Does anyone heat with a Coal Stove?????????

Dutch445 · Dec 15, 2005

Glad to hear you like the stove,
I am getting the hang of it , I think. I'm learning
to shake the grate a bit more for better draft.

I am in a similar situation.. this Mark 3 stove I have is
in the basement.. the previous owner had installed this hood
over top of the stove to catch a lot of heat, and then it has 8" flex pipe that runs along the cieling for 10' and up thru a 12x10" floor grate in the living room , where there is a small circulating fan to push that heat upstairs. Works great, althought the other side of the house doesn't get that warm. I talked with a Harman Dealer yesterday, and he said the water heating coil was around $200... so I'm thinking of trying to connect that coil into the baseboard heat that is already in the house, and run it off the coal stove instead of the oil boiler. The boiler return lines run right above and behind the coal stove, and I could loop into that system very easily, and maybe use the boiler's circulation pump to cycle the water to the zones that don't get much heat from the stove now.
If anybody has used this system, I'd be interested in hearing about it.. My concern would be does water HAVE to be circulating at all times... and if not is it ok for it to sit still for long periods when the thermostats didn't call for heat upstairs..

current fire has been going for 7 days,,, and hopefully will keep going! I'm learning what to not use as far as coal... and to try to keep the dust from this coal bin out of the stove,, seems to not let things breath as well.
Storm coming in tonight, will have to watch carefully with the wind and see how that affects my draft!

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6or7dazeaweek · Dec 16, 2005

Dutch: I looked at the Harman coal burning stoves but my local dealer said I'd be crazy to use it to heat my house. Said that it would drive me right out of the place so I opted to get the Harman stoker which burns rice size coal.

By the way, the place where I get my coal delivers it wet...I think to keep down the dust...or else to add to the weight. I'm not sure but I do know that the Harman burns the wet coal without any problem other than a slight increase in the feed rate.

If by chance you do install the water loop I'd love to hear how you like it. My house was built in 1989 and total electric. I wish I had baseboard radiation that I could tap into but all I've got are the lousy radiant electric things that came with the house.

It would probably be beneficial for me to install baseboard radiation & get the loop installed. I just need to figure a way of hiding the pipes from the stove & getting them upstairs. Being that this place is a raised ranch, I'll have to come up thru the bathroom or inside one of the closets. Have to do some serious thinking on that one.

One final note...I think you'll be happy with the cost of coal vs oil or any other type of fuel...unless it's free wood.

Stay warm!

Jon /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

scott_vt · Dec 16, 2005

Mornin Dutch,
I didnt mention it in any previous posts, but the Harman coal stoves are in my opinion the Cadillacs of coal stoves. Im happy to hear that you are getting the hang of it! You should try posting a picture when you have a chance /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

scotty

Dutch445 · Dec 20, 2005

Been over a week,, well almost 2 now! She's running great,
seem to be getting the hang of it.
I've gotten to where I can wake up to a nice hot fire in the morning,, the house is still warm,, and all I need to do is shake it and add some fresh coal... then a half hour later before I go to work, I fill it up again... working great!
The heat is great,, although I think I'm burning quite a bit of coal... I'd guess 80 lbs a day? I have 8 of the bags from the coal yard,, and I fill them just over half,,, and I burn about 1.5 of them a day... more or less. We have had cold nites, in the teens lately,, and last week was 10 below a couple nites.. and we've kept the house toasty. "SHE" had a tendancy last week to run the boiler in the morning, to warm up the kitchen... but with some better fan placement, I think I'm getting more heat from the cellar up into the kitchen,, it was about 66 there this morning when I got up.
I think that I've learned to be better when shaking the grates, I need to do it so that I can see the glow of the fire reflecting down into the ash tray.. then it seems to be enough for good draft. I have even been able to get my air control dial turned way down compared to 2 weeks ago... so that tells me I'm on the right track. I've still got maybe 1/2 ton of coal left piled up in the bin in the garage, and I'm carefully filling the bags and bringing them into the house, trying not to fill them with all of the dust in the pile....(which is also helping my draft!)

Anyway, after Christmas next week, I will be heading to get some new coal, and I will probably get it in the bags.. easier to move around... (I think they charge $10 per ton extra for bagging)

I have read that some people use matchlite charcoal for starting, can anybody comment on this? The one time I put
some in the smell was pretty bad,, and the g/f was not happy, thinking of the fumes from the lighte fluid in the charcoal.

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scott_vt · Dec 20, 2005

Hi Dutch,
Sounds to me like you are really getting the hang of that stove, you do have a Cadillac there, in case your wondering /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I always felt that my stove burned much better when we had cold weather. The draft was stronger and made things much easier IMHO.

I never used the charcoal to light the stove myself, but have heard of others that did. As I stated earlier in this thread, I used a wood fire with alot of hot coals, with excellent success /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Even in my stove during the cold weather, I think I was using a 50lb bag and sometimes just a little more than that. Just a side note, I use a old 5" muffin fan out of an old electrical appliance on the backside top of the stove and blow towards the cellar stairs, doesnt move alot of air but definitely helps /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Glad to hear that things are finally working out!

scotty

techman · Dec 20, 2005

I had burned coal for quite a few years. As far as the match light, once you light it, close the door until the charcoal is really going...no smell.

As far as the ash and coal dust, you just have to learn to live with it. We found many times the dust in the house (in every room) despite the best efforts to contain it when shaking the grate and emptying the ash pan.

We always knew that we had some coal dust in the house and garage (bin was in the garage), but when we moved and moved boxes and things, we were shocked at the amount of black coal dust in the house. Even where we did not expect to see it. It is just part of the price you pay for cheap heat. I don't think bags will help and may actually be dirtier due to handling the bags (which WILL be dirty).

As for the water coil just be sure that there are appropiate valves in the system to prevent overpressure if the stove outruns the water's capacity.

paul

scesnick · Jan 6, 2006

I have a AHS coal/wood/oil boiler. ( 225,000 btu) It works great. If the coal or wood burns out the oil kicks on completley automatic. I sold my outdoor wood eater,eer wood furnace and put this joker in my garage this winter. It is great to no longer freeze while tending the fire. All the mess is out in the garage. It seems from reading these posts the trouble with keeping the fire going is the draft. You need a draft to come from under the grates for a coal fire and over the wood for a wood fire.
My AHS boiler has the best of both worlds. It has a forced draft under the grates (electric blower) for coal burning and a natural draft over the wood. Both systems can be shut off depending on what the fuel is. The forced draft is the only way to go with coal. It only runs when my water is below 160 deg. the coal burns real slow until it kicks on and then it really heats the water quickly. This is very efficient. I use probably one 5 gallon bucket of coal a day for a 3,400 sq ft house. on a very cold mountain in Western md.

mjarrels,
Where exactly are in in Va.? I live about an hour from winchester in Frostburg Md. and coal up here is only $45.00 a ton for big vein. Might be worth the trip for ya if you have a bigger truck.

mjarrels · Jan 7, 2006

I live in the harrisonburg area... buy coal at monger coal and oil in Elkton at last price .091 a pound for hard nut coal. It would probably be worth a day trip for 45.00 a ton coal if it is hard nut coal and i could load my truck and borrow a landscape trailer from my brother-in-law and buy 3 tons. Would last the rest of the winter... I'm down to my last couple hundred pounds now.

scesnick · Jan 8, 2006

Mjarrels,

Harrisonburg is quite a ride from here. about 2.5-3 hours. I burn soft bituminous coal and it is right around$45-$50 a ton. Nut coal is probably a little more. You could call before you come up.
I don't have the coal mines numbers offhand but I'm guessing you could find it on google or some where.
Barton Mining inc------------- Barton maryland
Barnes mining inc ------------- Frostburg maryland
Clise Coal co. ---------------------- Frostburg md.
BTC mining ------------------------ Barton md.