Thinking of Trying Coal

 
Bobbyg
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Post by Bobbyg » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 5:46 pm

I am thinking of switching to a coal stove down in my basement, right now I have a Jotul 600 wood stove which is a great stove. But am getting the itch to try something different, what stove is the best made and easiest to use.


 
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WNY
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Post by WNY » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 5:55 pm

That is a loaded question....

are you looking for a hand Fired like your wood stove? Combo Stove Wood/Coal? Automatic Stoker? Just a Stove or a furnace. They make coal Boilers too....there are many different mfr's and many different opinions on what people like on here.

Might want to tell a bit about your house, heating size, etc....and how you want to tend to your stove. Are you available every 6-8 hours to shake and reload a hand fired or just every couple days to load an automatically stoker..... :)

 
Bobbyg
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Post by Bobbyg » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 5:59 pm

looking maybe for a gravity feed stove, but I am not going to be able to shake it down every 6 -8 hours maybe. I work to many hours to be able to do the 6-8. I was looking primarily for a coal stove for heat, if I put a coal fired boiler in, it most likely would be in my garage and tied into my oil fired boiler.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 7:07 pm

Can you handle tending to the stove every 12-15 hours? My Hitzer stove is rated at 92k btus/hr, I normally reload it twice per day just to stay on a schedule. It will easily go 15 hours unattended, up to 24 if you run it at a moderate setting. The hopper fed stoves can go longer, and a stoker only needs tending once per day.

My coal stove is in the basement and it really takes the edge off our heating bills; now that I've burned anthracite I don't plan to burn wood ever again.

 
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Paperboy
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Post by Paperboy » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 7:14 pm

If I already had an oil fired boiler, as you do, and all the plumbing for hot water heat, I'd go with the coal boiler.
That said, if you just want a stove in your living space, there are some good gravity feed hand fired stoves out there. I have an Alaska Kodiak, and I get 12-14 hours of burn time between loading and shaking. I had to go through a learning curve as to how much to shake it down, etc. but it is definitely a good quality stove. It would probably burn even longer if I used Pea size coal instead of chestnut. Other posters on here are also happy with other brands such as Harman and Hitzer. They all have websites to see the features of each. Read lots of information on this forum, and on the manufacturer's sites and you will be well informed to make a good choice.

 
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Devil505
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Post by Devil505 » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 7:53 pm

One word of caution I would give you is that most people here keep their coal appliance running 24/7 through the heating season. Coal fires are more difficult & time consuming to start & clean out after, than a wood fire, so you wouldn't want to be starting a new coal fire every day. Once going though, you'll spend very little time keeping it going, compared to wood, & you'll be able to regulate & lower the heat much easier too. I've had the same fire going now since late Sept. & will keep it going, probably into April at very low temps. (A good coal burner only needs one match per season!) :lol:

 
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oliver power
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Post by oliver power » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 8:17 pm

I agree with what others have said. Many different people, with many different stoves, boilers, and furnaces on this site. Lots of coal burning experience.The great thing about this site is that no one says "My stoves better than your stove". Or, Your wrong, I'm right. We try to give honest sincere opinions, which reflect our own experiences. So, that's why I agree with the others. We need to know more about your set-up. Where you live, name brands near you, etc..


 
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grizzly2
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Post by grizzly2 » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 8:20 pm

Paperboy suggests 3 of the top performing hand fed stoves. Gravity fed will do the 12 plus hours without attention. Suitable for basement or livingspace isntallation. However if you don't care to watch the Dancing Blue Ladies (flame), tiying in with your existing boiler would probably give you the best heat distribution. If you want a source of heat that does not require electricity to heat your home with, then a gravity fed independant unit is perhaps the way to go. :)
Last edited by grizzly2 on Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 8:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
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CoalHeat
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Post by CoalHeat » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 8:25 pm

Once you start burning coal you won't go back to wood. Take the plunge. I have 2 coal stoves and still have the Fisher insert in the fireplace for real cold days or when I want a wood fire to look at. I haven't heard of anyone switching from coal to wood.

 
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coalkirk
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Post by coalkirk » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 8:32 pm

Harman makes a great stoker stove that will burn days without any attention. It's called a Magnum stoker. It's output is variable from 5k BTU to 85k BTU and runs off of a thermostat. Burns rice coal and needs a 6" chimney. Will heat up to 2,500 sq. ft. Someone...err me... has one for sale in the classified section of this forum. (Shameless self promotion.)

 
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UpStateMike
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Post by UpStateMike » Tue. Jan. 06, 2009 11:54 am

Being a newbie coal burner myself, I can offer you some thoughts about trying it out. Last year I bought a couple of bags and tried it out in the garage wood/coal stove. It convinced me this was a good idea.

I'm in NYS and there are plenty of woods around here so most people burn wood because it's a relatively low cost. But, as you know, heating your home all winter on wood means you need a huge amount of wood, and someone has to cut the trees down, cut the logs into chunks, split it and stack it. Then load it up and deal with all that during the winter. Then start all over again in the spring. It's a lot of work and time, and I'd rather spend that time in the summer and fall doing other things.

I stil use some wood in the house and mostly wood in the garage/workshop, and will probably continue doing that route while I keep learning about coal.

My cookstove is being used for supplimental heating, so if it goes out because of my knuckleheadedness, then it's not too big of a deal. It's not the easiest to load, shake down and clean compared to the coal stoves that look more like a pellet stove or woodstove, but it's doing what I am asking it to do, which is lower the oil bill and allow me to keep the house warmer than years past where the oil furnace was set at 65 during the day, and that sucked.

I got a pallet of coal in 40lb bags. Didn't take up very much space at all and 1 bag is good for all day. In the garage I have to load up wood about every 2 hours. Once you get the coal going good, there's nothing more to do until it's used up, and that can easily be 10-12 hours. The heat is very consistant and steady. I had a couple of good running days over the holiday and heat just kept pouring out and warming the house up. It was really nice.

Now my thoughts are turning to getting a non-cookstove that's handfed and replace the cookstove from it's current location. I plan to remodel the kitchen and would very much like to encorporate that into the new kitchen area. It's very handy for heating and cooking without electricty or gas. I'd say in your case, the idea of switching out the wood boiler for a coal model is your best bet. The wood one will surely sell as oil is back on the rise so you should be able to use that.

I still am working the bugs out of the system and that may take a while, but this place is a great resource, so it has made it doable.

 
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Post by BM-80 » Wed. Jan. 07, 2009 11:13 am

markviii wrote:Can you handle tending to the stove every 12-15 hours? My Hitzer stove is rated at 92k btus/hr, I normally reload it twice per day just to stay on a schedule. It will easily go 15 hours unattended, up to 24 if you run it at a moderate setting. The hopper fed stoves can go longer, and a stoker only needs tending once per day.

My coal stove is in the basement and it really takes the edge off our heating bills; now that I've burned anthracite I don't plan to burn wood ever again.
I am having the same experience. I've got a Hitzer 983 insert and it EASILY goes 15 hours without touching it. This is my first year burning coal (and I have FREE firewood available behind my house....) and I'll NEVER go back to wood (except a "kill the chill" fire in spring and fall). When I first logged in to this forum, I thought everybody was a coal crazy!! Now, I've joined them....

 
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Post by Bobbyg » Wed. Jan. 07, 2009 1:07 pm

How safe is the hand feed stoves, can you leave them unattended safely? and how many pounds a day do you think I would use with 92K BTU stove. I have been looking at Harman stoves and hate to say I am flip flopping back and forth on the type. Either a Hand Feed or a Boiler, the real problem I have with my decision is the amount of coal I would be using and the cost difference with oil.

My current boiler is brand new and is a tank less setup. Nice thing about oil is it only uses the oil when needed never runs unless it is called upon. I shut it off at night so it doesn't keep firing to keep the small amount of water at temp. In the morning I just flip the switch and it takes less than 5 min to heat the tank less for hot water.

My current oil use during a heating season is about 1 tank that's from Nov 1st to March 1st as an average. That's with me burning wood to heat the house, My wife tends the fires while I am at work. I burn about 5 cord a year in my jotuls wood stoves. My wife is comfortable with wood, but when I discuss coal she doesn't want to touch it.

 
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Post by SuperBeetle » Wed. Jan. 07, 2009 3:35 pm

Modern handfed coal stoves are very safe when properly installed and operated. I have been using my Harman Mark II for 16 years. We leave the house almost everyday and sometimes for a long period of time (over 15 hours).

 
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coalvet
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Post by coalvet » Wed. Jan. 07, 2009 5:34 pm

This is my 28th year of burning coal in my Crane and the only thing I make sure of when we leave the house is that the ash door is closed and the draft control is set properly, after that I don't give it another thought!


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