Coal furnace

oil pan 4 · 12-01-17, 07:49 PM

Tractor supply has their coal furnaces on clearance.
So I bought one.
They have 2 different sizes. The not so large one holds 50lb of coal and has 1 blower, the full size one holds 70lb of coal and has 2 blowers.
I went with the bigger furnace with 2 blowers.
Just because it's a coal furnace doesn't mean you have to only burn coal, I don't have a regular source of coal. Although I would like to roll coal on the cold nights. Some tractor supply stores sell coal and the one here says they can get it, special seasonal order.

oil pan 4 · 12-02-17, 03:38 PM

Picking it up today. I don't know how much it weighs but it's heavy. My guess is around 300lb with all the blowers and fire brick in there.
Pictures

Tractor supply said they are going to order me some nut size coal.
They really want to get rid of these, I paid 750 for the larger size one.

oil pan 4 · 12-19-17, 06:44 AM

It's going to get down to -0°F this weekend. Wish I had some coal. At those temperatures the heat pumps installed in our house are useless, they become electric heaters.

Mikesolar · 12-24-17, 08:02 AM

Ummmm, coal is not very ECO, last time I checked. What are you going to do with it?

oil pan 4 · 12-24-17, 09:27 AM

Obviously use the coal for home heating. Also since I now now how difficult it is to get coal around these parts I am going to sell the bags of coal on Craigslist for up to 4x what I am going to pay for it.
Nearly half of all power generated comes from coal, boiler fired power plants are no more than 40% efficient.
Burning coal at the point of use for heat should be at least 70% efficient on a bad day.
How is that not eco friendly?
All I'm doing is cutting out the power company and not feeling guilty about it.
Everyone except for the guys generating all their power off grid with solar, wind, hydro are using coal. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean you aren't using it.
Use natural gas for heat? that's real environmentally friendly. Then you support fracking, doesn't matter what you think or say on the subject, actions speak louder....
Plus natural gas generates a good size portion of our electricity.

From an economics standpoint bagged coal per BTU is about double cost of natural gas. If all I did was take a years worth of natural gas surcharges alone I could buy 3000lb of coal. Or 36 million BTU, which is around $200 worth of actual gas consumption.
Bulk coal from what little I can find on the subject should cost around the same or less than natural gas per BTU.

I'm mostly buring unwanted and dead trees trees for fire wood, new construction lumber scraps, renovation waste wood, stuff that normally goes to a land fill. I'm not just buring coal all the time. I mainly bought a coal furnace because they are more heavily constructed and can take more heat. The fact that it can burn coal is secondary, plus the coal furnace was cheaper than the wood furnaces by a lot since it was a steeply discounted clearance item.

elhigh · 12-24-17, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I'm mostly buring unwanted and dead trees trees for fire wood, new construction lumber scraps, renovation waste wood, stuff that normally goes to a land fill. I'm not just buring coal all the time. I mainly bought a coal furnace because they are more heavily constructed and can take more heat. The fact that it can burn coal is secondary, plus the coal furnace was cheaper than the wood furnaces by a lot since it was a steeply discounted clearance item.

Came here to say this. Coal furnace will let you burn wood when you have it. Can't do that with a natural gas furnace, and neither coal nor firewood require special containment or present an explosion risk. You can stockpile both as time, energy and funds permit - again, not really an option with gas or propane. Gas is all or nothing plus a delivery charge, wood and coal are you and your truck (or in my case, 200 lbs of pellets at a time in the back of a Honda Civic). If it's already on the way home the added cost of picking up the fuel may be negligible.

One thought: I've never had any trouble burning pellets in the wood stove, I wonder if you could adapt the coal furnace to that fuel. That would give you tremendous flexibility.

Mikesolar · 12-24-17, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Obviously use the coal for home heating. Also since I now now how difficult it is to get coal around these parts I am going to sell the bags of coal on Craigslist for up to 4x what I am going to pay for it.
Nearly half of all power generated comes from coal, boiler fired power plants are no more than 40% efficient.
Burning coal at the point of use for heat should be at least 70% efficient on a bad day.
How is that not eco friendly?
All I'm doing is cutting out the power company and not feeling guilty about it.
Everyone except for the guys generating all their power off grid with solar, wind, hydro are using coal. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean you aren't using it.
Use natural gas for heat? that's real environmentally friendly. Then you support fracking, doesn't matter what you think or say on the subject, actions speak louder....
Plus natural gas generates a good size portion of our electricity.

From an economics standpoint bagged coal per BTU is about double cost of natural gas. If all I did was take a years worth of natural gas surcharges alone I could buy 3000lb of coal. Or 36 million BTU, which is around $200 worth of actual gas consumption.
Bulk coal from what little I can find on the subject should cost around the same or less than natural gas per BTU.

I'm mostly buring unwanted and dead trees trees for fire wood, new construction lumber scraps, renovation waste wood, stuff that normally goes to a land fill. I'm not just buring coal all the time. I mainly bought a coal furnace because they are more heavily constructed and can take more heat. The fact that it can burn coal is secondary, plus the coal furnace was cheaper than the wood furnaces by a lot since it was a steeply discounted clearance item.

The whole London Fog was coal smog, not fog. Whether locally burned or in a big plant, it emits by far, the most CO2 of all the fuels and it doesn't matter what the efficiency is. If there is a way to scrub the particulate out, it's better but everyone wants to reduce coal burning in power plants which is why more and more are being switched over to gas. I think it is fine to burn the wood, I've done it too, in a 96% masonry stove. Besides, anytime I can kick the Koch bros in the gonads, I will, lol

oil pan 4 · 12-24-17, 02:26 PM

Wood pellets in the coal furnace?
I'll try it.
The way the coal furnace is designed it funnels all the ash down to the ash tray. The ash funnel chamber can be opened to allow some air to flow up through the coals from the very bottom. In theory allowing a good wood pellet burn.

I have some propane stored. A pair of 40lb tanks to power the gas dryer (summer only use) and 2 IR single element 9k to 12k BTU heaters. Each heater should run 3 straight days on low from a full tank, maybe a little longer.
To go from new to full on a singe 40lb tank costs about $130.
That's only 800k BTU. Less than the heating value of two $5 bags of coal.

My small trailer is good for 2,500lb and has a brake axle. So I could haul a lot of coal, wood pellet, choped wood and so on.
On a car tongue weight is my limiting factor, on the suburban, 500lb of tongue weight and it doesn't even notice.

oil pan 4 · 12-24-17, 07:38 PM

Buring coal isn't for everyone or every place.
Where I am there is 0 smog. It's flat and windy all the time.
I plan to burn mostly wood by far. Only burn coal on the 0°F nights that were for casted for this weekend, but didn't get.
Plus high grade coal has almost no sulfur.

oil pan 4 · 12-28-17, 05:14 PM

Well it looks like I am in a coalless hole.
Nearest place to the west is about 8 hours away. Mckinley mine and San Juan coal mine both sell to any one who wants to come get some.
Tractor supply won't ship coal.
The nearest coal dealer in texas, a coal supply is about 4hr away.

12-01-17, 07:49 PM	#1
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	Coal furnace Tractor supply has their coal furnaces on clearance. So I bought one. They have 2 different sizes. The not so large one holds 50lb of coal and has 1 blower, the full size one holds 70lb of coal and has 2 blowers. I went with the bigger furnace with 2 blowers. Just because it's a coal furnace doesn't mean you have to only burn coal, I don't have a regular source of coal. Although I would like to roll coal on the cold nights. Some tractor supply stores sell coal and the one here says they can get it, special seasonal order. Last edited by oil pan 4; 12-02-17 at 03:43 PM..

12-02-17, 03:38 PM	#2
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	Picking it up today. I don't know how much it weighs but it's heavy. My guess is around 300lb with all the blowers and fire brick in there. Pictures Tractor supply said they are going to order me some nut size coal. They really want to get rid of these, I paid 750 for the larger size one. Attached Thumbnails

12-24-17, 02:26 PM	#8
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	Wood pellets in the coal furnace? I'll try it. The way the coal furnace is designed it funnels all the ash down to the ash tray. The ash funnel chamber can be opened to allow some air to flow up through the coals from the very bottom. In theory allowing a good wood pellet burn. I have some propane stored. A pair of 40lb tanks to power the gas dryer (summer only use) and 2 IR single element 9k to 12k BTU heaters. Each heater should run 3 straight days on low from a full tank, maybe a little longer. To go from new to full on a singe 40lb tank costs about $130. That's only 800k BTU. Less than the heating value of two $5 bags of coal. My small trailer is good for 2,500lb and has a brake axle. So I could haul a lot of coal, wood pellet, choped wood and so on. On a car tongue weight is my limiting factor, on the suburban, 500lb of tongue weight and it doesn't even notice. Last edited by oil pan 4; 12-24-17 at 03:47 PM..

12-19-17, 06:44 AM	#3
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	It's going to get down to -0°F this weekend. Wish I had some coal. At those temperatures the heat pumps installed in our house are useless, they become electric heaters.

12-24-17, 08:02 AM	#4
Mikesolar Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Toronto Posts: 958 Thanks: 40 Thanked 158 Times in 150 Posts	Ummmm, coal is not very ECO, last time I checked. What are you going to do with it?

12-24-17, 09:27 AM	#5
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	Obviously use the coal for home heating. Also since I now now how difficult it is to get coal around these parts I am going to sell the bags of coal on Craigslist for up to 4x what I am going to pay for it. Nearly half of all power generated comes from coal, boiler fired power plants are no more than 40% efficient. Burning coal at the point of use for heat should be at least 70% efficient on a bad day. How is that not eco friendly? All I'm doing is cutting out the power company and not feeling guilty about it. Everyone except for the guys generating all their power off grid with solar, wind, hydro are using coal. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean you aren't using it. Use natural gas for heat? that's real environmentally friendly. Then you support fracking, doesn't matter what you think or say on the subject, actions speak louder.... Plus natural gas generates a good size portion of our electricity. From an economics standpoint bagged coal per BTU is about double cost of natural gas. If all I did was take a years worth of natural gas surcharges alone I could buy 3000lb of coal. Or 36 million BTU, which is around $200 worth of actual gas consumption. Bulk coal from what little I can find on the subject should cost around the same or less than natural gas per BTU. I'm mostly buring unwanted and dead trees trees for fire wood, new construction lumber scraps, renovation waste wood, stuff that normally goes to a land fill. I'm not just buring coal all the time. I mainly bought a coal furnace because they are more heavily constructed and can take more heat. The fact that it can burn coal is secondary, plus the coal furnace was cheaper than the wood furnaces by a lot since it was a steeply discounted clearance item.

12-24-17, 07:38 PM	#9
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	Buring coal isn't for everyone or every place. Where I am there is 0 smog. It's flat and windy all the time. I plan to burn mostly wood by far. Only burn coal on the 0°F nights that were for casted for this weekend, but didn't get. Plus high grade coal has almost no sulfur.

12-28-17, 05:14 PM	#10
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	Well it looks like I am in a coalless hole. Nearest place to the west is about 8 hours away. Mckinley mine and San Juan coal mine both sell to any one who wants to come get some. Tractor supply won't ship coal. The nearest coal dealer in texas, a coal supply is about 4hr away.