Anthracite Coal

[PJDiesel]

We are burning just under 40 lbs. a day to heat the whole house (~2200 sq ft Cape built in '96). We started with 4 tons and have used 280 lbs so far.

7 days? Or, are you missing a zero? I'm burning just slightly over a 5 gallon bucket a day (between 1 and 1.5 turns o a Harmon Mark III).
Been burning for months straight now without a single hiccup.

 

[jmiller320]

My old neighbor told me how he got coal when he was much younger. It involved a five gallon pail of grease, shovel, burlap bags and a railroad. He said they would grease the rails and climb on the stuck train and shovel as many bags as the could before the train got back to speed.

 

[sxs]

Great thread and welcome new guy Makanik!

I didn't know coal was popular in Maryland, some of my family had coal stoves back in Virginia, I never thought much of it growing up.

I have a traditional wood fireplace here in the suburbs, I've never used it or had it inspected. I occasionally notice a few of my neighbors do use theirs, and it's clear mine was used long before I moved in, so I assume after I get it inspected it would likely work. As a contingency I've purchased and store a dozen or so of those artificial wood boxes; hoping it could get me through a few days in a power outage.

My house has natural gas heating (hvac), and for hot water; I've considered replacing the electric stove with a natural gas stove.

Not trying to derail this excellent thread, but let me ask: what should I do with my fireplace? These are my options as I see them:

- leave it be, never use.
- have inspected, use only in an emergency.
- have inspected, use now as needed.
- convert to pellet stove.
- convert to coal stove.
- convert to gas stove.

Any advice appreciated. This may be a common enough dilemma I might need to start a new thread in the "water cooler" subforum.

Have it inspected then convert to hearth insert wood stove.

That's what I did with mine years ago and it will heat most of the house (and keep it toasty with the blowers, but puts out enough radiant heat to get you through lengthy power outages in winter that I have every couple or 3 years). The ceramic glass doesn't give you as wide a view as your regular tradition fireplace, but still allows a measure of ambiance. FYI, a regular traditional fireplace is grossly inefficient and it's not a good emergency option. When the fire dies down, the draft will suck the heat right out of the house. The insert is much closer to airtight (except the grate which can be adjusted to a low draft).

My insert had a coal burning option so it could burn either coal or wood...but IIRC, you needed a special coal crib or grate to add to it for coal burning and unfortunately, the manufacturer of my stove went out of business some years back.

 

[Seagrave1963]

7 days? Or, are you missing a zero? I'm burning just slightly over a 5 gallon bucket a day (between 1 and 1.5 turns o a Harmon Mark III).
Been burning for months straight now without a single hiccup.

The stove was installed on December 29th so we are just getting started.

 

[Seagrave1963]

Have it inspected then convert to hearth insert wood stove.

That's what I did with mine years ago and it will heat most of the house (and keep it toasty with the blowers, but puts out enough radiant heat to get you through lengthy power outages in winter that I have every couple or 3 years). The ceramic glass doesn't give you as wide a view as your regular tradition fireplace, but still allows a measure of ambiance. FYI, a regular traditional fireplace is grossly inefficient and it's not a good emergency option. When the fire dies down, the draft will suck the heat right out of the house. The insert is much closer to airtight (except the grate which can be adjusted to a low draft).

My insert had a coal burning option so it could burn either coal or wood...but IIRC, you needed a special coal crib or grate to add to it for coal burning and unfortunately, the manufacturer of my stove went out of business some years back.

Have you seen this site? (http://www.woodmanspartsplus.com/c347/233/Library.html)

I ordered a spare door assembly in case the glass/ceramic cracked to keep the stove running in the event that happened. They were the only place that had parts for the TLC2000 as Harman sold the coal line to AHS last summer.

 

[PJDiesel]

The stove was installed on December 29th so we are just getting started.

Ah, cool.

This week should be interesting, the last two days we have needed to ramp up our burn a bit, running at 1.5 turns at all times now.

 

[PapiBarcelona]

Hard to imagine peeps with natural gas want to burn wood to offset the cost of other fuel? Is Natural Gas that expensive? Keeping the windows open and the thermostat set to 80 or what? Figured it was the best fuel, good technology in the furnaces and cheapest price

Oil is expensive, older HVAC in an older home. Burning wood makes sense to me since wood has been free minus processing and letting it sit on pallets for season after season.

 

[PJDiesel]

Hard to imagine peeps with natural gas want to burn wood to offset the cost of other fuel? Is Natural Gas that expensive? Keeping the windows open and the thermostat set to 80 or what? Figured it was the best fuel, good technology in the furnaces and cheapest price

Oil is expensive, older HVAC in an older home. Burning wood makes sense to me since wood has been free minus processing and letting it sit on pallets for season after season.

"Expensive" is a relative term. Heating oil is less than $2.50 a gallon this year, even in this dead of winter. The last FOUR years it's been closer to $4.00 per gallon than $3 (consistently).

If I had natural gas I'd be trying to figure out how to run my TV on the shit. The way people got bent over with Propane last year fixed me of EVER having that as a fuel. Site stored fuel sucks, natty gas is definitely(by far) the best route.

Burning wood is WORK, any way you slice it, "free", dropped off, already downed, whatever, it's a total PITA. Coal isn't near the work of wood, half the mess, far more BTU's than even the best hardwoods, much easier stove to run (and keep going, 100% of the season nonstop).

Anyone with a wall thimble that is fighting with the mess and aggravation of wood should strongly consider coal.

 

[PapiBarcelona]

Burned 24 gallons of oil from Early April 2014 until last week of December. Delivery guy thought something was wrong lol

I guess I meant free as in I don't pay for the wood itself, I got a lot of harvesting options, luckily. Gas and maintenance on chainsaws and splitter. Good workout

 

[PapiBarcelona]

$2.80 or 20 cents less than that was Corbin's oil price a week ago. Can't remember off hand

 

[PJDiesel]

$2.49 for offroad diesel up here as of today. $2.70 for diesel (with ~$.42 in tax included).

 

[PapiBarcelona]

I don't even know what Diesel is here in Harford, I usually just head to the cashier with 80 to 120 dollars each time I get near 1/4 tank.

 

[Makanik]

We are burning just under 40 lbs. a day to heat the whole house (~2200 sq ft Cape built in '96). We started with 4 tons and have used 280 lbs so far.

I burn about 1 coal hod of nut coal a day, which is about 4 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket. I have one of the antique brass with a porcelain handle hods. I keep our house at about 74 when we get home and just let it throttle along while at work, with the damper open and the air ports open to where you could just fit a pencil point into. When I got home today at 19 degrees it was only down to 64. Tonight when ramping it up it took about an hour to get the house up to 74, with the help of ceiling fans and a box fan to push the heat down the hall way.

 

[Seagrave1963]

I burn about 1 coal hod of nut coal a day, which is about 4 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket. I have one of the antique brass with a porcelain handle hods. I keep our house at about 74 when we get home and just let it throttle along while at work, with the damper open and the air ports open to where you could just fit a pencil point into. When I got home today at 19 degrees it was only down to 64. Tonight when ramping it up it took about an hour to get the house up to 74, with the help of ceiling fans and a box fan to push the heat down the hall way.

74 feels good, doesn't it!?

 

[Makanik]

It most certainly does. Especially after being outside in weather below 20 degrees. I am sure that you are enjoying your new stove with minimal costs to run and nice warm dry heat Seagrave.

 

[Makanik]

Just finished up my 1st ton of coal. Had to make a visit to Duvall's this morning to pick up another 1/2 ton of loose nut. I hated to have to go in there and pull one of the guys out into the cold but it had to be done.

 

[PJDiesel]

Just finished up my 1st ton of coal. Had to make a visit to Duvall's this morning to pick up another 1/2 ton of loose nut. I hated to have to go in there and pull one of the guys out into the cold but it had to be done.

I have a few extra tons if anyone else is looking, AWESOME burning super hard and shiny GOOD stuff from Ben Reese this year.

$245 a ton (in a cubic yard "super sac"). Can load right into the back of your truck.

 

[Seagrave1963]

How did everyone do during the last cold snap? Stove did great here, even during the high wind days. Been through 2200 pounds so far (since 12/29)

 

[Makanik]

I have a few extra tons if anyone else is looking, AWESOME burning super hard and shiny GOOD stuff from Ben Reese this year.

$245 a ton (in a cubic yard "super sac"). Can load right into the back of your truck.

Man I wish I had a place to store a ton of coal at one shot.

 

[Makanik]

How did everyone do during the last cold snap? Stove did great here, even during the high wind days. Been through 2200 pounds so far (since 12/29)

All was good here with the Hitzer too. I have burned 1 ton since starting up on November 15 2014. Just had to get another half ton on Saturday. That should finish me off for the year with about a 1/4 ton left over.

How are you liking your coal stove Seagrave? I bet you love the amount of heat it puts off!