Introduce Yourself

Hello, all - my name is Lee, and I live in central NH with my wife and 2 kids. Being a crusty, frugal Yankee at heart, I've been a life-long wood burner; I remember fondly working with my dad in the woods to lay in the winter's supply of firewood. Our house's sole source of heat (other than a little 5KBTU wall-mounted propane unit in the upstairs bathroom) is an Ashley combo wood and coal stove. Up until last year we had run nothing but wood but an early snow caught me off guard and I didn't get enough wood put away to last the year. When the wood ran low I sought out a local source for bagged anthracite and was lucky enough to find this forum to get some pointers on how to run the stuff. I still get a charge out of the fact that we're burning shiny black rocks to heat the house. This Fall I was lucky enough to find an ad where someone close to where I work was giving away all the nut anthracite coal in their basement bin to anyone who would come to remove it. Needless to say, I jumped on that - I hauled about 2 tons home in enough 5 gallon buckets to fill the back of my little pickup truck over several weeks' time and now have more than enough to heat the house for this winter for a small outlay of my own labor.

I'm not too far from 40 and while I still plan on cutting and burning wood for at least some of our heating needs I can see that one of these days I'll like to have another source of heat that's a little less labor-intensive. I think coal will fit the bill nicely. While it's not a renewable resource like wood is, at least the money I'll pay will be staying here in the USA and not going overseas to fund those who would wish us harm. That, along with the nice, even heat coal produces and the long burn times you get with minimal attention to the stove are the most appealing aspects of heating with coal to me.

Some of my interests are aviation, ham radio, diesels, and industrial controls.

Thanks for providing the forum; it's been a great help!

73 DE Lee KB1GNI

Hey Oo-v-oO.......

I seem to recognize your screen name...or at least the use of that in a sig line elsewhere....Do you recognize me?

And with intrests in aviation and diesels...you and LsFarm, oughtta get along!

Welcome to the board!

I don't know how to use this site yet so bare with me.

I am thinking about switching to coal for heat. Where can I find coal and what types can I get in my area? I sure don't see much on the net except in Penn.


Thanks!

Hello Kofted, welcome to the forum.

This particular thread is an introduction thread to introduce yourself. So if you will ask your questions on a separate thread you will get more exposure to your questions in the general questions sections.

I moved one of your requests to the 'coal requests outside Pennsylvania' thread. You should get some helpful information there.

Let us know your type and size of home, type of heat [hot water, or hot air] type of fuel [oil, propane, electric, natural gas]. And the members will do our best to help.

I'm trying to keep this thread on the topic of personal introductions.

Welcome to the forum!! Greg L

Hi Gary in PA - I don't recognize you, sorry, but I'm not always the quickest on the draw if you know what I mean.

The Oo-v-oO is a nod to my old Jetta diesel which I rebuilt with a GTI front grille and lights. I kind of settled on that and use it on most forums as it's fairly unique.

I just joined this forum last week and it is wonderful. I am 43 years old, have a wonderful wife and seven great children. I am Roman Catholic, pro-life, traditional family man, patriotic, like old Fordson tractors, listen to Johnny Horton, and I love burning coal. This is our first season with a coal stove and it is working out nicely. The install took some time; we have it in front of the fireplace and vented up the chimney. Also lined the flue with stainless and that was a bear. Have only been burning bituminous because we have been able to gather it for free, but would love it if we could burn anthracite. I bought my Lopi stove as new -old stock, made in the 80's but never used. It is very nice, wonderful shaker grates, and works super. Dan in Toledo.

Hello everyone!

I'm the Quebec city director's for Keystone Coal Canada, a departement of Keystone Industries in Pennsylvania.

I'm happy cause i have found this forum with a lot of pertinent information about stove and anthracite. If you search anthracite or stove in canada come to see us!!!

Thank you!

Hello. My name is Jay. I am married and have 2 sons. I live in Bushkill, PA and I have been burning coal since 1990 and never looked back. It's the least inexpensive way to heat your home if you don't mind alittle work. Though the price of coal has gone up quite a bit, it still the best way the go. I started with a coal stove insert in the fierplace in 1990 and ran that for quite a few years. Then with all the worry about those embers poping out while loading. We decided to buy a Keystoker 90,000 btu coal stove. Set it up down in the basement. Had the opitional top side air vent put on the stove. I ran the air inttake to the upgraded 320 cfm blower. Installed the Honeywell thermastat in the living room. I also ran the air output in a 3 way vent to the living room, dining room and master bedroom. With the open high cieling to the second floor bedrooms, heating the entire house is no problem. A comfy 74 degrees. I have had this stove now for about 7 years and she runs like a champ. So far so good. Have to start making some phones calls on what prices are going for in Tamaqua. The bin is half way down now. ( 2 ton bin, I filled it up inthe spring time or this winter season ) Well I think I may have over extended my introduction. Until nextime ...........

Hi my name is Joe, I live in the Cleveland area. Only been here about 4 yrs. HVAC/R tradesman. Can't find any coal local so I get it out of Middlefield OH. Thats realy something. Around the turn of the century this area was heated with coal, Now all I see are train cars heading for the power plant full of coal. HUMMMMM. I fire a U.S. stove company hand fed model # 1300. It does a good job.
Great site.
There is no fuel like an old fuel.

Hello everyone. My name is Harry and i live outside of Strasburg OH (just south of Canton).

I bought a Combustioneer Mark IV second hand last Nov. An underfed stocker stove built by Wil-Burt in the '80's.

My nephew and a freind winched it to the basement and I had my HVAC man install it.

Total cost so far is $700 for the stove, $850 for the installation, and $56/ton for stocker coal (bituminous).

I have had a devil of a time keeping this thing going. I have sheared 8 shear pins and the fire has gone out 4 times. I am still adjusting the air damper in my attempt to keep the firebox lit. I thought I had it right except the fire went out again last night and the fire box was full of coal.

I have also replaced the micro switch, I'm sure the faulty switch was the reason the fire went out the first three times because the weather was very mild (low 40 high 60 in Dec.). The last time has me stumped.

Having said all that, I'll say this, I LOVE THIS STOVE.

Hi everyone, my name is Rick and I live in Butler County Pa. and have a wife and two children. As of now I am heating a 10 year old 2000 sqft house with an 1100 sqft basement that I don't heat. I am currently heating with corn and with the price of corn I was looking for something that was cheaper and more stable. I was thinking about burning coal but I need to find a supplier. I live in bituminous country but I would like to get a stoker and burn anthracite. With my job I go out of town quite often and I need something that the wife can operate(turn up the T-stat).

....Hello all. My name is Dustin...I go by the screen name Keyman, because thats what I was in the USAF, a locksmith as part of my engineering job. I am a country boy in a state slowly being overcrowed by folks who for the most part should stay in "Bean-Town"(I don't have anything against city folk...but down come out to country and expect to change things). I settled here in "G-Vegas"(Gardner, MA) after the military. I'm a jack of all trades (tree/stump cutter, Licensed Electrician by claim) and have heated with wood since childhood. I found this site luckily to get info on burning coal...because wood is causing problems with neighbors. My "dinosaur-goo-machine"(PeerlessWB-04) is backed up by my coal and wood fired Burnham SFB101 add on boiler...which I'm proud to say took my 4K/yr, heating bill (@62-65 degree yr/round) for my 3600/sf 106yr old two family home down to $368.00 last year at 72-74degrees to boot (fired by wood...and you don't want to imagine how much of it) I hate the idea of paying arabs so I can stay warm.
Am interested in all forms of solid-fuel heating(Hydronic especially), aviation,railroading and history in general.
I call Mass home but venture out to Colorado every so often (1989mile road trip in 31hours door to door...like flying???lol)

Been ghosting the sight for a few weeks and finally decided to join the “fun”!!!

I hope to build a new house in the next couple of years and decided to look into heating with coal as an option since I live in “coal country” northern WV!! I like what I see so far and will probably have some questions as we go!

To start the trend I have not seen a price list of what coal is going for now! Any comments on what it cost in your area (or mine if you know) would help in my research! As well as if it is cheaper to buy during the summer months etc.!!

Thanks to you all for the nice resource that this forum is!!!
SD

It really doesn't matter what the price is as it will always be half or less than other fossil fuels. Yes, it is cheaper in the summer, especially where you are. Don't worry about the cost of coal, focus on your installation as you will live with it for a long time. A good install makes you happy, a poor one does not. You will not care what the coal costs if you do it right.
Your best bet is a central heating system (water or air) tied into your "primary" (for the bank, not that you'll ever use it). Boilers are better in the long run, with the Axeman-Anderson and AHS being probably the best in the business.

Hello, My name is Dave. I grew up in WNY. We grew up burning only wood. Because of my fathers love of old houses , our house 1830's has basicly stayed primitive as far as windows and insulation. This made for some very cold winters. Well as everyone gets old , my father needed a secondary heat source as wood isn't cutting it and he really can not do the work involved. So this fall I hooked up a 1890's commerical cast iron coal boiler (Herendeen Furman Sectional) he had bought 20 years ago and stored away. Is came out of a 3 story brick building in Attica NY. The thing is a monster , it consists of 4 sections. all but the lower ash area section are of a water jacket design , where water flows around the fire box and up to 2 donut type sections and then to the top of the stove. Well to keep the post short , he has no pipeing or rads for it so I just use a use a high CMF fan that blows into a 3 inch water inlet in the lower fire box area and the hot air goes out a 3 inch pipe at the top , I then used 10 in duct to a floor reg, and this system along with a soapstone stove burning wood upstairs has keep his living room (room farthest from the heat sources) at 70-75 during this cold spell and no overnight freeze outs. the past week it was up to 79 degrees in the house and as low as 62 when I was fooling with ash removal. This may not be that impressive , but I can tell you the winters before this the dogs water bowl would form ice in it over night. Anyway , sorry for the long post , I am just so excited about this coal burner and the info I have read here. Thanks!!!