Anthracite delivered to Knoxville

Hi Richard S,

Do I understand that you are a coal dealer? If so, would you know if it is possible to get a load of anthracite delivered to Knoxville, TN? How many tons would it take to make it doable? How much per ton? I am looking to purchase a coal fired steam boiler to heat a 6,000 sq ft. 100 year old house that was originally heated with coal. Thank you for your help!
Gardenerbuddy

I split your topic to it's own thread. Sorry, I'm no longer in the delivery business.

Hi, I lived in Knoxville for many years. I once lived at 505 E. Scott Avenue in the Giant Mansion on the Corner. That house had 8 fireplaces in it. We heated it by burning coal in the fireplace grates there and I had a big stove in the rear parlor. I'm sure you are familiar with that house. You should be able to get the highest quality Bitumenous in Knoxville as there were still 8 coal dealers when I lived there back in the 80's and early 90's. It was selling for $40.00 a ton then. There still should be a lot of people still burning coal in East Tennessee. The coal I burned came from Rich Mountain and it was rated at 14,000 BTUs per pound/2% ash and 1% sulfer. It was really good coal and it didn't make that much smoke.

look into a wil-burt bituminous stoker http://www.willburt.com/cm/productsStok ... ential.asp coupled with either a keystoker boiler or burnham. It will burn your inexpensive, high-quality bit coal very well and save you a lot of money on heat.

Hi wsherrick,

I know exactly which house you lived in! That is a gorgous place!!! That street has undergone major renovations up and down. Have you been there lately? It is one of the most sought after address' now a days. We are so pleased how Knoxvillian's are taking such pride in their heritage, and such a store of beautiful old homes there are here. We have been living in ours for 12 years and have pretty much restored EVERYTHING!!! We just got put on the National and State Historical Registers last July. You can see it at http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/ol ... 46.html?72 and also at http://www.sterchimansion.com.

I will try to contact "Rich Mountain" and see if they are still around. You would certainly think that supplying coal to this area would be a good business, as many large old homes that still have coal grates as there are here. Thank you for the heads up.

Thank you Berlin, I will look into that suggestion. I would love to get a Bit coal furnace/boiler/stoker going for this place. DHW too.

Hi Berlin,
I looked at the Wilburt stoker and I am wondering which boiler will work with the stoker? Does it have to be a boiler that would work specifically with the Wilburt stoker? Or will any of them work with it, just find the correct BTU's?
Thanks,
Buddy

the wil-burt stoker is an add-on stoker. It's designed to fit just about anything, but with some minimum requirements for clearance between boiler wall and tuyeres and distance between top of tuyeres and ceiling of the boiler above them. Basically you want a big boiler that will offer the stoker enough room to accumulate ash and reduce cleaning frequency; also you don't want the flame to hit the ceiling of the boiler because it's too short. Contact Dan Wesman at Wil-burt, he has drawings of the minimum requirements. Those stokers will work very well with just about any boiler- the keystokers (w/out their own anthracite stoker - just the box) will work well. also just about any older cast iron coal boiler that you may be able to find used in good condition on craigslist etc. You want to make sure that it has clean-outs for fly ash if the boiler has any baffles or flue passages. Will-burt will usually like to pair their boiler w/ a burnham commercial boiler- pricy, but very, very, good.