My Coal Usage

This is my usage since October 22nd until November 25th. Fourteen Bags at forty pounds each = 560 pounds. At $5.60 a bag thats $78.40 for 14 Bags. At $78.40 divided by thirty four days, thats $2.30 a day. This is one reason why I never shut my stove down when the weather gets a little warm.

Zero on my end, may start end of next week when this sauna ends.

My numbers look very much like yours EasyRay. As little coal as I'm burning it would be more expensive and labor intensive to let the fire go out. Then I'd have to dig out the old bed and start fresh with about 40 or 50 lbs of new coal. I'm idling away at 10 or 15 lbs or less every day and enjoy the inexpensive heat overnight. As long as I can keep the draft, I'll just go on as I am. Besides it's supposed to rain again the first of the week and the stove is always great to have then. Take care, Lisa

I'm like you Lisa. Its not worth the trouble to me either. It sure is nice to have the warmth by just increasing a little air on those nights when it gets down in the low 30s and even one night it got into the upper 20s at my house. And those rainy damp days are icing. My stone is in my finished basement so it keeps the dampness out. People spend two or three times as much for fuel for their body at lunch time every day and I'm spending a lot less on fuel to keep my whole house warm for twenty four hours.

I think Bruce (uglysquirrel) must be very frugal. When we were at the Fall Fest, I think I heard a squeaking sound when he was walking.

I'm fugal too but mostly I'm lazy and pushed for time. If I had to restart the stove every time the weather fluctuated, I'd have to cut my time on things I'd rather be doing; once a year is enough for me. I didn't used to be like that but growing old has tended to loosen up my pocket book. Don't get me wrong, my money is tight but so would be my back if I had to dig out the old ashbed and lift all the coal to restart the fire. It's just not worth it for so little savings a day. I'll not stop for a slurppee on the way home to make up the difference. Lisa

EasyRay wrote:I think Bruce (uglysquirrel) must be very frugal. When we were at the Fall Fest, I think I heard a squeaking sound when he was walking.

HEY!!!

The no tree southern exposure plus some energy reduction stuff in the house helps retain the (this is top secret) body heat generated by several dogs. After all, why do you think I have them?

That's some efficient coal burning. I'm well over that but we do tend to like it a little warm around here.

I still don't let it go out because of the work involved.

Just filled up the oil tank yesterday @ $3.39/gal, so whatever it costs to keep it running is worth it!

Me.... I'm just To old, To Lazy,To Cheap,to broke,and to set in my ways to change now.

jpete wrote:That's some efficient coal burning. I'm well over that but we do tend to like it a little warm around here.

I still don't let it go out because of the work involved.

Just filled up the oil tank yesterday @ $3.39/gal, so whatever it costs to keep it running is worth it!

How much do you figure you saved so far by keeping your stove running as compared to oil.

Well, with my dad being "older" and liking it 72-74* all the time, I figure it's quite a lot.

Before I moved in with my coal stove, he was using about 4 tanks a year. I'm down to about 1 now. Maybe 1.5 tanks. And the boiler only heats the living space, not the basement. Which is one of the main reasons he was using so much oil. All that cold downstairs.

Now that I moved in, the stove is in the basement so it heats both levels and the furnace only kicks on for DHW.

At the beginning of the season, I was doing the "bucket brigade" and going to my dealer weekly and shoveling my own. Roughly 160# to 200# a week. Call it 25# to 30# a day. At $285/ton that's what? 14 cents a pound?

So that's $4.20 per day or so. With oil @ $3.39 I think we can see why we all use coal.

No way I heat 1900sf on a gallon and a half of oil a day.

Well most of the reason I use so little coal is my house is well insulated. It was built with electric baseboard heat and double pane windows back in 1972. I only used the baseboard for about three or four years before I went to coal. I don't even want to think about what it would cost to heat this house with electric.

I have to admit I like it warm myself. My wife thinks its because of the medication I take that thins my blood. She always claims it's to hot in our house. That could be one reason, but I don't want to admit to her, it's because I really enjoy using coal and saving money at the same time.

Double panes in 72? Must have been a high end house!

This house was a kit from Grossman's Lumber. Single pane wooden sash Anderson's all around. And they are well past their prime!

jpete wrote:Double panes in 72? Must have been a high end house!

This house was a kit from Grossman's Lumber. Single pane wooden sash Anderson's all around. And they are well past their prime!

This was a prefabricated house built in Nashua New Hampshire.It came in two halves.

Many years ago. The early eighties I graphed my oil usage, and compared it to my coal usage. The oil usage dropped off the graph, deliveries went from every 20 days in the dead of winter to 60 or 90 days. Since then I have educated myself on many levels of solid fuel heating. We now get 150 gallons or less once a year thanks to even more efficencies gained by the new Keystoker 90. Yea the old man finally got a Stoker after 28 years with a Buderus hand fed. The bride of 30 years must of felt sorry for me to get rid of a perfectly good stove, to have it easier. I will admit power outages are an issue, but if I am home we have it covered.