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Wood vs Coal
I have a combination wood/propane furnace to heat the house, and it has shaker grates for coal, which I've also used a bit in the colder spells, since it runs a lot longer. I got it by the bag, since it was really just for convenience of running time, not that I was going to use it long-term. Mostly we burn wood, about 6 cords that I cut on our land.
One thing that I'm surprised hasn't been pointed out about coal is how compact it is compared to wood. Yes, a ton of coal is equal to about 2 cords of wood, but that TON of coal is really small -- about 4x4x4, if I remember right, probably off a little but not much. The heat value of just about anything you can burn is dependent almost entirely on weight -- the more weight of burnables you can push through, the more heat you get.
I'm going to be out of wood tomorrow, because all I can cram into the basement is 2.5 cords, and I don't have good storage near the house. Makes the coal more appealing.
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Wood vs Coal
Oh yeah, forgot to say that if an agent didn't offer insurance here for places with wood stoves, furnaces, etc, he'd be out of business -- there'd be nobody to insure.
My new neighbor about 350' away is the only one I can think of in miles who doesn't burn wood. And I think she's nuts, since she has radiant heat, she could lose the whole shooting match to a freeze. She does have a self-start power backup, though.
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Wood vs Coal
I bought a pellet stove a few years back. There is very little mess and it supplies most of the heat required for this house. I also have the heat pump which is water based and it supplies supplimental heat on the coldest days.
I have a outside insulated wood boiler and like the system. As it burns very slowly. I doubt I would use much more than a couple of cords in a season. I could easily heat the house with the system and may add it into the mix, but at present the pellet stove heats for about 200$ a season with no wood cutting or feeding. I built a exchanger and currently it heats the pool.
In MA I had a coal stove and burned some coal but was not overly impressed with the mess.
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Wood vs Coal
Peters
How much are the pellets,what are they made from,How do you
buy them? Bagged?
Thanks
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Wood vs Coal
Grinder - I had my stove in the family room. If you put the stove in the basement there may not be a problem with fly ash. My wife has a friend who is a meticulous person and she is OK with a coal stove in the basement. But the room the stove is in will definitely have extra dust.
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Grinder - I would disagree that 1 ton of coal leaves 1/2 ton of ash. You just empty the tray out of the bottom once a day - over a 10 year period we didn't accummulate that much ash. Maybe 1-2 yards.
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Hardwood,
Was that 89 cents a gallon for propane? I use around 800 gal/year and as of my last delivery it was $2.15 per gallon.
What a ripoff here in Maine, Spend tax dollars for State/Federal fuel assistance programs, then the suppliers raise the prices because the 'program' will pay whatever they ask.
With a little luck I'll be back to wood heat by the fall. Scroo all these 'support your local whatever' who rip off their customers. Will gladly pay the premium for 'low volume user' if I can get down to 100-125 gal/year. The dealer can eat 'losses' on the tank and regulators.
Ranting on...
bliz
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Intresting about heating costs posted here. When we built this house 23yrs ago we insulated with urethane foam. Our NG costs were about $45/mo for 2400 sq.' then. Now we have 3600 sq.' and our annual NG costs are $96/mo. We never really burned much wood to augment our heating. All the new additions also are urethane'd.
I also have double-paned windows and cover the insides with heat shrinked clear plastic in the winter. I expect another NG price increase but don't think I'll ever come close to matching heating bills with some of what I've seen here. Insulation seems to be a major player here.
BTW..just got back from Prescott, AZ visiting friends. Ran their Kubota 2960(?)glide shift and have a few comments about it compared to the 2210. Anyway, Prescott gets cold at night alot of the time in winter and their house's insulation, well, what insulation, is some fiberglas but typical for the "South 48". And, their NG heating bill is higher than ours for less sq. footage.
And I remember my granddad's house in Neosho, MO that had a coal chute into the basement to feed this huge boiler for the HW radiators.
Not sure I'm happy to be back from Arizona, but it's warmer here than Prescott was when we left...go figure. Gotta catch up on the latest tractor stuff.
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Blizzard, yes .89 plus 5% state sales tax is the correct figure, I just dug out the reciept to be sure I was right. I really don't know what it's going for right now but I doubt it's over a dollar otherwise it would be a prime coffee shop topic. Frank.
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Blizzard
What ever happened to cheap NG with the pipeline across Maine from Canada? I think Mass. an RI got it,we didn't.
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02-22-2004, 07:51 
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