New to Forum, Looking at Old Gibraltar Stoves, Need Advice

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Beefjrkytime
New Member
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri. Dec. 23, 2016 3:50 pm
Location: Washington Crossing, PA 18977
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Gibraltar MCC
Other Heating: Avalon 996 Wood Insert

Post by Beefjrkytime » Fri. Dec. 23, 2016 4:54 pm

Edit: Sorry I think I put this in the wrong forum heading, If an admin could help move this to the hand fired section or someone could clue me on how to do that thank you much.

Hi Everyone,

I've been lurking on this forum for about a month now and finally signed up. I see so much great information here that has really helped me conclude that I'm going to put a coal stove in instead of a wood stove on the main floor of our house. I have a split level, so it's not the greatest layout for heating (or AC for that matter), but need something to supplement the forced air. Currently we have a wood stove insert in the basement, but the heat simply doesn't move well through the house, even with fans. I've thought about different ways to move heat around between floors, but another issue is how often you have to tend to the wood stove. I have a space on the main floor where a stove can rest, and decided on coal instead of another wood stove. The wood insert will remain for occasional low heat use (it is nice when lit)

Growing up, we always had coal stoves, and I remember being able to tend to them much much much less than the wood stove. I've recently set my sites on the old Gibraltars, and I'm currently torn between an MCC and SCC, both for sale not far from me for the same price and in serviceable shape. My thinking is the SCC will be fine for the middle and upper floors of the house. The house is 2400 square feet, so minus the basement that is about 1600 SF. However, the opportunity to have the monster sized MCC is appealing for the burn times. My question is for those with either, will the SCC give me the 8-12 tending times (or more) I'm looking for with a good mid range burn, or should I go with the MCC and run it low to mid? I understand that running the stove on low is not always the bets approach as well. I'm scared the MCC will put out too much heat, even burning on low, versus burning the SCC in the mid range, but it holds half the coal.

Any advice would be awesome and thank you all.

 
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lowfog01
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Joined: Sat. Dec. 20, 2008 8:33 am
Location: Springfield, VA
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Mark II & Mark I
Coal Size/Type: nut/pea

Post by lowfog01 » Fri. Dec. 23, 2016 6:16 pm

Beefjrkytime wrote: I have a split level, so it's not the greatest layout for heating (or AC for that matter), but need something to supplement the forced air. Currently we have a wood stove insert in the basement, but the heat simply doesn't move well through the house, even with fans.
I'm sorry to have to tell you that you are probably going to experience the same thing with a coal stove. We, too, have a split level and the big stove is on the main floor in a rear addition. What we found was that although the stove is rated to produce heat for the entire square footage, we burned up in the stove room and were chilly in the upper bedrooms. We didn't even try to heat the lower level. There just wasn't a way to move the heat around. Fans didn't get the job done.

Finally, we put a second stove in the lower level. The heat from that stove works its way up the stairwell to the front main level and through the ceiling to bedrooms. Because we aren't trying to heat those rooms entirely with the main level stove we were able to turn that stove down so we can actually stand to be in the stove room. Ironically enough, we don't use anymore coal running both stoves. That's because we can run the main level stove cooler. The coal we save from the lower temperatures goes in the basement stove.

The best thing is running both stoves allows us to maintain a the same lower temperature through out the house.

I suspect that you'll find the same situation in your house and you'll need to burn your wood stove, too, to make the house comfortable all over.

About the burn time of a coal stove - you can expect a burn time some where between 12 and 15 hours before tending. That will depend on how hot you burn it and how you tend it. To me that means I'm not getting up in the middle of the night to feed the wood stove and I wake up to a warm house.

Feel free to ask if any questions that come to mind, everyone here is extremely knowledgeable and love sharing that knowledge. Lisa

 
Den034071
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Post by Den034071 » Fri. Dec. 23, 2016 7:20 pm

M C c STOVE LITERALLY NEW PM ME IF INTERESTED .jACK near Allentown pa .


 
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windyhill4.2
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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 » Fri. Dec. 23, 2016 8:35 pm

Beefjrkytime wrote:
Hi Everyone,

I've been lurking on this forum for about a month now and finally signed up. I see so much great information here that has really helped me conclude that I'm going to put a coal stove in instead of a wood stove on the main floor of our house. I have a split level, so it's not the greatest layout for heating (or AC for that matter), but need something to supplement the forced air. Currently we have a wood stove insert in the basement, but the heat simply doesn't move well through the house, even with fans. I've thought about different ways to move heat around between floors, but another issue is how often you have to tend to the wood stove. I have a space on the main floor where a stove can rest, and decided on coal instead of another wood stove. The wood insert will remain for occasional low heat use (it is nice when lit)

Growing up, we always had coal stoves, and I remember being able to tend to them much much much less than the wood stove. I've recently set my sites on the old Gibraltars, and I'm currently torn between an MCC and SCC, both for sale not far from me for the same price and in serviceable shape. My thinking is the SCC will be fine for the middle and upper floors of the house. The house is 2400 square feet, so minus the basement that is about 1600 SF. However, the opportunity to have the monster sized MCC is appealing for the burn times. My question is for those with either, will the SCC give me the 8-12 tending times (or more) I'm looking for with a good mid range burn, or should I go with the MCC and run it low to mid? I understand that running the stove on low is not always the bets approach as well. I'm scared the MCC will put out too much heat, even burning on low, versus burning the SCC in the mid range, but it holds half the coal.

Any advice would be awesome and thank you all.
The answer to some of your questions will depend on where you live.Heating in southern Virginia vs northern Vermont will affect things quite a bit.It would be helpful for all to be able to look at your profile & see the town & state you live in.

 
Beefjrkytime
New Member
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri. Dec. 23, 2016 3:50 pm
Location: Washington Crossing, PA 18977
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Gibraltar MCC
Other Heating: Avalon 996 Wood Insert

Post by Beefjrkytime » Fri. Dec. 23, 2016 9:04 pm

The answer to some of your questions will depend on where you live.Heating in southern Virginia vs northern Vermont will affect things quite a bit.It would be helpful for all to be able to look at your profile & see the town & state you live in.
I updated my profile. I live in PA about half an hour north of Philly. I've searched around and can get coal, delivered, for about $300/ton, of anthracite pea or nut from 3 places.

I'm really liking the idea of a stove that can burn through the night or while I'm at work without being reduced to just a few coals producing very little heat by that time (the wood stove issue). However, this would more or less supplement my heat pump, which does ok, but as anyone with a heat pump with forced air knows, you simply don't feel warm even if you are in 68 degrees or more. Plus, it will help to reduce my electric, even if just by a little. I understand also that the cost of the stove plus the coal will take time to recuperate those costs versus just a little more on the electric bill; like I said it's a feeling warm thing as well, not just electric. I wouldn't even light it if I wasn't down to about below 32 degrees during the day, but then I would keep it going until the temps get into the 40's during the day.

Any thoughts on the MCC vs SCC?

Thanks again all.

 
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SWPaDon
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Joined: Sun. Nov. 24, 2013 12:05 pm
Location: Southwest Pa.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Clayton 1600M
Coal Size/Type: Bituminous
Other Heating: Oil furnace

Post by SWPaDon » Fri. Dec. 23, 2016 9:50 pm

I think Lisa answered your question in her post. Her house is similar, and she has the big stove upstairs and the little one in the basement.

Get the big one, if it's too much, put it in the basement and use a smaller one upstairs.

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