5 Gallon Bucket of Coal Weight

So how much does it weigh? We live in pa, moved into a flip house, downstairs is insulation walls except for living room which is drywalled, upstairs is old slats n horse hair mud walls, 2k square feet of living, big open attic somewhat insulated, (tho snow melts off sooner than id like)
I have a keystoker, its heating bacement to 70, first floor, and second floor, and attic is tollorable, im reading threads guys using 70 lbs of coal when its zero lol im using 6 when its in the teens, 7 buckets in single didgits, 5 when nights are hovering around freezing, days 30/40ish, seems a bit much but like I said its half gutted (windows are horrible too, im burning rice coal......plz tell me next winter when we got new windows and walls itll get better lol.......its forced air fyi

hard to say if you will save more coal next year but,you will feel more heat upstairs and be warmer.Average 5 gal. bucket is 40 lbs.

Dennis wrote:hard to say if you will save more coal next year but,you will feel more heat upstairs and be warmer.Average 5 gal. bucket is 40 lbs.

Damn well I figured 45 lbs or so.....more by the 6th bucket lol. So these guys are burning 2 buckets of coal on a zero day......crazy..... almost a quarter, well were gonna be more than well insulated with new windows and bubble wrap around the downstairs beneth the drywall.......it adds an extra r11 or 13......its like 8" of insulation....may get attic blown, I cant wait to see the difference next year!

When I was buying coal by the bucket down town, the seller weighed a full bucket at 41 pounds for nut size.

were gonna be more than well insulated with new windows and bubble wrap around the downstairs beneth the drywall

Could you please explain that a little more, I never heard of that.

i weighted mine 3 years ago, was about 37# a plastic spakling type bucket, Nut coal, about an inch down from rim.. in this 0*>sub 0*F I am using close to 4 buckets a day.. Thats loading it as high as I can get into my hand fired boiler. And I shake it good, and poke to remove ash each time I load at 6AM and again 6PM.. I could let it go for longer.. but I do it same time everyday all winter no matter what the temp. No problem keeping house at 70-71* all rooms. This house sits on piers and is enclosed underneath. There is insulation in floor joists pockets., and styroboard also under that between joist pockets. I don't see it as a lot of coal for the temps. Warm is GOOD!!! Oh its a boiler, hot water basboard. main feed /return lines below joists, feed to radiators in pockets, mains foam insulated 1/2".

I just weighed a full to within about 1/4" to perhaps 1/2" of the top lip 5 gallon Home Depot sourced orange plastic pail of Blaschak pea while I was topping off the boiler today, and it weighted 41 lbs with the pail. Call it 40 lbs. net.

Yep, I'd love to see some pix of this bubble wrap if you would. sc, fill out your profile so we know who we're talkin to, I promise, nobody's gonna steal ya. Where in Pa? How old is the house--really helps for anybody to get a feel for what's goin on with your stove--lotsa economical experience on here. Welcome to the FORUM my friend:) & a Happy New Year to you & yours. The old Hitzer is goin through 55- 60 Lbs in 2000 sq with all this lil bit of nippy weather

Lightning wrote:When I was buying coal by the bucket down town, the seller weighed a full bucket at 41 pounds for nut size.

Yes, I use to buy it by the bucket when first burning. It was considered 40 pounds per 5 gallon pale. It took exactly 11 five gallon pails to fill a metal 55 gallon drum. Some things never change.

Sounds right for a drafty old house. You need to stop the air leaks. Right now it is like trying to heat a modern house with the front door open. Shovel snow around the foundation and sill, put tight fitting blue board in the worst windows, and seal any obvious air leaks going into the attic.

After this winter plan on putting dense packed cellulose in the attic, really pack it in. You could also use spray foam...either one will dramatically reduce the air leakage into the attic.

why wait until next year.... I realize bubble wrapping the walls may have to wait, but couldn't you just wear the bubble wrap this year and feel the warmth??

I'm wearing it right now.

coalkirk wrote:I'm wearing it right now.

Are you bundled up with the girl in your avatar?

There is two variables when determining the volume of coal based on a weight. Firstly the coal itself can have different volumes based on the supplier, some is more dense than others. Secondly the size, smaller sizes like rice take up more space and it can be considerably more.

It's very hard to compare coal use from house to house, there are just too many variables.
For one thing, bubble wrap that is 1" thick is less than 1/4 the R-value of foam. Don't believe the sales BS about it.
If you want good insulation, and sealing in your drafty old house, use spray foam kits to spray at least 1/2" to 1" of foam on the inside of each stud-space in the walls, then fill the remaining with R-11 unfaced fiberglass. It is the best insulation for the dollar. The only better insulation is to fill the stud-space with only foam, shave off the excess flat to the studs and cover with drywall, but this is expensive..
Sealing the drafty outside with spray foam, is the MOST important thing you can do to save on heating costs..

Completely cover every window with either Mylar, or Visquene [sp?] and tape tightly.

I'm an insulation fanatic. my house rebuild has 2x6 walls, with 2" of spray foam [R-14], then 3.5" of fiberglass, [R-13], so my walls are R-27, Ceilings have 1" of spray foam, then 15" of blown in cellulous. R-50-55 .

Infiltration of cold air is a much greater problem for heating your house than insulation alone.

Hope this helps.

Greg Ll