Coalpail.com Forum

I am looking for a coal stove as a supplement to my pellet insert. I want something that will heat when the electric goes out. Currently I am considering the Harman TLC 2000 or a Mark series stove. I will burn both wood and coal. I can get wood at no charge making it very economical, but the ease of a coal fire is appealing. I live in north western PA in a 2000 sq ft well insulated 1858 farm house, any guess on amount of coal to heat for the winter( average temp. 20F). Currently burn 6 ton of pellets in 42000btu pellet insert.

I own & recommend the TLC2000 as the best of the 3 coal stoves I have used in almost 30 years of coal heating.
Here is a specific thread & there are others if you search

Harman TLC-2000 Questions, Comments, Ramblings

I have a 3150 sq ft house and burned about 2 1/2 tons so far with my hand fired. I too burn wood during the begining and end of the winter season. Wood is cheap, but a pain. I swear I get more dirt from carrying in wood than I do with coal. I like the hand fired due to the fact that if I loose power I still have heat plus once we cooked our kid's grilled cheese sandwiches on the stove top during a power failure, the kids were amazed.

Regardless you will enjoy the heat and many benefits from burning coal.

Dan

longhorn rancher -- we heat a 2800 sq. ft. 1936 3 floor colonial with about 3.5 tons of anthracite/year. Your house design will have some to do with the coal, if you can live with a cold (sometimes very cold) basement a centrally located ground floor stove can be quite comfortably. We like the gravity stokers for ease of loading that include an automatic draft control. You will make about 50-70# of ash/week ....... we wait for stove ash to cool, transfer to an ash tote .....
and empty the tote into a 3mm liner in a barrel ....... carry to the curb for the trash pickup (Greensburg)
Best of Luck, baldeagle

I'll use a little over 2 ton to heat 1900 sq ft with my Harman Mk I. I started the stove before Halloween and expect to go nearly to the end of March. I live in an average raised ranch style house. Fiberglass in the walls with 10" in the attic. The stove is in the basement. Typically 75*-80* down stairs and 72*-75* upstairs.

Hey, Longhorn rancher you must be my neighbor. I've been using a Hitzer 354 stove and am very happy with it We also burn wood in fall and late winter

Hitzer 354 is a good choice for wood and coal. Should produce about 65 to 70K BTU, and that sould be adequate if you have your house insulated. Good quality stove with great customer service and reasonable price.

Need to add one thing to my post that may make a difference. My grandfather had to reline the chimney several years ago the flue is now 6 inches, rated for high temp wood or coal. What are my options now or will all model vent thru a six inch chimney?

Most coal stoves are 6".

Longhorn --- We heat a restored post-civil war farm house with a Hitzer 354, it will handle that job easily. I seem to remember Hitzer calling for a 7" Chimney. With 6' +9' + 8'+4' = 27' of actual chimney height we went with 6", there was
a thread on the site "How much Chimney//??" that told of a member burning the paint off a stove with almost no chimney. Our consideration against wood has been against the potential need to get on the roof. The farmhouse now has a steep and super slippery 30Yr. metal roof. The house has a slate roof, just don't wish to ask anyone to go up on them.

Longhorn,
I have a 2000 sq 150+ year old farm house. "Resonable" insulation. I put in a 48,000 BTU pellet in my first floor den 3 years ago. I have been using 4 tons of pellets and supplemented with my electric when it gets really cold in Jan & Feb. This year I put in a Mark III. I lit on 11/19 and will end up using 3 ton coal. Down to 2 ton pellet and "NO" electric. This has added the 30X30 basement to our living space as in the past it was too cold to be down there. Last electric bill I dropped 30 kw hours off my bill from the previous Feb. I have gone from "Who the hell has the door open"!!! to "Who's outside"? I am away 14 - 16 hours a day and have no problem covering that time with my Mark III. Additionally we now have "NO" drafts in the house as there is no where for the cold air to drop to.