Used my one match for the season.

Michael6268 · Nov 23, 2015

Getting a little cooler here in central New Hampshire. Figured it was time to light up the coal stove. Used my "one match of the season", weather permitting. If it stays cool and all goes well the stove stay lit until spring. Burning coal you not only save money in fuel / BTUs. You save at least $2

or $3 in your lifetime on matches! Lol
You can barely see Charlie the boxer's head in the bottom left of the picture watching his stove! He loves it!

Michael6268 · Nov 23, 2015

Here he is again, all settled in!

bholler · Nov 23, 2015

most of us dont start many fires either. Really once it gets consistently cool i only start 2 or 3 times that i need a match. And that is only if i go away for more than a day. Otherwise i still have enough coals. And you spend more money on fuel than i do i am sure. I only have a couple hundred a year in fuel maintenance costs and spreading out the cost of equipment. I know you like coal and if it works for you great but you are not going to convert us. lol

Michael6268 · Nov 23, 2015

Lol wasn't trying to. Just some friendly conversation!

HarvestMan · Nov 23, 2015

Michael6268 said:
Figured it was time to light up the coal stove.

I'd like to hear more about your stove. Besides saving on matches, what other benefits do you get from burning coal? Burn times? Cost per ton? Tons per year? etc.

bholler · Nov 23, 2015

HarvestMan said:
'd like to hear more about your stove. Besides saving on matches, what other benefits do you get from burning coal? Burn times? Cost per ton? Tons per year? etc.

There are different types of coal stoves available the one he has is a hand fired unit much like a wood stove but yes they typically have much longer burn times. There are also stokers that work much like pellet stoves and automatically feed the coal in and use a combustion air blower. The cost and quality of coal is going to vary allot depending on your location. I am in central pa and if you drive up to the mines you can get a ton of coal for under $200. Or have it delivered in bulk for between 2 and 250. All we have here is anthracite which is much harder and higher btus than bituminous. Anthracite also burns much cleaner than bituminous. Now the bad is there is a much higher potential for carbon monoxide getting into the house. There is allot more volume of ash. It will eat stove pipe and even stainless steel liners. If you live in an area where good coal is readily available and cheap coal is not a bad option. I personally really dont like the sulfur smell of coal burning so i wont be going back to it but it doesnt bother other people

fire_man · Nov 23, 2015

Charlie looks like he might be settling in for the Winter next to that stove!

Coal stoves have always intrigued me but the ash disposal issue and coal dust issue sounds annoying.

bholler · Nov 23, 2015

fire_man said:
Coal stoves have always intrigued me but the ash disposal issue and coal dust issue sounds annoying.

ash disposal is not much of an issue here most of the township sheds around take it to spread on the roads when it snows. But yes the dust can be an issue for some people. And ash disposal can be a hassle as well in some areas

Michael6268 · Nov 23, 2015

Its a Hitzer 50 - 93 hopper fed stove. Heating about 3000 square feet. Central New Hampshire cold climate. 32 windows and skylights in the house! Way too many, but that wasn't our doing! On really cold days I get 12 hrs of constant heat between tendings. On warmer days, upper 30's, it goes 24 hours between tending. On an average winter I burn close to 3 tons. On colder winters closer to 4 tons.
Prices vary per year, this year I paid $249.00 a ton for bagged.
coal.
Things I like about burning coal are. High BTU value. Little mess. The coal in bags is virtually dust free. Ashes can be a little messy if you're not careful. I like that I can leave my coal out in the yard in the snow and don't have to worry about it getting wet. It burns no matter what. I like the long slow burn times of constant heat between tendings. This stove has a bi-metal thermostat on it that regulates the heat so you can pretty much set it and forget it. With the hopper you can load it up to the top and it virtually feeds itself between tendings. Holds about 150 pounds of coal. Daily maintenance consists of shaking it a few shakes of the lever. Filling the hopper, and taking the ashes out once a day. All in all, one tending takes about 2 -3 minutes. I also like the fact that I don't have to worry about any chimney fires.
I love it. The amount of heat versus the amount of work involved, makes it the right choice for me. Not trying to convert anyone. I really do think that if people really saw a coal stove in action, they would have a very different opinion about it though.

fire_man · Nov 23, 2015

My Sweep guy was telling a story about one customer that heated with coal and has burned through Two rigid pipe SS liners in less than 10 years. At least one of them was T316. The only thing they could figure was the stove was installed in a humid area where laundry gets done and the extra moisture reacted with the smoke residue and became corrosive.

bholler · Nov 23, 2015

Michael6268 said:
Its a Hitzer 50 - 93 hopper fed stove.

i didnt know that i thought yours was hand fired.

Michael6268 said:
Little mess. The coal in bags is virtually dust free.

That varies allot. when i burn coal if the bags were wet then yes no dust but they are pretty dusty when dry in my experience.

Michael6268 said:
I also like the fact that I don't have to worry about any chimney fires.

yes no chimney fire but you can still have fires from heat transfer and there is a much larger risk of co poisoning. But yeah no combustibles in the stack means no actual chimney fires

Michael6268 said:
I really do think that if people really saw a coal stove in action, they would have a very different opinion about it though.

I see and work on them all the time and i prefer wood by far but you may be right some may change their minds.

fire_man · Nov 23, 2015

Michael6268
What happens when we get those mid Winter New England heat spells, when it hits 60F in January for a couple days? Doesn't coal run you out of the house and you have to deal with it until it cools down, or open windows?

Is there any coal dust on the furniture?

bholler · Nov 23, 2015

fire_man said:
My Sweep guy was telling a story about one customer that heated with coal and has burned through Two rigid pipe SS liners in less than 10 years. At least one of them was T316. The only thing they could figure was the stove was installed in a humid area where laundry gets done and the extra moisture reacted with the smoke residue and became corrosive.

Yes even 316 will corrode eventually and if there is excess moisture it will be much faster. When water and coal ashes combine it creates sulferis acid which is pretty corrosive. What we do to extend the life os stainless for coal is right when people shut down for the season we clean it and spray it down with wd-40. But really clay is a better liner for coal

Michael6268 · Nov 23, 2015

I've got a masonry chimney which is ideal for coal. If using stainless you really have to get a heavy duty one. The lightweight ones will not hold up long. The real key to longevity with a stainless steel liner is keeping it clean in the offseason. When the stove is burning you don't have to worry about corrosion that much. It's when you shut down and the humidity and rain hit the fly ash. It becomes very corrosive.
I don't ever really smell sulfur. I know in my old home it was a single story ranch, and on warm days I might get a downdraft "wiff" of sulfur. As for carbon monoxide. Yes coal does produce a higher amount of it. But wood, pellets, oil etc all do too.
As for "more" of a chance of it escaping into the home with a coal stove, I don't know if I agree with that. Coal produces very low stack temperatures compared to wood. So of course your draft is not as strong sometimes. If you have a negative pressure in the house , you might get a leak. But that is true with any burning appliance. If your chimney vents properly, I don't really see much of an issue. Also as with any heating appliance, I have carbon monoxide detectors in my home.

Simonkenton · Nov 23, 2015

That is a good looking stove! I can tell that Charlie likes it.
That is fascinating to me, to see someone heating with coal. I am up here in the NC mountains, nobody heats with coal.
However, I have heard that 100 years ago many of the people around here heated with coal.

bholler · Nov 23, 2015

Michael6268 said:
As for "more" of a chance of it escaping into the home with a coal stove, I don't know if I agree with that. Coal produces very low stack temperatures compared to wood. So of course your draft is not as strong sometimes. If you have a negative pressure in the house , you might get a leak. But that is true with any burning appliance. If your chimney vents properly, I don't really see much of an issue. Also as with any heating appliance, I have carbon monoxide detectors in my home.

Yes i feel every home should have co detectors as well but the main difference between coal and wood as far as co goes is the levels. Coal produces allot more and does it the entire burn where wood makes much less and really only in the coaling stage. During the rest of the burn the levels are very low. But yes if everything is set up right and working properly the risk is still low but many times things are not right.

Michael6268 · Nov 23, 2015

fire_man said:
Michael6268
What happens when we get those mid Winter New England heat spells, when it hits 60F in January for a couple days? Doesn't coal run you out of the house and you have to deal with it until it cools down, or open windows?

Is there any coal dust on the furniture?

On a lot of stoves including mine, there is a bi - metal thermostat on it. You can set that just like you set a thermostat with a dial located on the back of the stove. You put it on low and it'll pretty much idles the fire along. During the warm spells we have, I can idle it down to 150 degrees on the stove. We've hit 70 degrees outside sometimes, and the house really doesn't get that warm when idling that low.

The coal that is bagged is usually pre-washed and comes damp (sometimes wet) in the bag. Virtually no dust is produced from the coal itself.
The coal ash however is like talcum powder!
If it's windy or you get careless when you're taking the ashes out, you're going to have a face full / house full of dust.

bholler · Nov 23, 2015

Michael6268 said:
The coal that is bagged is usually pre-washed and comes damp (sometimes wet) in the bag. Virtually no dust is produced from the coal itself.

it is all washed if the bags are still wet or damp then you are right there will be little to no dust but if they have dried out they are dusty still.

Michael6268 · Nov 23, 2015

fire_man said:
Charlie looks like he might be settling in for the Winter next to that stove!

Simonkenton said:
That is a good looking stove! I can tell that Charlie likes it.

Thanks guys! Yeah Charlie lives by that stove all winter!

Forgot to mention. It also has a blower on it. I really don't use the blower that much except during the coldest months.

Michael6268 · Nov 23, 2015

bholler said:
i didnt know that i thought yours was hand fired. .

It is classified as a hand fired. For those that don't know.
The difference being it has a hopper in it that feeds the coal by gravity. A true hand fired in my opinion, is one that you have to shovel the coal in through the front door. A hopper fed has a lid on the top that you just dump the coal into and fill to the top. The hopper itself is like a chute that holds and feeds the fire the coal. The coal in the hopper doesn't burn in the hopper because there is no oxygen to feed it. It only burns when it feeds by gravity down into the fire bed.

Fake coal burner · Nov 23, 2015

Mine coal come threw a 1/2 pipe. No matches or ash or coal dust.

spirilis · Nov 23, 2015

That long extended burn time is a neat perk. Probably the best we can get in woodstove land is the Catalytic stoves e.g. Blaze King but those still aren't hopper fed.

I think on nepacrossroads when snooping one time I read some folks keep a work lamp with 100W bulb lit inside their stoves all summer to keep the corrosion down. Much of that probably does occur during the off season when it gets humid out here in the East.

bholler · Nov 23, 2015

spirilis said:
I think on nepacrossroads when snooping one time I read some folks keep a work lamp with 100W bulb lit inside their stoves all summer to keep the corrosion down.

yeah that helps a little but they still need cleaned and sprayed down

Michael6268 · Nov 23, 2015

When the weather turns warm in the spring, I usually burn wood in it for a few weeks. Its not a great wood burner but the main reason I do it is the warmer temps outside, and it burns off corrosive residue. I then clean it very good with a brush and a shop vac. And clean the stove connector pipe out. I then overstuff a heavy duty garbage bag with insulation material, and pack it in the thimble opening. I put the stove pipe back loosely just for looks during the offseason. The bag keeps moisture from seeping through the insulation and into the stove. I've yet to use a lightbulb, but a lot of guys do and say it works. I put a container of DampRid in.

Highbeam · Nov 24, 2015

Too bad there's no coal in Washington. Seems to be regional. Lots of coal trains passing through on the way to the port.

Used my one match for the season.

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