Hey Guys. Long Time No Hear From. Mr. Herald #6 Update

O.K. so first and forth most forgive me for not posting in a while. But you's never believe the reason. The wife's OCD kicked in mid-winter and she went on one of her cleaning sprees where she picks up any and everything that's out of place and misplaces it. LOL I can laugh now , but each time I had to use my phone to do something that I usually did on the laptop I just got so fustrated as my fingers are fat. I wanted to use my phone to update you guys, but it was too much to tell. Sometime last week she pops out and says, "hey baby look what I found." It's been sitting right behind the bedroom T.V. Yeah, Yeah. I know. But what'll ya gonna do.

So here we are today March 18th and the news is calling for snow. But let's rewind back to the end of January when I began to run out of the two tons of coal that I had delivered from Benjamin's Lumber in Maryland. The gas bill for January came in at about $130.00 not a huge jump from the $92.00 from December. I rarely had the gas heat on. But February has a chilling way of changing that . (Pun so intended) February was when I decided that we could not just depend on Mr. Herald alone. The house is just to big with too many twist and turns. The upstairs was a totally different story. The upstairs where the children rooms are stayed toasty. I mean OMG! the whole upstairs stayed so damn hot I had to allow cracked windows & fans until I mastered the dampeners. But the down stairs was a different story. Well up to the dinning room and the kitchen anyway. The living room seems to stay the same temp as the upstairs rooms but the dinning room was always cooler and whom ever sat closest to the dinning room could feel a draft. Up until that point I was trying things like putting a blanket up to divide the living room from the dinning room entirely. The wife didn't like that one bit. "Looks tacky she says." I say damn tacky. We were very warm. (This is all with no gas heat on in the house. Just so you know) However, I began to worry about the pipes on the porch and in the kitchen where Mr. Herald was not reaching at all. Therefore February was a Major increase as it was when I turned the heat on constantly. And tried to find a medium between the gas heat & Mr. Herald. I never had to set the temp to no more than 69 degrees for the whole down stairs to be toasty. I still turned the gas off completely during the day as no one is home during those hours and I'm at war with the utility companies . Still the gas bill wasn't as bad as last year as the gas bill came in at $273.74 for February. And here's where we're standing for March $314 and some change. As you can see from my "Total Units Used In Billing Month" my usage was cut completely in have from last winter. 239/484 On the other hand, this winter was not as bad last winter.

So, as I said. I ran out of coal around the end of January. This time I stayed local and patronized "Yoder's Green House" right here in Dover DE. Yoder charges $334.00 for 1.2 tons of any kind of coal you need. Stove, nut, rice. You can also buy individual bags for $5.50 per. As I was curious to see what the stove coal was all about, but was still sort of apprehensive to have a ton of all stove coal. Ole' Yoder suggested that I do a half & half. See Ole Yoder believes that the stove coal doesn't burn completely. So I got half nut & half stove coal. Even hauled it myself in two trips in the Expedition Put it right where the loose nut coal was stored. I was really hoping that that 1.2 tons would take me to the end of winter. But with a pending snow storm due to hit as of today I was down to my last couple bags, So I went and grabbed 10 more bags from ole' Yoder today. I must say that I will be using stove coal from here on out. In my opinion. The stove coal burns so much better than the nut. The nut can darn near smother the fire on reloads. especially if your like me and didn't get up in time to catch the fire before it goes out. Then drop 15lbs of coal on it. (Boy, oh boy, what a job to pick through coal & ash so you can restart the stove.) The bridging is almost constant with the nut coal. whereas, the stove coal reacts very fast, bridging is not much of an issue. And to me it burns hotter quicker.

Over all my first season burning coal it was a fun experience. My own little project. However, I must teach the household how to use Mr. Herald. Too many times I was gone all day to come home to the stove out because no one knew what to do as I have scared everyone with carbon monoxide stories.

Saving money wasn't a bad incentive either. Haven't done the math to know what the exact savings were as I like to factor in the cost of the coal compared to the savings.

I'm a bit concerned a bout maintenance as this is my first year for that. I'm thinking that I'll dismantle the flue pipe to prevent rusting. But my main concern is my firebrick This picture is old and the crack has gotten way worst and in more places.

I must end with this. I have a new found love for spring and summer. I mean I know this is my first year burning coal, and a lot of you guys have been doing this a helluva lot longer then me. But I can't wait for the coal burning season to be over. I just need a break. It's constantly on my mind. The first thing I see when I awake and the last thing I see before sleep. The first thing I run to upon entering the house. I'm having a lot of fun doing it and I get great satisfaction from knowing that I'm keeping the house warm for lessor monies. And when I think of the wood stove that I almost brought. I shutter at the thought of how many times I would have had to reload it in a day. And how many days we would have awaken in a cold house. So I say Viva La Coal!! But come on summer time.

Glad to see you return, and also glad to see that you didn't give up on coal.

The guys in here can give you instructions on how to reline that firepot yourself. They say it's fairly easy to do.

Take care, Don

Good to hear from you! Been wondering how you were liking the Herald, I picked one up this winter also and LOVE it. How hot have you been running it?

Great to hear from you UncleDoDat thanks for the update, it has been a long winter and up here there is no sign of it letting go as we have recieved approx. 20 inches of the white stuff the last 2 days.
I'm happy you're happy with Mr. Herold and the new found hobby, (obsession ), you are not alone! Many have found stove size to be the difference in performance and ease of operation.
Many of us continue our hobby during the non-heating months with projects and updates and maybe this spring a second stove in your cooler areas or examining your back up (gas), system for improved results for next year, let's not forget about insulating compromised areas.
It sounds like your neighboring coal supplier is a keeper as well, it's nice to keep the money local! Thanks again and good job this year

Mike

UncleDoDat wrote:the whole upstairs stayed so damn hot I had to allow cracked windows & fans until I mastered the dampeners. But the down stairs was a different story. Well up to the dinning room and the kitchen anyway. The living room seems to stay the same temp as the upstairs rooms but the dinning room was always cooler and whom ever sat closest to the dinning room could feel a draft. Up until that point I was trying things like putting a blanket up to divide the living room from the dinning room entirely.

Yes, congratulations on your successful winter burn!

The quote above could be part of the problem, if you are opening windows upstairs. In winter, the house will create it's own stack effect. If windows are cracked open upstairs, they are only letting warm air out. That warm air out has to be replaced, its replaced by cold air infiltrating the lower levels of your home. A better solution to opening windows upstairs would be to try and get that air circulated some other way, perhaps with motorized air thru the 1st floor ceiling to the second level floor. Or a fan pushing air down the stairway. By eliminating the open windows upstairs, you'll use less coal and the house won't get as much cold drafts downstairs.

Thanks for coming back on with your progress..

Thanks for the update,i was worried that you might have gone off the deep end & given up on coal.

My house was built in 1895 and designed to be heated with a coal stove in the dining room and a cook stove in the kitchen. I found that if I want to heat a second floor bedroom I don't just open a door. I go into that bedroom and crack open a window about 1/2 inch and wallah!!!!! Heated room in 20 minutes. No holes, no mechanized air mover, no grates, no dampers. Do I waste some heat? Nope....it establishes an air flow in the house right to where I want it. I verified this with incense sticks. Got em smokin and followed the smoke right to the window. I'll send some BTU's out the window sure but it beats cutting vents, installing dampers and then not work as well IMHO. Once the room is warm then I can close it down to just a sliver.

I've done both....I'll go with windows being cracked.

You made it and learned a lot in the process - congrats !

Are the bed room doors open upstairs when they get too warm?

If so, keeping the bed room doors closed will help keep those rooms from getting over heated, without pulling cold air faster through other first floor rooms toward the stove. That should help give more time for natural convection on the first floor to move some of the stove heat to those colder first floor rooms before it quickly gets drawn upstairs and out windows.

My fireplace is so big it does the same. Living room gets too hot, the heat goes up a front an back staircase, but the first floor rooms farthest from the fireplace cool off quickly. At first, I couldn't understand why this 100+ year old house had doors on every room, both first and second floor, and a curtain across the top of the back staircase, which the lower end of is nearest the living room with the fireplace. It's to help control, and slow down, where the heat and the cold go when it had a gravity coal furnace in the basement , a coal kitchen range, and/or, the fireplace was in use.

Paul

northernmainecoal wrote:Good to hear from you! Been wondering how you were liking the Herald, I picked one up this winter also and LOVE it. How hot have you been running it?

On those very cold days I was looking for hotter temps. I learnt how to lock the Herald into 550/600 by bringing it up to the temp I wanted, closing one primary damper and the other to 3/4 open and the MPD set at a 45 degree angle. It seems for me that closing the MPD completely decreases the heat out put for me. Even with the primary's at fully opened. But by cracking it slightly and reading the manometer helped tremendously. On the milder days when we didn't need much heat. I'd close the MPD completely, close all of the primary's completely and got right under 300 sometimes 250. Then when I opened the dampers. It was like I pushed some button the called for more heat. Mr. Herald just kicked right in.

Is it just me or does this stove coal burn so much faster than the nut. And yes I am already considering another stove for the rear of the house. I have my heart set on a Jotul 507 as I think it would be perfect in the vestibule right outside my bed room. Another option would be flip the whole house to a coal stoker or boiler. Which I don't think will be as much fun. LOL

Lightning wrote:

UncleDoDat wrote:the whole upstairs stayed so damn hot I had to allow cracked windows & fans until I mastered the dampeners. But the down stairs was a different story. Well up to the dinning room and the kitchen anyway. The living room seems to stay the same temp as the upstairs rooms but the dinning room was always cooler and whom ever sat closest to the dinning room could feel a draft. Up until that point I was trying things like putting a blanket up to divide the living room from the dinning room entirely.

Yes, congratulations on your successful winter burn!

The quote above could be part of the problem, if you are opening windows upstairs. In winter, the house will create it's own stack effect. If windows are cracked open upstairs, they are only letting warm air out. That warm air out has to be replaced, its replaced by cold air infiltrating the lower levels of your home. A better solution to opening windows upstairs would be to try and get that air circulated some other way, perhaps with motorized air thru the 1st floor ceiling to the second level floor. Or a fan pushing air down the stairway. By eliminating the open windows upstairs, you'll use less coal and the house won't get as much cold drafts downstairs.

Thanks for coming back on with your progress..

Well the opening of the windows came as a result of being to hot. Yes the bedroom doors are open when this happens. What I told the children to do was close the doors if it becomes too hot. I'm thinking of having a ceiling fan install in the froyer where Mr. Herald is located. I am sure this will have a positive effect on heating the downstairs. Maybe not as good as the upstairs but better than it has been.

windyhill4.2 wrote:Thanks for the update, I was worried that you might have gone off the deep end & given up on coal.

Never!!!!!!!!!!!! I am Here for the long haul.