Coalpail.com Forum

Frost today and tomorrow. I've had numerous wood fires the past few weeks but I put some bricks and coal in last night. It works and kept a fire all night but there's probably a lot of air bypassing the coal if it isn't filled up to the top of the bricks. I doubt it will hold a fire all day but it's going to get warm anyway.

When it's like that, top it off with fresh coal. It'll last longer than you think~~~!!!

What surprised me with a dying fire that you want to go out is to finish off with a good dry log of wood. They wood fires up very quickly and the increased draft and heat will leave the remainder of the coal burnt to ash very completely, instead of half burnt.

Tips from the masters. Thanks for the input men.

Well, the dang thing ran all day and it was only 70° in the house 8 hours later. It took a few sticks to bring it back to life but that ain't bad. I cleaned the glass, aired the house out and things are looking good at sundown.

Turbogeno wrote:Well, the dang thing ran all day and it was only 70° in the house 8 hours later. It took a few sticks to bring it back to life but that ain't bad. I cleaned the glass, aired the house out and things are looking good at sundown.

And to think that they stopped making them.

Turbogeno wrote:Well, the dang thing ran all day and it was only 70° in the house 8 hours later. It took a few sticks to bring it back to life but that ain't bad. I cleaned the glass, aired the house out and things are looking good at sundown.

Very nice set up, the Vig looks beautiful wearing the beige coat.

Turbogeno wrote:Well, the dang thing ran all day and it was only 70° in the house 8 hours later. It took a few sticks to bring it back to life but that ain't bad. I cleaned the glass, aired the house out and things are looking good at sundown.

Those little tweaks really stretches coal usage pretty far into the shoulder season.

TurboG, how did the jelly roll pan under the ash drop function for you? Mine really worked out well and keeps the mess under control. I don't have to vacuum nearly as often. I just empty the pan outside once a week. Really kept the overall dust down this season.

Worked great for ashing chores. Pull it out 1/2 way, it catches everything and is the perfect place to put tools and the front grate.

Oh my gosh I got up this morning and it's 55 outside and 67 in the house. Momma is in the hospital getting her third chemo embolization treatment for liver cancer. I can tell you this if she was home right now there would be a wood fire going in the Vig for sure!!

It may happen this evening as I am leaving in 30 to bring her home. She will be pretty wiped out for about two weeks and will take another two to recover. Long range forcast shows it getting in the upper 50's at night for the next week and only in the low 70's during the day. I got some wood supply but I may have to buy some because what I cut down in the fall and early early early spring is too green yet.

I once had a wood fire going all day in my stove on the 4th oh July!! It was in the 50s all day, and raining to boot! We watched the Bristol parade on tv that year!

The VC did great during the cold weather around here. I started on wood, switched to pea coal, then when it got cold went to nut. I only got around 10 hours between tending times when I was running nut. If I was pushing the stove I would add new coal about every 8 hours or so. Since Momma died I have kept the house much cooler. With her having cancer and hypothyrodism I had to keep the house in the upper 70's all the time. Now I keep it around 68 or so.

Now that the temps have moderated into the mid to upper 20's at night I have gone back to pea. Kinda like the pea size because I can get an easy 12 hours between tending and It burns right to ash. With the nut I got small clinkers and the bigger pieces of coal that after they where burned they retained their shape. They were burned all the way through but still in the same configuration as when I poured em in. I would have to hit em with a poker and smash em to get them small enough to go through the grates.

The best part of all this is no matter what size I get it's all the same price, $160 a ton, at bulk. At the yard I I can get it by the 5 gallon bucket for $3 a bucket. I go through a bucket a day on nut so during the cold weather ( single digit to upper teens ) I could heat the house on $15 a week plus maybe 10 gallons of oil. I bought it at $1.95 a gallon right after the 4th of July holiday so my total heating bill plus DHW runs about $35-40 a week.

I'll take it all day long.

I'm sure the Mrs. is looking down on you and smiling Rev. Larry. Glad to hear you're enjoying some comfortable temps. And consider yourself lucky, and appreciate the fact you can purchase anthy as cheap as you do. Up here, the cost is doubled. Still a bit cheaper than oil, but not as much a bargain as it was 3-4 years ago. Lets see what happens with our new administration coming in soon.

Before I decided to go with the vig 2310 I did heat load calculations etc etc etc using three different programs. They all put the 50K rating on the edge for supplying enough heat. I figured that even if it didn't do a good job on the silly cold days it was good enough that the oil burner in the basement could keep the temps comfortable.

Still in my gut I knew that the vig 2310 should have been able to keep the WHOLE house warm until it got silly outside BUT the kitchen was always 6-8 degrees cooler that everywhere else. No matter what I did I couldn't get the kitchen up. Until yesterday that is.

I have changed remodeling directions a couple of times in the last year. First I was going to leave it as is and make a small eat in area. Then it was remodel and put in a 3/4 bath so Momma wouldn't have to use the steps. She passed which kinda made that plan not necessary so I just decided to enlarge the kitchen by completely tearing out the unused pantry area and just enlarge the floor space. I tore out the old walls and found zip nada zero for insulation. I first insulated and yesterday put up drywall on the exterior wall. As I was wiring up a counter height outlet I felt cold air coming out of the outlet box. A LOT OF COLD AIR!!! Mental note to self seal around each outlet and switch box.

This morning I got up and went into the kitchen to get coffee. It felt warmer to me so I looked at the indoor/outdoor thermometer I have on the wall in the kitchen. It was 6 degrees colder today than yesterday BUT the kitchen was 4 degrees warmer`~~

I'm on the right track for once!!!

Turbogeno wrote:Well, the dang thing ran all day and it was only 70° in the house 8 hours later. It took a few sticks to bring it back to life but that ain't bad. I cleaned the glass, aired the house out and things are looking good at sundown.

That looks like my old Vigilant. Same color as well.