Burn coal?

[Dale Binkley]

We burned anthracite coal in a Harman fireplace insert for about 8 years. Our fireplace was in the basement (a walk in) and it was easy to carry in buckets of coal. The only downside was the fine black coal dust that got on everything in the room where the insert was no matter how careful you were.

We would burn about 2 tons in a winter heating season, this cut our oil use to less than 250 gallons per year.

When we finally finished off the basement where the fireplace and insert were located, we sold the insert and installed a pellet stove for 6 years. Now we heat with a ground source heat pump and there are no ashes to clean or fuel to haul in.

We sold the Harman insert to a young Mennonite couple. They drove an hour to come see it before they bought it. We agreed on a price and I asked them when they were coming back to pick it up. They took it with them in an old Dodge Caravan. We removed all the firebricks, made a ramp out of a couple 8' long 2 by 12's and walked the insert up the ramp into the back of the minivan. They loaded the firebircks in the side door. I thought the sturts in the rear of the van were going to burst. As they got in to drive home, the wife asked the husband how they would get it out the van when they got home. He smiled and told her she had a hour to figure it out on the way home.

 

[ToadHill]

One of my memories as a kid. "Don't you two dare play in that coal bin."

 

[Dutch445]

I bought my house 6 years ago which included a Harman hand
fired coal stove which we use as our primary heat source here
in Upstate NY. The boiler in the house is like brand new,
Buderas (sp) brand, great, but I can heat from Thanksgiving
thru Easter for approx $1,000, keeping the house around 70
and the basement where the stove is located gets heated
also, even though it isn't every day living space.

Shake, dump ashes, fill, twice a day,, but once you get
it down, it's quick. If I need an extended burn, ie a nite out
of town, I can load and dial it back a bit and get 24+
hours. I burn approx 5 ton, some years a little more, some
less. Anthracite nut size is what I use, although my stove says
it can use up to Stove size, or down to pea? (i don't remember
all the sizes)

but, i will say it is such an even heat, no cold mornings, the house
stays very constant in temp.

 

[Wis Bang]

I grew up w/ coal...our old and poorly insulated frame house used 5 - 7 tons of 'stove' and would start up the first few days w/ wood until it got colder.

My alarm clock was the sound of dad shaking the grates followed by the sound of the shovel sliding on concrete into the coal bin 2 - 3 times...

I also remember waking up to frost on the inside of my bedroom windows after goin to sleep laying on top of the covers cause the house was around 85...

 

[easygo]

I grew up in a house that had a semi automatic coal furnace that used small crushed coal. Into the hopper went 27 buckets of coal and on the bottom out came 4-5 buckets of ash. We burned about two dump truck loads of coal per winter and I kind of hated it. The refill and cleaning of the furnace and heat exchangers was a messy job and the ashes stank of sulphur. During the coldest part of the winter it had to be done every 4-5 days.

 

[Argosy]

We burned mainly wood but always got a couple of pickups of coal from the co-op when I was growing up. It's easy to break big chunks of coal with a small sledge hammer. When you banked the stove at night it was mainly wood with a piece or two of coal. If you're making it glow red you've got way too much fuel no matter what you're burning.

Ashes went on the drive and the path to the barn. It gave some traction and melted the ice as well as salt.