Should I go with bagged coal or build a bin?

When you guys say bulk is "much less expensive" than bagged, what are we really talking here?

I figure we'll need about 3 tons to heat our home for the winter. We have friends with a Mark III and a similar size ranch home and that's what it takes them. I might just go with 4 tons to be sure.

How much more per ton is bagged coal? If it's +$50/ton we're only talking $200 for the convenience of bags, right?

Rick,

1. Thanks for the tip on who to call. I found Lutz's...and they are only 9 miles from me.
2. Am I understanding you right? Do you have them deliver bags and you keep bagged coal in the bins that you built outside and in your basement? Do you burn 12 tons of coal a year???
At this point, being a rookie, and not completely sure I'll be able to figure all of this out. I'm leaning toward paying a little extra for the bagged coal (still likely 1/2 to 1/3 of electric heating costs). I'm not handy, so the thought of building a bin stresses me, and I don't have a lot of time here...it's getting cold and my wife had to turn the electric heat on this morning to take the chill out of the air for my 5 year old.

I have room in my basement near my stove to get/stack 4 tons of coal. I'm assuming they deliver it on pallets? I'd just have to recruit some strong backs to help me move it downstairs. Do you then carry the bags to the stove and scoop out of them, or do you have some kind of a bin near your stove that you empty them into to shovel from?



You guys are helping to save years of my life here...THANKS

My 'rents get bagged coal...
Because he gets a really good price from where he works...
Costs about the same per ton as a 24 ton bulk delivery...
We bring full pallets in on my trailer...
Roll them off with a pallet jack...
They then slide the bags down into the basement...
They get wheeled over on a dolly and stacked for future use...
The bags get sliced open and dumped into a 5 gallon bucket...
Grain scoop from there...
We have Pea and Nut and adjust the mix according to outside temps...
They run a 503 insert upstairs and my old Mark II down in the basement...
Makes it easy for them as there is little heavy lifting...

Cape,

I could pull that off. The way I'm looking at it, ANYTHING I burn is going to be at least 1/2 the price of electric heat.

As for mixing pea/Nut coal...I'm not sure my stove would handle that due to the big grates (at least I think they are big). Please follow this link for pics of my old school stove---( Questions about a Sears "Champion" Coal stove/furnace )

How do you "adjust" it? More pea if it's colder out so it burns hotter/faster? Should I consider getting say 3 pallets of Nut and 1 of Pea if I can work it out?

wes

Wess,

What I was saying is that you have endless possibilities buying coal from Lutz.

I should explain further. We burn pea in our home via an AA 260. My sister in law lives across the driveway and has an Alaska Cast Console in her fireplace. I also have an old Alaska Stoker II in the garage at home. Both burn rice. And at my work, I have a Hyfire II burning rice.

We get bulk rice delivered in the outside bin. We get bulk pea delivered into the house bin. And I pick up bagged rice to dump in my bin at work. It only holds 1 1/2 tons so it really doesn't pay for bulk delivery to Pottstown. And it is easier to just carry a bag from my truck, cut it open and then dump it into my shop bin. It takes close to 6 ton/ year to heat our big ole' twin farm house. The sister in law burns quite a bit as she still doesn't quite get how to circulate the heat in her house. Her downstairs averages 80-85. The home garage I have set to 50 to keep everything from freezing. If I want to work in it, I just crank it up a bit.

What I'm suggesting to you is you might just want to drive to Lutz's and pick up some bagged if you want. Or they could deliver it bulk to a bin. I don't know if they deliver bagged or not. Their bagged is bagged by them into either 50 or 100 lb feed bags.

Hope this clears it up for you.


Rick

How do you "adjust" it? More pea if it's colder out so it burns hotter/faster? Should I consider getting say 3 pallets of Nut and 1 of Pea if I can work it out?

Just the opposite...
Pea to slow the burn...
Nut to get more heat...
Stove size really throws the heat...
Coal never goes bad...
You can layer the coal so the Pea is on top of the Nut...

Lutzes bagged coal does not come on pallets. They bag it by hand in grass seed bags on site from their bulk supply.
They sell 60 lb bags and 100 lb bags. They do have a high lift truck for delivering bulk coal.

There is one maybe 2 other suppliers of bulk coal nearby.
And there is CR Dampmens, Pennsburg, also sells coal.

I've been using lutzes bagged coal for 2 years. Might want to call ahead if buying a lot of coal.
It might be blashak coal, there is a blashak sign on their office.

By my calculation, bagged coal is way less expensive than electric, 30 to 50% less than oil.
Natural gas may be the least expensive here, but it's not available on my street.

I just called Lutz and they do NOT deliver bagged coal. This leaves me either trying to figure out how to get the coal to our house, or building a bin. I don't have a truck/trailer so I'd have to rely on someone else to help. Unless I rent a u-haul truck from Harleysville and bring my own home for the convenience of having it in bags?

Someone messaged me to say that they could deliver bagged anthracite to my house for $210/ton with a 4 ton minimum order. They didn't say where they get the coal from however.

Richard " The Mayor" has a warning for unsolicited offers of coal thru the PM system...
Make sure the deal is legit...
http://nepacrossroads.com/about17560.html#p202200