The mysteries of e-coal

[crumpledlinens]

Dimwit question here.

We live in a very old house with no central heating. Just got a multifuel stove installed after 18 months of shivering. Praise be!
But I'm having some teething problems. Basically, there isn't much wood where I live, so we'll need to use coal. Have now bought a bunch of e-coal & a bunker to put it in, but whenever I shovel it on a nice hot wood fire, the whole damn thing goes out. What's with this non-burnable fuel? And how can I charm it into giving out heat?

I don’t know about ecoal specifically but I wouldn’t shower coal
On top
If wood. I would carefully place some pieces, the. As they get hot, some more
Pieces until you have a nice hit bed of coals.
But tbh I’m better with wood fires.

Yep - we have to use smokeless coal and you start it with kindling and it kind of glows rather than burns with a flame. It takes a while to get going but when it does you can then add more lumps without worrying.

It gives out a lot of heat when it gets going and needs less of an eye being kept on it than a wood fire. Watch out for the ash though - stays hot for a surprisingly long time.