Wow, This January Is Different (and Cold)! I'm Eating Coal!

 
kstills
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Post by kstills » Mon. Jan. 27, 2014 10:25 am

High of 39 today, Minus 1 tonight.......

Going to ramp up the boiler today and get that house cooking....

 
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Carbon12
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Post by Carbon12 » Mon. Jan. 27, 2014 10:36 am

Yup, it's friggin' cold! When planning I thought a mid winter 2 ton coal delivery would hold me until the heating season is over. I got the delivery about 2 weeks ago. I have a feeling another delivery may be needed. By my rough calculations, I would have spent $2400.00 in oil to heat the house to 68 degrees so far this winter. So far I've used less than $1000.00 in coal and kept the house at 72 degrees plus provided all the hot water rather than using the electric hot water heater. Gotta love that anthracite! :D

 
kstills
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Post by kstills » Mon. Jan. 27, 2014 10:59 am

I have a ton left, but I'll burn that and another before the heating season is over.

Cost of coal: 5 tons x 255 = 1275

Cost of oil: Same BTU value X 3.5 (guess, haven't priced it) = 3181.00

in actuality, the house would be ~50f right now with space heaters in seperate rooms for nightime heating, instead of running that much oil.

It's a lot nice to be warm than cold. :)


 
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Keepaeyeonit
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Post by Keepaeyeonit » Fri. Jan. 31, 2014 8:07 pm

Ok Larry I just did my last reload for January and the grand total is 1725# :shock: :shock: thats 55.64#/day,never have I used that much coal a day as this January and If this keeps up I will have to get more to finish off the year :cry: the only thing I can say is at least I'm warm :D .Keepaeyeonit

 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Fri. Jan. 31, 2014 8:27 pm

Keepaeyeonit wrote:Ok Larry I just did my last reload for January and the grand total is 1725# :shock: :shock: thats 55.64#/day,never have I used that much coal a day as this January and If this keeps up I will have to get more to finish off the year :cry: the only thing I can say is at least I'm warm :D .Keepaeyeonit
I'm at 2,327 lbs. for the month. My record by a long shot.

That comes to 75.1 lbs per day, but ~4.5 lbs. per day of that is for DHW, leaving 70.6 lbs. per day for home heat (2,189 lbs.).

1,438 HDD's for the month.

2,189/1438 = 1.52 lbs. per HDD.

 
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Post by LiftedAWDAstro » Sat. Feb. 01, 2014 1:41 pm

I finished January at 3296# for an average of 106.32 #/day at a total cost of $412.00. If I was heating with oil, I would easily have gone through 250 gallons to keep the house an average of 5-8 degrees cooler! Plus I am not burning much propane heating my DHW so that saved me another $35 or so.


 
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Horace
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Post by Horace » Sat. Feb. 01, 2014 7:56 pm

This was the coldest January that I have on record, and I definitely burned more coal, but my HDD/Coal ratio is pretty low. I burned the fireplace more often than before, which helps a lot.

Interestingly, this season has had the most HDD, but I have not burned the most coal. I think partly because of the fireplace, and also because I've adjusted the idle fire more often and more aggressively than in years' past. Fewer t-stat calls, much quicker response, less overshoot. Seems to work out pretty well. January's HDD/Coal ratio is fantastic, and it's just as warm.

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January Totals

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Season Totals

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Carbon12
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Post by Carbon12 » Sat. Feb. 01, 2014 8:04 pm

I've been burning a ton every 900-1000 degree days. That correlates almost exactly to my previously scheduled oil deliveries every 900 degree days. 185 gallons average delivery. I get more than 3 tons of coal for the same price as 1 oil delivery. Cha Ching! The used boiler has already paid for itself in less than one season of burning!!! :up:

 
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ShawninNY
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Post by ShawninNY » Sun. Feb. 02, 2014 12:12 am

This is the first year I've had to buy coal since 2008 it's 350- a ton del. here on Long Island stove in basement keeps boiler from going on most of the time , in 2009 I found a craigslist ad for free coal when I went there it was 2 piles 10' high by 15' wide x 15' deep I made 2 trips with my gmc dually and got close to 4 tons I made a 3 rd trip a few weeks later and filled a bulk bag cause I didn't have any place to store the extra ton except in bag in driveway it seemed like I had so much , I wish I just kept making trips and took it all ! I'm pretty sure I didn't even take a 1/4 of 1 of the piles , it had some fines and some rocks in some spots but it burned awesome ! That was the holy grail of free coal sorry bout my rant . Shawn

 
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Carbon12
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Post by Carbon12 » Sun. Feb. 02, 2014 12:19 am

Good story! I'm sure they wised up and that coal is long gone :(

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