Introduce Yourself

Hello Everyone my name is Robert and I live in Fairbanks Alaska. Last fall I installed a Coalman outdoor furnace by Heat Innovations at my home. The home is a 3 year old ranch that's about 3000 square feet with the garage and has radiant floor heat. My system has a heat exchanger plumbed into my existing boiler and the Coalman heats up the heat exchanger and the homes existing system stayed intact. Basically my existing boiler is fed 160 degree water by the Coalman and everything else stayed the same. This is my first experience burning anything other than oil and I'm very new and very uneducated about burning coal so I may ask some very basic questions. My first year in the house I burned over 2000 gallons of heating oil and I made the switch because at $4.00 plus per gallon for fuel oil I wouldn't be about to afford to heat the home. After a winter of burning coal I'm glad I made the switch and it will probably cut my heating cost in half but I'd feel better about my choice if oil was over $4.00 per gallon. It's a little extra work but the peace of mind of not caring what happens to the price of oil makes it worth it to me. Coal here is $115.00 per ton and I go through about 3 tons every 4 to 5 weeks in the winter.

Hi there. I'm Bill & I just bought a used Harman Mark II which I probably wont use till next Fall. I'll do some reading here first since I'm only used to burning wood.

Welcome Steve,
I am in the same area as you but in Willsboro. This was my first year burning coal in a Keystoker Ka6. Glad I switched. Where have you been getting your coal?
Jon

Hello,

I am new to the site and just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Art and I live in Upstate NY (the Rochester area), I just purchased and setup my first coal stoker stove. It is a Leisure Line Pioneer Top Vent, which i must say is a very sharp looking stove and adds a little something to my first floor . I have actually read many of the topics on this site to help out with some questions and information, I def found everyone here very helpful when gathering data. Excellent site, and that is why i decided it might be in my best interest to join.

Thanks
Art

Art_Baxtr wrote: i decided it might be in my best interest to join.

Absolutely! Welcome to the forum, Art.
I got a stoker too and love it!!!. I never imagined heating with coal could be so easy. If my Grandfather could see this computer-controled coal burner, he'd be absolutely flabbergasted at how times have changed

Yeah I am pretty excited to see the stove preform this winter. Nothing heats like coal!

Hi everyone my name is Mark and I have a loving wife Brenda and two girls Brooke and Andrea. We live in western PA in northern Indiana County in the heart of bit coal country. We too were sick and tired of paying for fuel oil. Both my wife and I grew up with coal heat with those big old ugly hand fired hot air upright furnaces. I cant remember the names of them. They did put out loads of heat and her parents still use theirs. We used fuel oil when we first got married then it was reasonable and nice to just turn the thermostat and have steady heat. We were paying $150 a month on the budjet plan to heat our 2500 sqft home. After the price increased to over 3.00 a gallon they were going to double our budjet. And I said there has got to be a better way. So I did some research and asked some friends about their outside furnaces and talked my wife into it. All she could think of was the horror stories of the old dirty coal furnaces and waking up to a cold house when she was a kid. And I assured her that the outside boiler would be different so we purchased one. The Mahonings are locally made here 20 minuits away and so many people have them around here. So I got lots of good info about them before buying one. We live on ten acres of ground and our nearest neighbor is a half mile so the smoke thing is not an issue. We were supposed to get a gas well drilled but I dont think it will happen now. So we purchased the model 200 with a natural gas burner in it just incase we got free gas. This is by far the best thing I have ever invested my money into. This is our second year for the furnace and we love it. It has saved us loads of money and its steady heat what ever you put the thermostat on thats what you get. We burn the furnace year round to heat our domestic water our pool and hot tub , my wifes clothes dryer yes thats right her dryer. I took out the electric element and replaced it with a car heater core, very big savings. The breakers are turned off on our electric hot water tank and we never run out of hot water now. The first year we burnt 4 tons of just mine run coal and some wood. Wood is too much work and the fire takes a while to get hot. So I switched over to all coal, $400.00 for 8 tons should do us all year. Amazingly the fire never has gone out in two years, I banked it and went on vacation for 8 days and came home it was still burning. I am a coal fired powerplant operator by trade so I am always looking to get the maximum amount of efficency out of the furnace. The plant where I work they burn 650 tons an hour . I am working on some other projects for the furnace. I want to build a steam absorption chiller to cool our home in the summer with it instead of pulling 20+ amps it will pull maybe 2. And turn it into a gasifier to run and engine to spin a generator to make our own power but this is down the road. So far I figure it is saving us over $3000.00 a year in electric and fuel oil and no more garbage bill . And that makes me smile It's a labor of love for me and my wife is very happy.

Hi, Neil from Upstate New York. I just moved here last year from the Interior of Alaska where I lived for 10 years. Big shock: NY state has their hands so far into my pockets I can't even keep my keys there...I live in an old stone farmhouse built in 1824 and needless to say it is less than "tight". I got most of the work done over the summer which included a new high efficiency propane furnace. Now I am looking for a secondary (which will hopefully become my primary) heat source via coal.
I will apologize in advance: I will be counting on the input of many of you. Success is easy when you surround yourself with successful people... Thanks for a great forum.

Neil

Hello
My name is Mike Stower Jr...People just call me Mikey.. I am located in Freeland Pa 18224.. My father owned Mike Stower Coal and Oil for the past 38 years.. I been delivering coal to homes and businesses for the past 15+ years.. check out our website at: www.stowercoalandoil.com for current prices..
thanks again
Mikey

I have changed the location of my photos and videos. Here are the new links:
Photo Gallary
http://picasaweb.google.com/fvillagecom ... directlink
Video
http://picasaweb.google.com/fvillagecom ... directlink

Hello

My name is Glenn Lively I live in a 3000SF log home in Moultonborough,NH with my wife and three kids.
Just started burning pea coal in 2008 when I bought a AHS S-130 and 6 ton of coal,that heats the house and hot water.
I bought 24 ton this year and have been burning 24/7 for almost 2 weeks. So let it snow.

This is a great site with great information.

Glenn

Hello,

Gary from southeastern Mi.

Been looking for an alternate source of heat for my garage/workshop and home.
Looked at corn and wood pellets but am thinking coal might be the way to go.

Definetely want to go direct vent due to limitation on the lay out of the house and garage. Both are two story.

Still checking the forums on ideals and sources for both coal(bulk) and type of stove.

I have a good and steady supply of wood but do not want do deal with a conventional chimney for such and also the smoke.

Hello! I am Bill and I live in Central Kentucky. I am currently researching coal fired stoves for heating my home. I am told wood would be a better alternative but my daughter is highly allergic to wood smoke.

We had a terrible ice storm last year in Feb. and was with out power for a week. Our home is currently total electric so it got pretty cold in here. House was 40 degrees at one point inside. I do not want to live through that again. So, I'm trying to gather information on stove types and suppliers of coal in my area (just south of Lexington).

Hello,
I'm Tim, I live in NEPA. My home is a raised ranch approx. 2300 sf. I bought a LL Pocono TV. It's power vented. I have total electric upstairs, had propane downstairs.My parents always had and still have a hand fed coal stove.So coal is nothing new to me,however the stoker,powerventer and coaltrol TS is new to me.It's awesome , I like the steady and controlled heat.
I'm still learning as I go.I bought a CO detector plus the one the stove came with. Igot one on each floor.This forum has been very helpful to me, Igot some great info and ideas.

bd3 wrote:Hello! I am Bill and I live in Central Kentucky. I am currently researching coal fired stoves for heating my home. I am told wood would be a better alternative but my daughter is highly allergic to wood smoke.

We had a terrible ice storm last year in Feb. and was with out power for a week. Our home is currently total electric so it got pretty cold in here. House was 40 degrees at one point inside. I do not want to live through that again. So, I'm trying to gather information on stove types and suppliers of coal in my area (just south of Lexington).

Welcome Bill,

Forum member "bksaun" is from your neck of the woods. You may want to give him a PC, private call. Lisa