Hi. I am looking to put a coke forge in an old barn and was wondering if it's absolutely necessary to have a hood and flue fitted?? I am currently working for a company with a gas powered forge, but I am unsure of how a coke forge would differ with smoke and fumes etc! Any advice or help would be much appreciated!
Thank you

Unless you have extremely good ventilation, and this likely means a pretty serious air moving fan pulling smoke out of the barn (not just pushing it around inside) you will need a hood and chimney. 

 

If you don't have a hood and chimney, I would recommend having a portable forge and moving it outside when you need to use it.

 

It's smoke. It's bad for your lungs. 

and the stuff you can't see is carbon monoxide which builds up over time so best to keep your exposure lower than the clearing rate!

Thank you for the reply. That's just as I expected, working outside is not really an option so hood and chimney it is! Am I right in thinking that coke gives off less smoke and fumes than coal??

Yes, coke is a by-product of burning various impurities out of coal.  Fewer impurities makes for a cleaner burn.  Thomas' point still holds weight. It's good practice to ensure you've got good ventilation.

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you put your general location in the header you might be surprised at how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance.

 

Coke is cleaner than coal but cleaner is not clean. Not only does it give off CO as a byproduct of combustion there are a lot of minerals remaining, silicates for silicosis hazard, metals and in most cases radioactive elements. Most folk don't know it but most any coal fired power plant gives off more radioactive fallout a day than 3 mile island did during the entire event.

 

A hood (I like side draft) and chimney, get it out of the shop.

 

Frosty The Lucky.