AA 130 - How Much Coal?

I am just getting into coal. I am in the process of getting a AA 130 and would like to know how much coal I should expect to use in a whole year. Winter and Summer. I will be heating about 3500 sqft of radiant floor heating, half of which is in the basement in concrete. I am located in New England for terms of weather. I was told anywhere between 5 - 6 tons. Does this sound accurate or should I expect a couple more tons on top of that?

How well insulated is the house and what do you heat with now? How much of that fuel do you use?

My totally wild guess: 5.5 to 7 tons, being weather dependent, as well as HDD's dependent (as in, how many are there annually in your local area?), and house (age, shape, insulation) dependent.

In burning year round I've not burned less than 5.5 tons, and this year I may hit 6.5 tons.

I heat with wood. I have a central boiler 5648. I go through 8 to 10 cord in just the heating months. Both for heat and hot water. I heat with oil in the summer which usually is a little over one tank. My house is 9 years old so well insulated.

Be safe and plan on 7 to 8 tons. If you don't use it all, it will be right there for the next season. It is not fun to have to go on a black nugget hunt in February....costs more also. This winter shatters any ideas for planning ahead regarding coal usage.

Frank and beans...1 tank for the summer is a grand for oil..........effortless and you already own the equipment. Any other good choices for DHW?

Yeah this winter was definitely a cold one. And I was really hoping to just use the oil for a back up and burn coal throughout the summer. Unless I'm burning huge amounts of coal in summer. I heard the AA 130 is tough to run in warm weather with UN burnt coal. But I can't image 1000$ worth.

Not in house. In out building about 50 feet away

Im in Mass and I'll be around 5 ton in my AA-130. It was a cold one this year!

Thanks for all the input. I'll keep you posted

In an out building you will not gain the appreciable benefit of the radiant heat of the boiler, and in fact all of those BTU's will be lost. Ditto for BTU's lost to underground travel. Expect to use some measure of additional coal accordingly.

I have a 25 yr old split entry home. It is 2400 sq ft, 1200 over 1200. There is 2000sq ft living space, 400sq ft workshop and boiler room with R-19 walls, R-38 ceiling, a well ventilated attic, but the Anderson windows are getting a little old.

Calculated heat loss: 60KBTU/hour, living space; 25KBTU/hour, workshop and boiler room (It has 2 uninsulated garage doors with vents!).

I heated the home to 72degF and the boiler coil supplied DHW for 9 months for a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 teenage girls). The balance of the year (June-July-August) the house is unheated and electricity is used to heat the DHW.

I used about 5 tons of coal each year for the last 7 years in my Axeman Anderson Anthratube 130-M. This year, even though it's been colder, I am still on track to burn the same 5 tons, maybe a half ton more than normal. I have been using buckwheat which I think has been more efficient in my situation. I have a bin that can hold ten tons easily and I keep it full with an annual July or early August purchase, who knows what can happen. Coal is cheap, stable, and safe in storage. In this age when fuel prices are rising and the banks pay nothing in interest for savings accounts, extra coal in the bin is like money in the bank!

My guess: 6.138 ton.

A lot has to do with all the variables.... how well insulated the out building and underground piping is can be a big thing, or not too much at all. The underground piping....make sure it's designed in such a way that leakage condensation does not eventually soak the insulation. If it get's soaked you can lose a huge amount of heat to the Earth.

I'd be ready with 8 ton, then adjust as the years go by.

The out building is heated and insulated. The tubing will be the same that I've used for my wood boiler for the last 10 years. Heavily insulated and wrapped in plastic tube.