Who Burns Coal

[crashy]

Just wondering if anyone burns coal for heat in the winter. What do you think about it. How much do you use.

[fantasymaker]

I used to pick it up off the beach You will use as many pounds of it as you do anything else

[veme]

Just bought a coal burner this year for the basement. Haven't hooked it up yet - waiting on the chimney to be built.

veme

[beaglady]

We burn anthracite coal as our main heat source. Our house does have oil heat backup, but we keep the t'stat low & try never to have it come on. We burn about 2 tons per winter. Coal has gone up in price along with every other fuel - just paid $140 ton last week. A few years ago, it was around $80. We live close to the southern tip of PA's anthracite region, so we pick ours up ourselves at the breaker.

[almostthere]

We have a woodburner. I wouldnt even know where to buy coal around here. beaglady, your 2 tons per winter would be one month's heat bill for us, without the woodburner.

[beowoulf90]

We use roughly 1 1/2 tons a month and at about $202 (that is the new price as of Nov 1st) a ton it soon won't be worth the work it takes. I do have a 175,000 btu gas furnace, but haven't been in a hurry to hook it up. That may change now with the price of coal...a couple of years ago I was only paying about $100 a ton. The last 2-3 years the price keeps going up....I paid $185 a ton in Oct....and I'm the hauling it, they are not bringing it to me...That is the price in Lancaster County, PA... if someone knows of a better price in York or Lancaster counties let me know...Thanks

[comfortablynumb]

I just use it to toss into the fire to stretch the wood supply... normally, during the summer I come across or look for people who want to rid themselves of a coal pile...

or, on a slow day, you can walk the road along the back routes where the coal trucks run from the strip mine, pleanty falls off the trucks. in an hour you can fill a few feedbags with fist sized chunks.
its a public road so no one bothers you.

my mom says when she was a kid [1930s] all the kids job was to walk the RR tracks and collect castoff coal. apperently this is how most po folks heated their house. On old miner around here tolkk me alot of coal miners who lived near the mines would dig bootleg tunnels and mine their own coal at night.

but a few baseball size hunks in a hot pile of coals keeps the stove hot for a long time and saves wood... I like it. if the stove I have still had its coal grate i'd burn more. Im looking for a good old well built potbelly to try out....

[menollyrj]

We supplement with coal also. It is really nice in the middle of winter because it lasts longer than wood, so we put a few big chunks in at bedtime and we'll have coals in the morning. It is a bit stinky, but we don't use it exclusively, so the smell is tolerable.

-Joy

[seedspreader]

I experimented with it, and wasn't too impressed with it... definitely didn't like the smell of it. It also made my chimney pipe very dirty and clogged my spark arrester.

[mamahen]

We burn coal & wood. Once the fire's going good, not so much wood. Wood is good for a quick & fast fire, coal keeps it going.

Our old furnace is HUGE, it heated a 3 story old, drafty farmhouse before it came to our tiny (900 sq ft) story & half house.

My in-laws burn coal, also. They go thru more than us. We burnt apprx. 1.5 tons last year plus wood. Nov. - April.

[ET1 SS]

We burned coal and peat when we lived in Scotland.

Now we do burn some coal. We start with wood, and then shift over to peat and coal is the night goes on. By bedtime we are only burning peat and coal.

[shaycool]

I dumped the wood stove last year and purchased a Hitzer coal stove. Last year I used 2.5 tons to heat an old house. The average temp in my house was 72 degrees. Haven't started it yet this year, I'm waiting for the outdoor temp to drop below 40, so that I don't roast or have to open the windows.
The price for coal is up this year to $225

[Windy_jem]

Where would I find coal for sale in central WI? I don't even know where to look? ....

[FarmboyBill]

That I know about. I remember coal yards in St Joseph that had a doz different types and sizes of coal. Some coal black, some Oliver green. Ive got a coal stove for the parlor, but cant find coal so I dont use it. You can I hear buy it by the simi load, but who can do that. Ive heard, back in the depression, gangs of boys and girls would split up, and the boys would jump a train and throw off coal as fast as they could, and the other half would bag it. Then they split it and got away before the police came

[tamsam]

Wow we burn coal and wood here and was not aware that coal had gone up that much. We paid 25 a ton last year but we never got a ton because of the mess. We take 5 gallon buckets and 10 gallon storage bins and pick out the coal we want. We get what will fit in the bed of our ranger and usually 6 or 7 bucks last about 2 weeks along with the wood we burn. We don't use the coal unless it gets cold because as someone said it does burn hot. We have learned when to open and not to open the heater so it doean't smoke and smell. A couple years ago it was 8 below and we had windows open because we had not learner that the coal would put off so much heat. We have an old heater that the only name we find on it is KING OF HEAT cast into the door. It is lined with fire brick and is about 48 inches tall and 30 inches in diameter. It has had nothing put in it since about 9 this morning and that was a couple pieces of wood and it is still warm at 8:30 pm. The temp here is 48 right now and still 72 here in the living room with no heat on. No braging but we are lucky that we insulated this old house when we rebuild it. It is an old log house that the bottom floor was built in 1930 with the upstairs added some time later. The way the stairs go out of the heater room the heat goes up on it's own and we have a couple small fans on the cieling to blow the heat into the living roon and kitchen. Hope everyone stays warm. And forgot to say the coal yard we get coal from is about 20 miles from us and there is coal mines all in this area. Take care Tamsam

[Cindy in PA]

We also use wood and coal. DH picks up tthe coal at the mine and it was 132/ton in August. BIL went in October and had to make a trip back, as the type we burn was temporarily out. We only got a ton this year, as we have some left from last year. DH can get a coal fire to last for 12 hours or more, I always end up letting it go out and having to throw on wood when I am here alone. 22 years and I still don't have the hang of it. We have a heat pump and it only runs now, as if we start a wood or coal fire, we would be way too hot! Don't like the looks of this winter, they are calling for up and down temps here, that makes it hard to be comfortable. We are never cold, usually way too hot! Sure saves money however.

[tiogacounty]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

my mom says when she was a kid [1930s] all the kids job was to walk the RR tracks and collect castoff coal. apperently this is how most po folks heated their house. On old miner around here tolkk me alot of coal miners who lived near the mines would dig bootleg tunnels and mine their own coal at night.

.

I have older family and friends who have told me the same stories about living in the NE PA. coal region. I even worked with a guy who told me that his dad had built a little one car garage into the bank behind the house.It was used to hide the entrance to a bootleg mine. they heated the house for decades from that garage.
I currently have many friends and neighbors that heat with coal stoves. There are a few advantages, and a lot of issues with it. After talking to many of them, I installed a corn and wood pellet stove in my house. Here is what they said:

1. Anthracite coal used to be really cheap, has more than doubled in price recently, and continues to climb.
2. It is dirty to burn. Our neighbor completely redocorated recently, new paint, carpets, etc... they were shocked to see all the black streaking behind and under furniture and appliances. About ten years ago, a neighbor had a new baby that ended up spending a lot of time in the hospital for breathing difficulties. The doctor told them that the coal stove had to go. They switched to a monitor heater, and the kid's problem went away.
3. the smoke frequently lays in the valleys around here in the winter. IMHO, it is a real distinctive and sickening smell.
4. Coal stoves can be a real bear to get lit. Many people I know start them in fall and shut them off in late spring. It's easier to open a window and lose a little heat, than to try to relight the thing.
5. I'm sure there are many who love their coal heat, but in researching it, most coal stove users I talked to did a good job of convincing me to avoid it.