Can I Comfortably Heat My Whole House With Only a Stove?

So I admit it, I am new to coal. I grew up with wood heat, which I find is hard to keep consistent, especially in fall and spring, and very labor intensive. I've tried a pellet stove and found it to be unreliable as a primary heat source, and storing lots of pellets is a gamble. I strongly believe oil is never going to be afordable again. My oil burner is only 3 years old, so it is a good, reliable backup and hot water source, but I want to eliminate my dependance on oil.

So I bought a used, 1980's model Russo 1900 C off craigslist. I have to put this in the basement because of space availability on first floor among other reasons. My house is not too big, say 1500 square feet on two floors. built in 1900's, marginal insulation at best, but vinyl siding and newer windows (1990's). I plan to build insulated walls in the basement, and I already have loaded five tons of nut coal in an inside coal bin.

My questions are these, can I comfortable heat this North Central Gardner, Mass house with a stove? Do I need to install a boiler? How much coal should I expect to use in one year? Do homemade hotwater coils (mounted to outsides of stove) really work? Should I light the stove on the first cold day, and keep it going, or will I cook myself October and November? Are there any hardened coal veterans in my area who would be willing to let me see there stuff in action? I'd gladly bring the beer.

I've been reading everything I can on this forum for about a month now, and I firmly believe coal is for me. I also admit I know exactly enough to be dangerous, or to be an expert in my town of oil dependant fools. Any and all help, advice, and insights would be greatly appreciated?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

davelikesbeer wrote:I have to put this in the basement because of space availability on first floor among other reasons. My house is not too big, say 1500 square feet on two floors.

Is that 2 floors including the basement or 2 floors above the basement?
Do you have a chimney available?
How open is your floor plan?

Got some pictures I have a few Russo coal stoves and have not seen a 1900 c. These folks have the old parts and manuals you may need, $15 gets you a manual. http://fireplaceseast.com/

How big is the fire box, that will give some idea on BTU output.
How much oil or gas did you burn before, that will be your guide. 1 ton coal about 180 gallons of oil.
5 ton should do you.
It is all about moving the heated air if the air can get to the rooms it will warm them.
How hot it gets depends on how much your stove puts out and how well the air moves.
If your chimney has a good draft you can throttle back the stove to 10-15% and still have it burn well.

The house is two floors above the basement, but the second floor is only 2 bedrooms, and the single large radiator upstairs is always completely closed because it gets way to hot up there otherwise. The floorplan is very open, three large room connected by double doors.

I will be building a block chimney on the exterior of the house. I was going to do metalbestos, but have since decided to build block once and forever.

quote="CapeCoaler"]How big is the fire box, that will give some idea on BTU output.
How much oil or gas did you burn before, that will be your guide. 1 ton coal about 180 gallons of oil.[/quote]

I have a manuel. It states the stove can hold 45-50 pounds of coal, and heat up to 14,000 cubic feet. It also has a thermostatically controlled blower motor. This motor blows air around the outside of the firebox, through a hollow space. it does not force air into the fire.

I'm worried because the pellet stove I used two years ago could only marginally (58-62 degrees when below 20 outside) heat the house going full speed, it was the biggest stove I could find, a Breckwell "Big E" 55,000 BTU.

I used about 750-800 gals last year.

davelikesbeer wrote:The house is two floors above the basement,

I have no experience trying heat heat 2 floors above my basement, but feel it may be pushing things a bit if that is your only heat source on really cold day. (I have my hands full getting the heat to uniformly heat one floor above the stove without roasting us out of the basement family room)
That being said, it may work if you can move the heat upwards very successfully &, at a minimum you will still save money from whatever heat you can get upstairs.

I still have to keep the oil burner going for DHW, so it is an active backup/supplemental. I'm trying to plan for long term is why I ponder so much the practicality of a boiler. The basement is not really living space. Just storage and work room. I could always strip down to my underwear when staying there for any length of time.

How can I figure the BTU of the stove? There is no mention in the book. I do know the capacity.

If you could do the chimney inside the house that would be best.
8.5 by 8.5 liner will allow you to attach up to 8 inch round pipe. Future proof that chimney. http://www.superiorclay.com/flue-liners.php
Sounds like the stove will warm the house just fine with the open floor plan. Just need to get the heat out of the basement.
There are a few heat movement threads going.
My Mark II heats a drafty uninsulated, except for the ceiling, 1950's expanded cottage about 1000 sq feet plus full basement. It stays 70-72 all winter with no problems. I can make it hit 80 if I want in the dead of winter. it is rated for 72000 Btu/hr.
I suspect your stove can put out 62000-75000 Btu/hr, when it gets really cold Stove size coal will boost the output a bit.
I had a VC wood burner Vigilant that was rated at 55000 and it never kept the house as constantly warm as the Mark II does. Worst case the oil kicks in a bit this winter on a cold snap and you get a bigger better stove next year.

Then I would recommend you experiment with it the first year. See how well it heats your whole house & how often you need to use your central heat. If not much......You're done! You can always spend the much greater amount you'd need to install a boiler.
Good luck & keep us posted!

Devil505 wrote:You can always spend the much greater amount you'd need to install a boiler

Yeah on beer, or a coal fired fridge to hold the beer.

seriously, thanks for the advice. I'm always trying to learn more. I guess on September 3 it will be a little chilly, so I'll see my big opportunity to light the stove, then 2 hours later, I'll have the windows open and the AC running again.

Cut your teeth on the stove you have, you will know better what you want/need next spring.
The money you save now can be put towards a new/bigger heater.
It buys you time to hunt for a good deal on a better stove/boiler.
The heat from a coal stove is very controllable and the 'windowstats' always work if ever needed.

davelikesbeer wrote: I have a manuel. It states the stove can hold 45-50 pounds of coal, and heat up to 14,000 cubic feet. ........

I'm not familiar with that product but if memory serves me correctly they are mostly smaller hand fired stoves and that would either be a misprint or a gross over statement to its capacity. With a 50 pound capacity it is likely that it will produce about the same heat as your pellet stove but I'm just guessing. Without the actual BTU output that's impossible to determine. I'm thinking its similar in size to the Franco Belges.

Having said that and assuming its smaller stove like I suspect you can keep the basement warm and if you can get the heat to go upstairs like providing a register right above or facilitate the heat distribution upstairs in another way you can also provide a large portion of heat for few rooms uspstairs.

the amount of coal you will use will vary and again the wildcard is the stove. Rough guess is about 3-4 tons, I'm basing the smaller figure on the fact I think its smaller stove and you won't consume that much coal simply because the unit won't be able to burn that much.

Measure the firebox and post the measurements.. we can compare them to some other hand fired stoves with known BTU capacity.. Measure front to back and side to side.. the depth determines how long the fire will burn, the area of the fire determines the BTU output.

Greg L.

Mark I 15 by 10, 48000 BTU 150 sq inches 320 Btu/sq inch
Mark II, 20.5 by 10 72000 BTU 205 sq inches 350 Btu/sq inch
Mark III 20 by 15, 92000 BTU 300 sq inches 307 Btu/sq inch
Hitzer 503, 15 by 20 75000 BTU 300 sq inches 250 Btu/sq inch
Hitzer 983, 20 by 19.5 92000 390 sq inches 235 Btu/sq inch

Average 292 Btu/sq inch of firebox. Your millage may vary. Mark models are free standing. Hitzer models are inserts.

The Russo stove while smaller tend to put out a fair amount of heat.
Reports from the 3 people that I picked up Russo stoves from all heated large areas of their homes with them and these stoves are tiny compared to my Mark II.
The Russo stove is fairly small and I have yet to burn them yet.