By: pret On: Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:26 am
Hi everyone... been a long time since I've been on the forum! I see much has happened since I've been away! Definitely good to be back!
I have a bit of a problem... I burn Summit coal and I'm attempting to determine what I burn per day. I had 8200lbs delivered in the fall of last year, but all this coal fit in two 4x4x4 bins and a bin made from half of a 275 gallon oil tank for home heating oil.
Well, according to my bin dimensions, the two 4x4x4 bins hold 128 cubic feet of pea coal, and the oil tank holds about 18.38 cubic feet of pea coal. Doing the simple math, I added up my available cubic feet of storage that I just mentioned and determined that I have ABOUT 147 cubic feet of storage. But if I divide the tonnage that I was delivered by the cubic feet I have, giving me pounds per cubic feet, I determine that I'm storing coal at 55.78 lbs per cubic foot. IF I divide a ton - 2000lbs - by 55.78 lb/ft^3, I get that my coal only takes up a space of 35.85 ft^3
I guess what I am wondering is can the density of coal be so different from the average that my coal could weigh 5 lbs more per cubic foot than the average?
If so, then cool. That means that I have an average consumption (from Sept 9, 09 - Feb 20, 2010) of 40 lbs per day. Now, I have burnt about 32 cubic feet of coal since Jan 27th 2010. This means that I have had a daily burn rate of 74.37 lbs per day heating a new construction and dhw for a family of 5. New construction has 2450 square feet in first and second floors and about 800 in the finished basement. R40 in the ceilings and R19 exterior walls. This sound feasible with the temps in Central pa the last 3 weeks (usually in the low teens at night and mid 20's during the day.)?
Pret