New Coal Burner

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Thu. Jul. 24, 2014 11:34 am

Beautiful place and view!!!

I am envious! Love those beams too!

That water stain on the wood around the roof penetration....is that condensation from thermal bridging or a leak? Might want to check that out.

I have PM'ed ShortBus, another AK resident, to see if he had any words of wisdom regarding burning your local sub bit. I hoped his PM might trigger an email to get his attention since it seemed he hadn't been stopping in the forum regularly during the warm months. His experience should provide some valuable input.

AlaskaCoal1 · Post by **AlaskaCoal1** » Fri. Jul. 25, 2014 2:27 am

ha... other third is in a bathroom, and bedrooms... wish I had my stove tonight .... still July and cold and rainy here....got to love Alaska...

AlaskaCoal1 · Post by **AlaskaCoal1** » Fri. Jul. 25, 2014 2:38 am

titleist1 wrote:That water stain on the wood around the roof penetration....is that condensation from thermal bridging or a leak? Might want to check that out.

this is my first winer in the house so not real sure...the previous owner used different wood there... appears to be old barn siding... I just chalked it up to different wood but good catch and I will keep an eye out... as far as water goes it has to be condensation.. we have had our fair share of rain this year actually most rivers near flood stage and no leaks that I can find anywhere in the house... mosquitos yes ... leaks no.

going in this weekend to the big city... anchorage... and plan on looking at the Harman TLC and the Hitzer.... flying in so will not come back with one but might just procure it and pick it up next trip. With that said thoughts on single versus double wall stove pipe... what do most run... I know more heat from single but you guys can see my clearances... they are all around 16 to 18 inches but I do live in a wood pile. just want to be safe.

AlaskaCoal1 · Post by **AlaskaCoal1** » Fri. Jul. 25, 2014 2:41 am

Titleist 1:

noticed in your profile info that you have a Mark III... I looked at those but dismissed due to sales reps pushing the TLC over it because of ash pan size. Do you find yourself wishing the pan was bigger or are the reps just trying to push the TLC 2000.

freetown fred · Post by **freetown fred** » Fri. Jul. 25, 2014 6:16 am

Gottcha AC

46* & cloudy here on the hill this AM--July indeed

AlaskaCoal1 wrote:ha... other third is in a bathroom, and bedrooms... wish I had my stove tonight .... still July and cold and rainy here....got to love Alaska...

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Fri. Jul. 25, 2014 9:35 am

AlaskaCoal1 wrote:Titleist 1:

noticed in your profile info that you have a Mark III... I looked at those but dismissed due to sales reps pushing the TLC over it because of ash pan size. Do you find yourself wishing the pan was bigger or are the reps just trying to push the TLC 2000.

The ash pan size was OK for my use. I was in the habit of shaking/loading twice per day and could swap pans as necessary. I have two pans, would pull out the full one and let it sit beside the stove to cool and slide in the empty. How often I needed to do that while tending depended on how cold it was. The dumb thing about the Harman design is the ash pan doesn't cover the entire area where ash drops in order to slide it in and out of the opening. I would push my pan to one side and use a small flat ash shovel to get the ash that missed the pan on the other side. Minor effort involved but a dumb design.

Keep in mind this is anthracite burning, I'm not sure how ash volume from your sub-bit would compare.

jimg · Post by **jimg** » Fri. Jul. 25, 2014 9:58 am

freetown fred wrote:Gottcha AC 46* & cloudy here on the hill this AM--July indeed
AlaskaCoal1 wrote:ha... other third is in a bathroom, and bedrooms... wish I had my stove tonight .... still July and cold and rainy here....got to love Alaska...

I hear you. 56 outside, I had the t-stat set at 68 where it has been since spring, windows wide open, t-stat called for heat. I love the smell of hot steam radiators in the morning, just not in July.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Fri. Jul. 25, 2014 10:44 am

AlaskaCoal1 wrote:... wish I had my stove tonight .... still July and cold and rainy here....got to love Alaska...

So how cold is it there in the mornings,we had 52* here this a/m which broke the old record of 55*,we had all the windows open,no heat on,quite a cool morning to wake up to.

LoschStoker · Post by **LoschStoker** » Sun. Jul. 27, 2014 9:05 pm

We just got back from AK, we did a land / cruise.
Started at Fairbanks and the last stop was Katakana, then our flight was out of Vancouver.
I asked the wife if she would like to move to Fairbanks for a year. She'll write

Short Bus · Post by **Short Bus** » Mon. Jul. 28, 2014 2:22 am

Beautiful house.

I live in Cantwell, I like stokers, but I understand your situation.

I've heard that the old Warm Morning stoves were built to burn our Subbituminous "C" coal ( combustible dirt ). Lazy Dog antiques in Anchorage on 7th had one out back, in the rain, it is not in great shape, but still functional, cracked casting on stack but it would probably function.

If you did get this stove and it proved a good design you could move it to your shop, and then find a better looking unit for your house.

I think you biggest issues will be ash/dust in the house, prepare for this as best you can to avoid a bad start. I use a vacuum with a drywall bag in it to clean up the dust in my boiler. These cannot be used on hot ash or anything like hot ash. I would install a central vacuum that exhausts outside. Your domestic goddess that accepted the move to the interior deserves as much care as you can think of. Note I didn't say afford, I said think of.

As far as hand fired stoves you will greatly appreciate room below the grates for ash, at least as much room as you have above the grates for coal. Hopper fed stoves are not allowed with our coal. Our coal releases gasses as it initially warms and these gasses blaze powerfully, this initial combustion makes a lot of heat, and would ignite the hopper. Feeding small amounts of coal often is the best way to avoid the stinking smoke outside the house, that hand fires produce on this coal.

The hand fed coal in Healy is about 6" to 2" the "chestnut" will feed though a 3" pipe auger but I think it breaks up a little as it feeds, the fines available in Healy are small and I don't think they have any customers for it, in fact I think I was told to stay away from them. I sent some down to EFM for a test stoker burn and they liked them. I've also seen that pile smoking in 20 below weather.

You might talk to Coalandheat.com he is trying to promote coal use in the interior, mostly with stokers. Keep your eyes peeled for some system to keep this coal out of your house and send hot water to your house.

Keep in touch.
Short Bus

Short Bus · Post by **Short Bus** » Mon. Jul. 28, 2014 2:45 am

I see you have disturbed an old thread and found Wsherrick, his stove opinions are beautiful and probably very functional. I have not seen a modern stove that looked to have the characteristics important to burn our coal, room for ash, over fire air that sort of self regulates, in my opinion. I think the Warm Morning stove pulls it's air though the unburnt coal and the volatile initial fumes though the fire to burn completely, rather than hot fire with air from below heating coal above and then sending the volatile smoke outside. Stove design is possibly a lost art.

AlaskaCoal1 · Post by **AlaskaCoal1** » Sat. Dec. 20, 2014 5:01 pm

Just a quick update on the new stove... Harman TLC 2000 brand new and I have only used 3500 pounds since OCT. 70 bucks to date. This thing is amazing... a bit messy in the house that is definitely a CON but every time I think of getting a pellet stove when I am cleaning up the mess I remember that I have only spent 70 bucks. Wife is happy... she said the house overall is not any dustier just the area around the stove.

I can keep this place 70 easily during the day and overnight. I removed my manual damper and did see a small decrease in efficiency but it had an issue closing on its own and caused a few smoke issues in the house. Worth it for the peace of mind.

I have not added the bricks so the burn times are not as good as I would like but that is my next add on.

Pancho · Post by **Pancho** » Sat. Dec. 20, 2014 8:35 pm

I cannot speak to your questions about bit coal and which stove is the best but I do know log homes.

If the location of that stove is going to be the location with any new stove you choose, sheild those logs to the left of the stove. You won't catch em' on fire but they will get overly dry on you and check up......and it looks like someone went through and caulked/chinked some checks already?.

Whatever heater you choose, if you do your homework, that should be an easy place to heat.
Best of luck.

AlaskaCoal1 · Post by **AlaskaCoal1** » Sun. Mar. 22, 2015 8:49 pm

UPDATE:

Winter maybe/ fingers crossed ending early this year. Next week in the 40s and by Saturday calling for some high 40s maybe 50s.

I have burned... only 6500 pounds this year total. Well maybe a little more but not much as I am working on my last 3500 pounds now. So lets just say 7500. House was super warm all year. kept is 70 no issues.

The mess was about what we expected and at times when cleaning and dealing with ash I thought...."I am done I am getting a pellet burner" But then I would remember the cost and my frustration turned to smiles concerning the money I saved. We burned oil for a few days while we were gone during a -40 temp swing and taking what I burned those few days and working the math I figured the stove paid for itself easily this year.... maybe close to two times over. We are happy with the stove and the 75 grill option is great. We used the heck out of it all winter.

deepwoods · Post by **deepwoods** » Mon. Mar. 23, 2015 8:58 pm

Hi! That garage pic you posted earlier appears to be pretty large. What do you heat it with??