# Coal? Use, and price?



## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

Does anyone heat with it? Is the BTU similar to wood for the volume used? 

What does it cost for how much, and is the heat output for the cost similar to wood? 

WHat can you tell me about it?


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

I don't but a friend heats his shop with it. 

I think Solar Gary has a BTU comparision on his website somewhere. 

My freind has a large truck that he can go right to the mine and get it. 10 tons of stoker coal cost him $40 a ton last fall. He usually uses about 6 ton a winter. It's just to take the chill off his shop so it's only heated to about 50 degrees. Much nicer than the oil burner he was trying to use. Only has to tend to it once a day to empty the ashes.


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

that is intertesting, and sounds pretty inexpensive.

There are barges of coal that come into the bay right off lake michigan. Im thinking coal should be fairly reasonably priced if I can find a seller. The local power plant uses it.


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## tamsam (May 12, 2006)

We use coal and wood. The coal puts out a lot more heat than the wood and burns a lot longer. If you try to burn it cool it will soot up on you. It cost us $45 a ton this year at the mine. We have maybe used less than 2 tons this year. Here is a forum for coal users. Hope this helps. Sam
PS when you burn it all day you will end up with a lot of nice coals in the heater which will heat for a long time.http://www.nepadigital.com/bb/


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## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

Hi,

A bunch of fuel comparison calculators here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/References/fuelsrs.htm

Its probably a good deal on BTU per dollar. If CO2 emissions are a concern for you, its probably the worst fuel there is -- very high carbon content.

I remember that my grandmother had the neatest furnace with an automatic coal stoker. It used coal that was crushed down to about 3.4 inch size, and the stocker was a screw or auger feed from a bin that was controlled by a regular wall thermostat. You just shoveled the coal into the bin every couple days and the rest was automatic.

Gary


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

We used coal when we lived in Scotland. We had no problem with it.

Each fireplace had a miniature hearth and iron grate. The iron grates were shaped like a gutter.

We have also used a potbelly stove that had a iron grate inside that was cone shaped like a funnel. It worked well too.

Right now our stove has large flat iron grates in it, I have tried to burn coal, but they go out. A heap of coal on a flat iron grate will make a lot of heat, but then it will just go out.

Coal needs to be held together as it burns.

When they are in a cone-shaped grate, each ember will shrink and as it collapses a bit they all slide down into each other. That keeps them lit.

Good luck.

I like coal heat, but I need a different grate to make it work for us.

Right now we burn a lot of peat.


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## Helena (May 10, 2002)

We have/do use what they call chesnut coal. 2 of our 3 stoves can use coal..have the grates and I would always have a coal/wood stove. The old kalamazoo stove really heats up this old farm house once the coal gets rolling..really hot !! I need to start a wood fire first and then add my coal..how does one start a coal stove with just coal ??? Anyone ??


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Helena said:


> ....how does one start a coal stove with just coal ??? Anyone ??


Butane torch works on stoker coal. Once it gets a small corner started it takes off. Grandma had a stove that we burned wood all day long as we could tend to it and loaded it up with coal at night. I have an old parlor stove we are going to restore for the cabin that can burn wood or coal. Don't know yet if we will use it or not.


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## PA_MIKE (Mar 25, 2007)

The BIG thing is what kind of coal that you burn. 

Soft coal (Bituminous) is dirty, stinks, sooty, and has to be stoked. It is very cheap for those reasons. It is very available.

Hard coal (Anthracite) is not dirty or sooty, does not like to be stoked, burns cleaner, has no odor, and will not soot up your chimney.

Hard coal runs $230 a ton here in NW PA

Soft coal runs $40 a ton

Check out http://www.mb-soft.com/juca/print/coal.html

Soft coal burns alot like wood

Hard coal needs lots of fresh air draft to keep burning hot.


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## tamsam (May 12, 2006)

To start ours we build a wood fire and when it is good and hot start adding coal. With a hot fire and you get sooty smoke from the coal you are giving it to much air and the vilotiles [sp] is not burning in the heater box. With bit coal when it is burning close to right you get a grayesh green smoke from the stack. It took us a couple years to learn the coal and heater combination to get the best results. Sam


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## greg273 (Aug 5, 2003)

PA_MIKE said:


> The BIG thing is what kind of coal that you burn.
> 
> Soft coal (Bituminous) is dirty, stinks, sooty, and has to be stoked. It is very cheap for those reasons. It is very available.
> 
> ...


 Yeah, we've got a bunch of that soft coal down in the creeks, I burn a little from time to time just for the novelty of it, but it really stinks and cannot be good for the chimney flue...

My grandma and her family was raised near the coal fields of PA, Jessup, not too far from Wikes-Barre and Scranton, I believe, most of the men in the family were coal miners. She always laughed when I showed her the stuff that passes for coal here in Illinois...


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## beaglady (Oct 7, 2002)

We burn anthracite and use a little under 2 tons a year. DH picks it up at the breaker for around $140/ton, so it's pretty economical. We tend it once in the morning, and once before bed. If we're careful, we only have to build a fire once a year in the fall. we jsut make a wood fire, then sprinkle coal on top til the coal is lit. 

We have oil heat backup, but use less than 100 gallons of oil a year, so the coal really saves money. Coal produces a nice bone-warming heat unlike any central heating system.


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## PA_MIKE (Mar 25, 2007)

Where abouts are you getting your coal at in PA? That is a good price


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## Windy_jem (Feb 19, 2006)

I wonder if there is any coal to be found in WI?


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## Pelenaka (Jul 27, 2007)

Coal needs to be held together as it burns.

When they are in a cone-shaped grate, each ember will shrink and as it collapses a bit they all slide down into each other. That keeps them lit.


Thank you for the good discriptsions on grates. All this time I thought I had a cole laundry stove .

~~ pelenaka ~~


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## beaglady (Oct 7, 2002)

PA_MIKE said:


> Where abouts are you getting your coal at in PA? That is a good price



At the breaker between Hegins and Valley View, off of Rt. 81.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

what type of coal furnace/stove doe you have beaglady? forced air heat?


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## beaglady (Oct 7, 2002)

http://www.alaskastove.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=33

Its a very simple stove, not quite as airtight as we'd like, so it can be tricky to bank the fire way down. It sits on a hearth in the middle of our living room, but we have a fairly small 2 story house and the heat flows throughout pretty well. We wanted a stove that did not require a fan to operate, since we get a lot of small outages. 

Harman stoves are good too, more airtight, but most have a blower and fan which we didn't want.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

cool! even better that a coal furnace.


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## Windy_jem (Feb 19, 2006)

Bump......


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## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

We burn coal to heat our home, or should I say part of it anyway..
This past year coal for us was it about $200 a ton give or take a couple of dollars. I would get between 1500 to 1700 lbs every 3 to 3 1/2 weeks and pay betwen $150 to $170 each time. Now for us that is better then wood. We used to go through about 7 cords of wood, which I cut myself, but that was before my motorcycle accident, we switched to coal after the accident and do like the heat better. It stays consistent longer and the stove doesn't need done every 4 hours like the wood stove did, we can go about every 8 hours between refills.


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