How about coal?

I asked that question to AHS (makers of my WB) and was told that X% was OK. I just don't remember what X was. I got a bag of "stove" size coal and threw in 6-8 chunks at a time, this was last year (my first) and I don't really think I knew enough, or had enough experieance with it to give you a realistic report. I still have half of it left and I'll use it this winter. I only threw it in on the coldest nights thinking that it might prolong my loading time. There is a heck of a lot of BTU's in a pound of coal!

Just out of curiosity. What is the cost of coal? Where can you buy it. I have never looked for it on sale around here. How does the price compare with wood, oil, etc.?

Gasifier said:

Just out of curiosity. What is the cost of coal? Where can you buy it. I have never looked for it on sale around here. How does the price compare with wood, oil, etc.?

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The big coal-burner forum is http://nepacrossroads.com/ fyi... It's Anthracite you'd want to burn in a home, it's the really hard (high-rank) coal that's quite rare and only really mined in Eastern Pennsylvania as far as N. America is concerned. I've read the price is going up, some keep hearing that it's all getting sold to China or whatever, but $250-350/ton is probably a fair range depending on how far away you live from eastern PA. A ton of anthracite has roughly the same BTU's as a cord of seasoned Oak firewood by comparison. One advantage of anthracite over wood though, is you can damper down a coal fire pretty low without it going out completely or gunking up your chimney, you can literally "idle" the fire so long as the coalbed isn't plugged up with ash/unable to breathe.

The bulk of coal mined is softer grades, i.e. bituminous/subbituminous/lignite, there's a subforum on the nepacrossroads.com site where people discuss burning Bit coal... some folks can go up to a breaker with a truck and buy that stuff for ~$80/ton, and its BTU value is similar to anthracite (even higher than anthracite with some veins, like eastern Kentucky's coal), but that's the stuff coal's known for--dirty, soot belching stuff that leaves a layer of black soot all over the walls of your basement (the moment you have a serious buildup of smoke in the firebox without a flame to ignite it and it explodes in your face when you open the door), leaves soot all over the snow in the winter, etc. You really need a stove built for Bit coal to burn it properly; it's like wood in that it needs secondary/over-fire air to burn properly but unlike wood it needs under-fire air through a grate too. Most coal stoves are designed with Anthracite in mind I think, and that only requires under-fire air through the shaker grate.

So 711. Where did you buy your coal where you live? Is that coal from Penn.?

Gasifier said:

So 711. Where did you buy your coal where you live? Is that coal from Penn.?

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I got a 50# bag for about $10 locally and it may be slang, but it is "hard" coal and I think that refers to the PA anthracite. I went to AHS place before I dicided, and they had one of their Coal Guns heating (one of) their bldgs. it was an old dairy barn with a concrete silo right next to it like many old dairies. It was their coal storage. They had a screw conveyor into the bldg. and then a second auger that fed the boiler automatically. Very cool. I noticed no coal odor outside at all. It seem's that the soft coal is much dirtier and that gives the hard coal a bad rep. When my wood chopping days are over, I'm going with coal. (at least that's my current thinking) I think that bulk coal in PA is still around $200/ton! A ton of coal is about 4'X4'X4' (depending in the coal size, rice, nut, pea etc) and contains 25million btu's!

Here's a thread:

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/67700/P15/#776105

"I burn anthracite coal in a stoker, 40 lbs per day, completely different from your setup, but I will tell you this, once you go to coal, burning wood will become just a hobby." --Mike Wilson

--ewd

My Grandfather mined the stuff, I burnt it in my first house, prefer wood.

Anthracite coal has 12,700 BTU/Lb, this is way more then any wood species
Coal burns much hotter then wood
A regular coal stove has a factor 4 to 5 more secondary air then primary air.
Don't know how this will work in a downdraft gasifier

I have a half ton of Anthracite in the backyard. I figured I'd give it a shot in the gasser. I bought a long cast iron grate, put it over the nozzle, and put a layer of the coal on it. It burned really well. However the grate looks like shrapnel after the one burn. So I think the problem is what you could put the coal on/in to keep it from falling through. I think you would have to use a ceramic grate - if such a thing exists. I'm thinking maybe cut some firebrick into strips to criscross the nozzle, making a sort of grate?

I mix coal with my wood on really cold nights. I use Bit coal and its about $70 a ton right now. I burn typically about 1-2 ton thru winter mixing with wood. Anthracite is good also but a little harder to deal with and harder to find. Bit coal depending on which seam you get can be dirty to deal with but really not any more than wood. The only difference is that coal needs a little more air in the boiler to burn correctly. Its just something you have to mess with a little bit but once you get it its NICE. For long burns, fill your boiler with wood and leave space at the top. Take about 2-3 shovelfuls and put in brown paper bag and place on top (about 5 lbs). What happens is that the wood will burn and the coal will not really get going until the wood burns down to red chunks. Once the coal gets going it will form somewhat of a clob as it cokes. Dont stir this clob up as it will really put out the heat for 3-4 hours.. IF you stir it or break it up it will still burn fine but you dont get near the heat. To get a really hot fire put the coal on bottom and it will rock and roll in about an hour. I do not have a gasser and no experience with one but reading how they work I would not use coal in gasser. Blowing air thru coal coke is how you make steel. If you get a a really high Btu coal you could probably damage your stove. Also for those that keep a fire going all the time coal is a good way to maintain temps thru the day. Just throw in a bag and limit the air and it will keep heat for 9-10 hours

I've switched totally over to coal, after not being able to get long enough burn times, or creosote under control, in my New Yorker WC130 (traditional wood/coal boiler) and I couldn't be happier. Long burn times, no smoke, and no creosote. I'm in South Jersey, and have my coal brought in on a triaxle from PA, just paid $200 a ton delivered. I was buying my firewood before, so the little extra money still is much cheaper than oil... I burn about 4 tons a season for 3800 SQ Ft. I definitely recommend anyone interested in coal check out the NEPA coal forum... lots of info over there.