EcoRenovator  

Go Back   EcoRenovator > Improvements > Conservation
Advanced Search
 


Blog 60+ Home Energy Saving Tips Recent Posts Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-01-17, 08:49 PM   #1
oil pan 4
Land owner
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NM
Posts: 1,026
Thanks: 12
Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts
Default 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 04:43 PM..
oil pan 4 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-02-17, 04:38 PM   #2
oil pan 4
Land owner
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NM
Posts: 1,026
Thanks: 12
Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts
Default

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
Click image for larger version

Name:	20171202_134035.jpg
Views:	2581
Size:	465.4 KB
ID:	7996  
oil pan 4 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-19-17, 07:44 AM   #3
oil pan 4
Land owner
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NM
Posts: 1,026
Thanks: 12
Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts
Default

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.
oil pan 4 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-24-17, 09:02 AM   #4
Mikesolar
Master EcoRenovator
 
Mikesolar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Toronto
Posts: 958
Thanks: 40
Thanked 158 Times in 150 Posts
Default

Ummmm, coal is not very ECO, last time I checked. What are you going to do with it?
Mikesolar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-24-17, 10:27 AM   #5
oil pan 4
Land owner
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NM
Posts: 1,026
Thanks: 12
Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts
Default

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.
oil pan 4 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-24-17, 10:45 AM   #6
elhigh
Helper EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 41
Thanks: 3
Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4 View Post

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.
elhigh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-24-17, 03:26 PM   #7
oil pan 4
Land owner
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NM
Posts: 1,026
Thanks: 12
Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts
Default

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 04:47 PM..
oil pan 4 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-24-17, 07:20 PM   #8
Mikesolar
Master EcoRenovator
 
Mikesolar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Toronto
Posts: 958
Thanks: 40
Thanked 158 Times in 150 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4 View Post
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
Mikesolar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-24-17, 08:38 PM   #9
oil pan 4
Land owner
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NM
Posts: 1,026
Thanks: 12
Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts
Default

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 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-17, 06:14 PM   #10
oil pan 4
Land owner
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NM
Posts: 1,026
Thanks: 12
Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts
Default

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.

oil pan 4 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Tags
coal, hvac, winter, wood

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:06 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Ad Management by RedTyger
Inactive Reminders By Icora Web Design