Hello. I'm new posting to the forum, but used it for some research since last summer and now. Ordered the boiler in August, but due to production delays and the December ice storm here in MA, it just got installed this past week. As of last night, I converted my house from oil to coal by having an efm Stoker Boiler Unit installed, Model DF520. I also have a hot air furnace to convert, which will happen within the next month and at the same time, my DHW will be generated by the boiler instead of natural gas. I'll be monitoring my usage for the rest of this winter - 3700 sq. foot house that would use between 2000 and 2500 gallons of oil a winter, so I estimated that would equal 12 ton of coal and so I've got 15 ton of coal on hand, 3 extra ton "just in case." So far, it looks like I'll have one ashcan per day to empty and possibly be using more coal than anticipated, but it's really cold right now and will be for this coming week. I'm excited about the switch and don't mind the extra labor if it saves me money. If you want to see the transformation in my basement, you can look at the pictures I posted to my Flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greta325/s ... 732468437/. This forum was very helpful to me in making my decision to switch and in estimating usage, finding a coal dealer, etc. So thanks!