Wood vs Coal Stoves

[ebinmaine 67,309]

14 minutes ago, Zeek said:

Well @JCM, after these responses it look like you are facing certain death with wood or coal. Go fuel oil 

After having the experience with the wonderful spill in our basement that is never going to be a part of my life again. 

 

Excellent way to get a remodeled basement though.

[JCM 9,130]

1 hour ago, Zeek said:

Well @JCM, after these responses it look like you are facing certain death with wood or coal. Go fuel oil 

Thanks for the good laugh, I need that multiple times a day if I can get it.       I have been burning wood at various places for the past 37 years and while I am filling multiple wood bins currently, two in the house and one in the cabin I continually ask myself why. When I look at a small bucket of coal I realize how much work it is hauling wood before it finally reaches the stove. I do 90% of this alone but truly enjoy the feeling I get from wood heat as I type this in front of a 1975 Vermont Castings Defiant. I am sure coal has its drawbacks and it was just a thought to maybe find a nice old coal stove for the basement and swap it out ? We do have a very nice heating system that I replaced 10 years ago and do use it so we don't have to live with only one heat source.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

@JCM, Jim back home in WV outdoor stoves are the rage, the woods ones now have "catalytic converters" on the flu system  , another subject entirely, with the wood versions they burn about anything made of wood (green or seasoned split or not pallets ect.), they also have the coal versions as well ( you can smell the sulfur odor when the air pressure is right), what I'm getting at is all the comfort of wood/coal without the mess in the house, yes you have to go outside to maintain the fire but you have to go outside to bring in the wood, just another option .

[JCM 9,130]

Funny you should mention that @WV Hillbilly Jeff. Last Friday I was working 2 miles down the road doing a Plumbing job and was asking about the outdoor boiler in the back yard. They buy log lengths of hardwood and cut and split themselves and neatly stack them near the boiler. He mentioned they paid $800 for the wood and get 7-8 cords out of it. Cut, split and delivered hardwood goes for $ 300 on an average per cord. Also, they have a hot water baseboard oil  heating system and have not touched the thermostat yet this heating season. This also provides domestic hot water. Not bad.

[nyquil junkie 225]

We heat with wood mostly...some electric now and then.  I used to have a tiny VC intrepid that was nice, I cooked on it every day in the winter.  When I replaced it I bought a new Hitzer 254 coal stove because I thought why not... might be less work.

 

No... nope... didn't like coal. Local soft coal is dirty and hard coal is hard to keep lit, and in a small house, its always too hot when it does burn right.

 

I used to burn almost exclusively pallets (not pellets) with this stove, the way the air jacket is made it'll kick out a lot of heat with not much fire. Pallets here are abundantly free, most are kiln dried hardwood, and lots of light woods that burn fast and hot for quick heat. The hardwood stringers in em burn really nice if you stack em in there right.

 

But.... breaking up 100s of pallets a yr got old.... so I moved on to slab wood, abundantly cheap here, and cut into actual thick planks so the wood is nearly as good as split cord wood. Thats the slab the local mill kicks out, some only sell off the strips and thin trims.  And wouldnt you know it, the good slab planks mill was not cutting wood last yr but, I had a shed full left so....

 

I recently found a guy who cuts cord wood by the truckload to sell, outof my price range butI found he sells the trimed ends and oddball sized cord splits he cant sell to the local picky folks who want it all one size to stack nice...

 

super cheap by the loader full, all hardwood and perfect sized for tossing in the stove.  Lets  hope he stays in business for a while.

 

And I cut trees that are in my way around here, that keeps another shed full.  So far with a few exceptions I have spent next to nothing heating the house in the winter.

 

But coal vs wood?  Yeah unless I'm cold and trees stop growing, I'll pass on the coal. it just doesn't suit my house size needs.

 

Now my old uncle, yrs ago hand a decently large farmhouse to heat, old Bill used to set fire to a giant coal furnace in the basement in the fall and it burned non stop till late spring.  And everything he owned was covered with a fine later of Pensyltucky patina.  (coal dust & Ash).   But Uncle bill was a coal miner so he was kinda that way even in the summer.

 

Must not be too dangerous.... he died in his 90s in that filthy old place.  So did his mom in that same farmhouse at about 98. None of them ever seemed to sick or unhealthy.

 

Go figure..... tougher folks from a harder time.

[ebinmaine 67,309]

10 hours ago, JCM said:

buy log lengths of hardwood and cut and split themselves and neatly stack them near the boiler. He mentioned they paid $800 for the wood and get 7-8 cords

That's a good way to go if you don't have your own forest or woodlot. 

 

Have to buy 2 or 3 seasons ahead for proper seasoning and curing for the wood. 

 

12 hours ago, JCM said:

Thanks for the good laugh, I need that multiple times a day if I can get it.   

You call me anytime day or night and we'll shoot the @#$+&$# for a bit. 

You know I ain't right. 

And I'm ok if you laugh at me, or with me. 

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,309]

6 hours ago, nyquil junkie said:

We heat with wood mostly...some electric now and then.  I used to have a tiny VC intrepid that was nice, I cooked on it every day in the winter.  When I replaced it I bought a new Hitzer 254 coal stove because I thought why not... might be less work.

 

No... nope... didn't like coal. Local soft coal is dirty and hard coal is hard to keep lit, and in a small house, its always too hot when it does burn right.

 

I used to burn almost exclusively pallets (not pellets) with this stove, the way the air jacket is made it'll kick out a lot of heat with not much fire. Pallets here are abundantly free, most are kiln dried hardwood, and lots of light woods that burn fast and hot for quick heat. The hardwood stringers in em burn really nice if you stack em in there right.

 

But.... breaking up 100s of pallets a yr got old.... so I moved on to slab wood, abundantly cheap here, and cut into actual thick planks so the wood is nearly as good as split cord wood. Thats the slab the local mill kicks out, some only sell off the strips and thin trims.  And wouldnt you know it, the good slab planks mill was not cutting wood last yr but, I had a shed full left so....

 

I recently found a guy who cuts cord wood by the truckload to sell, outof my price range butI found he sells the trimed ends and oddball sized cord splits he cant sell to the local picky folks who want it all one size to stack nice...

 

super cheap by the loader full, all hardwood and perfect sized for tossing in the stove.  Lets  hope he stays in business for a while.

 

And I cut trees that are in my way around here, that keeps another shed full.  So far with a few exceptions I have spent next to nothing heating the house in the winter.

 

But coal vs wood?  Yeah unless I'm cold and trees stop growing, I'll pass on the coal. it just doesn't suit my house size needs.

 

Now my old uncle, yrs ago hand a decently large farmhouse to heat, old Bill used to set fire to a giant coal furnace in the basement in the fall and it burned non stop till late spring.  And everything he owned was covered with a fine later of Pensyltucky patina.  (coal dust & Ash).   But Uncle bill was a coal miner so he was kinda that way even in the summer.

 

Must not be too dangerous.... he died in his 90s in that filthy old place.  So did his mom in that same farmhouse at about 98. None of them ever seemed to sick or unhealthy.

 

Go figure..... tougher folks from a harder time.

 

Good post. 

 

We do the same with the wood/electric mix.

When the oil spill happened here (hard to believe that was 2 yrs ago this month) the burner tech could NOT get the fittings at the tank to stop seeping. 

Carefully inspected tank by highly qualified DEP, Remediation personnel, and a good quality burner tech/HVAC guy. All the rest of the parts/fittings/lines were new. 

After the FOURTH attempt I got pretty irritated and forced the removal of the entire tank/lines/furnace. ALL of it. Gone. 

I didn't care if I had to heat my water on a camp stove... I was DONE with oil being in the house. 

 

We installed a 40 gallon water heater and 3 electric 220V fan blown air heaters in carefully chosen locations in the house. 

My electric bill went DOWN. 

 

 

You mentioned slabs. When I lived in western Mass my parents used slabs many moons ago when I were a young'un. 

Seemed like an inexpensive but messy way to go. Lots of bark, sawdust and small chips and pieces. 

 

Here in Maine I don't think you can even buy slabs. The mills debark before cutting. That's mulch or paper pulp for rough paper.  Then the entire log is used for either boards or chips/sawdust/paper pulp. 

 

 

[rjg854 11,351]

Everyone's taste in heating are different.  I heated my first house with wood for 30 years.  Got all my wood from my grandparents farm, so the cost was right.  The wife and I would make a few trips to the farm, and cut down dead trees, cut it up in chunks, load it in the truck, and bring it to the house.  From there it was split and stacked, and loaded into the basement, where the wood stove was, which heated the whole house, (1800 sq ft).  After the farm was sold, we bought log lengths, delivered to the house. So the process continued much the same.  Once the boys left the nest, we moved to where we are now.  The house was heated with fuel oil.  Those were the days fuel oil was super expensive.  So after some research, decided on the coal.  So much easier, back the truck up to the basement window, and fill the bin in the basement, from there load it into the hopper.  Yeah there is some dust, but nothing that outlandish, IMO.  A 5 gallon bucket or so a day depending on the weather, and maybe less than half that in ash, a day.  So much easier than all the work it took to burn wood.  The only down side I see is that the boiler requires constant power for the feed and blower motor.  Seeing I'm out in the boonies, I have a generator for those times the power goes out, which isn't very often.  The boiler is @ 15 years old, and still works like new.  Maybe when I get old, I may switch to whatever the green thing happens to be at the time, but for right now, I'm quite pleased with the set-up I have. 

[ebinmaine 67,309]

27 minutes ago, rjg854 said:

Everyone's taste in heating are different

Very true. Very true. 

 

I'm finding it interesting to see what folks use given the circumstances of their environment. Not just geographical but economic, ambition or level of health, desire to do certain things. 

 

I do genuinely enjoy just turning a knob to bump up the temp in the house. 

 

But also... Workin' in the woods is absolutely a favorite for Trina, her mom,  and I. 

We both really enjoy the whole process of firewood... Except I could take or leave stacking... But she and her mom do 95% of that because they like it. 

 

 

[JCM 9,130]

3 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

 

Have to buy 2 or 3 seasons ahead for proper seasoning and curing for the wood

 

 

 

 

I have no experience with outdoor boilers but the concept intrigues me. My customer mentioned that you can use green wood in it ?  I am sure it wood ( see what I did there, a little word play that I learned from you ) smoke out the neighbors to no end though and require more cleaning of the chamber and flue, let alone a loss in BTU's.

[ebinmaine 67,309]

10 minutes ago, JCM said:

I have no experience with outdoor boilers but the concept intrigues me. My customer mentioned that you can use green wood in it ?  I am sure it wood ( see what I did there, a little word play that I learned from you ) smoke out the neighbors to no end though and require more cleaning of the chamber and flue, let alone a loss in BTU's.

Yes it wood.  

[JCM 9,130]

Didn't take long for you to get back at me Eric,   

[dcrage 627]

21 hours ago, JCM said:

  but truly enjoy the feeling I get from wood heat as I type this in front of a 1975 Vermont Castings Defiant.

 

 

I am continually amazed at how much heat comes out of our Vermont Castings Defiant stove that came with our home purchase 35 years ago. It is located in a ~1000 sq ft family room and I stockpile green wood to put in there to cool the fire. It can get unbearably warm in that room. We do NOT routinely get sub-zero weather here. We have lows of single digits forcasted for next week so I might not be using as much green wood then. 

[JCM 9,130]

20 minutes ago, dcrage said:

 

 

I am continually amazed at how much heat comes out of our Vermont Castings Defiant stove that came with our home purchase 35 years ago. It is located in a ~1000 sq ft family room and I stockpile green wood to put in there to cool the fire. It can get unbearably warm in that room. We do NOT routinely get sub-zero weather here. We have lows of single digits forcasted for next week so I might not be using as much green wood then. 

I have owned 7 wood stoves at various locations and that is my favorite one. Simple design and rugged construction. The second picture is also a VC but Intrepid model, throws a lot of heat for a small stove.   Load em up.

[nyquil junkie 225]

 

 

The way they slab here is they debark the logs, and that gets sold as mulch. Then they rough shape the logs square and those are the clean slabs.  none of the ones I get have bark.  The last one s I got were mixed 16 ft bundles , mostly thick plank and shorter stuff where the sawed off branch knots.  I kinda thought the guy wasted a lot of good plank but whatever.... my win.

 

The sawmill I used to go to shut down, that guy used to grab huge piles off the side of the mill and dump them in huge piles. You had to pick thru the mess for what you wanted it was a lot of work and I had to size most of them on site to get on the truck.

 

Bark mulch here is a good selling stuff.... no slab has any bark or mess to it.

 

I recently tore a couple muscles and I cant stoke the stove very often so Im stiing here with the electrics going.... Im freezin iun here.  There aint no substitute for a bushel of wood and a match.

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,309]

Here's our big stove. Fisher Papa Bear. 

 

 

 

 

[WHX?? 48,795]

Missed this thread @JCM Plunge but you get yer  for not cluing in guys that put horses in the barn from selling heat! 

Sorry you eastern boys, I know oil is pretty popular out there but forget it. It's a dying fuel source from an efficiency standpoint. Most everyone want to burn fuel at 92% + AFUE  (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency)  and the best you can do with oil is 82% and that is if the furnace is super tuned. Which they rarely are and after a few weeks of burn time get out of tune. 

Propane is always a good bet for burning at 96% or better. Only problem with propane is since it's a manufactured fuel the outfits that make it can play price games. 

 

I like wood if you have the time and energy to make it, which I have neither of as I get older! 

That said an alternative to wood is ...well wood in the form of pellets which nobody has yet mentioned. 

 

I have been burning pellets since 2000 and the only reason I went that route is I had thought that it would cut down on the mess and fuss of a nice piece of oak. Ashes, bugs brought into the house, bark mess etc. That and the fact Lennox started in the hearth business about then and was making pellet stoves and since I am a Lennox dealer a stove came ...well lets just say one fell off the truck! 

I still burn that 20 yo stove to this day but have put my share of parts in it as well as other custom mods. My nephew was in the pellet stove business for a bit and a few years ago traded me  a new Harman for an ac unit. That one still sits out in the shed in it's box! Damn thing is computerized to the hilt! Pray tell why does there need to be a usb port on a stove?!?!? 

Edited March 3, 2021 by WHX24

[nyquil junkie 225]

On those Intrepid stoves.... I had a newer model with the cat box in the back, I never could get much heat from it but I cooked food all winter on the thing, which was nice.   Now my mom wanted one for her house so I found one is some upscale high dollar home that the people bought for.... decoration. Go figure. Anywhoo it had never been used, and it wa the older type 1 with no cat.

 

That thing would cook you out of her house just running at mid range. it kicked out so much heat you couldn't stand beside it.

 

The innnards are sightly different than the type 2/cat design.  It made a huge difference.

 

I miss the top loader grill.... like a stovetop that was on all day long.  A nice touch in the winter.

[nyquil junkie 225]

On 3/3/2021 at 10:35 AM, WHX24 said:

! Pray tell why does there need to be a usb port on a stove?!?!? 

 

 

America is doomed lol  we need a USB port for everything.

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by nyquil junkie

[squonk 41,038]

On 3/3/2021 at 10:35 AM, WHX24 said:

 

 

I like wood if you have the time and energy to make it, which I have neither of as I get older! 

 

 

Quote

 Pray tell why does there need to be a usb port on a stove?!?!?  

Oh you silly Goose! It's to plug your phone or tablet when it's cold and your surfing Michigan Craiglist for Wheel Horses to pilfer,rustle steal, acquire, fleece ect. from unsuspecting Michigan Townfolk! 

 

I'm even lazier than you (If that's possible)  Atlanta Natural gas stove. Don't use it unless it's below 20 out. Cat starts bugging me to turn it on. Then he hogs the heat. There is a dog under the blanket in the picture. Not much hair on him either. Just like yours! 

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by squonk

[pfrederi 17,674]

Been running a Harman Mark3  coal stove for 19 years.  Burn Anthracite.  i have land but not much timber.  Besides i am getting to old for that work.  Biggest disadvantage of coal once you light it you keep it going.  Shutting down and restarting is messy and wastes fuel.  We keep the downstairs at near 80  in early fall and spring will have the windows open with stove on during short warm ups..  Anthracite is not that dusty ( I burn nut ) has 25 million BTUs per ton wood pellets about 16.5 million per ton.  Coal is $235/ton delivered.  Wood pellets run 250-275 ton and i have to pick them up and will use more to get same BTUs