Wanted to say thanks. Last wood fire

[Shaun643]

This forum is a great thing and I learned alot from it. I wanted to say thank you. I have really enjoyed the years of heating with wood but it has gotten to be to much for my busy lifestyle and my wife as well. I will be putting in a Hitzer 50-93 coal stove this weekend. Much more controllable heat and alot longer burn times plus I will not have to put in all the time and efforts into the wood. Here is my last fire in this stove.

 

[BigJ273]

This forum is a great thing and I learned alot from it. I wanted to say thank you. I have really enjoyed the years of heating with wood but it has gotten to be to much for my busy lifestyle and my wife as well. I will be putting in a Hitzer 50-93 coal stove this weekend. Much more controllable heat and alot longer burn times plus I will not have to put in all the time and efforts into the wood. Here is my last fire in this stove.

Got any wood u wanna get rid of?

 

[XmasTreefarmer]

Well this will be cool! Keep us posted on the Hitzer. It will be fun to hear how you like it, how it works, etc.

I've always been intrigued by coal. When I was a little lad in the early 50's, my grandparents had just converted from coal to either natural gas or fuel oil. Some of the neighbors were still on coal and I would follow the coal truck down the alley and watch them unload into the basement thru the coal chute. If I was lucky, there would be a few pieces of coal on the ground when they left - it seemed like a treasure to me. LOL - I wonder what happened to my little coal collection? My parents probably threw it away as fast as I collected it.

This was in Milwaukee, WI - seems like that was about the time that coal was being phased out in favor of other fuels in that area.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Neat on the switch to coal.

A friend bought a house in Glastonbury, CT around 2006. Has an old furnace in the basement. HVAC guy said that it was an old furnace that could do oil or coal.

 

[Geoff C]

I have an old coal furnace in my basement and want to replace it with a new hitzer. The coal message board has a bunch of people that all seem to say, why didn’t I switch to coal sooner.

Good luck with the new setup

 

[Ludlow]

My Pap had a coal furnace when I was a kid. Loved going down the basement and "helping" him load it up. My part was fetching him a beer out of the fridge.

 

[Kevin Weis]

You will not be disappointed in the switch. You will be amazed at the burn times. And coal burn times are real burn times with the steady heat for 12 hours and more not heat to virtually little heat with wood in the same time or less time.

 

[webby3650]

I switched to a 50-93 about a month ago. We absolutely love it! I go a solid 12 hours of steady heat with no attention at all. I shake it down twice a day, and add coal every 24 hours. It’s almost unbelievable how reliable the heat is. There’s a bit of a learning curve though.

 

[webby3650]

Keep posting about your experience, maybe we can get some traction for coal burners here.

 

[JVB]

We've been heating our house with a Hitzer 50-93 anthracite stove for 6 years now after several decades of burning wood. Still use the woodstove in my shop to knock off the chill when I'm working in there but I'd never go back to wood full time.

 

[Ludlow]

Coal improved the lives of millions of millions of people.

 

[SpaceBus]

If my body stops being able to keep up with wood then I'll probably switch to coal myself.

 

[webby3650]

If my body stops being able to keep up with wood then I'll probably switch to coal myself.

That’s when I switched. I can’t drag stoves around all day and process wood.. After the switch I can honestly say I wish I would have switched to coal years a ago. Until you’ve experienced it, you just won’t believe how much easier it is. The hard part for me is to look out the window at all the dead fall oak and hickory, but not being able to go after it.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I have really enjoyed the years of heating with wood but it has gotten to be to much for my busy lifestyle and my wife as well.

This is why im a part time burner. I have both. The coal boiler to do all the heavy lifting ,and the wood stove for when i have time,want to relax by a fire, or want my fire show fix. The heat is just icing on the cake. Possible consider keeping that wood stove right where it is for when you have time for it. I think for most of us here its not exclusively about the heat.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

If my body stops being able to keep up with wood then I'll probably switch to coal myself.

Switch now but keep the wood stove. Wood burning becomes so much more desirable when its no longer a JOB. But a hobby. And a cord or 2 of wood lasts years.

 

[JVB]

I get my "fire tv" fix by watching the coal gases ignite as the fresh coal heats up. Nice tall blue flames that are referred to as "the dancing blue ladies" on the coal burning forums. Also you get a nice relaxing "fire" when the bi-metal thermostat opens the air flap & the coals turn bright red.


Our dogs don't really care if it's wood or coal in the stove as long as it's warm.

 

[SpaceBus]

Switch now but keep the wood stove. Wood burning becomes so much more desirable when its no longer a JOB. But a hobby. And a cord or 2 of wood lasts years.

It's a hobby now and I enjoy it. All the hard stuff is done with my tractor and splitter. Like you said, it's not exclusively about heat.

 

[kborndale]

How much does a winter's supply of coal cost?

 

[Dieselhead]

How much does a winter's supply of coal cost?

I’m curious as well. Maybe a comparison to a cord of wood. How does coal come? By the pallet? What’s the cost and how would say a pallet compare to a cord of a good hardwood? When dumping in the coal is it dusty? Can you have a coal stove in a living area?

 

[Highbeam]

Keep posting about your experience, maybe we can get some traction for coal burners here.

Im not sure if burning coal will properly align with the politics on this forum. I wish we had coal available here, sounds like a great fuel.

 

[JVB]

Anthracite coal sold in New England is usually in 40 or 50 lb bags. It's washed then bagged wet. When you open the bag it's still damp or slightly wet so no dust when you pour it into the stoves hopper or your coal hod. Anthracite coal is low sulfur & hard unlike the dirty soft bituminus coal that I believe the power plants in the mid west burn. It burns smoke & particulate free so no need for air tubes or cats in an anthracite stove. Unless things have changed for 2020 these stoves are EPA exempt from all the wood burning regs.

I buy my coal from an on line pellet supplier in Mass. (broken link removed to http://www.pelletsdirect.com/Wood%20Pellets%20Pricing.htm) Best deals are in the Spring/early summer. They deliver on a flat bed & place the 1 ton skid in my storage shed with a 3 wheeled fork lift. The closer you live to Pa. the cheaper the coal prices.

Instead of the 7 cords of wood I use to burn I now use approx. 3-3.5 tons of coal depending how cold of a Winter we get. I have done LOTS of work on our old house in recent years so that 7 cord number wouldn't be accurate anymore. Average a 40lb bag of coal a day in cold weather & I pay around $295 a ton (50 bags) delivered. It takes 1.3 cords (full cords) of wood to equal the btu output of a ton of anthracite coal. Depending on the prices in your area wood might be cheaper but: Coal is far less work. Open the bag & use, no seasoning, burns wet or dry, no bugs, never goes bad, no sleazy wood sellers selling green wood as seasoned or punky half decayed wood. Nothing to cut or split. Shake the coal bed once a day, fill the hopper or load the bed, let the fire recover (about 15 minutes), relax.

 

[JVB]

Im not sure if burning coal will properly align with the politics on this forum. I wish we had coal available here, sounds like a great fuel.

Since Anthracite coal burns smoke & particulate free it is much greener then burning wood. My neighbors still burn wood & smoke belches from their chimneys all Winter long. No matter what temp I'm running my Hitzer nothing visible comes out of my chimney except heat waves in the cold.

 

[kennyp2339]

My old boss that I'm still friends with switched from wood burning to coal 3 years ago, he absolutely loves it, he built a coal shed that the truck just dumps directly into, then he'll move it to the stove using 5 gal buckets, he's a fairly picky kind of guy, and when he says its easy, clean and overall good there's really no need to question it. For myself, I have an endless supply of free wood atm, so it wouldn't make sense to switch over while im young and dumb, like others I'll keep coal as a wild card incase something happens to me and I can no longer do wood.

 

[Ludlow]

Im not sure if burning coal will properly align with the politics on this forum.

Humans owe their quality of life now to what coal made possible.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

How much does a winter's supply of coal cost?

Generally i go thru 3 ton unless its colder than usual .Which is ($200 Ton)$600 total delivered. Gives me about 75 million Btus . Heating a leaky 100 yr old 3000SF 3 story home. I use the wood stoves much more in my workshop and in houses i rehab than i do in my main home. Hardly ever home.