Another reason I love coal!

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Michael6268

Michael6268

Minister of Fire
Nov 19, 2005
784
Grafton NH/Upper Valley
I burn bagged coal in a hand fed stove.
Got down to the bottom of a pallet. The bottom couple bags were obviously soaked and with this weather froze solid. Smashed them on the ground and broken up into huge chunks. No problem! Open the stove and throw it in.
No seasoning required! LOL
This is a pic of a chunk frozen together that was in the corner of the bag.

Wouldn't do that in a stoker though. It'll clog the mechanism up.

 

Attachments

  • 2016-02-14 15.57.34.jpg
    2016-02-14 15.57.34.jpg
    75.5 KB · Views: 333
  • Like
Reactions: dafattkidd
nepacrossroads.com
 
  • Like
Reactions: bholler
Yeah but what does it cost you? I have burnt coal and i prefer wood by far. I personally cant stand the smell of coal or the coal ash. But I am glad it works for you.
 
I'm really interested in burning coal, it's just not real practical in my location. There's some available in Amish communities about an hour away, not too bad. I would burn coal long before I went back to pellets!
Is that a Hitzer stove you're burning?
 
I looked into coal but I'm in the heart of what is left of coal country. It makes it next to impossible to get anthracite coal here from Pennsylvania since everyone burns what they can get local. I did see that TS started selling #50 bags of anthracite this winter but I don't recall the price.

No problems though, my interest in coal was for the long burn times. I found a Blaze King and am happy with the outcome.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dafattkidd
bholler said:
Yeah but what does it cost you? I have burnt coal and i prefer wood by far. I personally cant stand the smell of coal or the coal ash. But I am glad it works for you.
Click to expand...


Cost me? As in lost heat or dollars for coal? Lost heat due to wet coal would be none. It evaporates the water in a matter of seconds. Coal costs about $249 a ton. Usually burn about 3 tons. This year will be less.
 
burned coal back in late 70's to early80's till warm spell!!! down draft sent fumes into cellar family. room, not good!! burned only wood after as it was a duel stove. great heat I've got to admit from coal. after my experience, just didn't trust it.
 
I mean cost to heat which you answered If you only use 3 tone the cost is not to bad. $249 is really high compared to what we pay here but still not bad. But i still don't like the smell of coal. Un burnt and burnt i just don't like it. Not to mention all of the ash and dirt there is to deal with. Wood has enough but coal is way worse from my experience.
 
webby3650 said:
I'm really interested in burning coal, it's just not real practical in my location. There's some available in Amish communities about an hour away, not too bad. I would burn coal long before I went back to pellets!
Is that a Hitzer stove you're burning?
Click to expand...

I hear you on the pellets!

Yes, its a Hitzer hopper fed coal stove. Considered a hand fed. No electricity except for an optional blower. Gravity feeds coal that is stored above the fire via a hopper.
 
bholler said:
I mean cost to heat which you answered If you only use 3 tone the cost is not to bad. $249 is really high compared to what we pay here but still not bad. But i still don't like the smell of coal. Un burnt and burnt i just don't like it. Not to mention all of the ash and dirt there is to deal with. Wood has enough but coal is way worse from my experience.
Click to expand...
You and I have talked about this many times. I know you had a messy experience in the past with coal. In my experience, it's the cleanest of the three. Those being coal pellets, and wood. I use bagged "anthracite" coal which is washed and virtually dust-free. And I'm careful when I take the ashes out. Pellets where a talcom bomb of sawdust all over the house, not to mention all the dirt from stove cleaning. And wood was always messy with bark bugs etc.

I dont get any smell and no smoke.
Nobody even knows I have a stove burning in the neighborhood.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: webby3650
Michael6268 said:
I use bagged "anthracite" coal which is washed and virtually dust-free.
Click to expand...
Yes dust free while it is wet i have never seen dry dust free coal of any sort bagged buck or anything. Yes i think pellets have more dust from the fuel and about the same from cleaning. But no where near as much as wood. And to me coal smells pretty bad that is all there is to it. I can smell it walking up to a house that burns coal and once i walk in i can usually smell the un burnt coal. I clean allot of coal stoves as well as allot of wood stoves and i would much rather work on wood. Coal dirt is nasty and it burns your eyes and nose if you don't have a full face respirator on. It burns and cuts on your hands or just you skin if it gets wet. If you choose to burn coal that is up to you I just don't understand why you come here where we pretty much all burn wood and act like coal is better.
 
Coal definitely has its benefits. The idea of fuel that doesn't need to take up so much space for seasoning, can be used the day it is purchased, and the super long consistent burn times are all very good features. However, I love cutting, splitting , stacking and burning wood. The whole process has a certain amount of nostalgia for me. Besides the fact that 95% of what I burn is completely free of charge. So if I couldn't burn wood, I'd burn coal. I'm glad you are happy burning coal, but the pyro in me loves burning wood.
 
bholler said:
Yes dust free while it is wet i have never seen dry dust free coal of any sort bagged buck or anything. Yes i think pellets have more dust from the fuel and about the same from cleaning. But no where near as much as wood. And to me coal smells pretty bad that is all there is to it. I can smell it walking up to a house that burns coal and once i walk in i can usually smell the un burnt coal. I clean allot of coal stoves as well as allot of wood stoves and i would much rather work on wood. Coal dirt is nasty and it burns your eyes and nose if you don't have a full face respirator on. It burns and cuts on your hands or just you skin if it gets wet. If you choose to burn coal that is up to you I just don't understand why you come here where we pretty much all burn wood and act like coal is better.
Click to expand...

I never posted this thread with the intent of converting anyone as you state. Posted it as a lighthearted post because I thought it was funny how I could take a solid bag of frozen coal and throw it in the fire-good as dry. You really need to come down off of your "self-proclaimed high horse". You take every thread and make it about you. You my friend are wrong many many times from stating in a post a "routinely smashing out chimney tiles for no good reason" to other things I've witnessed on this forumthat are total BS!
You can burn what you want. Burn your house down for all I care. Stay inside for all I care.
Again this post was nothing more than an observation and lighthearted discussion. You, as usual chose to turn it into something else with the garbage you continually spew!.
That's how this forum used to be. Light-hearted friendly, didn't have people like you always trying to dispute other people's opinions.
Get a life man!
 
dafattkidd said:
Coal definitely has its benefits. The idea of fuel that doesn't need to take up so much space for seasoning, can be used the day it is purchased, and the super long consistent burn times are all very good features. However, I love cutting, splitting , stacking and burning wood. The whole process has a certain amount of nostalgia for me. Besides the fact that 95% of what I burn is completely free of charge. So if I couldn't burn wood, I'd burn coal. I'm glad you are happy burning coal, but the pyro in me loves burning wood.
Click to expand...

Well said! I totally agree with you! I love wood too . I used to have a wood stove. Coal worked out better for me financially as well as ease of use etc. Still burn wood a lot in my fireplace. Love it. Realize its a waste of money in a fireplace, but can't get away from it.

I do sometimes try to dispel the myths that anthracite coal is very dirty etc which is just not true.
 
  • Like
Reactions: drz1050
I am very impressed with Hitzer stoves. Here is a picture I took at the trade show in Orlando. All 4 of these flues were running a coal stove. Very clean, no smell whatsoever! The caps aren't even discolored after several days of burning.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    116.5 KB · Views: 170
Dang Michael. That hardly seemed lighthearted or friendly.

We don't even have the option of coal here. There is no reliable, economical supply of it.
 
bholler said:
I mean cost to heat which you answered If you only use 3 tone the cost is not to bad. $249 is really high compared to what we pay here but still not bad. But i still don't like the smell of coal. Un burnt and burnt i just don't like it. Not to mention all of the ash and dirt there is to deal with. Wood has enough but coal is way worse from my experience.
Click to expand...


Hm.... I mostly burn wood, and am looking to get a better stove. This will get me the advantages of coal (burn times) that are important to me without the negatives (cost). It sounds like newer cat stoves will do what I need, especially if I do some insulating.

So I'm certainly not here to convert. What I don't understand is your comment about smell. Perhaps bituminous smells, I've never burnt it. However, I have went through about 1/2 ton of anthracite so far this year over an experiment and recently to get through this present cold snap with my wood/coal combo that just couldn't keep up overnight. I have not smelled anything that wasn't directly attributable to the diesel fuel that my most recent supplier saturated my coal with.

I understand all of the disadvantages that come with coal; they are pushing me to install a more efficient wood stove and plan insulation projects. I just don't observe the smell.
 
I have no experience with coal whatsoever. But why is it soaked in diesel? Seems that would wreak to high heaven?
 
Squisher said:
I have no experience with coal whatsoever. But why is it soaked in diesel? Seems that would wreak to high heaven?
Click to expand...


It doesn't smell good at all when burned. I'm glad I don't have neighbors. In the basement, the feed sacks that it is in keeps the smell sealed in pretty good. My wife has yet to complain, and she has a pretty sensitive nose.

The people at NEPA Crossroads had never heard of a supplier doing such a thing. I'm pretty sure that it was done to keep down the dust, which it does do. But the smell.... bleh. I'm going to do some searching for other suppliers and grab about 500 pounds to experiment with this winter so that next year I know where to go and can prepare ahead.
 
Interesting. A generation or two ago here you could get coal, but it's unavailable now. I've always been somewhat curious about it.
 
Squisher said:
Interesting. A generation or two ago here you could get coal, but it's unavailable now. I've always been somewhat curious about it.
Click to expand...

I never really was until I inherited a house with a stove that could burn coal. It was previously my grandfather's, however, he had always burned wood and never really told anyone that his current stove could burn coal. I like having options, so I tried it out. The learning curve is a little steep and I had to forget a good bit about what I knew about running this stove with wood in it. Anthracite and wood are pretty different. I've read that bituminous acts like wood, and I wouldn't mind trying that out to see what it's like.

I feel a bit wasteful when my current house sits on a plot with about 75 wooded acres. But, in this cold snap, a 650 degree stove that will maintain that temperature for 9-10 hours was a temptation that I couldn't pass up, and that's about what I need to maintain a comfortable temperature when the high for the day is 20. If I wanted that from wood in my current set-up, it would mean tending every 4 hours or so. That's not realistic, because I have to sleep and go to work. When it's this cold, it's hard to catch back up in an evening when my heat output was low overnight and then again when I'm at work.
 
webby3650 said:
I am very impressed with Hitzer stoves. Here is a picture I took at the trade show in Orlando. All 4 of these flues were running a coal stove. Very clean, no smell whatsoever! The caps aren't even discolored after several days of burning.
Click to expand...

They are nice stoves. I think one of the best coal stoves out there.
 

Attachments

  • 20140228_131925.jpg
    20140228_131925.jpg
    70.2 KB · Views: 142
Michael6268 said:
You my friend are wrong many many times from stating in a post a "routinely smashing out chimney tiles for no good reason"
Click to expand...
I have never smashed out tiles for no good reason. I do remove them very often but never for no reason. So please enlighten us on what you read here all the time that is bs. I am sorry if me giving advice to people who are asking for it offends you but i am here to try to help people. If that means i am making every thread about me so be it. And what is the crap about burning my house down about? Or staying inside? I work every day on chimneys to help keep people safe you would rather I stay home?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Woody Stover
Internet protip: Unless you're a door-to-door psychiatrist, don't respond to long, unhinged posts containing vague death threats with a request for more information. Let those people wander off and find a new target.

Really didn't expect to see something like that on these forums!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

webfish
  • Locked
Coal Appliances COAL - SO YOU’RE CONSIDERING A COAL STOVE?
Replies
0
Views
5K
Articles
webfish
webfish
webfish
  • Locked
Pellet Stoves/Corn/Biomass CONSUMERS GUIDE TO PELLETS PART ONE
Replies
0
Views
7K
Articles
webfish
webfish
webfish
  • Locked
General GLOSSARY OF COMMON HEARTH AND HEATING TERMS
Replies
0
Views
7K
Articles
webfish
webfish
webfish
  • Locked
Gas Appliances UNVENTED VS VENTED GAS APPLIANCES
Replies
0
Views
6K
Articles
webfish
webfish
Ashful
  • Locked
I Love You Harbor Freight, But You Smell Like Plastic Hell
Replies
16
Views
4K
The Inglenook
Retired Guy
Retired Guy
Top Bottom
Back