Thininkg About Buying a Coal Furance

Wiz · Post by **Wiz** » Tue. Sep. 24, 2013 6:42 am

Lightning wrote:Most of us here have sore a sphincter from being raped by oil and pro pain companies. We hand the coal man 1200-1500 dollars for 5 tons of coal with a clown like grin on our face.

And this time of year I drive by mountains of firewood with two guys and a splitter laboring. My wife says to me, "what are giggling about?"

Lol..... I get a chuckle every 4-5 weeks when oil truck visits my neighbors. Buddy cuts and splits wood all summer, then complains about back.

Rigar · Post by **Rigar** » Tue. Sep. 24, 2013 7:25 am

if you cant get a real grasp on the integrity of your chimney (s)....the last thing you should consider burning is wood

michaelanthony · Post by **michaelanthony** » Tue. Sep. 24, 2013 7:34 am

ad356 wrote:ok, I have a peice of junk oil furnace converted over to natural gas furance, its a POS. I do have forced air ducts arleady in the house, which is why I am considering using a coal or wood furnace. I tend to think that coal is going to be allot more convient. its in bags, you don't have to worry about bugs. is it better to buy it in bags or can you buy coal in bulk delivered by dump truck? the gas furance that exists in my basement is highly inefficient, burns allot of natural gas and barely puts out any heat. I really do not want another gas furnace.......

....3 yrs. ago I was hypnotized @ the Northern Tool web site and wanted a cheap alternative to oil. I thought the U.S. Stove products were cool looking and the price was right! I found THIS site accidentally, I was linked to it from a local coal stove retailer and found the truth......I did not buy a coal burning furnace for $1100.00, instead I bought a Vogelzang pot bellied stove and thought I solved the worlds issues! Bullshyt! I swallowed my pride and started reading on this site and started listening to these folks and talking to some members. I bought a used hand fed from a local stove shop for 4 hundred bucks and started asking, asking, and listening and I listened with my mouth closed.
Post some pic's and get ready to get your hands dirty....and why not power vent the gas P.O.S. and connect a nice coal burner to that flu and ( Italian vernacular )..and ffaget 'bout it!.

ad356 · Post by **ad356** » Wed. Sep. 25, 2013 2:50 am

was looking at the construction of my home and I don't even think I could get a keystoker koker lite into my basement. the stairwell opening is offset from the door limiting the width of anything taken downstairs to about 22" maybe an inch or two more. the draggon thats down there now is 20" wide but its long. I could perhaps install a hotblast, is it possible to get a decent coal burn on them. I know its not ideal but ideal probably will not fit down the stairs. any stokers designed for lmitations like i'm going to have deal with. something that is less then 22" wide or less then 22" depth? I know its sucks but I have an old farm house and without modifying the door and the cabnet/counter, im very limited as to what I can take downstairs. a 110 year old house isnt nessarly to code, lol.

Rigar · Post by **Rigar** » Wed. Sep. 25, 2013 7:13 am

i will use the keystoker A120 as an example...and im sure other manufactures would be similiar....
but these units require assembly....and the fire chamber would be the largest component...
check with a local dealer as to sizes of each component

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Wed. Sep. 25, 2013 7:26 am

Congrats for measuring ahead of time...
Spending $2k on the unit and then standing at the top of the steps with a 27" wide unit and a 22" wide opening is something that would ruin your day!

As mentioned some units break down to smaller components so don't give up yet. People here have been pretty creative moving their units into tight spaces, somebody might come up with something that will work.

michaelanthony · Post by **michaelanthony** » Wed. Sep. 25, 2013 8:17 am

Rigar wrote:trap door upstairs....load from ur easy chair !

I know this was stated in regards to loading a hopper, but it has other functions also....hmmmm

Post by **Lightning** » Wed. Sep. 25, 2013 9:03 am

ad356 wrote:i could perhaps install a hotblast, is it possible to get a decent coal burn on them.

THat one you are looking at for $1099 is the small one... It has 1 grate and 1 blower can hold 50 pounds of coal I think.. I have the next size bigger, with 2 grates and 2 blowers (used to be Clayton before US Stove bought them out)..

You can get a decent coal burn on these units.. I'm living proof of it hahaha.. I had to do some tinkering to make it more an appliance for coal, instead of wood, but I am very happy with its coal burning ability. It does have its handicaps, if ya wanna call it that..

1 - The grate has a square nub that the shaker handle adapts to. Its a weak point. Shake too vigorously and it will snap. Get a coal jam and force it, it will snap. I've broke 2 of them, I know their limitations better now lol..

2- The grate itself is easily installed upside down which promotes coal jams and ash blockage, so ya gotta make sure that's right. I burned for 6 months with the grates upside down

...

3- There are places where combustion air can bypass the coal bed that need to be blocked. I used fiberglass insulation. Made a HUGE difference in efficiency and running a low fire.

4- Ash tends to build up on the sloped firebrick and shrink the available space for fresh heat producing coal. This is remedied by forcing the ash down the slope towards the grate with a tool I made.

5- After shake and re load, I run a tool along the bottom of the grate thru the ash pan door I call "the slicer" which makes for better passage of combustion air up thru the coal bed.

Ok, so you can get the drift of where I'm going with all of this.. This appliance has its own traits that need to be dealt with that other appliances may not. I paid $650 for it used.. It paid for itself as well as cut my heating bill both in the first year. Its not exactly a user friendly furnace for coal, but that doesn't bother me any..

This furnace has been an excellent teacher.. I've developed a routine that works.. and it works good for me.. Many will put these appliances down, that's fine, I'm well aware there are much better ones and I'll probably have a different one someday. But for now, its keeping me warm

ad356 · Post by **ad356** » Wed. Sep. 25, 2013 11:41 am

the problem with that bigger unit.... its wider, now if you can remove the blower motors that might make it more compact. something I have to look into.

Post by **Lightning** » Wed. Sep. 25, 2013 12:01 pm

ad356 wrote:the problem with that bigger unit.... its wider, now if you can remove the blower motors that might make it more compact. something I have to look into.

Yes I had to take the blowers off mine to get around a corner at the bottom of my basement stairs. I also used a sheet of plywood on the stairs so that it was more like a ramp. Myself and another guy got on the low side and gently let gravity slide it down the ramp. It got scary for a few minutes. My buddy almost got wedged between the wall and the furnace at the bottom of the stairs

I would advise one person at the top of the stairs with a strap to help lower it down. Make sure yer home owners ins is paid up

Thininkg About Buying a Coal Furance

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