Coal vs Wood

[neumsky]

Did any of you wood burners ever consider coal??? Or am I gonna get shot for asking this question lol?

 

[clemsonfor]

cant put it in my stove. Plus its pretty pricy around here.

 

[sebring]

coal is twice as much as c/s oak in my area ... I still tried coal, and wont buy anymore.. Some people like it. Coal companies are filing bankruptcy so the price probably will go up in the future.

 

[gmule]

I have burned coal before. Puts off a lot of heat for a long time. It is expensive if you buy it by the 50# sack but cheap if you buy it buy the ton. The biggest thing I don't like about is that it stinks when it burns and the coal dust when you bring it in. You also need a stove that can handle burning it. You need a shaker grate that is made out of cast iron.

When the weather monkeys are calling for extended sub -10 / -20 deg temps I will pick some up for the basement stove. I usually load 50# or so in the stove and then it is good to go for
12 - 15 hours.

 

[fire_man]

Is there any such thing as a "Shoulder Season" coal fire? I'm guessing it would be hard to control the heat in warmer weather.

 

[dafattkidd]

My father in law has a VC he burns coal in. He's had it for 30 years. Seems like it's its steadier heat and less work than wood. For shoulder season he burns wood in it.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I really considered it for at least one of the stove locations (which is now occupied by the 30). I liked the burn times that were offered and coal is pretty cheap in my area. Cheaper than wood, if I recall.

But, I could never figure out if the problems and dislikes that were mentioned for coal would apply to me. I knew the good and bad from wood and I was okay with that. But, I didn't want to introduce a new set of pros and cons that may have made me regret my purchase. And by the time I got to the point of choosing, I really didn't want to have regrets and force myself to end up buying a seventh stove.

If I would have tried coal, it would have been a modern VC Vigilant due to the size and style of the stove. I find a lot of coal stoves to be odd looking.

 

[Dunragit]

looked into it, availability may become a problem in OK(Oklahoma is talking about ending subsidies), bit coal seems to be very expensive for what it is

$120 a ton for bit at the mine, you pick it up, Oologah was the closest mine to me

 

[BrowningBAR]

looked into it, availability may become a problem in OK(Oklahoma is talking about ending subsidies), bit coal seems to be very expensive for what it is

$120 a ton for bit at the mine, you pick it up, Oologah was the closest mine to me

1 ton of coal is 2-3 cord of wood, if I remember correctly. Obviously it would depend upon the type of wood.

So, that would $40-$60 a cord. Which is pretty damn cheap.

 

[KaptJaq]

Since my wood is free (except for my labor) coal costs more to burn. That said, if you get a good quality hard coal (anthracite) it is clean burning and long lasting. 50 pounds of coal will give me a hot 15 to 18 hour burn. Coal has about 12,500btu per pound. Low sulfur coal has little or no odor.

A ton of coal around here (LI, NY) goes for about $300 and is 25 million BTUs. A full cord of hardwoods delivered is about $250 and has about, depending on wood mix, 22.5 million BTUs.

If you are not gentle handling coal there can be a problem with coal dust. If you dealer does a good wash before delivery it is not too bad. I find it about the same as wood ash dust when I am not careful emptying the wood stove.

For me wood is cheap to burn and coal is a very easy burn. I burn the coal stove when the daily highs are expected to be below freezing or to keep the house warm for a weekend that I am away. If I load my stove completely I can easily get 36 hour low burns, enough to keep the oil boiler off for a weekend.

Either coal or wood are radically cheaper than oil.

KaptJaq

 

[neumsky]

So...a coal stove is a special design than? Some of you can burn both?

 

[Pallet Pete]

We looked at a few real nice coal stoves and decided that coal was not as reliable as wood price wise. The cost may have been low at the time but it varies to much for my comfort.

Pete

 

[geoxman]

bit around here can be had for under $100 a ton. I can burn both in my stoves an do....coal is easy and hot when in a pinch, I like the work out of wood though
So...a coal stove is a special design than

Air underneath the fire. good luck

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I think the last time we burned coal was around 50 years ago. Don't remember for sure but seem it sold around $12 per ton then.

 

[Prof]

I used coal for about 5 yrs. It was a bit expensive compared to wood. Wasn't crazy about the amount of ash and soot. Plus wood is much better for the environment.

btw--I never had a problem in the shoulder season. I could shut the stove down and not worry about the slow and low coal fire,

 

[neumsky]

When I look at most or all of the stoves that ya'll own...it seems as tho there all woodburning only...or whats different on yours that you can burn coal? I guess what I'm asking is is I can't burn coal in my Oslo...can I?

 

[BrowningBAR]

When I look at most or all of the stoves that ya'll own...it seems as tho there all woodburning only...or whats different on yours that you can burn coal? I guess what I'm asking is is I can't burn coal in my Oslo...can I?

Multi-fuel stoves are numerous. KaptJaq actually has a coal stove as a second stove. The old Vigilant I used to own was able to burn both. But required some internal additions to use coal properly.

 

[FyreBug]

I cover PA & OH big coal areas and many of our dealers sell them. The advantage is if you live there the cost of coal (anthracite not the soft dirty kind) is relatively cheap. Also coal has more BTU per pound than any biomass.

However, a coal stove is power vented (vs naturally drafted) therefore noisier. Not a nice flame (ie. not romantic look) and my dealers tell me more work and ashes than wood & pellets which means you will have to clean the stove every day. Also likely more ashes & coal dust in the house. It has a special burn pot and feed mechanism. It's a fairly inexpensive appliance and boilers are quite common. However, you would not want them in your living room as they are typically quite bulky and ugly looking things. They also burn surprisingly quite clean - emission wise (again anthracite).

So the main advantages is cost of heating, cost of appliance and fuel availability.

 

[billb3]

My parents and grandparents had coal boilers in their basements and coal stoves in the barns. There was a HUGE mountain of coal ash in the back yard . Almost nothing ever grew on it. There's still huge black chunks of coal all over .

 

[FanMan]

FyreBug, not all coal stoves are power vented. Mine certainly isn't.

In my cabin, I have a wood stove in the living room and a coal stove in the bedroom. The wood stove (not a good one) burns for a few hours, while the coal stove (a simple 1920s "cylinder stove", not bulky at all) burns all night long. This actually works out well... when I arrive on a cold evening, I light both. The wood stove heats the living room quickly while the coal stove takes an hour or so to get going. By the time I'm ready for bed, the bedroom and kitchen (adjacent to the bedroom) are nice and warm and I let the wood stove go out. In the morning, I relight the wood stove and have my first cup of coffee in the still warm bedroom.

I can also light a small fire of wood chunks in the coal stove to take the chill off without stoking it for an all night burn. You can burn wood in a coal stove (that's how you start it), but you can't burn coal in a wood stove unless it's designed for both fuels. A coal stove needs a shaker grate at the bottom and a secondary air inlet on the top. On mine, the secondary air is the loading door, with a notch that holds it slightly open.

Coal ash is bulkier than wood ash. It needs to be shoveled out frequently. I'm using it to fill in rough spots on the trail behind the cabin as it packs down and binds together nicely with a few rainstorms.

I rather like the soft blue flames visible through the mica windows of the coal stove.

A 50# bag of coal (about $8 here) lasts for a weekend.

 

[KaptJaq]

My Godin is designed for both wood and coal but works best with coal. With wood it gets 4 to 6 hour burns, coal can get 36 hour burns. It is a radiant, gravity fed stove with no motors or fans. Yes it has coal grates and shakers but those are used for wood also. I use wood for a quick warm up and coal for extended burns. No, I wouldn't want it in the living room. I am very happy with it downstairs, in the family room, near the garage door. I usually empty the ash once a day but have let it go for a few days when I get lazy. The better the coal the less ash there is. I have posted picture before but here it is again:



Many new coal stoves and boilers have auger feeds and fans but not all. Mine is quiet heat. There are new radiant/gravity feed coal stoves available as well as many classic parlor stoves and base burners on ebay or craigslist. They are old fashioned radiant stoves. www.nepacrossroads.com is the best place for coal information.

KaptJaq

 

[Dunragit]

1 ton of coal is 2-3 cord of wood, if I remember correctly. Obviously it would depend upon the type of wood.

So, that would $40-$60 a cord. Which is pretty damn cheap.

I live too far from the mine, it would not be worth the cost of transportation and I have been getting my wood for free lately

 

[corey21]

Before i started burning wood i burned coal the heat was much more even.

 

[fishingpol]

When I look at most or all of the stoves that ya'll own...it seems as tho there all woodburning only...or whats different on yours that you can burn coal? I guess what I'm asking is is I can't burn coal in my Oslo...can I?

It does not appear to be so. The F-100 appears that it can burn coal. (Section 8, page 23-24, under English instructions)

http://www.jotul.com/FileArchive/Technical Documentation/Wood Stoves/Jøtul F 100/Usermanual_P04_060510.pdf

In the exploded view for it, it shows the coal grate and rod to acuate a gate to let air in at the bottom of the stove. The fire box floor is removed, ash pan put in and coal grate above it. It seems the coal grate may have to be removed to empty the pan.

The Oslo has an ash pan with a door on the bottom, different that the F-100. The Jotul UK site may have more info, plus so many different contemporary stoves to look at.

 

[Billybonfire]

Most stoves here in the UK are multifuel, they have a grate on which to burn coal and have bottom air feeds for underfire air when burning coal, household coal is not recommended, smokeless fuels or anthracite is supposed to be used on them.
This underfire air supply is closed off when burning wood, on some of the stoves (like mine) you can remove the grate if you want to burn wood only, I have tried running the stove both ways and as I only burn wood prefer the grate out as the firebox is bigger.