OUTDOOR Wood/Coal Furnaces...Seeking advice before we buy??

They are on to it here.

http://www.sussex.nj.us/Cit-e-Access/we ... &TPID=9363

"Residents should be informed that they will be in violation of the Air Pollution Control Regulations if they are observed emitting smoke for more than 3 minutes. Penalties associated with the new regulations start at $300 for a first offense, but could quickly add up, resulting in thousands of dollars in fines."

Three minutes? Good luck with that.

I know of 2 of them in this area, one belongs to a guy I know in town. The other one I pass frequently. If I don't see it belching smoke I tend to think it isn't burning.

I have an OWB and alot of people I know have OWB's and most of us burn coal in them wtihout problem in the Southern Tier of NY, from fall to spring. You just have to find one that has grates in it that are suitable for coal. When the blower comes on they will burn most anything, coal is the best heat source, by far. In my situation, I have to heat 3 different buildings and an indoor stoker wasn't an option. They do make alot of smoke when green wood is put in them. Check out Mahoning or Freedom, I know they burn coal just fine, and it's nice to have the wood option. You tend it twice a day, it heats your house and hot water. Others I know have stokers and they work great too, different situations reqire different solutions.

This is probably the first 5 page post that I have read completely!! I have a Crown Royal OWB. This is my 3rd season and I really like it alot. I want to burn coal in mine and it states that it will do so. As of yet, I have not tried it. My stove has the forced air supply under the shaker grates, so I beleive it will work fine for coal. I'll tell you what, if I can switch over to burning 100% coal, I think I would do that. I don't mind cutting and splitting the wood, but if I didn't have to, why would I want to? The past 3 years I have bought a truck and pup full of logs for $700. I cut and split myself and it last me the whole heating season (basically 6 months) with wood left over. I load twice a day my house is usually between 72 - 76.

How much coal do you guys burn a day if you are using a OWB ?

I burned over 150# per day, heating a 4100sqft farmhouse. I went through more than 16 tons a season.. That costs a lot more than $700, your wood price is very, very low. Coal costs ~160 per ton at the breaker,, quite a bit more from a retail bulk coal sales outlet..

I buy Bulk coal at the breaker, I purchase it by the truckload, 24 tons at a time.. with my current stoker boiler, I heat the house and a 2400sqft shop for around 12 tons per year, this is about 1/4 the cost of propane.

Greg L

I'm only heating a house that is 1800 sr ft and it does my hot water. I don't think I would burn nearly as much as you are. Your heating a small village!! I was thinking that I could get away with using 2 bags or less per day. Wood is still cheaper. If I could get coal within a couple $100 of wood, it would be worth the extra money to save the labor.

When I bought my wood this past year it was $700. That was in the spring. It then went up to almost $1000 due to the rising cost of fuel!!! Now that fuel cost are back down (and hopefully they stay that way) the cost of the wood should be back down. If it stayed up at $1000, coal would be well worth getting.

I'm not familiar with the boiler that you are using. Is it similar to OWB? Like I said, mine is designed to burn a variety of fuels including coal. It has the grates with the forced air supply coming in under the grates, so i don't think I should have any problem using it. I'm sure that there will be a learning curve to it.

crs7300 wrote:the cost of the wood should be back down

Ohhhh, heheheee, thanks for the giggle! Of course you're right, it should come back down, but we both know the chances are slim.
From what I've seen, if you're paying "retail" for wood, coal would be cheaper in an OWB. I guess if I were you I'd give it a try. Go by 300 or 400 pounds of bagged coal & see how it works out. With that amount you should get a pretty good idea of how much it would take to use coal. If it pays, go for it!

I know that if I was taking about most companies, I would laugh too about the price coming down.

The logger that I get my wood from is a local guy that I actually went to school with. (many moons ago)

He's pretty fair with everyone. Now that being said, I haven't gotten a new price from him yet. i'll wait until spring to figure that out, but I have my fingers crossed.

as far as buying a few 3 - 400 pounds of coal to try, that is what I figured on doing.

anyone else's weather been NUTS the past 2 days??
Went from neg 2 the other night to 50 yesterday and now supposed to go back down near zero tomorrow. I guess the wood I save those 2 days will offset the wood I burn on the cold days.......right !?

Hi Crs7300, my 'Big Bertha' is a home designed and built hand feed boiler, it is modeled after the OWB-styled firebox and grate system.. I struggled with it with both wood and coal.. It is a great wood burner, but to make the amount of BTU's I need, it needed feeding every 4-5 hours, even with a huge firebox. I reduced the firebox and burnt both Bituminous and Anthracite coal in it for a season. Then I found an antique Bituminous stoker [an Iron Fireman] I used this antique stoker to convert my 'Big Bertha' to a stoker fed boiler, this was better, but the limitations of the heat exchanger design [great for wood and creosote removal, but not great for coal] caused me to keep looking for a better boiler.

I found an Axeman Anderson 260 on ebay, bought it, friend on this forum removed it for me [it was in Penn.] and I retrieved it a month later, refurbished /rebuilt it and have been using it for heating the farm and DHW since.. BTW, in my avitar, if it is painted white, I heat it. maybe not really warm, but i heat if to protect it from freezing. So I consume a lot of BTU's.

Personally I don't recommend OWB's for burning coal,, they burn wood much better. The only way an OWB can burn coal well is if it has a good chimney, most OWB's are set up with only a few feet of chimney,, a wood fire will smolder and re-ignite with little or no draft or air, but a coa fire will quickly go out without a constant airflow through the coalbed from underneath, Without a chimney, the only way to provide this air is a two-speed blower, or a sophiticated blower with variable vent setup.. the coal must have a small amount of air all the time,, then have a lot to ramp up the heat to respond to BTU demands.. then go back to idle.. Made-for-coal boilers are set up to burn this way,, but most OWBs cannot, without some retrofitting of new controls.

The other problem you will find, is you mentioned buying 3-400# of coal to try,, well in most OWB's that is enough for one or two fillups of the firechamber.. and you MUST FILL the firechamber wall to wall , front to back, and at least 6-8" deep, or the coal will NOT burn.. So 3-400# of anthracite coal will not show you much.. It is worth a try, but read everything you can about starting a hand feed coal fire before adding coal to your OWB,, or you will just be wasting your coal and $$. Coal is a 'social or community' fuel,, it must have a lot of it to burn well, if at all.

Greg L

LsFarm
Old Blabberfingers
Thanks for the advice. My chimney is up about 15 feet. I think, if I get the chance, I would like to try the coal burn deal. My stove is probably not nearly as big as your. A 50 lb bag will probably give me a 4 - 6 inch deep bed over the grates. I would be interested in trying it. The reasons that you stated are why i haven't taken the leap into buying a large amount of coal to try.

On my way home from work this morning, I counted 6 new owb that have been installed since last winter.
And lots of triaxle loads of fire wood in peoples yards.

ls you were right my owb does not burn anthracite coal very good .I am in the heart of winter now and have burned wood to keep warm.I am looking at an alaskan combo stove it burns pellets or coal but the dealer wants 4400 dollars for it .I really want to get away from cutting wood and stoking that owb.I really wish i knew how much coal i would burn that would determine if i should buy the alaskan.Even though bagged coal is 350 a ton here if i could heat for under a 1000 dollars i would do it.Some guys on here say they can others say they cant the dealer says i can but i need feed back.My houe is 2500 squqre feet total with an upstairs.It is pretty well insulated but just to give you an idea the temp will be 20 below this week in northern wisconsin and i have already had a lot of below zero.The wife likes it warm so we keep it at 74 usally all the time.BUT cutting wood is back braking and if you ad up the expense of cutting loadig unloadin stacking chain saw gas truck gas and time i probably have 1000 dollars into what people call cheap heat.

sarge wrote:ls you were right my owb does not burn anthracite coal very good .I am in the heart of winter now and have burned wood to keep warm.I am looking at an alaskan combo stove it burns pellets or coal but the dealer wants 4400 dollars for it .I really want to get away from cutting wood and stoking that owb.I really wish i knew how much coal i would burn that would determine if i should buy the alaskan.Even though bagged coal is 350 a ton here if i could heat for under a 1000 dollars i would do it.Some guys on here say they can others say they cant the dealer says i can but i need feed back.My houe is 2500 squqre feet total with an upstairs.It is pretty well insulated but just to give you an idea the temp will be 20 below this week in northern wisconsin and i have already had a lot of below zero.The wife likes it warm so we keep it at 74 usally all the time.BUT cutting wood is back braking and if you ad up the expense of cutting loadig unloadin stacking chain saw gas truck gas and time i probably have 1000 dollars into what people call cheap heat.

I don't believe you can do it for under $1000.

I would talk some more with LSFarm and Freddy about their Axeman-Anderson. This is my dream unit. But it has to wait a few years. You are already set up for hot water heat, so why not install an Axeman-Anderson coal boiler and parallel it with your OWB. That way the OWB or the COAL boiler, can be run independent or together to limit the use of either fuel or use the fuel you have or feel like burning at the time. If your going to spend the money, make it a wise investment and buy an Axeman-Anderson. Just a thought.