Coal (Stoker) -Vs- Pellet Stove---Advantages/Disadvantages

He likes his pellets and spent a small fortune on his inserts several years ago.

I can understand sticking with pellets after spending big bucks to get started, but (as we all know) the savings are with affordable coal.

I can honestly say after finally getting my boiler running that it is absolutely the way to go. Endless hot water, great heating performance, quiet operation, I could go on and on.

Richard S. wrote:

Sting wrote: Ant-tracks Coal for me is NINE bucks a bag Good residential Bit is 6 to 16 hours away. That trip would add at least 50 bucks a ton to bulk delivery if the stars and moon could align.

Well Sting the obvious solution here is get a tractor trailer load.

absolutely correct again Richard

Hind sight being 20-20 had I restored the coal storage and boiler system in my little place vs what I did do - today I would be better off for it. Had I been on my toes I could have had a full working system from a salvage job I never considered taking. Had I spent the same money on a hi end condensing NG fired boiler I would be too. At the time of conversion I had scrounged all the stuff I needed to burn the local fuel so not counting my labor time - I achieved a payback in just over one running season. Now I am stuck with it. would have- could have - should have - Bartender "another please" I won't go thru that or another divorce again.

Sort of like a old dead guy used to tell stories about when he was a car mechanic - pre WW2 - There was a automobile called the Essex ?? He talked about how bad it was put together but the folks that had bought one - always tried to tell others how good it was and convince them to buy one too. Misery does love company doesn't it?

There's always tomorrow.
It took a lot of effort to come up with the cash for the EFM and install, now I'm glad I did it.

Wood'nCoal wrote:

He likes his pellets and spent a small fortune on his inserts several years ago.

I can understand sticking with pellets after spending big bucks to get started, but (as we all know) the savings are with affordable coal.

I can honestly say after finally getting my boiler running that it is absolutely the way to go. Endless hot water, great heating performance, quiet operation, I could go on and on.

I agree that coal is they way to go in many ways. I have been heating with it for 17+ years now. Before that it was wood and let me add, coal is a lot easier and cheaper as well, and also a more even consistent heat.

WessWackos wrote:The biggest issue is ease of use for us. It isn't that I'm lazy, it's that oftentimes I have a sporadic day at work and cannot get home to tend the fire. Sometimes I'm at work for 14 hours, leaving the weight of tending the stove completely on my wife

Wess, like you, I too have some crazy days/nights with work etc... Difference between your situation and mine- I am a single guy, no wife or kids, live alone= no one at all to tend the stoves but yours truly... That said, I can honestly tell you that I have not yet in 2 years lost a fire due to my crazy schedule... I drive tractor trailer on the graveyard shift all around the Poconos, Philly, North/South Jersey 6 nights a week and have been stuck out on the road many times in that 2 years where It was just not possible for me to get home, too many hours on the log, weather, truck/trailer breakdowns, stuff that lands me in a hotel to sleep it off... So what I'm sure to do every evening before I leave for work is empty ash pans and top off hoppers... Thats just me and it has worked out great thus far, like I said, no outfires yet, no problems...

Now here is a good example for you, a very acurate example-

This is with my Harman Mag Stoker... I emptied the ash pan on monday night at 11:00PM, topped off hopper at the same time... Right here right now 10:40AM Wednesday the 29th I still am yet to change that ash pan I put in there on Monday night, it is only half full and will not touch it until around 11:00 tonight... I added approx. 35# of coal last night at around midnight and that brought the hopper up to around 3/4 full, I will not fill it until tonight when I change out the ash pan... So I will have gone 48 full hours without an ash pan change and the stove is using around 50# of oiled rice coal per 24 hours... I have the Coal-Trol set at 73 degrees round the clock and it has not missed a single beat... No matter when I look at the thermostat it reads 73, during the day when outside temps are up, at night when the cold sets in, its great, the thing is a damn machine and just keeps the temps right on 24/7... Not trying to sell you on a Harman, just a real life example... I'm certain the same results are had with Leisure Line, Alaska, Keystoker............. Many options out there..

What I would expect for your wife to need to do at times is simply add coal to the hopper, maybe... If YOU are able to get to the stove within 24 hours after each tending each and every day then she may never need to tend the stove at all... If you can make a routine for yourself, like making sure it has a fresh ash pan and a full hopper at the start of every day you could leave your home with confidence knowing it won't need any attention while you are gone... Simple stuff like having a second ash pan for the stove can be of huge service to you for those times when you just don't have the time to take the full one out, empty it, put it back in the stove... Just swap them out and leave the full one somewhere on your way out the door where it can safely cool off etc, empty it when you get home...

PM me when you're ready for my number...

Murdoc

Pellet stoves are cute.

what is this heat loss calculation?
and while im asking questions somewhere someone was talking about a barometer ? so much to learn before I get a stove

Simple a Coal Stoker is a Pellet Stove on steroids

char1300, a heat loss study calculates how many BTU's your house requires. They are fairly easy to do.

A barometric damper is a counterweighted vent in your flue pipe that prevents excess draft from wasting heat up your chimney. It also prevents excess draft from burning fuel when you don't want it to.

Wesswackos, sounds like you are on the right track. Bet you never thought you would get this much advice!

Only thing I can add is don't focus on initial cost. Your future time is worth $. Unless there is natural gas coming to area, you will be using this for a long time to come. Buy a coal system that requires the least amount of work.

thanks for the info cant find anything on the heat loss calculation did a google search and it seems everything I find you have to pay for is this the case ??

There is one here using a spreadsheet:

What's Your Heat Loss?

If you have a smartphone there's an (at least one!) app for that--look for Slant/Fin's "Hydronic Explorer" on Google Play or in the App Store. The desktop version isn't available free from the manufacturer anymore but it is out there available for download.

great thank you both for the info will be looking in to that now.

I burn coal but think pellets are the fuel of the future. In the northern New England they deliver bulk pellets into a tyvek bag that burns virtually maintenance and labor free. I don't know if the cost of the boiler will make it cost prohibitive or not but coal boilers can be pricey also. http://www.maineenergysystems.com/Bulk_Pellet_Purchases.htm

I burn coal but think pellets are the fuel of the future.

LOL! Not very likely. They don't produce enough heat, they are not maintenance free, unless someone else doing it like the oil boiler guy is free. AND they require the cutting of many trees. Don't let them kid you, It is not trash wood going into premium pellets. The limbs and slash have to much pitch or resin in them to burn clean. They are great down here where the temps get all the way down to 30 occasionally. I remember people buying them in Maine and tearing them out the next year because they had to sit on them to feel any heat. And a guy that worked for me told me about having to shut down every week to clean the unit or it would plug up. If they become the fuel of the future in Northern climates, it means coal has been exhausted by whatever means it takes. Gov. regs or just depletion of the supply. And woodstoves will always throw more heat when it is cold. There is no free lunch, you can't heat a house with anything less then the amount of BTU's necessary. And a handful of pellets won't do it.
I know about the big systems they are developing, but we are still waiting for the jury to come back on the results.

Kevin