Please List Your Annual Coal Usage VS. Oil Usage

I was doing alot of reading and I came across something that says 1ton of coal = 100 gal of oil.
So if I use 1000 gal of oil a year does that mean I will use 10tons of coal?

If you have already switched to a coal boiler and you used to heat with oil please list amounts used below.
even though some winters are colder or warmer it should sill be a good ball-park comparison.

Thanks for your input,

It depends upon the efficiencies of both appliances but I believe the number is closer to 170 gallons of oil for a ton of coal as a rule of thumb. Look online for some calculators that allow you to enter various efficiencies.

Here's a chart I found on Alternative Heating Systems web site for a comparison

http://www.alternateheatingsystems.com/fuel_sourc ... atives.htm

More like 180 gallons of oil. Oil is about 138,000 BTUs per gallon, anthracite runs about 13,500+ BTUs per pound. If oil is at $3.90 a gallon, with the current price of coal it would run you about $0.80-1.75 for the same BTU content. Clearer now?

At 1000 gallons of oil, you are looking at 10,222 pounds. Just over 5 tons.

Here is another link with efficiency and dollar values.

Gross heat values for a ton of coal.

It's about 180 gallon+ gallons depending on the coal, one ton of anthracite is going to be in the neighborhood of 24 to 25 million BTU's but can go as high as 28 million.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/experts/heatcalc.xls

You'll need excel for using the dicument above, if you don't have excel you can download Openoffice for free: http://www.openoffice.org/

That is an excellent fuel calculator !

JohnnyAsbury wrote:That is an excellent fuel calculator !

Thank Yanche, he brought it to my attention.

Well that sounds about right.I used to burn 1300-1400 gals of oil and now I go through 7 or 8 tons of coal.There was another site it was like chevnosky coal I don't think I spelled it right that said 186 gals to a ton.
DON

OH one more thing we used to keep the house at 72 now with coal it's more like 75 or a little more on thoes cold days
DON

BIG BEAM wrote:There was another site it was like chevnosky coal I don't think I spelled it right that said 186 gals to a ton.

That would be my old coaldelivery.com site I no longer have, its spelled Chervenitski and I'm no longer in the business. I have two other reltives still doing it but there is only one that has site and they don't have a BTU chart.

Might be someone with similar name too but I'm not aware of anyone.

Well don't I feel like an @ss
DON

I am a complete Newbie in this area, we was thinking of getting a wood Coal outdoor furnace, but also looking into this, I see how about 180 gallons of oil = 1 ton of this Anthracite coal. But what about If you have your Coal furance in the Shed outside or the garage at 130 feet away , and not the Basement...... Surely the efficientcy for this set up is much less ???? Can anyone comment on about how much COAL I may have to use -old farmhouse not well insulated--with this kind of setup. We use about 700 gallons of Oil a year --air furced oil furance-- keeping thermostat at about 68 degrees. Anthracite coal in my area costs $200 a ton (Western PA). Worth it for me?

OverRunWithSons wrote:I am a complete Newbie in this area, we was thinking of getting a wood Coal outdoor furnace, but also looking into this, I see how about 180 gallons of oil = 1 ton of this Anthracite coal. But what about If you have your Coal furance in the Shed outside or the garage at 130 feet away , and not the Basement...... Surely the efficientcy for this set up is much less ???? Can anyone comment on about how much COAL I may have to use -old farmhouse not well insulated--with this kind of setup. We use about 700 gallons of Oil a year --air furced oil furance-- keeping thermostat at about 68 degrees. Anthracite coal in my area costs $200 a ton (Western PA). Worth it for me?

I hope you mean a boiler not a furnace. It could not be done with a furnace. Outdoor water heaters are seriously inefficient. Yes, it will save you a lot of money. About 4 tons if the boiler (you could use a hot air furnace there but I still would recommend a boiler instead) is in the basement, maybe 5 tons if it is 130' away from the home. These numbers would be for a regular coal furnace/boiler, an outdoor water heater would add a ton or two consumption at the very least. I would find a way to get a real boiler into the home, you will spend a fortune running a lot of expensive plumbing and lose a warm basement and floors. It isn't just efficiency you are giving up with an off site install, the ambiance is priceless. I had a drafty, cold house years ago, now I just put up with the wife opening the windows now and again complaining about the heat.

I shut mine down last week and the cellar now feels cold, does that tell you anything?

i used 600 gallons a year to make heat and hot water with oil . with coal it looks like I am going to burn about 3.5 tons of coal. I am using a keystoker kaa-2 plumbed in series with my oil burner

chris