coal stove in - pellet stove out

[cchoate]

I have an older pellet stove (13 year old Avalon) and am shopping for a coal stove now. The pellet stove has worked well for me but it only holds a small amount of ash and when I empty it, ash gets everywhere around the immediate area. Storing the pellets in a dry place is another pain because the only room I have for them is in my basement. Coal can be kept pretty much anywhere.

So... I'm looking for the most automated and least amount of maintenance coal stove available. The Keystoker 70 is on my list because it can be used as a water heater for your home.

Anyone have any other suggestions or comments?

[Pat]

choate, I haven't lived in a coal heated house since I was in 1st and 2nd grade so no recent experience on which to base a comment. I did have a Cole, not coal, stove/fireplace on my sailboat for winter heat when away from dock power. It too was a slight nuisance as regards emptying ash over the side without having errant air currents get any where you didn't want it.

My experience with pellet stoves (other peoples stoves as I have never owned one) was that they produced minimal ash for the Btu provided. Not sure coal is all that much, if any, of an improvement.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Coal leaves lots of fine ash and clinkers. This ash may pose difficulties in disposal as it usually contains heavy metals.

The lower the BTU of the coal the higher the amount of ash. The coal should also be stored in dry conditions.

Coal can be messy. The smell outside can also be annoying.

Egon

[cchoate]

The reason I'm switching to a coal stove isn't so much I like coal better but it's the upgrade of my present stove. Coal just happens to be a better option for me as I can by coal in bulk 3 miles from my house.

I've shopped at 2 places that sell pellet and coal stoves. They both stated 1 ton of coal has about the same BTU rating as 1 1/2 ton of wood pellets.

Coal ash will be spread nicely on my gravel driveway and compost pile unlike my pellet ash pan which spreads ash on my floor.

Here's a comparison to other heating fuels. Yes, electricity is 14 cents a kw for me after all fees, taxes, etc..

One Ton of Anthracite Coal ( $180 / bulk )
= 180 gallons of fuel oil ( no info)
= 7325 kilowatts of electricity ( $1025 @ .14 / kw )
= 298 gallons of propane ($667 @ 2.24 / gallon )
= 1.47 tons of wood pellets ( $277 @ 185 / ton )

[Pat]

Egon, Are you familiar with any small automated coal burning heaters/furnaces? I know that some big units have thermostatic control and automatically feed coal into the fire box but I don't know about units as small as some of the automated pellet stoves. I have seen pellet stoves with eletric ignition and variable or multi-speed auger to feed pellets. These things had forced combustion air and had very little ash for the Btu they produced. Way ahead of even the remote thermostatically controlled wood burning furnaces.

Is bulk coal available in small uniform pieces that would likely be required for a small automated unit?

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[QRTRHRS]

First off, coal ash contains some heavy metals. I would not use it on my compost. Nor would I use it close to the house. Wet shoes will track it everywhere.

I have had two chestnut coal burning stoves. Both manual feed stoves were dirty to have in the house. A restaruant that I go to has a stove that burns rice coal via an automatic feeder. There is little ash and the area around the stove is always clean. I don't know the brand off hand. I may not get a chance to go there for a few days but when I do, I will check the make.

[egon]

Back when on the farm the furnace had an automatic stocker that worked on the thermostat. It required coal sized to about 3 inches. Think we refered to it as "Booker" coal in the local vernacular. There were lots of these types of systems around. They had a hopper and used an electrical driven auger for feed to the furnace.

Never saw a smaller stove with a stocker.

There was one type of freestanding coal stove called " Booker " that did have a hopper and was gravity fed. They came in various sizes.

Now everyone uses natural gas. Coal for home heating is very difficult to come by. The small strip mines are always on the verge of financial disaster and can not be considered reliable. The large strip mines feed power generating plants.

As soon as the coal is exposed to air it will start to deteriorate [ rate will depend on grade of coal] making very long term storage undesirable.

Egon

[cchoate]

There are many manufacturers of small stoker coal stoves and have been for years. They run for 3 or 4 days on a single hopper full of anthracite rice coal that is not dirty or dusty. here's a link for the one I'm going with (The Channing).
http://www.geer4coal.com/alaska.html

Depends on where you live for the availability of coal. I live near PA and that's where 90% of the coal is mined in the U.S. My dealer has been getting coal from the same mine for 30 years with zero problems.

Natural gas is unavailable to a lot of rural areas and propane is currently 2.20/gallon.

I don't believe people who use small stoker stoves store huge amounts of coal from year to year. I for one wouldn't use up the space needed for more coal than I use. Deterioration is not much of a factor.

Of course, if you can't get coal this is all mute.

[BlueRidge]

I think you mean, "moot".


mute (Rhymes with "cute".)
adj. mut·er, mut·est

1. Refraining from producing speech or vocal sound.
2.
. 1. Unable to speak.
. 2. Unable to vocalize, as certain animals.
3. Expressed without speech; unspoken: a mute appeal.
4. Law. Refusing to plead when under arraignment.
5. Linguistics.
. 1. Not pronounced; silent, as the e in the word house.
. 2. Pronounced with a temporary stoppage of breath, as the sounds (p) and (b); plosive; stopped.



moot (Rhymes with "boot".)
n.

1. Law. A hypothetical case argued by law students as an exercise.
2. An ancient English meeting, especially a representative meeting of the freemen of a shire.


tr.v. moot·ed, moot·ing, moots

1.
. 1. To bring up as a subject for discussion or debate.
. 2. To discuss or debate. See Synonyms at broach1.
2. Law. To plead or argue (a case) in a moot court.


adj.

1. Subject to debate; arguable: a moot question.
2.
. 1. Law. Without legal significance, through having been previously decided or settled.
<font color="blue"> . 2. Of no practical importance; irrelevant. </font color>

[egon]

From the time I recall coal being used as home heat the small hopper stoves were not very common or readily available. In many cases electricity was not available. The Booker stove was one of the few that had a hopper and did not require electricity to operate properly.

Our coal supply was lignite which is much inferior to anthracite. Only anthracite we saw was used in the blacksmiths forge. It stored well. The lignite crumbled up into dust over time and exposure to air or damp.

The lignite also produces much more ash and clinkers than anthracite.

Different places, different materials,diferent times.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]