Need Assistance From " I'm on Fire"

Paint the exterior of the chimney he said. To help it avoid leaking any water "after" it's been repointed. I'm with the majority here that the money spent on a "flex liner" is better spent repairing that flue to use without a "liner". It will last way longer as masonry in comparison to SS. I've seen repairs done with a "bag" of sand or beads hanging from a rope into the flue. Then a slack mixture of mortar poured in and the bag slowly hauled up while pouring in more mixture. This effectively "coated" the inside as the bag pulled by and sealed any internal cracks.

My middle chimney of the 3 was rebuilt from the roof up and then I went into the attic and "mortared" over the piece from the attic floor to the roof. Just a thin layer of coating and then painted. The rest was in great shape and it's 200+ years old.

morpheus wrote:paint the interior of the chimney? confused. IF the chimney is not suitable for woodburning appliances without the liner, how can coal be any better in this regard?

Because you don't have to worry about creosote or chimney fires, or chimney fires being fed air from the cracks in the chimney when burning coal. Fly ash is non-flammable.

wow!

lots of information being thrown at me. lots to think about. Maybe I should just post the chimney report I got and ya'll tell me what you think. Can you post a word document on this site?

morpheus

I think you can. Just hit the add attachment option and select your word document.

OK...one chimney report coming up:

Morpheus

ok...closed on the house.

House is approxi 1400-1500 square feet. However, since it is located in morris county, NJ and Natural gas is approximately $0.99 a therm, doesn't seem that coal is that big of savings when you buy it in NJ. I assume renting a truck to p/u in Pa will erase any cost savings.

So, stupid question: does burning coal make your house feel warmer than a gas water boiler with radiators?

thanks

morpheus

morpheus wrote:ok...closed on the house.

House is approxi 1400-1500 square feet. However, since it is located in morris county, NJ and Natural gas is approximately $0.99 a therm, doesn't seem that coal is that big of savings when you buy it in NJ. I assume renting a truck to p/u in Pa will erase any cost savings.

So, stupid question: does burning coal make your house feel warmer than a gas water boiler with radiators?

thanks

morpheus

70 degrees is 70 degrees regardless of its source. However , a localized coal stove will give you mucho localized heat, and that may very well be more important to you than even whole house heat. In my opinion, if you are after even heat distribution, and if you have access to NG at $0.99 per therm, you will be paying quite a bit more to heat a home in NJ with anthracite coal (given the cost of non-local anthracite). Anthracite still wins over oil, propane, and all electric though.

Gas is usually priced by how much you use and also probably there is a charge by both the supplier and the gas delivery company. You will probably wind up paying $2 per therm. You can use the calculator at the top of this page to compare costs.

Coal can be more comfortable because the heat is steady and does not fluctuate like most systems do. If you have big old cast iron radiators that will also keep the heat steadier.

actually PSE&G charges 0.65 cents for the gas and 0.33 for delivery. Is there another charge that I am missing?

morpheus

looks like a $0.09 balancing charge in addition.

morpheus wrote:actually PSE&G charges 0.65 cents for the gas and 0.33 for delivery. Is there another charge that I am missing?

morpheus

It will be cheaper with gas than coal.

Damn.

A nice Leisure Line 110 Boiler will heat that home nicely, and you will have thermostatic control of your house temperatures, even heat distribution via the baseboard radiators, and you won't freeze any pipes in the basement.

Since you already have the hot water heat system in the house, I'd make use of it.

Greg L

$235 a ton or less will be cheaper than Gas at $.99 therm

unfortunately, I believe you cant find coal in NJ for $235 a ton delivered. Anyone know how to get $235 a ton in NJ? Even if a rent a truck, I don't believe I can do that.