Coal vs Wood

[n3pro]

I thought about it but I never seen "free coal" ads and at work we get tree damage sometimes with storms and often thought about using it instead of just tossing it. We used to just throw it in the dumpsters; then I got introduced to wood heat and then my view on tree damage went from frustration to excitement. My one friend heated with it for five years until last year when he switched to pellet. He would get two tons and noticed a big difference in the coal. Some of the loads burned great, others terrible. He tried two different suppliers with the same result. Being not too far from the coal region I'm surprised they are not more that I know of. I like the heat but I really did fall in love with the flames with wood, and the smell. As with most things, there are pros and cons which differ from place to place, person to person.

 

[corey21]

The main reason i no longer burn coal is the smell and the ash.

Also wood is much cheaper for me.

 

[laynes69]

Our old woodfurnace was a wood/coal furnace. I decided to try a half ton of lump soft Ohio coal (mistake) for 90 a ton and we tried some anthracite nut coal which was 280 a ton from the Amish. Even though our furnace said coal, the firebox wasnt the right shape which was a v shaped. I tried over and over again to burn the stuff and finally gave up. The Ohio coal was very sooty, oily, dirty coal that could soot a pipe in no time. The neighbor burned stoker coal (bit coal) from Ohio and it ate his insulated stainless chimney out. I thought is was a good idea to try, but for us was expensive and we have access to wood so that was the route we went. There's a local stove shop here where the amish build coal stoves, they work well but the coal is expensive.

 

[neumsky]

Thanx all...very enlightening as always.

 

[jharkin]

When I was a kid my dad put both wood and coal stoves into the house (this was around 79~81, after the oil shocks). We had a first generation VC Resolute in the living room and a small coal stoker (basically a steel cylinder with shaker grate and 2 doors) in the basement. I remember lighting that coal stove, my dad would cut splits in half on his table saw so they would fit in the coal stove to get the initial fire going before adding coal. The stove was very easy going, once the fire was established you just shook the grates and added a couple shovel fulls of coal once a day then just regulated the fire with the air control in the lower door. Nice even comfortable heat. Never had issues with making a mess of the paint, but coal dust and the ash was a big mess.

We had the coal conversion kit for the encore but never used it.

Today my Dad still burns that '79 resolute on wood, and I burn wood as well. I never considered going back to coal, mostly due to environmental concern and just enjoying all aspects of wood (cutting, watching the fire etc).

 

[razerface]

when i was small,,,50+ years ago, we burnt coal in a potbelly smokin,puffin, angry old stove that stood 4-5 ft tall. It set on a piece of brown colored thin sheet metal. It was our only heat until 1973. It was my job to keep it fed, and empty the ashes,,,which was fine with me since i didn't want to do dishes.

I could make the pipes turn red whenever I wanted ,, my family left it alone,, 5 sisters and a big brother. I started 3 wall fires before I was 7 years old. Codes? yea, right.

I became a master at running that potbelly. We had see thru cracks in the floor, and zero insulation anywhere, but I could still run you out of the living room whenever i pleased,, and did so on a couple occasions when we had company I disliked. I got a whippin for that when Dad figured out it was on purpose.

It was controlled by 2 different "triangle wheels" I called them, with an air slider in the ash door. That baby would cook! I could make it last all day while we were at school, then flip those wheels open and it would roar! Shoveled ashes every day. My Dad always kept ashes in his car during the winter for when he got stuck in the snow. The ashes, I carried to the railroad tracks and spread them out.

Our wall was black with soot behind the stove from it puffing back into the room. A truck would show up and dump a huge pile of coal out back,,I would bring it in to the stove in 5 gal buckets. I hated when we got towards the bottom of the pile, and Dad refused to buy more till I burnt up more of the dust.

I never want to burn coal again.

 

[begreen]

1.5 yr old thread.