Bit Coal Smoke,Ash and Smell

I would like to try local, south Ohio coal in my home and shop. I currently heat both with wood and propane. Their are old piles of coal around my place so it is obvious this has been done before. My shop has an older Farm&Fleet/TSC type of furnace which works great, and has a shaker grate, I burn my wood shop scraps and a small amount of cordwood. I have a Medium DutchWest Stove in my home which is very nice but way too small, I usually use low quality cordwood as its available. I am concerned about using Bit as I have read the stories about the smell, ash, etc. I would like to get a larger stove for the house that would burn coal and wood. Is it feasible to burn Bit in the home or is the smell, ash, etc. make it not worth it. I would like to buy a large stove for the home but hate to buy one strictly for coal in case it causes the mentioned problems, would like to be able to burn wood as a backup.

Thanks, Josh

I don't know anything about Ohio coal, but I burn bit in a stoker boiler. However, my boiler room is outside of my house which I consider one of the smartest things I ever did. I become a klutz when cleaning ashes. I also used to live in a house that was heated with an indoor stoker. I guess normal is what you get used to... Bit is a little "pungent." When I come home from work and can smell the sulfur, I know the house is going to be warm! I didn't notice the smoke too much inside the old house except how grey the walls turned, which I also didn't notice too much until I went to paint them white Bit smokes alot and yields alot of ash. I think it would be well worth using in your shop and perhaps also in your home, though others may disagree with me. I had a very old Monarch cook stove once that I used lump coal in at night which was great.

Late note... I have just been informed that unless your stove is very tight, bit stinks waaaaay too much to burn inside the house.

I have burned PITTSBURGH LUMP COAL. Yes there was alot more ash than I was used to with burning only hard wood and alot of black oily coal dust that seemed to get every where in the house. The smell reminded of a old steam locomotive outside. After I learned how to fire it, I started to get spoiled with the long burn times compared to just wood. Once I learned how It burned, I started to like burning coal. The smell in the house from the coal bin was different, sort of like oil. Go ahead and try burning some bituminous coal, but do it in your shop first. It was the dust I didn't care for. I graduated to burning READING ANTHRACITE. It doesn't smell like oil in the house and there wasn't any dust. My wife likes it alot better, no dust or wood chips to clean up. If you never burned bituminous coal before, its going to be a learning experience for you. Be patient. Start with a good hot wood fire and add a little at a time. Too much all at once really smokes and looks and smells like a steam locomotive coming out of chimney. I also had to clean out the chimney more often from all of the black soot. What a mess! If you can figure out how to keep the coal dust down from the storage bin let me know. If you are going to mx it with wood, be prepared for some coal that has not completely burned to powder because of the wood ash cooling the coals. Bituminous coal is a very economical and even burning solid fuel, but anthracite is cleaner.

My neighbor whos house is about 1000 ft away through the woods heats with western Pa bit coal and I if I am outside I can tell when he is stoking the fire in his boiler. I can see the large cloud of black smoke hovering over the trees and the whole valley and I get a good whiff of sulpher. The sights and smells don't bother me but if I lived right next door to him it would become a problem in short order.

Thank you for your replies, I am leaning towards trying it in the shop and take it from there.

gambler wrote:My neighbor whose house is about 1000 ft away through the woods heats with western Pa bit coal and I if I am outside I can tell when he is stoking the fire in his boiler.

My upwind neighbor (800 + feet) heats with bit in an outdoor Heatmoor boiler and it is atrosious, that is one of the reasons for my concern

charlie wrote:I don't know anything about Ohio coal, but I burn bit in a stoker boiler. However, my boiler room is outside of my house which I consider one of the smartest things I ever did.

I am very curious about your setup, an attached but seperate furnace room could work nice, I have this setup in my shop, it's more primitive than you would want on the house but works good.

charlie wrote:I had a very old Monarch cook stove once that I used lump coal in at night which was great.

I have thought of this route, burning wood primarily and loading some coal on cold nights for increased burn time. To do this would I want a stove primarily set up for coal? would it still be a good wood burner? My current stove has no grate so I don't think I can burn coal, would it be worth a try?If thats possible I think it might solve my problem.

My boiler building is about 14'x8' with a 10' sloped to 8' roof- about a third of the building is coal bin. It's made of 2" square stock and covered with tin and has a metal floor. There is a door on the roof that accomodates the auger from the coal delivery truck. The bin also has a hinged and supported door for access when the coal gets low. The bin is also 2" square stock with plywood bolted on the inside. The bin tapers down to where it feeds the auger. The whole thing is on skids in case I ever want to drag it away. It sits about two feet away from my house.

You'll have to wait for someone else to answer about the house stove setup or look at some of the threads maybe from the hand-fired area. My old Monarch had coal grates in the fire box.

Without a grate, you won't get complete burning of your coal.. Bitum coal will burn on a wood fire, but it won't burn completely like wood will, unless it is fed air from underneath.

Bit coal definitely has a lot of sulphur smell, and lots of soot and smoke. This is variable with the stove, the coal and the way it is burnt in the appliance. A properly set up bitum stoker, with the right settings for the coal being burnt will have little smoke or soot.. but change the coal supplier, and you have to set it up again for feed and air..

A Bitum stoker has not been able to be bought new for several decades. There are a few forum members with older units still in operation..

It won't hurt to try your local coal in your wood stove, just buy a 5 gallon pail or two of larger [fist sized] chunks and see how it does..

Greg L.

Actually you can still purchase stokers from the Wil-Burt company here in Ohio,they have been making them for over 60 years. I spoke with them this week about fitting one in an outdoor furnace. They are very helpful, Dan Wesman even drew up engineering drawings of how they should fit together and did the firebox calculations for me all for free! That is hard to find in the business world today that a guy would take so much time like that. They also still carry a full line of parts for previous models of stokers.

**Broken Link(s) Removed**

I guess I should have phrased that better.. there have not been any bituminous coal stoker stoves, boilers or furnaces sold as a single appliance for a lot of years..

Yes the Wilburt company makes stoker units to install into existing boilers or furnaces.. But the stoker units are very big..

I have an Iron Fireman Bituminous stoker,, the predesessor to the Wilburt..

Greg L

Josh, What part of ohio are you from and where are you getting your coal. Price?

Thornville, Ohio. I hav'nt bought coal yet but the closest mine is on Tunnel Hill Rd. in New Lexington 740-342-7666. When I called they said it should be $50-60 per ton.

I was at Oxford Mining , Tunnel Hill Rd in New Lex yesterday , they are not selling this year. If you call them she can give you a few numbers of other suppliers.

Update.
I was very fortunate to find a Hitzer 354, new locally. If the Bit coal works out I will buy the Hitzer 82 he has in stock for the shop, or homes basement. I had intended on replicating 'Berlins' home-made stove until I talked to my insurance agent,and priced steel!!! I am currently researching preheating dhw, while modifications are easy ( in the shop on a trailer ). Semi local bit coal has doubled in price since early summer from 45-60 to $100 plus per ton. Thanks for all the help.
Josh

Powder River Basin coal is low sulpher and does not smell in my house so far. If the fire is low I can smell it outside, more of an ammonia smell. I'm also not getting glass blackening so long as I get the stove good and hot during the volatiles portion of the burn. Most of you guys are back east so I don't know where you could get supplies other than a perhaps a power plant that burns PRB coal. When I get a little more time I'll try to make a separate thread about my experience so far.

I sure wish I could get a bunch of that Wyoming Bit. coal !! It sounds like it is quite nice to burn, nothing like our nasty midwestern Bit coal..

Greg L