Burn coal?

[schmism]

So i knew i was in coal country... just never gave it much thought.

So the fall fair was last weekend and i got to talking to the steam engine guy that runs the engine that they use to run the 52" circle mill. Its coal fired (100PSI) and i was talking with him about the coal.

Turns out he had the trailer of raw coal over in the corner loaded with raw coal (chunks that were the size of coolers) Turns out the coal mine about 20 min north of me sells raw coal. pull your trailer up and they dump in in the back before it goes to the crusher.

$55 per ton.

SO it got me thinking about being a kid and my dad tossing the softball size lump of coal in the wood stove.

A quick google search says 1 ton of coal is about the same as one cord of wood in BTU.

anyone heat with coal? run a combo stove on those really cold nights in the middle of jan/feb? whats your usage? does the ton per cord hold up?

Is it really that cheep?

 

[bp fick]

Since we do not have natural gas out here, only electric or propane, I am interested as well. Couple things come to mind. I too grew up with coal and remember the somewhat pungent smells and the dust. Disposing of the clinkers would likely supply my driveway with material. Finding a stove that is able to handle coal shouldn't be too difficult, but that is an assumption.

But alas, I am not in coal country. Let us know how this works out for you.

 

[Kays Supply]

There is quite a hubbub going on here in "coal country" right now. The EPA has passed a rule about coal ash being hazardous. They are going to start taxing it. The local university is going nuts trying to figure out how to get away from coal. They produce all their electricity and heat with it. I tried to burn coal in a wood burner many years ago. It got so hot it almost melted my stove. The door was glowing red for hours even with the air shut totally down. It was drawing through every little carack and sounded like jet plane. There was flames coming out the flue on to the roof like a blow torch. Be careful.

 

[SpringHollow]

You should never burn coal in a stove not designed for it as the poster above found out.

I burned coal for a few years. Nice long burn times but the ash is super light and does get dispersed into the air even with a covered ash pan. It would be great in an outside boiler or furnace but i would not want it back in my house again.

Ken

 

[jbooth]

When I worked for a coal fired power plant in Wyoming in the late 70's we were allowed to buy coal for $2.50 a ton. We whined when they raised the price to $3.00 a ton. Needless to say I burned coal. I also had a heat pump but with Wyoming winters it was pretty ineffiecent. At that price I couldn't pay for the gas to drive to the Black Hills to cut wood. I set up a large coal stove in my attached garage and just blew the hot air into the house. Garage roof wasn't even insulated so I didn't have to shovel snow off the roof. Didn't care for the smell or ash disposal but the kids were young and saving a nickel was the "game".

 

[forgeblast]

Living in hard coal country (anthricte) we burned coal when i was younger. My dad had also run pipes through the stove to preheat hot water (hes a welder). Messy, dusty, heated well, and you need some place to store it. I use coal in my forge, but heat with wood.

 

[Car Doc]

I have toyed with the same idea for years we don't have coal close by at this time or I would have tried it by now in something probably home built I am all about saving money.

 

[dodge man]

There used to be a lot of coal mining in this area, not so much anymore but some. I work with someone that has a Morniging Glory? coal stove. Kind of the old pot bellied looking stove, and he says it really throws out the heat.

Like others have said, coal gets really hot, so the stove has to be built for it. I have a Vermont Casting fire place, and they test it with coal for saftey, but it isn't desgined for it. I also think the cooler sized chunks sound to big.

 

[clemsonfor]

They burn it all over appalachia, you see the soot stains running from around the chimney pipes onto the shingle and tin roofs throughout the moutains. Even in the big city of greenville they sell coal in like 50-80lb bags and i am told that the low income folks in town use it to heat , i guess in the old fireplaces in the houses around there? I dont know i never bought it, i did not realize it would get so hot, thanks for the warnings.

 

[schmism]

To be clear, Im not considering it a full time heating option. Generally Ill stick with propane. But i monitor my propane usage in the winter and i can tell you that when the temp dips to single digits and especially below 0 my usage almost doubles. its for those few VERY cold nights/weeks that i would fire up the stove.

Storage would be under the barn lean to, not an issue.

I also know about how hot it gets and mixing it in reg wood stove, which when i was a kid it was no more than one softball sized chunk when you loaded wood.