No.2 Killed My Grandfather

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jonnoh
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Post by jonnoh » Tue. Mar. 27, 2018 2:30 am

It was about 1955, and I was 3 when I first became aware of my grandparent's furnace. It was a to me, huge round tin thing that looked like an upside down octopus. A tin cylinder that had ducts at the top going to various registers on the first floor of their small house in Westfield, Mass. I rather gathered there was some kind of coal burning stove inside that monster because my grandfather used to feed shovel after shovelful of coal into its glowing maw. A really scary beast indeed to a wee lad. Not with my grandfather there. He seemed to me dauntless in the face of the glowing animal. I was scared, but also fascinated with the process. Maybe once a week or so, Grandpa would carry buckets of coal from the shed out back of the house into a box near the furnace and twice a day shovel that coal into the furnace, and then take a big heavy lever and attach it to the bottom of the furnace and move it back and forth. I think there were 3, maybe 4 places to attach that lever. When he finished that he'd remove a pan full of ashes from the bottom door and put them into a rather small metal garbage can, slam that bottom door and say, "Well that's that". Then we'd take that pail of ashes down the road where lived two old spinster sisters and spread the ashes on their driveway. Grandpa explained how the black ashes would absorb the heat from the sun and melt the snow. It sure wasn't instant but work it did, eventually. The sisters didn't have a car, nor did my grandparents, but he said it would be nice to have their driveway clear in case they had visitors. In long hindsight, maybe he just was looking for a way go get rid of the ashes. a couple of years went by and each heating season I'd beg my parents to take me to grandparent's house to help Grandpa start that furnace for the winter. It was a great project. He'd get a roaring fire burning, maybe more roaring than necessary to impress me. We sit watching the flames in quiet companionship until that magic moment when he'd say, "Ok that's about right". We'd begin shoveling in coal in small batches, him with his big coal shovel, and me with the little one. We'd wait a while and when the coal began to glow and blue flames appeared on top, we'd add more until the thing was full. He'd slam the upper door, and adjust a couple of hole covers in the bottom door, and we'd go outside and up to the front door, hearing my grandmother yelling through the door, "Don't forget to wipe your feet, I don't need that filthy coal all over my nice clean floor". Grandpa and I'd wink conspiratorially and dutifully wipe our feet. We'd go inside and before going to the sink to wash, we'd stand on the first register and feel the heat we'd just created.

Then came the summer of 1959 and I was 7. My mother and uncle, Grandpa's children, told him he should put in an oil burner. That coal was too much for him and anyway it was old fashioned and oil was easy, cheap, efficient, consistent, and no work at all. Grandpa protested, but Grandma, Mom and Uncle were overwhelming. In came the new tank. Out went the coal grates. In went a new oil burner, filling the mouth of the monster. All the plumbing, electrics, and switches installed. A wonder of modern science. Then came the late autumn of 1959. As usual I convinced my parents to take me to the grandparents house to help start the furnace. As usual my grandfather waited til I could come to do that chore. I couldn't believe it. He went to the top of the cellar stairs and flipped a switch in a red box, closed the door and went to the thermostat and pointed the needle to 72. That's all there was to it. I was sorely disappointed. That was so boring and the heat from that first register was wimpy, and not at all satisfying. When I asked if we should go down stairs to check the fire, he just said we didn't want to go down there anymore because it stinks down there now. Imagine, he thought NO.2 smelled badly and somehow the coal dust was a warm smell. It was only a couple of weeks after that turning on of the new oil burner that Grandpa came in from locking the shed, sat down in his favourite chair, and died. I guess he thought his job was done. You see he'd been a hard working farmer all his life, and when his children persuaded him to sell the farm and move to the 'city' (Westfield, remember) keeping that old coal furnace going all winter was about all that was left for him to do. When the oil came in, there was nothing left on his plate. Of course, he was also about 88, but he'd been vigorous and alert, and now there just wasn't anything he had to do. I have such fond memories of those few winters with Grandpa and that old coal monster. Nowadays, I see kids and parents sitting directly across from each other at the dinner table, or breakfast and lunch tables all staring at their individual devices with nary a word exchanged. Each to their own interests. I think things like burning coal, and making your own heat and feeling the results is a great opportunity for adults to connect with their kids, and the kids getting great memories that make a kind of continuity that seems to be getting lost in this world of social media, screeching and insulting politics, and simply unfathomable and unconscionable school shootings. But..........

That's not why I came here today. I would like to pick your brains, now that spring is here and coal fires are dwindling, on what I could do. Just so no one has to go back to see, I have a 1250 square foot house in The County in Maine, with one chimney from the basement, outside over the roof. Attached to that is an oil burner of the vintage that could have warmed the houses of Ozzie and Harriet, or Beaver Cleaver. Maybe even Lucy and Ricky. Duck work to 9 registers on the first floor. 3 returns on the first floor and one return on the second. Also on the first floor is way too massive for the house hand made stone fireplace built around a heavy steel heatolater. If I wanted to burn coal, and had unlimited funds, what would I do if I wanted to also keep a shall we say conventional heating system to kick in when I'm not there, and to maintain the value of the house such as it is in northern Maine. I also am one that really enjoys staring deeply into the fire while contemplating how to fix the world, aided by awesome music and more than one refreshing adult beverage. Maybe even the now semi legal 4:20. Who knows......Thanks for any ideas, insults, comments. And thanks for suffering through my old memories, but I was thinking that maybe some of you guys here, and gals too, not to be mysogynistic, have some of those same memories.

Jon

 
jonnoh
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Post by jonnoh » Tue. Mar. 27, 2018 3:11 am

Duck work????????? Sheesh. I know I didn't type that. That's one of my pet peeves. Must be some kind of auto correct that I didn't notice.

 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Tue. Mar. 27, 2018 6:34 am

Auto correct indeed J. LOL Outstanding walk down memory lane with ya. One with which I can sorely relate to. :) Stick around, the furnace, boiler guys will give ya more info then you can shake a stick at. .>) I'm just an old hand fired guy. Might help to finish your profile, ( more specific location) someone could be close enough to give ya some hands on. Trust me, nobody's gonna steal ya. Just remember in your search--KISS.

 
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franpipeman
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Post by franpipeman » Tue. Mar. 27, 2018 8:00 am

keep the furnace for marketability and heating the house while away and buy and install freestanding stove for coal and wood with a separate chimney for the " stare into the fire modes ." you may be able to use the furnace to circulate the stove heat around the house.


 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Tue. Mar. 27, 2018 8:30 am

Welcom Jon,

Thank you for the wonderful memory. I grew up hearing similar stories from my parents of their growing up with coal heat.

The furnace guys may know of good ways to tie a coal furnace into your oil system. They'll wake up soon. :D

Or, as franpipeman said, to get that view of the fire, you could go with antique free-standing stoves, such as many of our members. And yes, sometimes the coal stoves can be located to have the furnace help distribute the heat and thus reduce the cost of running the furnace, or just use the thermostat fan setting to get better coal heat distribution.

That last is what I did.

I had a similar "octopus" gravity furnace in my house. All that's left is the over-sized ductwork that was tied into an oil furnace back when oil heat became popular. I use two antique coal stoves, a kitchen range and a "base heater" type cylinder stove.

Luckily the cold air returns for the first floor are one floor register in the kitchen, and one larger register in the living room, right at the base of a central chimney. Since it is central I put the base heater there on a hearth board but leaving about a 6 inch width of the return floor register partially uncovered just behind the hot base of the stove (see picture below). The wood floor temps surrounding that register stay about 80F, so any cold air drawn in gets preheated.

When outdoor temps are above the upper 20's, both stoves can heat this big drafty Victorian house very comfortably without additional help.

When it gets too cold for just the coal stoves to maintain more than the wall thermostat set point, then the furnace kicks on. It starts by using an electric plenum heater I installed to make use of our local low electric rates (but coal is even cheaper per BTU). When the electric heat can't keep up with below zero temps, it automatically switches over and the oil burner then takes over. When the indoor temps get back to set point, the furnace switches back to electric heat.

During all of that the furnace draws warm air from those two registers helping to distribute the coal heat throughout the house and thus using less furnace run time and less costly methods of heating than coal.

Plus, if the power goes out, I don't have to worry because both coal stoves don't need power.

And the stoves have mica windows so I can watch the fire glow.

So you see, there are ways to have both modern and old work together if you think about it. ;)

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windyhill4.2
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Post by windyhill4.2 » Tue. Mar. 27, 2018 8:34 am

You can still go into your first post & correct duck to duct ,if you want... just click on the leaning pencil & change what you want. You might need to add duct to your computers dictionary too.

 
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michaelanthony
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Post by michaelanthony » Tue. Mar. 27, 2018 4:38 pm

Thanks for the memories jonnoh and welcome home neighbor. You have a few options and countless stoves and or furnaces to choose from. If you go the hand feed or "fired" method you need to decide on modern, antique, gently used or one you want to rebuild like many of us antique addicts. Is your basement insulated, unfinished? Are you the decorating committee?...do you like to tinker. Starting fresh go big...bigger is always better heating with coal.
So many things to think about. Let's hear it.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Mar. 27, 2018 6:25 pm

The ancient oil furnace is going to be a resale issue by itself, so I would not stress over the coal too much.

A Hitzer 55FA or 82FA tied into the existing ductwork would heat the house, basement, and take care of your itch to hand fire. Free standing radiant stoves are good too, and if properly located in the house can do a good job by themselves. The catch is that in order to heat the main floor, the radiant stove should be located there...which means you will have a cold cellar.

Opinions will vary on this next part, but if it was me I would just tie it into the existing chimney and enjoy the heat.


 
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kcarr
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Post by kcarr » Wed. Mar. 28, 2018 6:34 pm

Jon,
Thanks for sharing that great coal story and memories with Grandpa.
Please complete your profile, Like Freetown Fred says, nobody's is gonna steal ya...
maybe there are forum members nearby to help you out.
Again, thanks for the coal story and sharing with us... I have similar
memories with my long gone Grandfather and his hand fired, stove coal central heating plant
in my Grandparents big old Victorian three story house in Southampton, PA.
Ken

 
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Dakotaguy
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Post by Dakotaguy » Wed. Apr. 25, 2018 8:51 pm

I have very fond memories of my grandfather stoking his old sears and robuck Homart hand fire furnace with a external hot water coil not sure how old it was but eventually he rigged a stoker in it my uncle talked him to a new oil burner he cursed that until he passed his workshop was in basement was cold we wanted to put a stoker In but our uncle wouldn't hear of it

 
KLook
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Post by KLook » Wed. Apr. 25, 2018 10:23 pm

Homart.....I took one out of my mothers basement. Put in about 1965. I made it run for about 5 years beyond its expiration by rebuilding the firebox.....but that is 20 years ago....how times fly!

Kevin

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