berlin said:
"Coal dust will leave a black soot everywhere throughout your home."
not true; most people who burn coal do not have black coal dust throughout their home, it's all in the way that it's handled, wetting it before shevoling it in or having a top loading stove where one just dumps a bucket in eliminates any trace of dust. also washed coal will substantially reduce the amount of dust/fines in the coal before it ever reaches your home.
"glad to hear you are still alive and breathing. Coal can be deadly if you don’t know what you are doing"
c'mon people, really? chit, crossing the street can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing and so can heating with wood gas, getting up in the morning or anything else. while web does make a good point about the relative lack of smell compared to other fuels, there is still a sulfurous smell present in all but the latest stages of burning hard coal.
i really have no problem with people posting about their own experiences, or otherwise advising the poster, but scaring people based on what someone's mother's brother's uncle said is no way to advise the OP.
Obviously your partial to burning coal, which is fine. I have never heard of wetting coal before putting it in stove/furnace etc.
But I can't say it isn't realistic or proper either. I can say, not from guessing but from actual observation, that while maybe with a stove burning coal, you may not get the dust all over. But folks round here use coal furnaces and A). Have a ton or two delivered and chuted down into their basement bin. B). Aren't about to hose the whole bin down . C). Many of these furnaces use augers, worm drives etc. to auto feed the coal into the furnace, which between the bin & the auger can kick up dust also. D). Also some of these have forced air blowers to distribute the heated air, again even with the best filter will distribute even more coal dust throughout the home.
Not knocking coal, or saying its no good. But lets be honest about it, it can be dirty.
Now other relatives of mine use coal, but to heat a boiler, while the basements are still coal dusted, the rest of the house isn't as bad because they are using hot water baseboard or radiators to distribute the heat. But there is still a small amount that is airborn. and settles around. Not sure where your getting your "washed" coal, but here in my parts of PA., ain't no coal thats washed. And if your getting PA. coal delivered from PA. to NY, even if washed, how much is going to crumble and break of during the vibration & shifting during truck or rail delivery to your area? Maybe its "washed" by your supplier, that I can't say. But as much as your right for uneducated folks not to scare others, its just as wrong to tell the same folks that its clean and safe as anything else. In some cases yes, in some no. IMO, there is less user error leeway with coal. And even if you dump a bucket of coal in a top loader, I guarantee you theres coal dust in the air. Is it deadly, maybe not. But sure ain't great for lungs.
Lets be real, if coal which was used for many, many years especially in PA. and my area in particular, is so great. Why did so many people switch to other forms of heating? Certainly not because coal pricing was/is more expensive than electric, propane, gas, etc. Its because it can be dirty more often than not, and because of health reason more often than not. I have relatives that used it for many years with related health problems. Ive seen what it can do, and there is a reason its not as popular anymore. Thats a fact that can't be dismissed. Not to say you will/do have a problem, but others have. Coal round here is about 120 a ton, when my parents changed from it after burning for years with it, it was 90 a ton last they bought it. That was about in the later 90's. Coal hasn't gone up much as other fuels have. Its not in the demand it used to be in. And theres a reason for that.
Burn all you want, its your right, and your choice. If others want to burn it, more power to them. But don't assume someone that doesn't view coal usage same as you, is merely shooting uninformed advice (although I am sure it does happen as with anything else). Nothing wrong with a person interested in possibly using coal, wood or anything else, getting advice on both the good & bad about using any one of them.
My folks had their coal furnace in their basement, I saw myself, the dust that made its way all the way up into the second story attic of another wing of the house.
Is it cheap? Yes. Can it be dirty? Yes. Burn what you will, and health be with you.
