you normally want the air burning from the top, with a bit of lower draft if needed.

If your coal stove has grates, it can burn wood. What eliminates a coal stove from burning wood is a hopper that allows the coal to slide down into the firebox as the coal before it is consumed. I had a coal stove that was like that, but it was extremely small and had a hopper and a glass front. It was conceivable that it could burn coal if you put teeny-tiny kindling in it, but it was not designed for it, and it would go through a lot of wood.

By the looks of your cabinet coal stove though, it could handle wood quite well. Myself, I burn wood in the shoulder seasons of Fall and Spring, but when it gets really cold out, I switch to coal. I like the hotter heat, and I like that I can get long burn times out of it; up to 14 hours instead of 8 like with wood. It also gives me options, so if I run out of firewood because it is a long winter or something, I can buy some coal to get me through. I just like having multiple options on how to heat my home.

That is a beautiful antique stove by the way. I am envious, looks like it came from the Art Deco era?