Wood Is Way Better (Ignorance)

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sat. Nov. 05, 2011 9:23 am

lsayre wrote:Where I live in Ohio (roughly 320 miles from the heart of anthracite country by road) no one has a clue what anthracite is. All I hear is that it will smoke and stink a lot. I've noticed no smoke and no smell.
I am about 440 miles from Pottsville, and very few people in this area know anything about coal at all. I have heard it all...deadly gas, poison ashes, smoke, dust...etc. Last week a coworker stopped by my house to return a tool I had loaned him, and he wanted to see this "EFM" that he had heard me mention before. After checking it out and asking lots of questions, he told me that burning anthracite was nothing like he was expecting. He even admitted that the wood boiler in his own home produced a lot more visible emissions than my coal burner, and wasn't nearly as clean or efficient.

 
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Richard S.
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Post by Richard S. » Sat. Nov. 05, 2011 9:24 am

Woos is better than no heat. :D We used the fireplaces for a few weeks in October. As far as using them for heat all the time? *censored* that!. :P

 
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captcaper
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Post by captcaper » Sun. Nov. 06, 2011 4:13 pm

I'm so glad I found this fourm and you guys. Besides myself I don't know anyone who burns coal beside the guy who sells it to me. Ha.
Lot's of guys I know burn oil,wood,wood pellets. I know all about that stuff.They can have it. Lot's of questions from them about the coal. I just tell them I burn Anthracite with low sulfur.I've burnt wood years ago and even though I live the the "great north woods" I couldn't switch to wood even if I wanted too with my old and worn arthritic bad back I couldn't do it. My coal comes bagged and I just throw one into the wheelbarrow into the basement over to the stove and shovel it in. Hardly any bending needed.


 
saragnac
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Post by saragnac » Sun. Nov. 06, 2011 6:46 pm

I wish I could find the links but there are more and more studies out there finding that wood pellets produce a lot of "fines" into the air and allergy sufferers beware. I just find it odd that so many environmentalists are so hard on coal users when they are building these huge factories to produce wood pellets. First you have to transport all the wood to the factories. Then you have to generate heat to make a pellet and chemicals are used in the process. It takes 3200 lbs of pellets to get the BTU's of 2000 lbs of coal. So that means more bags wasted and more transportation required. So I'm thinking that if you look at the big picture as to the emissions produced by burning coal vs pellets, if we go from start to finish I would be willing to bet that there are a lot more harmful emissions being produced burning pellets than there are burning coal. Anthracite's biggest emission is CO2 and just because the government says it's harmful does that mean it's true? If you are as sick of the environmentalists as I am and want a little light reading, check out http://www.plantsneedco2.org. It's some interesting FACTS. Then you can use this ammo on the people who try to tell you how harmful burning coal is. I live smack in the middle of the Adirondack Park where we have more government trying to tell us what we can and can't do than almost anywhere in the US. We not only have all the federal regulations to abide by but we have the DEC (Dept of Environmental Conservation) and the Adirondack Park Agency who takes it up about 12 notches. I hope to be writing a conservative blog column in our little local (left wing) newspaper and I can't wait to state loud and proud that I decided to heat my house with coal this year. There will probably be physical side effects from some of the die hard tree huggers up here. Who knows, maybe they'll even "occupy" my front yard.

I did the math this morning and since starting my stove (Oct 15) I've saved over $300 already. So, to all the environmentalists out there; stuff that in your pipe and smoke it! (as long as you don't think it will leave too much of a carbon footprint)

 
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Smoker858
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Post by Smoker858 » Mon. Nov. 07, 2011 8:13 am

I was in a "stove" store last week and a customer wanted a 50 pound bag of pellets.

There is a choice premium pellets for $6.00 or not so good pellets for $5.00.

 
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I'm On Fire
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Post by I'm On Fire » Mon. Nov. 07, 2011 11:56 am

Smoker858 wrote:I was in a "stove" store last week and a customer wanted a 50 pound bag of pellets.

There is a choice premium pellets for $6.00 or not so good pellets for $5.00.
My wife's parents used to burn pellets. They got so expensive that they found someone who sold cherry pits by the ton cheaper than wood pellets and that's what they burned for half the season.


 
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DennisH
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Post by DennisH » Sat. Nov. 12, 2011 5:26 am

Pellets are O.K. if you're going to use a pellet stove as a space heater. Our house in lower Michigan is a tri-level, with the rec room on the lowest level. I put a pellet stove insert in the fireplace in 2003, and it works very well. But to heat the whole house it's not going to cut it. Our house in the U.P. if Michigan has a wood/coal furnace, because I've gotten smarter over the years and realized what a FAR better option that was over propane OR pellets. I'm trying to figure out how to burn the 500 gal of propane I had to buy to get a locked in price this year @ $2.19 per gallon, because it virtually never runs. It's the backup to the wood/coal furnace that is happily cranking out more BTUs than the propane furnace would ever dream of doing!! :D :D

 
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anthony7812
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Post by anthony7812 » Sun. Nov. 13, 2011 11:49 am

ugghhh, my wife and I went to a wedding and stayed in scranton here friday into saturday. Not too far from where I live but hey why not enjoy the nite out on the town. My mother in law stayed at our home with our daughter. I had the stove all shook and "LOADED" to the top so she wouldnt have to touch it. I told her if it gets chilly just turn the dial roughly a 1/4 turn open(or closed depending on the situation) and wait a good hour or so. NOPE! COAL is dangerous I get! So needless to say the dino juice I didnt want to touch this year has been touched! I get to thier house and yes behold their giant triaxle load of nice green logs and the notorious what are you doing sunday? SOB! I agree burning wood is a wiser choice than the black saudi liquid gold but damn I guess no matter how hard I try... i'll still be cutting, splitting, throwing and stacking for the rest of the family. Only one I don't mind cutting for is grandpa... he has told me a few times already, that coal burner you have sure is nice. I see him turning a leaf here soon, 75 and still doing laps around most of the people I know.

 
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Poconoeagle
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Post by Poconoeagle » Sun. Nov. 13, 2011 12:44 pm

my uncle still has that big stack of green logs out front ...second year now.....( there not that green now...)
last year he finally got tired of me braggin bout rice stokers and he bit
now he braggs how he uses 10# a day and empties the ash pan once a week to keep the 2.5 car garage at 60 .....
talks of selling all three of the wood burners next year when he gets another alaska stoker for the basement of the house...

wonder how long the $600 pile of logs will take to rot :P

 
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anthony7812
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Post by anthony7812 » Sun. Nov. 13, 2011 12:57 pm

hey now that 600$ pile should make for a good time. First off get a case of your favorite beverage and a radio, then get some chairs and hotdogs. Follow me.... :blowup: :cheers:

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