New Home in Colorado, Considering Coal for heat

I'm no bituminous expert, but one question hasn't been asked that might be important.... what size is the coal? A stoker (stoker means automatic) needs a particular size. If your coal is large chunks a stoker might not be something that you can use.

Infloor for sure! Outdoor boiler fur sure! I say that because bituminous isn't as clean as anthracite.

Maybe part of this story is how handy you are and how much work/money you want to put towards the project. Maybe a hand fed and a large hot water storage tank? Just dreaming out loud. If you can't automate it, but can't be there to tend it, maybe once every so often you have a big burn & heat a huge tank of water. That water would heat the house for several days. If you have 10 ton a year and it only takes 5 to do the job, what would it matter if you burnt 7 or 8 and lost 2 or 3 to inefficiency?

Interesting.... keep us posted & best of luck to you.

Coal_Miner_76 wrote: As an employee I am entitled to 10 tons of free stoker coal. (about 11,500-12,000 BTU coal).

He says it's stoker coal.
Stoker coal (soft coal) size is usually 1-3/4" down to about 1/2" and is usually oiled to keep dust down and aid gravity flow in hoppers etc.

My brother in law worked in a coal mine a few years back and could get free coal. Would be nice to have no heating bills beyond installation costs and the electricity used.

rockwood wrote:He says it's stoker coal.

Ohhhhh, That didn't register in my head as a size. Well, then, see what you can find for a bit stoker & go for it! Don't give a big tank another thought.

Thanks for all the ideas! The raw run of mine coal is washed and crushed to minus 1 inch in a coal wash plant at the mine. The ash and sulfur is very low after the coal is crushed and then washed. The coal is not coated in oil. I plan on building a 3 car garage with an apartment above the 3 car garage and a few years down the road build a home next to the garage. Many of the comments recommend placing the boiler outside. What about building a separate room in the garage to place the boiler, and building a coal storage bin on the other side of the foundation with an access window or coal chute from the coal bin to the boiler room? Just an idea, i've never done anything like this. I'm building the entire home so lets get creative. Keep the comments coming!

Thanks: Parker

Coal_Miner_76 wrote:Thanks for all the ideas! Many of the comments recommend placing the boiler outside. What about building a separate room in the garage to place the boiler, and building a coal storage bin on the other side of the foundation with an access window or coal chute from the coal bin to the boiler room?

Thanks: Parker

I think you're on the right track. If I were building a new home(on a large property like you have)I would have a boiler (with automatic stoker) in a separate structure near the house to keep the coal dust, ash, etc. away from the house. I would use in floor radiant heating in the house as was mentioned earlier.
Since you get free coal you should heat your domestic water as well as heat the house.
This link shows what another member of this forum has set up.http://nepacrossroads.com/about8677.html#p87953