New to coal with a lot of questions

lzaharis · Post by **lzaharis** » Wed. May. 04, 2022 8:54 pm

PlanelyFlyin wrote: ↑
Tue. May. 03, 2022 3:47 pm
I've been spending a lot of time reading through this forum the last few month. I've learned a lot but now have even more questions it seems like. Finally figured I should just join
We are thinking about getting a coal/wood cookstove to use for cooking and heating. We are currently heating with a pellet stove and use about 2 1/2 - 3 tons of pellets a year, plus some supplemental heat with electric space heaters. Our house is 1200sq.ft. but we are in the process of adding on so this next winter it'll be 1800sq.ft. It's a 1920 farmhouse with no insulation in the walls and some blown-in in the attic.. We are thinking of the cookstove because then we could cook and and heat our house when the power goes out (it does a lot here because of the wind).
I can get anthracite from Tractor Supply for about $450/ton and there is a Blaschak dealer about 3 hours from me. I think his price is $530/ton. I can also get Bit coal from a guy here in locally (I live in SE Idaho) for $80-120/ton. He said it's from a mine in Utah. Is the athracite going to be that much better that it would be worth getting it, or would the bit coal be the better way to go? Also, based on our pellet usage, how much of each kind of coal would we be using approximately?
For stoves I've been looking at some of the modern built ones that they sell at Obadiah's stoves, mostly the Heco brand. I've also talked with the guys at Antique Stove Hospital about getting an antique one and they recommended a Glenwood K for the size of our home and if we end up going with the bit coal it'll be easier to clean. Just wondering if anyone has any experience using either of those?
One other thing I was wondering, In all the internet reading I've done, of course I read a lot of articles about how coal is going to kill you and all you love if you burn it in your home, a little exaggerated it would seem, but one thing I read that I would like to know a bit more about if possible is the amount of the heavy metals, particularly lead, that can be present in coal smoke. Is that actually something to be concerned about? Got 4 little munchkins in the house and their health is important! Tied to that is... will a cookstove (Antique versus Modern made too?) run a higher risk of smoke leaking out than just a heating stove. I've never seen one in person yet so I'm not sure how well sealed they are.
Just a couple months ago I knew nothing about coal, so it's been a lot of fun learning about something new to me, and this forum very quickly became my go to source of real world information when I found it, so thanks for being here!

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With what you wish to do the Ashley Coal Circulator which is the BCAC model from US stove that will heat 2,000 square feet will work well and it also has a very large cook top that you can employ to put a pot of water on it to humidify the air as well as cook as the top of the circulator can be propped up to use the cook top.

The Ashley BCAC coal circulator is certified by Warnock Hersey International to Underwriters Laboratories #1482.

The BCAC coal circulator is firebrick lined and has shaker grates that help burn the coal better. You can also burn wood in this console heater as well.

As you live near the State of Montana border buying nut size oiled Sub Bituminous coal from one of the four mines in Montana would cost you much much less money per ton.

Download and print the owners manual for your reading as I think you will approve of it as it will be very hard for your ankle biters to get burned by it as it has lots of covers.

PlanelyFlyin · Post by **PlanelyFlyin** » Wed. May. 04, 2022 9:40 pm

warminmn wrote: ↑
Wed. May. 04, 2022 4:13 pm
What is the BTU rating on the bit you can get?

between 11,000-11,800BTU from the mines owned by the Wolverine Fuels group. If it's alright with forum rules I can post a link to the page where I found the breakdown, if people would be interested. When I talked to the guy I can get it from here in-town he said the coal he has is about 14,000BTU.

warminmn · Post by **warminmn** » Wed. May. 04, 2022 10:19 pm

Even 11,000 is pretty good. 14,000 is like anthracite. Sure you can post the link. Some people look at them, some dont. Both specs could be on the high side, or not. At the price you can get it at, its at least worth trying it out in a regular stove. As has been said, the smell can get bad in a house with it.

PlanelyFlyin · Post by **PlanelyFlyin** » Wed. May. 04, 2022 10:43 pm

warminmn wrote: ↑
Wed. May. 04, 2022 10:19 pm
Even 11,000 is pretty good. 14,000 is like anthracite. Sure you can post the link. Some people look at them, some dont. Both specs could be on the high side, or not. At the price you can get it at, its at least worth trying it out in a regular stove. As has been said, the smell can get bad in a house with it.

http://wolverinefuels.com/sufco/ Here's the link, you can click on the names of the other mines over on the Left hand side to look at all of them. I'm thinking I might see if I can by just a bag from the local guy and burn it outside in a firepit to see how it smells. When I talked with him on the phone and asked him about the smell of it he said it only smells a little when you first put it on so... Might just be best if we try it out ourselves.

PlanelyFlyin · Post by **PlanelyFlyin** » Wed. May. 04, 2022 10:51 pm

lzaharis wrote: ↑
Wed. May. 04, 2022 8:54 pm
==================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================

With what you wish to do the Ashley Coal Circulator which is the BCAC model from US stove that will heat 2,000 square feet will work well and it also has a very large cook top that you can employ to put a pot of water on it to humidify the air as well as cook as the top of the circulator can be propped up to use the cook top.

That is a pretty cool stove actually, but I'm wanting to completely replace our kitchen stove with the cookstove. That's the main reason I really like the antique Glenwood because I can get a gas sidecar for it for summertime use.

lzaharis · Post by **lzaharis** » Wed. May. 04, 2022 11:07 pm

Check with your insurer before you do anything as you may void
your insurance if you do invest in a dual fuel kitchen stove.

PlanelyFlyin · Post by **PlanelyFlyin** » Wed. May. 04, 2022 11:14 pm

lzaharis wrote: ↑
Wed. May. 04, 2022 11:07 pm
Check with your insurer before you do anything as you may void
your insurance if you do invest in a dual fuel kitchen stove.

Called them, and they said since we already have a pellet stove any other fire place/stove kind of heater is already covered on our policy.

warminmn · Post by **warminmn** » Thu. May. 05, 2022 7:58 am

PlanelyFlyin wrote: ↑
Wed. May. 04, 2022 10:43 pm
http://wolverinefuels.com/sufco/ Here's the link, you can click on the names of the other mines over on the Left hand side to look at all of them. I'm thinking I might see if I can by just a bag from the local guy and burn it outside in a firepit to see how it smells. When I talked with him on the phone and asked him about the smell of it he said it only smells a little when you first put it on so... Might just be best if we try it out ourselves.

Yes, try it out. The only smells a little part, Im not so sure. The oiled vs non oiled coal, I remember last year someone burning Wyoming? coal said the oiled stuff stunk something awful in their home. Once they switched it was better. Your results may vary. Bit does not store real well long term and has to be covered to store. Anthracite will store forever. Lignite falls apart fairly quickly if not covered. My lignite will crack apart in a couple weeks as it dries.

You want pieces that have some size to them with bit. You'll want whats called nut coal with anthracite.

Anthracite wont burn in a firepit but you would not have trouble with it in your home, the smell. I suspect that is what you will settle on using in a cookstove. Its just so much easier to use.

Good that your insurance company doesnt care. Some here really struggle with that part as agents mostly know nothing about coal.

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Fri. May. 06, 2022 10:33 am

If you're leaning toward a cook stove (I heat the back half of my old house with one), the antiques with the right coal grates are better with anthracite than the modern ones, which are more wood stoves with so-so coal shaker grates.

Have you tried reading the Cookin" With Coal thread ? It covers everything you ever wanted to know about using, and the many uses of, an antique kitchen range,....and then some.

It's here,... Cookin' With Coal

Paul

PlanelyFlyin · Post by **PlanelyFlyin** » Fri. May. 06, 2022 12:02 pm

Sunny Boy wrote: ↑
Fri. May. 06, 2022 10:33 am
If you're leaning toward a cook stove (I heat the back half of my old house with one), the antiques with the right coal grates are better with anthracite than the modern ones, which are more wood stoves with so-so coal shaker grates.

Have you tried reading the Cookin" With Coal thread ? It covers everything you ever wanted to know about using, and the many uses of, an antique kitchen range,....and then some.

It's here,... Cookin' With Coal

Paul

Good to Know! That was actually something I was a little worried about with the modern stoves. Most of the ones I've looked at seem to always be built and advertised around wood burning then the coal grates are offered almost as an afterthought thing. And from what I've been learning a purpose built coal stove is quite different than a purpose built wood stove. My next question then would be, how well would the antique stove burn wood if it was set up for coal?

I hadn't actually come across the cooking thread yet, thanks for the link!

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Fri. May. 06, 2022 12:33 pm

It's far easier to get a coal stove to burn wood than a wood stove to burn coal.

In fact, many antique coal stoves came with a "wood plate" for parlor stoves and called a "summer plate" for ranges. A cast iron plate placed on top of the coal grates, with small holes to help support a bed of wood embers plus reduce under fire air feed to help control a wood fire.

But a coal fire will last three to four times longer than the same firebox filled with wood. Waking up to a cold stove and having to relight it and wait for it to heat up gets old. Even my Sunny Glenwood, which was the smallest range Glenwood made, filled with coal will burn for 12 hours and still have a full firebed to quickly recover after a refueling and ash shaking. when I burned wood in it i was adding wood about every two to three hours. So, most who burn wood in a range only do so in the warmer "shoulder months" when they don't need to run the stove for 24 hours. This is all covered in greater detail, with pictures, in the Cookin' With Coal thread.

Plus, because rangers are so good at extracting heat, there is more risk of creosote buildup,... and the range's flues and stove pipe have to be cleaned more often than with coal.

BTW, "flossing" is the term many use for having to reach in with a poker and scrap to break up and clear coal ash from the top of grates that does not get dumped daily by grates that can't be rotated to dump clinkers before they grew too large. The better designs of range coal grates can be rotated to break up and dump clinkers while they are still small and crumbly. This is done usually every morning before shaking ashes when the ash bed is at it;s deepest from over night.

Paul

Queen of Sweden · Post by **Queen of Sweden** » Fri. Sep. 23, 2022 12:59 pm

I have a Glenwood K with a gas sidecar and have been burning anthracite coal in it for 5 years. I live in western Maine where temps can hit -20F for many days. I have a 1800 sq. ft. saltbox style house that was built around 1988 and used electric baseboard heat and a woodstove. I don't fire up the coal stove until Oct when temps stay consistently 40F or less. I go through 3 ton of coal in a winter and occasionally have to supplement with my wood or pellet stove when it's -15F or colder. A full firebox of coal will last through the night, and in the morning will revive easily. I let the fire go out about once a week so I can vacuum it out. Ash does accumulate all around the oven and I empty the ash pan daily. I wouldn't hesitate to get one of these if you can find one. Just be sure to have it restored by a reputable person and have the gas sidecar brought up to code.

renaissanceman · Post by **renaissanceman** » Mon. Sep. 26, 2022 9:46 pm

The bit I burned last winter smelled like a steam railroad. A great smell of times past when you'd catch a whiff of it outside the house (my fireplace doesn't let smoke in).

I'd grab bit locally in your shoes -- TSC coal is up to $550/ton and is often wet inside the bags.

PlanelyFlyin · Post by **PlanelyFlyin** » Wed. Sep. 28, 2022 11:22 pm

Queen of Sweden wrote: ↑
Fri. Sep. 23, 2022 12:59 pm
I have a Glenwood K with a gas sidecar and have been burning anthracite coal in it for 5 years. I live in western Maine where temps can hit -20F for many days. I have a 1800 sq. ft. saltbox style house that was built around 1988 and used electric baseboard heat and a woodstove. I don't fire up the coal stove until Oct when temps stay consistently 40F or less. I go through 3 ton of coal in a winter and occasionally have to supplement with my wood or pellet stove when it's -15F or colder. A full firebox of coal will last through the night, and in the morning will revive easily. I let the fire go out about once a week so I can vacuum it out. Ash does accumulate all around the oven and I empty the ash pan daily. I wouldn't hesitate to get one of these if you can find one. Just be sure to have it restored by a reputable person and have the gas sidecar brought up to code.

Thanks for the info, that actually helps a lot! We don't usually get below -15 actual temp here, but we can get some killer windchill because it's so flat and open. Once our addition is done we'll have a 1800sq/ft farmhouse, so a similar house size it sounds like. How many tons do you go through in a winter? That stove is absolutely beautiful too! One day...

Queen of Sweden · Post by **Queen of Sweden** » Thu. Sep. 29, 2022 2:37 am

Thank you. I go through 3 ton in a winter. I rarely use the gas burners in the winter because I just cook on the coal side. It makes great bread.

New to coal with a lot of questions

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