Estimated yearly savings by using coal

New Hope Engineer wrote:It is run of the mine (raw coal) straight from the mine.It is large and needs to be broken down,i personally use a hammer.
I have a large potbelly stove that burns any size so it works out pretty good for me.

is there a specific place you buy this or do all coal mines off this kind of coal? do you know if it would work in a boiler if you can possibly break it down to the right size?

brckwlt wrote:

is there a specific place you buy this or do all coal mines off this kind of coal? do you know if it would work in a boiler if you can possibly break it down to the right size?

I dont know how many mines offer this to the general public.I found that they pretty much sell directly to the breakers.I was told alot of them are locked into contracts with the breakers so they cant sell to outsiders?And i think most dont want you on their property because of MSHA and for in surance reasons.I found my supplier through a friend.

I am not sure if it would work well for your boiler or not.If you are looking for a specific size then you would have alot of waste when you cracked it down.I burn the big stuff right on down to the fines in my stove so it works for me.

dsteinel wrote:Fingerlakestoker,

I wish firewood could be had at $85/cord. It is $200/cord here in Maryland. I didn't buy any but harvested 5 cords of wood myself. Backbraking labor for an old man like me.

He meant a face cord. A face cord is 4' x 8' x what ever someone wants to cut it. Usually 16" or 18" . A face cord was $65 to $75 in the fall around here. But now its $50.

I spent a little over $1100 this year for coal. Seven tons, and need a ton or two to finish the year out. Not bad

compass will wrote:what am I missing?

What did the heat pump cost to install compared to the coal unit? Secondly as I understand it you're talking $$$ for long term maintenance.

I was reseaching pellet stoves and found a web page that you can enter the prices in your area for different fuels, edit the efficency rating for specific appliences and it will calculate the cost of a usefull million btu in dollars for each fuel. I didn't read every page of this thread so I hope I'm not duplicating what someone else already might of posted. I think you will find coal to be the most cost effective fuel but it all depends on what you pay per ton. http://www.pelletheat.org/3/residential/compareFuel.cfm

There's regular spreadsheet calculator here: FUEL COST CALCULATOR!!!

If you don't have Excel you can download Open Office to work with it.

A U- Haul trailer rental for two days; $81.00. A tank and a half of gas $60.00. tolls $26.00 a twelve pack of the cheapest beer $6.35 three tons of pea coal and a bin to put it in FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't really say what I've saved, since I've never heated with anything but coal. God must have been looking out for me. I moved to PA 5 years ago. The only house I could afford was a 1/2 double in Lehighton with no bathroom and an EFM stoker in the basement. (Paid $23,000, put $12K into it, sold in two years for $105K). I had no idea about burning coal. After I had the house under contract, I had visions of shoveling coal into a stove every day. Before I closed on the house, the former owner showed my how the stove worked. Nothing to do but fill up a barrel once a week and take out ashes every few days.

That house used about 4 tons a year. It was a little over 1200 square feet. Had new r13 insulation and drywall but the attic wasn't insulated real well and the house was a little drafty. Even so, about $800 a year for heat and hot water wasn't bad.

Bought a new, bigger house a couple years ago. Didn't really want to mess with coal again, but after I weighed all my options, it was the only one that made sense. I bought a used 1980 EFM Stoker from Schmid Equipment near Wilkes-Barre. Paid $3500, I think.The new house is 2000 square feet. Mostly r13 insulation, but still a little drafty and a few parts that aren't insulated as well. I used almost 6 tons ($1200) last year for for heat (I keep it warm) and hot water. I replaced a few windows this year and added some weatherstripping, so hopefully this year will be a little less. If I can get the whole house sided and wrapped in Tyvek I think I could get it down to 4 tons. We'll see...

propane at or around 2 bucks. we never really burned it in our house, never used propane a whole season. we bought our house last year and said the hell with 3 bucks then, so we got my hotblast. we kinda estimated we would of used close to 2,500 to 3,000 in propane last year, so around 1,700 to 2,000 would have been this years. 3 tons of coal: 750. and thats if i would of bought it. got 3 ton in a basement for free!

For those using stokers, how much was the average electric bill?

I have a VF3000 and electric did not changed at all.
Connected my watt meter and when the VF is running it is using 75W.

Dan

Sorry for posting in incorrect forum however I could not seem to figure out hot to start a new topic.

Are there any advantages to mixing a percentage of corn in with coal? I was told it would burn a little hotter. Can someone please provide advice?

Coal burns hot all by itself. Corn will only slow the burn down, then block airflow somewhat when it turns to ash hours & hours before the coal does.

Saving a minimum of $750. If the price of propane continues to go up I will save even more. Price for propane in my area was $2.19/gallon for bulk users using their tanks and $1.99/gal if you had your own. That was in early November. I only use 200 gallons a year for cooking, hot water, clothes dryer, and miscellaneous heating. Propane price peaked around $2.92 for rented tanks in 2007/2008. Installed my furnace in early Jan 2008.

just got propane today,only for cooking ,paid3.56 per gallon.,sure glad thats all i use it for,planning on burning 5-6 ton from nov.1 to may. efm 520,loving it.