# One ton of coal VS One cord of hardwood



## Esprit

I'm looking at stoves to heat my house and I've seen some that burn either coal or wood. I looked for suppliers of coal and found one selling 1 ton of Coal for $185 or 1 cord of seasoned, cut hardwood firewood for the same price. Generally speaking, which is the best value, the coal or the wood? 
Thanks
Todd


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## Space Cowboy

The coal stove will burn coal or wood. The wood will generally only burn wood. Coal burns much hotter than wood. I've seen wood stoves warped and other problems when burning coal. Coal can also smell. I had a nice stove that burned both. I generally burned wood and stoked it with a small amount of coal to burn through the night. 
BTW, Here in Wyoming I've traded a cord of wood for a truck load of coal. We both thought we got a good deal....

SC


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## TnAndy

Depends. 

Various charts will give various BTU amounts on wood, ranging from 10-15million BTU on a cord of softwood and 18-24 on hardwood.

Soft coal runs in the 24million/ton and hard coal 26.

Living where you do, my guess is you're pricing softwood, and probably lower end softwood ( not like dense, Southern Yellow pine ), so you're probably looking at half the fuel content of wood in your area versus coal.

SO, most likely at the same price, coal is the better fuel value for you.


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## SolarGary

Hi,
This calculator will let you compare wood and coal:
http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Calculators/Fuels/FuelCompare.htm

Gary


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## shaycool

There is a website that has quite a bit of information about coal burning:
http://nepacrossroads.com/


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## siberian

Shay already gave a good site. We pretty much leave the wood to fall and spring. Had very good results with coal. It burns hotter and stays hotfor long periods, 10 to 12 hours is no problem.


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