Might Get Out...

 
User avatar
Sunny Boy
Member
Posts: 25517
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 1:40 pm
Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 1:02 pm

franco b wrote:Having a hopper and thermostat your stove should be among the easiest to tend. Let her get some practice with you there and I am sure she will catch on once she loses her initial apprehension. Will add to her self esteem too.
Good point.
My girlfriend tends my kitchen coal range. It's just a matter of knowing that stove. And lets face it, the most complex of these stoves are still easier than learning to drive a car.

Paul


 
User avatar
windyhill4.2
Member
Posts: 6072
Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both

Post by windyhill4.2 » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 1:08 pm

coalcracker wrote:wood isn't bad either, but you'll be doing a lot of cutting, splitting, stacking, felling, hauling to get it- and a lot of chainsaw filling, oiling, maintenance. Good luck either way.
Do you mine your own coal? I'm guessing that most everyone on this forum buys it from a supplier who delivers it to your house? You'll find that the majority of folks heating with wood are doing the same so it's already cut & split when the supplier delivers it. All that's left to do is stack it under cover.
I for one don't have a mining license,& no, most wood burners do not buy ready made & delivered firewood,not here in central Pa.,its cheaper cutting logs& splitting,BUT--- that requires LOTS of time & LOTS of energy,both of which my wife & I have found we run out of.Buying cut,split & delivered firewood is a very aggravating process,as we have found so many suppliers cheat on what is a cord,buy coal by the ton,scale receipts,some proof of what your getting.We could stack the entire 4 cord load to see how much we got,or 12 cord , semi-trailer load ,BUT time & energy again.We are so looking forward to the day when we burn coal,after many years of burning wood,but - no oil,propane or natural gas use for those many years so that's been the good part of burning wood.

 
chester
Member
Posts: 128
Joined: Thu. Sep. 15, 2011 8:12 pm
Location: Erieville New York
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93
Coal Size/Type: nut/stove

Post by chester » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 1:26 pm

If your Hitzer is only heating your house "decently" then some thing must be wrong with your set up. :rambo2:

 
JohnB
Member
Posts: 528
Joined: Sat. Jul. 06, 2013 6:06 pm
Location: Northeastern Ct.
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93
Coal Size/Type: Mostly nut, some pea

Post by JohnB » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 1:27 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote: I for one don't have a mining license,& no, most wood burners do not buy ready made & delivered firewood,not here in central Pa.,its cheaper cutting logs& splitting,BUT--- that requires LOTS of time & LOTS of energy,both of which my wife & I have found we run out of.Buying cut,split & delivered firewood is a very aggravating process,as we have found so many suppliers cheat on what is a cord,buy coal by the ton,scale receipts,some proof of what your getting.
It's only cheaper if you don't put a value on your time(& back) & you own lots of land. Last cords I bought back in May cost me $150 c/s&d.For that price there is no way in hell I'm going to drag wood out of the forest & deal with all the other work involved. I totally agree about wood suppliers & that is a very big plus when buying coal. One phone call & a truck shows up with pallets of weighed coal & a fork lift to put them where you want them. Hard to beat that although I did (finally) have an honest wood supplier as far as cord size goes & yes I always stacked mine so I knew. As far as showing up when he promised that's something else entirely!

 
User avatar
mmcoal
Member
Posts: 139
Joined: Sat. Feb. 18, 2012 11:21 am
Location: Northern NJ
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93
Coal Size/Type: nut

Post by mmcoal » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 1:31 pm

I think the issue here is what each person has experienced personally, meaning if you have to go outside "everyday" and lug wood long distances into the living areas of a house then you might be more against wood then someone who just went out every couple of days and spent maybe 20 minutes to bring a couple wheelbarrow loads of wood into a basement or garage and place the wood in a very convenient location. Same can go for how you get your wood. Personally, much of our wood either came from tree removal jobs where the tree company was more than happy to let us take the wood off their hands(already cut to size also) or we would get a load of logs at a very reasonable price and just spend a week or so cutting and splitting. I personally wouldn't want to go out and fell trees and skid them around since cutting logs that were skidded through the dirt is a bad idea unless you don't mind going through chains and bars on your chainsaw at an unnecessary rate. We in no way ever looked at wood burning as something that took over our lives, it was just a part of life which is why I personally don't mind it.

 
JohnB
Member
Posts: 528
Joined: Sat. Jul. 06, 2013 6:06 pm
Location: Northeastern Ct.
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93
Coal Size/Type: Mostly nut, some pea

Post by JohnB » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 1:40 pm

chester wrote:If your Hitzer is only heating your house "decently" then some thing must be wrong with your set up. :rambo2:
What I said was " Our house was definitely toastier last year burning wood. If I kept the temps up where they were with my woodstove I'd be burning way too much coal to make it worth the change". I expect that will improve as my house renovation continues but speaking strictly in terms of $$ spent the woodstove kept us warmer when the house was in worse shape. Just to clarify we aren't freezing by any means. With the woodstove the house was in the mid to upper 70s. Now I'm keeping it around 71*-72* so we don't burn through a s---tl--d of coal. The cooler temps are probably healthier for us & we are adjusting.

 
User avatar
windyhill4.2
Member
Posts: 6072
Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both

Post by windyhill4.2 » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 1:58 pm

$150/cord c,s,d--try $ 180/cord average here in central Pa.,I'm not trying to bad mouth wood burning,we currently go thru 30+ cords/year to heat 2 houses,1 shop ,& year round DHW, would not want to pay that bill for liquid heat.We loved when we could sit near a wood stove fire with a screen so we could see & hear the wood burn,we do miss that part,but not the dirt,and the work with multiple stoves to tend.Now the biggest drawback,besides the work is having to tend the outdoor wood monster--in the cold,snow,wind,freezing rain & of course any combination of those,but... no liquid fuel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


 
User avatar
Keepaeyeonit
Member
Posts: 1679
Joined: Wed. Mar. 24, 2010 7:18 pm
Location: Northeast Ohio.( Grand river wine country )
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood #8
Coal Size/Type: Nut & stove
Other Heating: 49 year old oil furnace, and finally a new heat pump

Post by Keepaeyeonit » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 2:23 pm

Wh, you hit the nail on the head no matter what solid fuel you burn it still requires your attention but " no liquid fuel" :D .

 
coalcracker
Member
Posts: 146
Joined: Mon. Jan. 24, 2011 6:33 pm
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Standard sealed hot water boiler, hand fed
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Harman Mark I Magnafire
Baseburners & Antiques: Lehigh Oak 18, Washington potbelly, Sears Roebuck parlor cabinet, PIttston 6 lid cook stove, vintage combo gas/coal cook stove 4 lid
Coal Size/Type: nut

Post by coalcracker » Sat. Dec. 14, 2013 1:34 pm

mmcoal wrote:I think the issue here is what each person has experienced personally, meaning if you have to go outside "everyday" and lug wood long distances into the living areas of a house then you might be more against wood then someone who just went out every couple of days and spent maybe 20 minutes to bring a couple wheelbarrow loads of wood into a basement or garage and place the wood in a very convenient location. Same can go for how you get your wood. Personally, much of our wood either came from tree removal jobs where the tree company was more than happy to let us take the wood off their hands(already cut to size also) or we would get a load of logs at a very reasonable price and just spend a week or so cutting and splitting. I personally wouldn't want to go out and fell trees and skid them around since cutting logs that were skidded through the dirt is a bad idea unless you don't mind going through chains and bars on your chainsaw at an unnecessary rate. We in no way ever looked at wood burning as something that took over our lives, it was just a part of life which is why I personally don't mind it.
these are good points. If you have access to wooded acreage without any competition from other family members or relatives or ? strangers, then you can cherry pick the seasoned dead trees, many still standing and not ruined with moisture- that are relatively small in diameter and don't have to be split. That makes it a lot easier, just cut to stove lengths and stack, now it's ready to burn. If I could find 8 cords of wood a year like that for free, I'd burn wood.

those get picked fast by seasoned wood burners though, what's left are monsters and leaners and what we call "widow-makers" hanging on other live trees, that become unpredictable when you cut them down.

those big monster oaks and maples, are another story, sometimes they're a danger just to drop them, and then they have to be bucked, and sometimes the trunk size is so large your home chainsaw won't get through it in one cut, it will have to be cut from multiple sides

for instance, this oak on our property had to be professionally dropped when half of it fell during a windstorm, and what was left was threatening a neighbor's yard and shed with destruction if it fell.

it took a 4 man crew to bring it down, and the boom on their truck was fully extended to get the top off first. The wood has been sitting on the ground for over a year now, should be fully seasoned by now. Old red oak. It was that big 45 years ago when I was a kid, just fuller at the top- and it was hollow from age and rot. Well over 100 years old. I measured the width at stump, it was 60" i.e. 5 feet wide at the bottom

burning wood turns into an adventure far beyond just having the coal guy drop 3 tons of coal into the bin. Very time consuming, at times challenging, and even dangerous.

Attachments

tree4.jpg
.JPG | 181.5KB | tree4.jpg
trunk.jpg
.JPG | 344.4KB | trunk.jpg
DSC03711.JPG
.JPG | 195.9KB | DSC03711.JPG
DSC03691.JPG
.JPG | 230.7KB | DSC03691.JPG

 
User avatar
skobydog
Member
Posts: 275
Joined: Mon. Jun. 10, 2013 9:53 am
Location: Greenfield MA
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93
Coal Size/Type: Nut Anthracite

Post by skobydog » Sat. Dec. 14, 2013 2:16 pm

With the wood stove I would have to shovel out the ash out of the stove and dump it into a can in the living room causing a lot of dust to be stirred up.

With the coal I carry the ash pan outside a few feet from the house and dump.

I think the dust may actually be less for me.

 
franco b
Site Moderator
Posts: 11416
Joined: Wed. Nov. 05, 2008 5:11 pm
Location: Kent CT
Hand Fed Coal Stove: V ermont Castings 2310, Franco Belge 262
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood Modern Oak 114
Coal Size/Type: nut and pea

Post by franco b » Sat. Dec. 14, 2013 2:35 pm

Here is a pic when men were men and there were none of those sissy bucket trucks.

Attachments

tree4-64.jpg
.JPG | 117.3KB | tree4-64.jpg

 
JohnB
Member
Posts: 528
Joined: Sat. Jul. 06, 2013 6:06 pm
Location: Northeastern Ct.
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93
Coal Size/Type: Mostly nut, some pea

Post by JohnB » Sat. Dec. 14, 2013 3:40 pm

franco b wrote:Here is a pic when men were men and there were none of those sissy bucket trucks.
Some tree guys still use ropes. I had a large 3 trunk Linden taken down a couple years ago. The guy & his helper did all the work using ropes; no ladder truck involved.

As far as shoveling the ash out of a woodstove both of my Jotuls have nice ash pans which leave less behind then the 3 sided affair in my Hitzer.

 
User avatar
mmcoal
Member
Posts: 139
Joined: Sat. Feb. 18, 2012 11:21 am
Location: Northern NJ
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93
Coal Size/Type: nut

Post by mmcoal » Sat. Dec. 14, 2013 4:09 pm

And there was a time when insurance rates were much lower also. ;)

 
JohnB
Member
Posts: 528
Joined: Sat. Jul. 06, 2013 6:06 pm
Location: Northeastern Ct.
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Hitzer 50-93
Coal Size/Type: Mostly nut, some pea

Post by JohnB » Sat. Dec. 14, 2013 4:53 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:Wood ash went in the garden, coal ash in the driveway. Same distance. True wood has less ash, but more wood is needed by volume then coal. Didn't matter if it was fireplace, wood stove, or coal stove, they all needed to be emptied every day.Paul
How much coal ash can you dump in one driveway? If all the ash from 3 tons of coal went onto an average size driveway it would be getting deep after only one season. I pour my coal ash through a sieve I made that sits on top of the ash can. Klinkers go on our gravel driveway, fly ash gets bagged and taken to the dump, anything black & large enough to bother with goes back in the hopper.

 
User avatar
Sunny Boy
Member
Posts: 25517
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 1:40 pm
Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Sat. Dec. 14, 2013 5:42 pm

JohnB wrote:
Sunny Boy wrote:Wood ash went in the garden, coal ash in the driveway. Same distance. True wood has less ash, but more wood is needed by volume then coal. Didn't matter if it was fireplace, wood stove, or coal stove, they all needed to be emptied every day.Paul
How much coal ash can you dump in one driveway? If all the ash from 3 tons of coal went onto an average size driveway it would be getting deep after only one season. I pour my coal ash through a sieve I made that sits on top of the ash can. Klinkers go on our gravel driveway, fly ash gets bagged and taken to the dump, anything black & large enough to bother with goes back in the hopper.
In 8 years, burning on average 3 tons a year of nut coal, I've only been able to cover about 60% of my 250 foot driveway with one layer that doesn't change the height noticeably because almost all of it disappears into the gravel - dust, clinkers and all. And that's just dumping the one layer it in the tire ruts. T

Then, there's a low area where I park that's about 25x25. More than half has been dumped there and by now that area has only been raised several inches higher. Hard to tell because for 20 years, I've also been dumping all the worn out sandblasting sand there from my business in that gravel parking area, and I go through many tons sand a year. The vast majority of ash and klinkers gets ground up and washed by rain down through and around the gravel anchoring it better than sand or rock dust could. And . . it's already paid for. :D

Paul


Post Reply

Return to “Hand Fired Coal Stoves & Furnaces Using Anthracite”