We have burned coal for over 25 years. Up until this year, we never doubted its usefulness or economy. This year the supply is low (was told by coal dealer it is being sent to China) and it was very expensive- i.e. close to $900 to heat our house this winter, depending on severity of winter.

Without getting all political, I have no idea what the future of coal looks like. So before even looking into different stoves, pros and cons, I'd make sure there is actually coal available in your area, and cost. For reference, we go through 2.5 - 3 tons a year to heat 1700ish square feet.

 

This year the supply is low (was told by coal dealer it is being sent to China) and it was very expensive- i.e. close to $900 to heat our house this winter, depending on severity of winter.

Woahhhhhhhhh Nelly! China is the largest coal producing country in the world - produces about 50% of it! I am not doubting that the salesman told you that....but if it is true, there is really something rotten in the state of Denmark! Maybe Xi has done some hanky panky to get Brandon to sell them our coal so that we won't have any, and they will! Maybe Brandon was promised lolly pops for going through with the deal.

 

I've not used either to heat my home.
However I read.

Read that you can't use Coal in a wood stove.

Guess it's too hot and will ruin the stove.
Perhaps others who actually know more on this can chime in?

 

Read that you can't use Coal in a wood stove.

Yes, and no. Some stoves are set up so that they can burn both coal and wood. My dad had a few of those over the years. He mostly burned wood, though.

 

The cheapest winter heat I ever had was hard lump coal, a ton was $200 and it did it. Stinks in the house every time I opened the door to toss on another lump. Stinks outside too, not a good smell like a wood fire IMHO.

Brick lined wood stove here, I put in a cast iron grate to burn the coal. I might score a ton or two to have on hand, cutting, hauling, splitting fire wood is getting really hard for this old guy.

 

Something I wondered about with coal, since we're on the subject... How quickly can you build a fire with coal and how quickly will it burn out?

Here in this part of TN, We need heat overnight. But by a few hours into daylight, if the sun is shining, we have very minimal need for heat. A wood stove can go from cold to a nice hot fire within maybe a half hour and if that last restoking happens at maybe dawn or so, provided it's not overdone, the stove will be cooled way down by mid morning, which follows the need for heat quite nicely.

What I wondered was whether coal fires will work that quickly. I was always under the impression that they take a good long while to get heated up and then tend to remain hotter for longer once you get there and wondered whether we'd be more in a state of chasing our desired heating output with coal rather than wood. I don't know. I'm asking.

 

Something I wondered about with coal, since we're on the subject... How quickly can you build a fire with coal and how quickly will it burn out?

Here in this part of TN, We need heat overnight. But by a few hours into daylight, if the sun is shining, we have very minimal need for heat. A wood stove can go from cold to a nice hot fire within maybe a half hour and if that last restoking happens at maybe dawn or so, provided it's not overdone, the stove will be cooled way down by mid morning, which follows the need for heat quite nicely.

What I wondered was whether coal fires will work that quickly. I was always under the impression that they take a good long while to get heated up and then tend to remain hotter for longer once you get there and wondered whether we'd be more in a state of chasing our desired heating output with coal rather than wood. I don't know. I'm asking.

You can start burning just like you do with wood, thing is if you make up the fire ( meaning get the ashes to drop through to the bottom and load it up with Coal before you go to bed and leave the Vent on the front open just a little it will still be hot the next morning ready for a load of coal to keep it going, Once you know how it burns with Coal there is no reason why making the fire up last thing should not last all night,

 

Whatever stove I bought to burn coal would have to also be able to burn wood.
I've never burned coal, but I have burned 100's of loads of wood. Wood is always available somewhere and if you see a problem on the horizon as everyone should have this year you have all Spring through Fall to gather it. First in first out.
Unless you have property with a coal seam on it you are dependent on others and at the mercy of their prices.

 

I did as a kid, I was thinking about going back to coal myself, but there isn't much to be had in this area, so you have to buy 5 tons all at once to make it economical to deliver. Now if you live in N/E Tennessee, Kentucky or the Virginias, you have it made. the mess is minimal and you can put the clinkers/ash in a gravel driveway for extra traction in winter, other than that you'll need a special place. like a burn pit to dump it. try here, it wasn't too bad before Biden, who knows now?

https://www.coalforsaleonline.com/

Stoves here. sadly nothing like the beast we had.

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A final word, DO NOT throw soaking wet coal in a hot stove, its liable to crack the belly and or explode!

 

Yep I have for the first 18 years of my life Coal is all we had, I prefer Coal Fires or Log fires over any other form of heating, Good Coal doesn't spit like wood/logs do. So it's a bit safer when you have the Doors open on the front.

I love It.

 

We heated with coal all the time when I was growing up, but it was easy to get back then.
First thing I'd do would be make a real effort to find 2 or more coal dealers who will deliver, most in this area are long gone, moved on to other things. You probably don't want to pay to have a semi full hauled from PA or WV.

 

I have a Harman coal stove and keep 1 ton of coal stored as a back up heat source. 1 ton will last us at least one full heating season. Our primary heat is geothermal. I like coal as a back up because it stores forever.

 

Start here! Anthracite & Bituminous Coal Forum - Residential & Commercial Heating | Coalpail.com Forum

I read this forum for several years before I jumped when I purchased a new house!

Coal is two different animals!
Bituminous Coal: Cheap, but fussy, dirty stinky compared with anthracite coal!
Anthracite Coal: Burns clean, stores forever, doesn’t rot, mildew or get eaten by bugs! You could burn it generations from now!

Get a dedicated coal stove! Other options are less than ideal and generally not optimized to either! I light mine with a propane torch up through the grate via the ash door with the stove fully loaded!

Heat is 100% controlled by air flow and controlling the air controls the stove! Air must move up through the coal bed to burn!

I bought a used Alaska Kodiak a little over 12 years ago and bought an 18 wheeler load of nut coal to go with it. I paid almost $4,600 for the 24.6 tons of very high quality nut coal. I thought I likely had 10 years worth of coal, but 12 years later I’m still burning that coal and likely have a couple more winters worth!

Coal burns great once it’s below 40F outside and I can burn it once burning to above 60F outside, but it gets temperamental! I oversized my stove so my stove body temperature runs 275-300F much of the winter, but bring on a cold snap and I just throttle it up! Stove temperatures below 160F are temperamental!

Above zero F I shake it down and fill it up once a day. I’ve traveled for 3 days and had it still burning when I turned it way down! Below zero is 2X a day!

I at first had 6 or 7 5-gallon buckets I kept in a tool room for a weeks worth of coal and kept a dozen bags of coal as emergency I have the flu or got hurt coal in the same area, but have switched to a Gorilla Cart on the porch that has 400-500 pounds of coal that I fill up a few times a winter! Emergency coal remains the same!

Wife grew up with a wood stove and I ran one for over a decade before I jumped to anthracite coal. Wife has told me every winter since we switched that this is the best heat she’s ever been around and she’s very pleased to be nice and warm in the winter.

We keep the living part of the house mid 70’s so I’m dressed like I’m headed to the beach all winter, but the wife is in heaven!

Lately I do the shoulder seasons with a propane wall heater and/or kerosene heater/heaters. It’s easier when it’s not really very cold or when it’s cool in the morning, but warms up during the day!

I’m averaging about $325 worth of coal each winter and a bit of kerosene and propane!

Natural disasters with no electricity, phone/internet have no effect on my heat!

We are in an old farm house that I’ve tightened up, but is still on the small side of things in modern America.

A wood fire while camping or having a fire ring in the yard is awesome! I’d burn wood in a cabin or other weekend type place, but for a winters residents I’m very pleased with anthracite coal!

SD

 

Thanks to Obama and the Eco rainbow warriors, coal is nearly a dead thing out here.

 

A neighbor up the road runs a small Anthracite coal business out of his farm. His costs to customers rose considerably this year. The supply and cost from the mines has been very stable. It's the trucking costs that have escalated.
He pays more than double for a trailer dump load from PA to CT.

 

We use to use about 3 or 4 CWT every winter to heat the house,

Don't know if you Guys across the pond use CWT as a weight measurement but over here a CWT is 1 Hundred weight OR 112Lbs bags, which has now all but gone because now they use KGs instead of CWT. and Lbs.

 

When I lived in Denver some years ago, I burned coal in my fireplace. Had to use a cast iron grate which could take the extra hot fire from coal, steel grates don't cut it. Also, Denver banned the use of coal for residences because the smoke was a pollutant that hung in the air and Denver's air was already quite stinky due to temperature inversions.

 

Yep that is what I was saying,

Over here you could buy Smokeless Coal called Coke and it use t burn well,

Can't beat a good Coal fire when it comes to heating a home if you can get it at a good price,

 

1 Q answered, "burning coal in my fireplace" Now where in southern OHIO do I find a supplier. Grew up with big pot bellies in or house and when we moved to town had a coal furnace. That was some great heat. Would love to find one of those old big pot bellies now.

 

I don't think its been mentioned that to burn coal, an air draft needs to be from underneath. Hence shaker grates. They are dual purpose, shift the clinkers out and let air in. You will notice on a stove that burns coal, the air intake/control will be below the ash grates.
Wood burns from the top/sides. You can burn wood in any stove, but coal need to burn in a coal stove.
My family burnt coal through my childhood years. I have burned wood since 1972.

 

You will notice on a stove that burns coal, the air intake/control will be below the ash grates.
Wood burns from the top/sides. You can burn wood in any stove, but coal need to burn in a coal stove.

That's not true for every stove. I have a vermont castings defiant (roughly 2000 year) that the air Intake is up through the bottom cast iron grate..its not a coal stove but a wood stove.

 

[ I've told this story before . . .]

Growing up we had a furnace in the basement with a fat octopus of ducts going to all the rooms.
When Daddy John D died I was about 9 which was deemed old enough to fire the furnace.
First thing every winter morning was to restart the fire. If I was lucky there would be some
embers left over. Otherwise it was wood first and a spritz of kerosene to get things going,
then coal on top. That morning load had to keep Mama warm all day until I got home from school,
at which time she would demand that I go down and "make a warm house". Third time would
be at night.

We had a corral in front of the furnace for the coal. Once a year we'd get a truckload dumped
through the chute. Other side of the basement was a chute where cousin Charlie would bring us
scraps from the lumber yard where he worked. He was one of the few people with a pickup
in those days, and I think he sold a truck load for five bucks.

People were always envious of how warm our house was!

 

Smoke and smell are generally from bituminous coal! My anthracite coal once burning does not produce ant visible smoke and I generally can’t smell it other than a light whiff occasionally when out in the yard right beside the chimney when the weather is just right!

During start up there is a very light visible smoke for a few minutes until it gets up and going!

Dust/mess inside the house is less than when burning wood in my experience!

SD

 

Looked into it a few years back, costs were too much even then for coal. Wood just walk out the back door and cut up a tree. Mn has trees and iron but no coal I'm aware of.

 

What I'm gathering from the discussion is that if coal is easily available, it may be a good option. If it's not, and wood is easily available, then maybe wood is a better option. A lot probably depends on where a person is. If you happen to live in northeastern PA, you're practically sitting on one of the world's best sources of high quality coal.

 

I had mine trucked about 300 miles! Can’t remember exactly what town they loaded in, but I wanted PA Anthracite and had them bring a load!

Fuel cost are higher now and I expect coal cost are higher now, but I’d still run the BTU’s per $$ to see how it holds up price wise.

For me I love having a decade plus of winter’s heat pre bought and sitting on the farm. I love that my children or grandchildren could burn it years from now if I don’t burn it!

I store it on a tarp and covered it with a tarp until the tarp fell apart. There are better ways of storing it, but this works!

Wood is a good heat source, but coal is better beyond description unless you’ve been around it!

SD

 

(3) news article; homes still burning coal | Survivalist Forum (survivalistboards.com)

previous thread with some info

Bellyman is right; coal is a good option, IF you can get it local.

 

Tractor Supply Co. has it listed on their website for about $500 a ton, in bags.

 

To put that in perspective, last year we paid $235/ton for rice coal delivered, this year it was $325/ton plus delivery fee, $65 as I recall. We use 2.5- 3 tons a year, depending on severity of winter. We usually fill our coal bin mid summer. Ended up having to go on a waiting list, and did eventually get it in September. We burned wood until week before Thanksgiving, set the temps in house closer to 68*, and will finish out the year burning wood.

In regards to the China thing...did a bit of quick checking and it appears that while they produce 50% of world's coal, they consume 80% of world's coal. I guess it is greener when it burns in China. China is even importing coal from Zimbabwe. Don't know what effect the Russia/Ukraine thing has on Russian exports to China, but my guess is that 2022 US to China #'s are even higher than what is reported in link I posted above.

 

Availability of coal? We have a coal train come through town almost daily. But , its almost impossible to purchase coal with-in five counties. It is taken to the Ohio river for shipment to maybe Colorado or some place else due to the high sulfur content.

 

A lot of coal falls off coal trains. I frequently see folks, bucket in hand, scavenging along the tracks.

 

My Grandparents still heated with coal when I was a kid. This is what I remember from waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back then (probably forgotten important stuff, though):

Shoveling coal is hard, dirty work. Cover as much skin as possible and wear eye protection (including leather gloves, sturdy boots, and bandana or T shirt over mouth and nose). The dust goes everywhere and sticks to everything, especially anything wet or damp or staticky. Keep furry critters, babies, small children, and elderly away.

You need a flat D-handled shovel with replaceable stick and handle. Extra stick and handle because eventually you will break the stick or handle. You also need at least two coal hods with handles and at least one ash can with cover (looks like small galvanized trash can with handle like a bucket) (how many depends on the size of the furnace, boiler, or stove you're using) If there's a cover for the coal hod, removable is better than just openable. If no cover, cover the hod tightly with two dedicated pillowcases and twine when moving (whether or not the hod is full, partial, or empty). Plastic and a bungee cord, etc. would probably work as well, although there's the issue of spark/static with plastic.

A house with a coal chute and drive-up delivery space is a real blessing because it saves hours and hours of work and cleaning. Make sure the door at the bottom is closed and securely bolted (not just latched) before the coal truck comes. Find a delivery service that can dump or shovel/push the coal directly into the coal chute (via ramp/sluice/tube) to avoid the big shoveling job and mess.

Using a brush dedicated for the purpose, brush clothing with coal dust off and air out thoroughly (maybe even beat) before washing. Do this way away from the house, garage, vehicles, garden, outhouse, well, water points, outbuildings, laundry lines, paths of travel between any of these, etc. Clean the brush thoroughly after each use so there's a clean brush for next time.

Coal dust clogs drains and filters. Cover all of them (in the room where the coal bin is at the bottom of the coal chute) tightly before the coal truck comes and before opening the coal chute to get coal. Close the doors and windows to reduce drafts that will pick up and disperse the dust. If the room or area the coal chute goes into is drafty after the outside door is closed and latched (and locked these days), find the sources and caulk, insulate, etc.

Coal chute is a potential ingress/egress point for burglars. Keep both inside and outside locked.

Coal dust makes a terrible mess, so if you don't want an old-timey licking from Grandma and Grandpa, take everything off you were wearing while shoveling coal and put it in a paper bag by the bottom of the stairs before traipsing anywhere in the house. Ditto dealing with coal ash.

Grandma will flat out kill you if you get coal dust or ash on her fresh, clean (wet or dry) laundry or towels or kitchen linens or fail to clean up after yourself Then Grandpa will kill you again and dispose of whatever's left of the body

 

I remember reading back in the 1970s a survivalist type got notice for something he did - had a low-lying area on the property that need landfilling - bought loads of local coal for fill and then dressed the top with a layer of dirt - eazy enough to dig down to access his backup fuel .....

always wondered if it was still there and the knowledge of the stash got passed along over the decades .....