|
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 6,168
Campfire Tracker
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 6,168 |
The list didn't list Anthracite.. 25,000,000 BTU/ton
The collection of taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny. Under this Republic the rewards of industry belong to those who earn them. Coolidge
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 3,927
Campfire Tracker
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 3,927 |
FWIW, I kind of like the smell of a coal fire? Must be strange. I like beans in my chili too! Me too It reminds me of my PA home " We burn Anthricite! " Used to see those signs in every store and office. Yep, I remember those signs.
Keep your gun-hand ready and your eyes peeled.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 1,659
Campfire Regular
|
Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 1,659 |
I suspect that our coal is easy to deal with because we burn so little. We can only burn it when the temps are below freezing round the clock. If the temps get up into the 40s in the day, a coal fire will cook us out of the place - even with it banked down well.
When we do burn it, we only use about two 3 gallon buckets full a day. The house is built of SIPs and is super efficient. We haven't burned any coal at all yet this winter because it has been so mild and have yet to go through the first cord of wood.
I do remember old coal furnaces in houses here. It seemed like all you did was feed coal to them. Houses had little or no insulation and most of that heat went right out the roof and around the windows. We don't use, even in the coldest of winters, anywhere near the volume of coal that those places did.
Stush
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 7,956
Campfire Outfitter
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 7,956 |
The list didn't list Anthracite.. 25,000,000 BTU/ton It also didn't list good hardwood. I burn about 7 cords a season and have never burnt anything on that list except maybe some birch. I burn oak, maple, hickory, locust, beech, cherry and ash. Maybe they don't have these trees in Alaska. I usually have it all stacked under cover by May. I tried burning coal once but just couldn't get the hang of stacking those little chunks like cord wood. They kept falling over on only the second course!
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 52,680
Campfire Kahuna
|
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 52,680 |
My neighbor burns coal...some days I would like to plug his chimney
Liberalism is a mental disorder that leads to social disease.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 1,659
Campfire Regular
|
Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 1,659 |
I burn oak, maple, hickory, locust, beech, cherry and ash. Maybe they don't have these trees in Alaska. When my dad moved to MT, he had to adapt to the quantity of wood he needed to lay in for the winter. All he can get there is pine, aspen and occasionally some birch. Hardwoods just aren't readily available.
Stush
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 86,252 Likes: 25
Campfire Oracle
|
Campfire Oracle
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 86,252 Likes: 25 |
You need more than a shaker grate and a ash pan. You need a good stove liner, either cast iron or firebrick, and the right draft system.
If operated correctly a coal stove is not that dirty in the house as some may think. If you have a good chimney setup for woodburning now there should not be any problems with a coal fire.
The only downside to coal is the lack of that sweet woodsmoke. Exactly right. I burned the crappy Healy coal (sub-bituminous) in Fairbanks for 14 years as my sole source of heat. I used a Riteway wood/coal stove - this exact model (not my pic) This one is thermostatically-controlled, welded steel, with a fire brick liner, shaker grate, and removeable ash pan. It was a terrific stove. I could heat 1500 sq ft on 2 floors at -50*. had to feed it 2X/day, but it sure worked. The insulated chimneys that work for wood stoves (metalbestos-type) work for wood and coal. You start a small wood fire and then gradually add coal until you have the load needed. It's a fire, not rocket surgery.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 6,548
Campfire Tracker
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 6,548 |
I grew up in the coal mining region of East Tennessee. We used coal in a pot bellied stove. It was messy, smelly,and sooty, but the heat was great. When I got married, the coal mines had about all closed. We used a coal/wood heater with wood. The difference is in the grates. Both have firebrick. The wood grate simply has holes for air to flow through and ashes to drop through. A coal stove has to have a shaker grate and an opening for the coal cinders to shaken through.
|
|
|
|
543 members (1beaver_shooter, 1234, 17CalFan, 007FJ, 01Foreman400, 160user, 61 invisible),
2,378
guests, and
1,281
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
Forums81
Topics1,192,380
Posts18,488,556
Members73,970
|
Most Online11,491 Jul 7th, 2023
|
|
|
|