Pictures of Your Stove

I don't know how much the bags hold, (perhaps 40 lbs?), but about 3 buckets if we plan to be away for a while.
Though when we are home we never fire it with more than a couple of buckets, as it can smother if its not done right with the draft. I guess about 50 to 75 lbs?

We used to go up to Boston for Thanksgiving Thursday mornings early with family and come home Saturday night and it would be still burning, but needing tending right away. The ash would build up greatly.
Amazingly these 2 stoves have different burning rates, and different idiosyncrasies so we have to take care of their 'wishes'.

Our neighbours here know if the power goes out, as it does frequently in our area, that they can always come over and get warm.
And we now have 2 generators, so that helps too. Bring beer!

Finally!

After having contributed to various threads and enjoyed others speaking about their individual experiences, I can now speak from experience as well. Had it not been for this forum, I may have never considered burning coal...Even after creating a long running thread about the Hitzer Stove Company, there were not many options for obtaining local coal. But, that has changed.. with Wilson Coal right up the road from me, and my ability to pick up my own coal in my Tundra.

Thanks to their display, knowledge and queering this forum once again, I made the decision to purchase a DS 1500 Circulator stove. Not sure why there are so many comments on how difficult it is to start a coal fire...but, having been a wood burner for so long, I simply start it with kindling...add some coal...then some more...and load it up before I go to bed. Needless to say, I am going to be burning coal the rest of my life!

THANK YOU all for sharing your knowledge and passion!

Nice stove, nice picture, and nice observation on how easy starting a coal fire really is.

I agree with you Jersey John, especially on your choice of the DS 1500, I'm planning on getting the 1300 series next year. Great looking stove and happy to hear how much you like it!

Congratulations John. Be interesting to see how you like coal burning, seeing you'll be able to compare it to your wood experience. Curious to hear how long your burn times are, and your opinion on heat output. Good luck with it. Winter is right around the corner. I'm hoping to fire up my pea-shooter this week, to test this Stockton brand coal out. Temps are suppose to drop a little bit here soon.

Nice stove and fire John. Most of the talk about problems starting a coal fire pertain to stoker stoves using rice coal.

Good job fellow's,,,,,,, some of these pictures need to be framed and hung on the wall! I can feel the heat from the picture's,,, nice , very nice

John, that is right about starting a coal/anth fire, plus it's about a "thrill" every times, well at least for me. I never dreamed of being in the one match club, too fun to start or re-start a coal fire
One of the most beautiful fire, these blues are so nice, bravo!

Thank you all for your comments and continued support.

With nearly 4 days of continuous burn now, I feel a lot more at ease to the nuances of the stove. Though I did overload it one time shortly after I took the attached photo. It looked like a hot enough fire to me.. so I shook it, then nearly smothered it when I opened the hopper and dropped 8 or so quarts of fresh coal onto it...

I simply shoveled out the majority into a coal hod...and then, nurtured the fire back to a solid coal base with some loose kindling..and stirring what was left of the original hot coals with smaller amounts of fresh from a 4qt feed scoop...and within 30 minutes, another full scoop. At this point, I'm probably burning one full 6 gallon Behrens can a day. It's currently 38 degrees outside while my basement office where I've been editing photos all night is 77, and my upstairs rooms are 68.

This is the absolute wisest decision I have made towards heating my home ...and only wish there had been a local coal supply years ago. Of course, having a pickup is invaluable, but I have seen others simply hooking up small trailers to their small cars...so, where there's a will, there is a way!

Occasionally we also 'smother' the fire. Usually its just that we add a bit too much coal, or sometimes the draft isnt what it usually is, or the weather is warm outside on a particular day, guess there can be many reasons.
So we open the firepit door and let the draft build up, or a few times when it threatened to go out, we have a small forced draft fan that he puts onto the ash pit door and runs it for about 15 minutes. That always fires it up very quickly. It came from a cooling fan from a large electronic device at work, which became obsolete, so he brought it home thinking it might be of some use, and it fit its purpose perfectly. If anybody wants a picture later on during the heating season, I can post one later.

Jersey John wrote:Thank you all for your comments and continued support.
This is the absolute wisest decision I have made towards heating my home ...and only wish there had been a local coal supply years ago. Of course, having a pickup is invaluable, but I have seen others simply hooking up small trailers to their small cars...so, where there's a will, there is a way!

Some places will deliver. Think about how much it costs, and how much you'll need to spend on a hitch and trailer, the time to go and get it plus loading and unloading. All about priorities. But it does look like your stove is making some serious heat. Congratulations.

We have a local dealer who will deliver the coal in bags on pallets way back of our garden where they can back their truck into. Then we move it in our wheelbarrow over a month or so. We have a great chute which my husband made, and it just slides into our coal bin down the chute. I can take pictures when we do it, but it will be a month away at least. As we have a ton still in our bin.
Not that many people on Cape Cod still burn coal, they are all converting to methane/nat-gas, but there are a few of us who love the warm toasty cellar and that lovely quiet heat.

Here is our Herald Model Oak No. 18 This stove is a direct draft non base heater but burns 12-16 hours easily and will put out serious heat. It's a beautiful stove.

Here is our Crawford No. 40 Baseheater. We have twin Crawford 40's and the other is a few weeks away from the complete rebuild. It's a beautiful stove and I cannot wait to get this one going in the house.

Just fired up our King O Heat yesterday, and the cellar is so toasty and warm. Kitchen floor is lovely and warm too. I hate a cold cellar.
Here is a picture of it, all painted and shiny for this season, my iPhone pictures arent great, but you can see how nice it looks.