King Coal

[bustedwing2]

Due to high fuel prices recently purchased a coal heater,24 million btu's in a ton of coal for 130-140 bucks(u pick up) vs similar btu's in 180 gallons of oil at 4 bucks a gallon.Even though it took me 3 years to pass H.S. algebra this is a no brainer.Coal locally will be about 200 a ton,still a huge bargain.1.5 winters to hit break even at 4/gal for oil,less if the price keeps going up.No more sweat pants and wool socks in the house this winter.Ole king coal was a merry old soul.....warm too.RichB

[Flying Lobster]

I'm very interested--I just paid $4.70 a gallon for heating oil up here--I project this coming winter in maine will cost around $10,000.00 in heating oil alone! Up here people are switching to wood furnaces and wood pellets since maine is 90% trees and our lumber and paper industries have been killed by NAFTA and Canadian imports.

Does your coal furnace meet environmental regulations? Coal itself is a pretty bad source of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and greenhouse gases. Is it fairly easy to switch out an oil furnace for a coal one?

marc

[bustedwing2]

There is a million coal burning devices on the market,everything from the basic load and bank it and adjust the manual draft and it heats for 12-14 hours till it need reloaded,up to automatic stokers that feed with an auger from a large bin and run for a week or so with little to no attention.Check out http://nepacrossroads.com/ This is the anthracite coal forum and will boggle your mind with an avalanche of pertinent information.There is also a guy from Maine who posts on this site regularly,recently installed coal heat and bought a 22 ton truckload of anthracite from pennsylvania,possible that you guys could share a load every year.I'm now looking at buying a full(22ton)load as a hedge,should be less than 4000 including shipping(delivered,loose,dumped in yard).Locals tell me that 5 tons should heat my uninsulated old farmhouse here in McConnellsburg for a season.Good Luck. RichB

[Flying Lobster]

Thanks for the info. For now, I'll continue wintering in Chattanooga, but I have to do something about heating sooner or later.

marc

[huddlec]

I've been heating my house with coal since I bought it in 1990. I live in Harpers Ferry. When I first moved in there was an old coal stove in the living room (I think it had Warm Morning or something like that on it) and I burned bituminous. I switched to anthracite after a year or so since it's cleaner. It's a lot more expensive, however, especially since I have it delivered. The price has shot up in the last 3 years or so. I only use 2 tons a year since my house is well insulated and I have a really cool coal stove from France (the Petit Godin, oval). I would be interested in going in on part of a load.
Christy

[bustedwing2]

Posts I've read on the anthracite forum claim that Superior and UAE have the best deep mine anthracite,approximately 140 ton plus delivery,price to increase nexr month to 150 or 160.I'm almost ready to get a truckload(22 ton)of rice,guessing that delivery could be as high as 750,should have some accurate numbers sometime this week.It comes loose and dumped in my yard on a tarp,figuring how to measure and divide it up could be interesting. RichB

[huddlec]

Well, to start, a bag of coal weighs 40 pounds and fills a scuttle 2 times. That gets you to the other end of the numbers. My coal bins (two idential verticle constructions in my front yard that have lap siding and standing seam roofs - totally charming) each hold about 1.25 tons. If I measured the inside dimensions, that would get me close to what a pickup could hold, given the level in the pickup (for the max weight it can carry). As I said my bins are both practically full since I got a load in January and this past winter was very mild. Probably by the middle of next winter I could use a ton if it's a typical winter.
Christy