New to the Coal Pile.

Dave 1234 · Post by **Dave 1234** » Tue. Nov. 13, 2012 5:45 pm

Hello all,
Very nice forum you guys have here! After 30+ years of killin' trees I'm ready to try coal.
I live east of the river in Ct., Sorta hope to hear from a few stoker boiler guys if there are any out this way.
Not a master plumber by a long streach but I would love to do a nice clean and neat install on my own.
My home is an old two-story. Heat and DHW for two and the dog. We work a lot so no need for crankin' the heat at all. Just need the long burn time that wood won't do.
How much coal should I expect to use ? Last year we burned 7 cords of oak. No DHW though

Great to see a big group heating with fuel from the USA !
Dave

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Tue. Nov. 13, 2012 7:00 pm

Wild guess: 4.5 to 5 tons.

ValterBorges · Post by **ValterBorges** » Tue. Nov. 13, 2012 7:09 pm

22.7 MBTU per cord oak *7 = 158.9 MBTU / 26 MBTU per ton anthracite coal @ 85% EF = 6.11 Tons

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Tue. Nov. 13, 2012 7:14 pm

Valter, did you consider that wood burning is generally accomplished at about 50% efficiency overall, and coal burning is generally done at about 65% efficiency overall. Boilers are only capable of achieving in the range of 85% or so efficient when they are a few minutes or more into a firing cycle. They are far more inefficient than that when at idle. Clear down to about 25% if the idle period is long enough.

I'll correct my initial guess to 5 to 5.5 tons.

ValterBorges · Post by **ValterBorges** » Tue. Nov. 13, 2012 7:19 pm

As soon as I posted I was trying to figure out how you came up with it and realized that I had not taken into account the wood boiler efficiency.

I was just re-examing the formula and at 85% with newer outdoor wood boilers it's 5.1.

22.7 MBTU per cord oak * .85 EFF * 7 = 135.06 MBTU / 26 MBTU per ton anthracite coal @ 85% EF = 5.19 Tons

ValterBorges · Post by **ValterBorges** » Tue. Nov. 13, 2012 7:25 pm

The storage requirement is also considerably less 204 cubic feet vs 1,148 cubic feet.

Mark (PA) · Post by **Mark (PA)** » Tue. Nov. 13, 2012 8:40 pm

Hi Dave

First off welcome.

I see you have the absolute best Hard Coal Stoker / Boiler on the market (I am very biased!!!

)

You will love it...

I have a very similar setup, OLD 2 story home 1890's. Keep it at 71 degrees. An average burning season Oct 10 to May 20's I burn about 6 to 7 tons. the colder it is the closer to 7 tons etc..

Dave 1234 · Post by **Dave 1234** » Wed. Nov. 14, 2012 8:49 pm

Thanks for the input. The 6-8 ton estimates make me feel like this is justifiable. Most of the wood burners I know burn home-grown and cut,so they think I've gone off the deep end to try coal! I do think you guys are on the right path.

Thanks Dave !

Post by **Rob R.** » Wed. Nov. 14, 2012 8:54 pm

Hey Dave - Did you burn any fuel to pick up the load when the wood burned out? If so, how much?

A coal boiler will carry the full load, and provide DHW if desired.

Ed.A · Post by **Ed.A** » Thu. Nov. 15, 2012 6:35 am

Good to see another "east of the River" Ct resident on board...we're catching up.

Dave 1234 · Post by **Dave 1234** » Thu. Nov. 15, 2012 7:52 pm

Re. Supplement to wood.
The short story Rob, is no. But we do have oil for leaving the house with no wood for say a week to go on vacation. Also our DHW is oil fired too. We burn about 300 gal. a year.
So if I can make the house nice and toasty for the dog.Not lug 7 or 8 cords of wood in, wave to my buddy John as he drives by in his oil truck I will be happy.
The best part, I'm not helping to finance ammo used on our troops. Love that !
Ed,glad to hear from a fellow coal nut in the east . Not to many I guess ? Are you a long time coal burner ?

Thanks all again. Dave

NWBuilder · Post by **NWBuilder** » Fri. Nov. 16, 2012 10:15 am

Hey Dave, Welcome to the forum. I was a long time wood burner as well. My house was never toasty and I still went through 900 gallons of oil. Even if you cut the wood off your own lot there is still a cost in fuel burned to drop, split and move it. The time saved in coal is also a nice benefit. I would cut and split for most weekends from august through September. You have to figure that into the overall cost as well. A good boiler will keep your house consistently warm and an endless supply of hot water. Good luck and keep us posted.
NWB

Post by **stoker-man** » Fri. Nov. 16, 2012 4:46 pm

Even though I had an oil boiler installed in 1977 when I built my house, I used wood exclusively for almost 35 years. This is my 3rd year using coal in the 3-4 months of hard Winter. It's easier than lugging a Garden Way cart of wood each day. I use about 2 tons a year.

Dave 1234 · Post by **Dave 1234** » Fri. Nov. 16, 2012 6:15 pm

Wow ! 2 ton..... Now that would be great. I would have to demo the old farm-house and build new to hit them numbers ! Have to admit you are making me a little envious.

Dave

Ed.A · Post by **Ed.A** » Fri. Nov. 16, 2012 7:52 pm

Dave 1234 wrote:Ed,glad to hear from a fellow coal nut in the east . Not to many I guess ? Are you a long time coal burner ?

Thanks all again. Dave

.Since '07..not long time to most PA folks but we try to play catch up and have fun doin it. My machine shop is now a coal heated enity as well.