Switch from gas to coal help/guidance

ktm rider wrote: so I have spent about $150 this year in coal.

That's so cheap it's ridiculous.... 8)

In case your interested Strawman prices for anthracite were about $120 in the summer for local delivery. Slightly less if you picked it up yourself. Prices vary depending on where you purchase, so does the quality.

For a 2000 sq foot home you are looking at approx 4-5 tons of coal per year. That's just a ballpark figure, amount can vary depending on the house. We burn year round but our furnace pre heats the hot water in the hot water heater so that very rarely runs. As I mentioned in another thread it's best to leave larger furnces run year round especially if your heating the hot water with them.

KTM Rider's cost is cheaper because he's burning soft coal, he's happy with it but most prefer anthracite even at the higher cost. He's probably usinfg a high quality soft coal...

strawman wrote:I'm sitting here reading the post and my wife ask me what I'm doing. I tell her that I'm STILL researching the coal option. She ask me so how often do you really need to feed a coal furnace? Can someone help me out?

AJ

Depends.... A hand fired unit generally requires attention every 12 hours. If you want to completely switch and not just supplement the heat then you need a stoker.

How often you need to feed it again depends. Set up properly it could go for weeks.... How long depends on the size of the hopper and the amount of ashes it can accumulate before they have to be removed. Most with a regular setup can go for about 48 hours during the coldest days. Ours for example is auger fed from a 55 gallon drum which can accomodate about 400 lbs. It's really limited by the amount of ashes though because the ash resulting from 400 lb.'s is not going to fit....

On the coldest days of the year we have to put coal on and remove the ashes about every 48 hours. During "normal" 30-40 degree weather it will go about 3 or 4 days. During the summer for weeks.

As I mentioned if set up properly you can have it go for weeks even in the winter. If you make your bin a giant hopeer to feed the coal to the furnace you won't jave to shovel a single piece. Trouble is most new furnaces are not auger fed but have a hopper right on the side of them which you fill with a shovel. It's a little below eye level so I don't know how you would set something like that up unless you had a really high basement ceiling.