Coalpail.com Forum

I didn't see an introduction thread so I'm just going to post my question. My apologies to the admin staff if this is wrong.

I grew up in Wilkes-Barre, PA in the 50's and 60's. We had a coal stoker so I'm familiar with the amount of work involved, fill the hopper and take out the ashes. My reason for switching is primarily annual price, and I don't want to be at the mercy of foriegn governments or corporations for something as necessary as home heating. Anthracite is mined here IMO it's better to put my heat money into the local economy than some foriegner's pocket.

That being said, I've been looking at different websites regarding furnaces. Does anyone know of a local dealer that I can talk to so I can get an idea of equipment price annual operating costs etc. My current system is oil fired, hot water baseboard radiation. I'm still not sure if I want to go with a duel fuel system (coal/oil) or cut my use of oil completely. Any comments/recommendations?

Thanks

There are dual fuel units but I don't know of any that really work well. I would keep your present oil burner (you might want to go away in the winter and not be able to feed the stoker) and get a coal fired stoker boiler. I have the Harman VF3000 and am very pleased with its performance. Harman doesn't sell direct to the public, you have to go to a Harman dealer. Visit Harmonstoves.com. They have a stoker boiler and three hand fired boilers. Review some of the old threads here. There are several other stoker boilers and most everyone is happy with theirs. Mine heats my home and provides all of my domestic hot water.

Deleur's Back to Basics in Dallas, PA

Fireplace Gallery at the juction of 309 & 29, it's pn the right after the bank right before the bridge. http://www.fireplacegallery.net . Quite a nice website he has.

Bill,

I installed a Keystoker KA-6, dual fueled unit for a customer the other day, and he is loving it. It puts out 200 gph of hot water, heats his house like there is no tomorrow, and does it for very little money. In the summer time, expect to burn 250 pounds of coal every 2-3 weeks for domestic hot water only, and in the winter time about 50 to 100 pounds a day for heat and hot water, depending on how cold it is outside, how large the house is, and also how well insulated it is.
The nice thing about the dual fuel is if you go away for a while, or if you get hurt and can't do the coal. It takes about two minutes to convert it over to oil and vice versa.

Mike

Complete Heat wrote: The nice thing about the dual fuel is if you go away for a while, or if you get hurt and can't do the coal. It takes about two minutes to convert it over to oil and vice versa.

Yes that is nice as long as the efficiency or something else isn't compromised. I know they say the coal/oil combos are not very efficient when using oil but if you're only using it for short periods of times or in an emergency the convenience can't be beat.