Finally got my KeyStoker 160 running and love it

Hello Coal Lovers

I have an old post out on this site from April of 2006 with questions about using coal furnances and with all the great help from the Admin and people on this site I finally got my Key Stoker 160 furnace hooked into my duct work and have been using it the last 3 weeks and "really" "really" like this coal furnance a whole bunch... I can't wait to see my next propane bill...! I'm live in Syracuse N.Y. and we have some very cold hard winters and I'm so looking forward to see how this unit performs, so far it has exceeded my expectations.. We have had a few cold nights 20's + 30's and the stoker is running at approx. 30 % heating capacity and the house is very toasty... The furnace has so much more capability to put out more heat and the house is very warm and the thing is just in idle / 1st gear... I feel like I have a 450 HP engine and it's only in first gear.... I'm so amazed and so very happy......

With the price of oil and propane you must be saving a bundle. I love my coal stove too. Are more peole in your area starting to use coal? How much coal does your boiler burn and how often do you empy the ashes?

My KeyStoker is a forced air Furnace not a boiler it has a 240 Lb hopper for coal and I empty the ashes about every 3 days, it has by no means been run very hard yet and we have only had a cold nights yet in the 20's - 30's and 40's during the day, my experience is only 3 weeks. Yes more people around Syracuse starting to use but when I talk to most people about how much I like it I know they look at me like a cave man when I talk about coal. That's ok with me cause my house is toasty warm and for the first time in my life I can't wait to see my propane bill in another month.. Haaa..

JoeD wrote:The furnace has so much more capability to put out more heat and the house is very warm and the thing is just in idle / 1st gear... I feel like I have a 450 HP engine and it's only in first gear.... I'm so amazed and so very happy......

Maybe you should try a coal fired steam engine, peak torque at zero RPM. "Gears? We don need no stinkin' gears".

JoeD wrote: Yes more people around Syracuse starting to use but when I talk to most people about how much I like it I know they look at me like a cave man when I talk about coal.

I actually look forward to the reaction when I mention I heat with coal. My favorite line is "They look at me as though I've suddenly sprouted a third eye in the middle of my forehead".

Coal has gotten a bad rap. Most people don't realize how clean Anthracite burns compared to oil. The development of the internal combustion engine had to wait until a fuel was available to combust internally. Gunpowder was tried but didn't work out. Gunpowder carburetors are still hard to find. The first gas really did use gas. They used coal gas generated by heating coal in a pressure vessel or boiler. A Frenchman named Etienne Lenoir patented the first practical gas engine in Paris in 1860 and drove a car based on the design from Paris to Joinville in 1862. His one-half horse power engine had a bore of 5 inches and a 24 inch stroke. It was big and heavy and turned 100 rpm. Lenoir died broke in 1900.

Interesting, thanks for the info. The first streetlights in the county seat in Sussex county were gas lamps that ran off of a plant in town that produced coal gas.

The truth is that most people today would rather pay for the convenience of just pushing up the thermostat, and they buy that little $6.00 bundle of firewood at the gas station to use in the fireplace on that "special occasion" (or the fireplace runs on natural gas).

So about that engine that runs on gunpowder? What an interesting idea...

traderfjp wrote:Most people don't realize how clean Anthracite burns compared to oil. The development of the internal combustion engine had to wait until a fuel was available to combust internally. Gunpowder was tried but didn't work out. Gunpowder carburetors are still hard to find. The first gas really did use gas.

Rudolph diesel almost killed himself trying to build a coal dust fired IC engine (it had an 80:1 compression ratio! ). After recovering from his injuries he decided to use a less powerful liquid fuel. So the diesel industry owes its start to coal.

coaledsweat wrote:

traderfjp wrote:Most people don't realize how clean Anthracite burns compared to oil. The development of the internal combustion engine had to wait until a fuel was available to combust internally. Gunpowder was tried but didn't work out. Gunpowder carburetors are still hard to find. The first gas really did use gas.

Rudolph diesel almost killed himself trying to build a coal dust fired IC engine (it had an 80:1 compression ratio! ). After recovering from his injuries he decided to use a less powerful liquid fuel. So the diesel industry owes its start to coal.

I'd vote for the 24:1 diesel. 80:1! I can't believe it was even possible, esp. at that time. I'll have to read up on it.

If he'd been sucessful w/ coal dust we'd be hearing:

"The New 2008 Ford F-350 with the all new Powerstroke Coal Dust V-8"

"Check out the new line of Mack Turbocharged Coal Dust Trucks"

And the prices of Coal Dust at the chutes would be manipulated by the whims of "Big Coal Dust"

Headline in the newspaper: "Shell Coal Dust exploring for new sources of Coal Dust".

And we would be reading about the "Alaskan Coal Dust Conveyor" (running in reverse, of course).

Of course you would need someone running behind you banging two coconuts together as a warning when driving one!

coaledsweat wrote:Of course you would need someone running behind you banging two coconuts together as a warning when driving one!

Only in tropical climes.

Then there's the swallow theory...