Fiance is concerned about coal stove and fumes

[oldpaddy]

Hi all. I use a nut coal stove to heat my house and have almost all my life. The stove is situated in the middle of my living room. As far as I know I've never had any problems other than dust or when I add wet coal, which smells like rotten eggs.
About six years ago I had gas base board heat installed because my wife at the time was pregnant and didn't want our son exposed to the fumes/dust. After a year I went back to the coal stove. Since then I've gone through a divorce and am now engaged with a child on the way. My fiance has the same concerns as the ex. We had the furnace checked out and due to it feazing it's now destroyed and will have to be replaced. So it looks like we're going to stick with the stove for at least this year.
My question is, what are the long term risks of using a coal stove around a child? The draft is good and as far as I know there are no leaks or problems with the stove.
Thanks.

 

[Fsappo]

Out of the coal hopper and into the fire again, huh?
I stopped using my "Wood stove which shall remain nameless" the day my son was born. I dont care what the feds say. Any stove, even a good one, burning corn, pellets, coal, grasshoppers will make more "stuff" in the air than my natural gas heating system. Plus, if I dont stay on top of things with a steamer and humidifier, it makes the air very dry. All this stuff I dont mind for adults, but for kids...well, natural gas is cheap in my neck of the woods. I'll miss burning wood, but it can wait a few years.

 

[Danno77]

actually, most New Englander children in the mid 1700's died from the coal fumes and dust long before the age of 7. Then they came out with baseboard electric heat in 1720, but it wasn't widely used until just after the American Revolution. The newly formed government of the time started regulating those things for our safety and childhood mortality rates improved drastically when our founding fathers demanded that everyone buy honeywell 240v baseboard heaters to heat their homes with. because Menards only sold coal at the time they started going out of business, but George Washington gave them a loan for 376 dollars (which in today's currency equates to $112Billion), let Paul Revere take control of the company, and gave a tax credit to anybody who bought a new baseboard electric heater. With these new changes, Home Depot became the primary home improvement center and Menards went completely out of business until the late 19th century when trademarks expired for the original company.

Your ex and current gf are way smarter than any of our forefathers and the coal burners on this forum. you should take heed to their advice.

 

[Wet1]

I'm with Danno on this one. I wouldn't want a dirty coal stove in my living room if I had a new born. I know a wood or pellet stove would also have some (very) mild air pollution issues, but I'd be thinking about switching if I were you. A wood burner, an air filter, and a safety fence around the stove would likely work for me.

 

[Pagey]

actually, most New Englander children in the mid 1700's died from the coal fumes and dust long before the age of 7. Then they came out with baseboard electric heat in 1720, but it wasn't widely used until just after the American Revolution. The newly formed government of the time started regulating those things for our safety and childhood mortality rates improved drastically when our founding fathers demanded that everyone buy honeywell 240v baseboard heaters to heat their homes with. because Menards only sold coal at the time they started going out of business, but George Washington gave them a loan for 376 dollars (which in today's currency equates to $112Billion), let Paul Revere take control of the company, and gave a tax credit to anybody who bought a new baseboard electric heater. With these new changes, Home Depot became the primary home improvement center and Menards went completely out of business until the late 19th century when trademarks expired for the original company.

Your ex and current gf are way smarter than any of our forefathers and the coal burners on this forum. you should take heed to their advice.

lulz wut?

 

[berlin]

absolute nonsense. I am really surprised people on here seem to believe that are potential negative side effects from heating w/ solid fuel. In fact there is some suggestion as well as a study done on german children who grew up in homes heated by solid fuels that showed lower rates of asthma, skin disorders etc; presumably from low exposure to small amounts of dust/smoke that helped train childrens immune system to have an appropriate level of response to particles they will be exposed to for the rest of their lives. worried about your kids' health? make sure they stay off drugs, stay in school, and have a good moral upbringing - that'll do more to keep them safe and healthy than any irrational coalstove fear. plus, if you're smart, you can take all the money you've saved heating on coal and start a college fund.

 

[begreen]

Old Paddy, are you burning bituminous or anthracite coal?

FWIW, I thought that the German study gathered that is was the exposure of the kids at a young age to the dust, dirt and animals of a farmyard that help build their immune systems. Urban studies did not have these results, in spite of coal burning.

 

[firefighterjake]

Hi all. I use a nut coal stove to heat my house and have almost all my life. The stove is situated in the middle of my living room. As far as I know I've never had any problems other than dust or when I add wet coal, which smells like rotten eggs.
About six years ago I had gas base board heat installed because my wife at the time was pregnant and didn't want our son exposed to the fumes/dust. After a year I went back to the coal stove. Since then I've gone through a divorce and am now engaged with a child on the way. My fiance has the same concerns as the ex. We had the furnace checked out and due to it feazing it's now destroyed and will have to be replaced. So it looks like we're going to stick with the stove for at least this year.
My question is, what are the long term risks of using a coal stove around a child? The draft is good and as far as I know there are no leaks or problems with the stove.
Thanks.

So what I'm taking away from this is that burning coal leads to divorces?

 

[rdust]

I stopped using my "Wood stove which shall remain nameless" the day my son was born.

My son is 6 months old and I plan to burn all winter. I have a non cat stove with a bypass and I have seen very little smoke spill into the room on reloads. The times it has happened I was being careless/rushing. I figure if I'm careful with cleaning the ash out I shouldn't have much of an issue. I live in the country so the clean country air will make up for any dust inside the home.

 

[rphurley]

I plan on stopping smoking in the house when my kid is born. Isn't that enough? LOL

 

[oldpaddy]

Old Paddy, are you burning bituminous or anthracite coal?

FWIW, I thought that the German study gathered that is was the exposure of the kids at a young age to the dust, dirt and animals of a farmyard that help build their immune systems. Urban studies did not have these results, in spite of coal burning.

Anthracite nut coal.
Other then when adding wet coal I don't notice any smell coming from the stove. Though in the fall and spring when the temps rise I sometimes have a problem with smoke from a wood fire, but I assume that's because the draft is diminished by the warm outside temps.
Here's the stove:

It's a TempCoalII that I bought off craigslist about 5yrs ago for $150-350 (I can't remember the exact price). I love it, it's the best stove I've ever had. It has the least amount of replaceable parts of any stove I've known before. Three shakers, shaker holder, 4 pieces of fire brick and a piece of glass. My father always used pea coal which wasn't enough for my house. He'd burn it at such a high temp that we were replacing parts every other year and those stoves (3 or 4 different stoves) seemed to have a lot of parts. I remember he'd be up at least once a night shaking it down and adding coal. With this bad larry I shake it down, add coal and relax for 8-12hrs.

Thanks for the input guys. I've been googling and all I can find that gives any facts is a study that was done in china, but I have no idea if that's relevant to us here. You'd think that there would be studies on this.

 

[PJF1313]

Hi all. I use a nut coal stove to heat my house and have almost all my life. The stove is situated in the middle of my living room. As far as I know I've never had any problems other than dust or when I add wet coal, which smells like rotten eggs.
About six years ago I had gas base board heat installed because my wife at the time was pregnant and didn't want our son exposed to the fumes/dust. After a year I went back to the coal stove. Since then I've gone through a divorce and am now engaged with a child on the way. My fiance has the same concerns as the ex. We had the furnace checked out and due to it feazing it's now destroyed and will have to be replaced. So it looks like we're going to stick with the stove for at least this year.
My question is, what are the long term risks of using a coal stove around a child? The draft is good and as far as I know there are no leaks or problems with the stove.
Thanks.

So what I'm taking away from this is that burning coal leads to divorces?

.... and gas leads to freezing "equipment"

 

[berlin]

begreen, i believe that there was a few different speculations by the authors as to why children had improved long-term respritory and other health, what you mentioned may have been one view, but as i recall, there was no mention of different degrees of health between urban/rural solid-fuel using families.

btw, the well-known studies done in china were based on heating and cooking over UNVENTED coal fires using some of the worst chinese bituminous coal that had undergone a phenomenon known as mineralization and had very high arsenic, chlorine, and flourine contents- nothing like any of the coals found in the united states - bituminous or anthracite.

 

[ansehnlich1]

hmmmm, it is my humble opinion that the issue here has little to do with the safety of burning coal.

i've been around a time or two, and i'm reading into this op's post that the issue here is one of love

forget the coal for now, and if she mentions a concern with burning wood forget the wood.

just an old man's observation.

 

[JustWood]

I have mild asthma and moderate allergies.
Wife has moderate ashma and mild allergies.
I mix bituminous coal with wood and neither of us has problems.

 

[littlesmokey]

Personally, I am more concerned about the pollution from automobiles and industy during the Winter months. Where I now live they have "red burn" days. Unless you only have wood for heat, you can not burn on Red days. Elders are ordered to stay indoors and children are told not to exercise. I was told last Winter it got so bad one day, the joggers and runners were told not to run.

What do you do there? Get a home oxy-kit. If you can use it efficiently and it does the job and it saves a few bucks for pampers, keep-a-burning. You and the soon to be mom need to sit down and do some serious research, not what the lady down the street says. Anthracite is the best to burn, wish there was more out here and a lot less expensive.

 

[raven]

actually, most New Englander children in the mid 1700's died from the coal fumes and dust long before the age of 7. Then they came out with baseboard electric heat in 1720, but it wasn't widely used until just after the American Revolution. The newly formed government of the time started regulating those things for our safety and childhood mortality rates improved drastically when our founding fathers demanded that everyone buy honeywell 240v baseboard heaters to heat their homes with. because Menards only sold coal at the time they started going out of business, but George Washington gave them a loan for 376 dollars (which in today's currency equates to $112Billion), let Paul Revere take control of the company, and gave a tax credit to anybody who bought a new baseboard electric heater. With these new changes, Home Depot became the primary home improvement center and Menards went completely out of business until the late 19th century when trademarks expired for the original company.

Your ex and current gf are way smarter than any of our forefathers and the coal burners on this forum. you should take heed to their advice.

lmao