How Much Have You Used Through Feb. for This 2013/14 Season

Lsayre are you happy with your coal gun? How many zones?
Thank you

AKHEARTH wrote:Lsayre are you happy with your coal gun? How many zones?
Thank you

Quite happy! Four zones using zone valves and a single circulator.

BigFoot wrote:I started with almost 8 tons in aug, had to get more on the 12th of feb (had about 1 ton left ),got 3 more tons should be good till sept ,but used about 2 tons more this year ! for 2,000 sq ft is that bad house at 70f and heating my water too

I am also about two tons ahead of schedule. Just a damncold winter. Old brick homes from 1800's make the wife beg for furnace to be on in September. So by December everything the bin was looking thin. Got 4 more ton halfway through December. And it started to look thin beginning of march so I ordered 3 more ton. If I burn it all this winter this will Be the most I've gone through. Last year was 9. This year is looking like 10 or 11. Learned why wet coal is very very bad with the last three ton. Fines suck! Hope it drys out.

Frytown wrote:

BigFoot wrote:I started with almost 8 tons in aug, had to get more on the 12th of feb (had about 1 ton left ),got 3 more tons should be good till sept ,but used about 2 tons more this year ! for 2,000 sq ft is that bad house at 70f and heating my water too

I am also about two tons ahead of schedule. Just a damncold winter. Old brick homes from 1800's make the wife beg for furnace to be on in September. So by December everything the bin was looking thin. Got 4 more ton halfway through December. And it started to look thin beginning of march so I ordered 3 more ton. If I burn it all this winter this will Be the most I've gone through. Last year was 9. This year is looking like 10 or 11. Learned why wet coal is very very bad with the last three ton. Fines suck! Hope it drys out.

At least you had the AA to keep that old house warm! I'd try to get a bigger bin built and/or shop around for some coal with less fines.

I figured 5 ton for the whole winter (house only). Looks like I'm on target. So, about the same as other years. This year I used bagged pea coal in the shop. I would pick up 10 - 15 bags as needed.

Six tons bought thus far, still have a ton in the bin, will likely get me through till spring.

Looks like 5 ton at the end of February.

Since the topic makes no mention of the type of fuel,I figured I would post our wood usage & make most everyone feel better about their situation. From Oct. 15,2013 to Mar. 12,2014 = 22 weeks ,during that time we burned approx. 20 cord, 2 of our suppliers were supplying almost 100% Ash wood which burns quick,hot & leaves lots of ash behind,we switched to another supplier who has almost 100% oak & drastically stretched the burn time per cord. I do not have precise figures for all scenarios,but we did go thru 1/2 cord for Jan. 7,2014 ..... -5* a/m with high at 8* & 30+ mph winds, the Ash wood used alone took 1 cord for 5 days. I have no exact figures on the oak but it made a huge difference.When we figured out the Ash wood problem we cut a number of mulberry & a few cherry trees on our property & mixed the green wood with the Ash wood to slow the wood consumption,till we got 5 cords of oak dumped off early march. We are still hoping to go to coal b4 next winter,we shall see what happens.

Through this morning I've burned 225 bags of coal (almost 4 pallets worth) and approximately 4 cords of hardwood. That's about double what my past consumptions was, 2 pallets coal and 2 cords of wood. We've broken the long-standing record for cold here in 'da U.P. eh, with 70 days of below zero temperatures. While I still have 6 pallets of coal covered & stored outside, digging them out of the 4-5 ft snow drifts will be an issue of this cold lasts too much longer. I have enough bags in the basement for about three more weeks. But, I also have a 2500sqft ranch-style house to heat, and I don't skimp one iota on the heat level. My goal is to keep the house at 70-73degF. Only when it gets down to 20 below and colder does the house temp drop to 68deg. But that's still not too bad. My friends in S.E. lower Michigan are struggling to keep their homes at 62-65degF with natural gas and not breaking the bank. Yay coal!! (and wood)

Looks like I forgot to mention that we heat 2 houses & a repair shop with our OWB. My thinking on heat inside a building is to have it warm ,if not warm one can just stay out in the cold,we heat all buildings to 70-73*,unfortunately we have to be out in the cold when tending the OWB, so that is another reason to have it warm when we get back inside. The outside temps do not dictate our inside temps,we just burn more wood. I also forgot to mention that we had burned some nut coal in the OWB, we were trying to stretch overnite burn times,even threw 4 50# bags of nut in 1 nite with the wood,but because of the OWB design coal just does not work well & is more hassle than it's worth for us.Even with the wood usage so high this winter with the brutal temps,we still used less wood than we have in some past yrs as we have tightened the buildings up gradually over the yrs. $3500 for wood from mid Oct. to mid Mar.,not to bad considering the 3 buildings we heat,i would hate to see those $$$$$$ multiply if it was oil or propain.

windyhill4.2 wrote:Since the topic makes no mention of the type of fuel,I figured I would post our wood usage & make most everyone feel better about their situation. From Oct. 15,2013 to Mar. 12,2014 = 22 weeks ,during that time we burned approx. 20 cord, 2 of our suppliers were supplying almost 100% Ash wood which burns quick,hot & leaves lots of ash behind,we switched to another supplier who has almost 100% oak & drastically stretched the burn time per cord. I do not have precise figures for all scenarios,but we did go thru 1/2 cord for Jan. 7,2014 ..... -5* a/m with high at 8* & 30+ mph winds, the Ash wood used alone took 1 cord for 5 days. I have no exact figures on the oak but it made a huge difference.When we figured out the Ash wood problem we cut a number of mulberry & a few cherry trees on our property & mixed the green wood with the Ash wood to slow the wood consumption,till we got 5 cords of oak dumped off early march. We are still hoping to go to coal b4 next winter,we shall see what happens.

That is a lot of wood to handle...and $3500 is plenty for all the work that goes along with it. You will be shocked at how much more efficient a stoker boiler is when you get one up and running. We went from 15-16 cords per winter + fuel oil for the real cold nights to 7 tons of anthracite per winter.

Is the OWB worth anything?

Yes Rob, the OWB should be worth $1500- $3000,new in 2006 it was $6200,new now are $8000 +. New units like this can no longer be sold by the manufacturer to residential customers in Pa.,only farms & commercial users,all residential units must be wood gassification units.

I have an old Alaska stoker that I use for primary heat and I burned through 3 Tons of rice coal.Its about equal to past seasons but the house has been colder this year.