Need Some Coal in Texas

It is impossible to find coal here. We live in an old house that at one time the PO had installed a Federal Airtight ( one of the better ones) in the front/living room. I assumed at the time and I'm guessing 15-20 years ago, a cord of wood was the primary source of energy to use in it. Today a cord of split oak is running about 360.00. And in all honesty it goes through it too fast and too many reloads. Once up and going it does a pretty good job. I does come with the coal attachment. The only source I have found on the internet that will ship to me is "buy coal on the internet" His prices are way out of line but so far he looks like IT. A couple of thoughts have crossed my mind. Buy from this guy? Go find where the trains sit over night ( we get numerous feeder routes that bring coal in headed south for the power generating plants down south) but I'm not a thief, or find someone that might have another solution? I also have no idea what the coal is that comes in on those trains but assume it's brown and burns dirty. I'd like to buy 4 bags of stove and 3 bags of nut. Anyone know a trucker/pilot/train engineer or a friend that's headed to Denton TX with the ability to carry it here? Denton is 40 miles north of Dallas and about 38 miles north of Ft Worth. I-35 splits here and I-35 east goes to Dallas and I-35 west goes to Ft Worth. They join up again south of the area in Hillsborough TX. I know you can ship by Bus pretty cheap. But I'm wide open for suggestions. I sure would like to see what results we could get and at the same time learn a whole lot about what all of you seem to know and enjoy talking about. I can pay with Pay Pal or check no problem waiting for BOA Bank check to clear. Nope we don't do Western Union due to scam concerns but I feel good about US Postal Money Orders and I could do that. Or if anyone in the goodness in their hearts are willing to help two mid 50 year old men that haven't had good work in over 2 and half years get by then that would be a great blessing and needed help from the prayer I know I send up every night that things will get better again. Don't get me wrong we work and pray for overtime and take it when it's there.
Jim

Jim -

Welcome to the forum. Some other folks might be able to chime in with better info for burning in your climate, but I would imagine that coal is not the hot ticket. I just checked your local forecast and it looks like highs in the 50s are the norm. In most situations, you need to have a significant difference between indoor and outdoor temps to successfully burn coal.

I have a Federal Airtight FA264CCL that is about 25 years old. It has burned countless cords of wood, and a few tons of coal. Not sure how much square footage you're trying to heat, but if you have good seals on the doors, and a good catalytic combustor, these stoves are pretty thrifty with wood. You can also get away with burning lesser wood without heavy creosote buildup, since the combustor will burn off any volatile matter in the wood. Aren't osage orange/bois d'arc/hedgeapple/horseapple trees pretty common in your area? That's some of the best burning firewood you can get.

The stove did OK burning coal, but there are much better stoves for that job.

Do you have pics of your current stove?

Good luck!
Scott

Yes, I have some pics I can put up and I will try to provide them. This unit I am presuming is about 20 years old and the catalytic device in my opinion has seen its life used up mainly due to rust and abuse by previous renters that had absolutely no idea how it works. I have taken the time to learn as much as I can about. As for the weather yes sir your correct 50 degrees is what we say is an average but when you start averaging the days we have at 105* or more it can tend to skew that number. Example, today it got above freezing but for the last 2 weeks that has happened only twice. We had about an inch in half ice for Christmas and our low was 9 for two nights. Average low for the last 2 weeks nights has been 22. This house was built in 1935 is has the original wood windows, is pier and beam with wood flooring and no insulation in the craw space. The landlord is a slum lord he does nothing till the city demands it, but it's cheap cause we need cheap right now. Not sure I have ever in my life seen a cord of bois d'arc. Oak/pecan/ash is the market. We don't have a chain saw nor a truck that's running. If you know of a source on that Catalyst for under 125.00 it might help? I'd give the pellets a try but only one place sells them and they already went through their 10 pallets and said they were back ordered and did not know if or when they would be back in stock. A 2x2 cubic bundle of oak from the store is 14.99. and .75 cubic foot is 4.99 x 2. either one is good for about 10 hours at 22*. January just started. February is our coldest month. Like everyone I'm just trying to get max performance with what I got.

Jim I'm going to move this to the coal inquiry section. someone might be interested in it.

If you want to use anthracite my only suggestion is see if you can get hooked up with a tractor trailer load but even if you can find someone to ship it you're looking at a sizable investment that is probably not going to save you anything in the end.

There was coal company from Kansas that posted on here once looking for ideas on bagging up bit coal and selling it. I remember the post because people were saying how tough it would be to make a buck transporting coal any appreciable distance, but Kansas is closer to you than us, and maybe they have started bagging their coal and marketing it.

My only other suggestion is to look for obscure coal burners. By that I mean maybe there is an excursion steam train nearby, they burn coal and maybe they can tell you where to get it or sell you some of theirs. Another obscure coal burner is blacksmiths, they might have a source to tell you about.

BTW: I think I was in Denton once, that is I think the BNSF RR ran through that town???

Big Jim,

WELCOME! Hope things are going well in Texas.

There is a coal mine in Oklahoma. The company name is PHOENIX Coal and from what I understand the coal is pretty good. Not anthracite but pretty close. In less than a day's drive you go go there and back and grab a couple of tons and save yourself some serious coin and have a few years supply as well.

There have been a couple of posts on this site about them and if you do a quick "google" on Phoenic Coal you will find their website as well.

Good Luck and oh yeah..... GO SOONERS!!!!!!!!

A few years back I had some cast iron stove parts that needed to go to CO. From Maine it was far too costly to ship. The fellow that wanted the parts said he'd gladly pay $100 to get them there. I put an ad on Craigslist. It went something like "Going to CO and want some extra gas money? If you're going with your back seat empty perhaps we can get $100 in your hands for a delivery." It took a few weeks, and I had to weed out a couple of scammers, but, a local fellow did the deed and all ended well! I don't know....that's an idea but maybe not the best. You'll be needing more than a couple hundred pounds. Also, the person delivering it needs to buy it. You'd need to find someone with quick access to coal and going to TX. Could be risky in dollars. Maybe with some luck someone on this Forum is headed your way. We are all good people here! You'll find most coal burners to be honest. Coal requires some work. Thieves do not work!

Thank you so much NoSmoke and ONEDOLLAR, for both good leads. While at 300 miles it's certainly closer and I have fired off an email to Phoenix Coal in Oklahoma. Their site says they sell 50# bags. NoSmoke you are correct BNSF RR runs right through town, and on this line hundreds of cars full of coal are transported south every day. The last and only coal burning train that came through that I recall was around 1999 when a restored, 4 6 6 4 UP Big Boy came through headed North for display in some museum. I lived some 2 blocks from the tracks back then. That was a sound I think everyone should hear once in their life as for the immensity of power and steam whistle. It was huge and you could hear it coming from miles away. The last of the great coal burners. Again thank you for the leads.

Keep in mind that just about everyone here is using anthracite, you might want to check out the bituminous forum and post some questions there to see if your stove is suitable.There is a big difference. I wouldn't hesitate telling someone to buy a large quantity of anthracite, soft coal is another story.

Bituminous Coal Hand Fired: Coal Boilers and Hot Air Furnaces/Stoves

Jim -

If your stove has the pre-heated combustion air damper for the catalyst, you can get a decent secondary burn with bituminous coal. Just make sure you pull the catalyst out and put the cast iron strainer for coal in its place, as coal will ruin the catalyst. I ran some bituminous last winter and the secondary air worked pretty well. Just get the biggest size coal you can get.. I had nut size at the time, and it would generate way too many volatiles at the beginning of the burn. I would get stove size at a minimum, egg size would probably be better yet.

Also if you don't have the owners manual for the stove, I have a copy of the Federal Airtight manual that I scanned in, if you would like a copy, send me a PM and I can get it to you.