Coalpail.com Forum

Hi and welcome to the forum.
For the stove/boiler, the previous post are very good.
But if I understand correctly, the house is very well insulated but not the basement? If so, I can't imagine insulating a house but not the basement. Just my opinion but insulating the ext. concrete walls is a must if you don't want to send all that heat here in Québec

Concrete block walls under ground are not insulated,neither are the above ground dual pane glass windows . Best option is to get a coal boiler,connect to existing boiler,results in the least $$ spent & the best distribution of the heat of all the other options.

Several of the boiler manufacturers offer a dual fuel option. I have the LL110, and the changeover from coal to oil is about 10 minutes.

It's a damn hot 10 minutes, but 10 minutes none the less.

When I look at these stoves will money be better spent on Keystoker or Reading. I'm leaning to the boiler, however I'm still not completely sure I want to completley replace the oil burner. It works flawless and I hate to remove it.

No need to remove your current oil boiler,just connect the coal boiler to the oil boiler,easy,quick connections,oil boiler circulators can continue to do their job.Either power vent the oil burner or do a flue pipe switch when changing from one unit to the other.

If there is room, absolutely leave the oil fired unit. Check with your home owners insurance agent. They may require you to keep the oil heat. Also, state in no uncertain terms that the coal unit is for SUPPLEMENTAL heat only. Some of them get twitchy if you tell them coal is your primary heat source. Not all companies, but some.

kstills wrote:Several of the boiler manufacturers offer a dual fuel option. I have the LL110, and the changeover from coal to oil is about 10 minutes.

It's a damn hot 10 minutes, but 10 minutes none the less.

I believe we do state to let the boiler cool for a bit when changing over. Right?

I think connecting the coal boiler to the oil boiler is a good choice. Do I need to add another set of thermostats to each zone, or will my current thermostats work with both units?

Starting Out wrote:I think connecting the coal boiler to the oil boiler is a good choice. Do I need to add another set of thermostats to each zone, or will my current thermostats work with both units?

Your existing controls stay and work both units. So yes, unless you have something unusual. .

Thanks everybody for all the help on my quest to get going. Now it's time to do some shopping for the right unit.

I am 62, We heat our small home with a stoker stove that sits in the dining room to a dedicated chimney. My wife has asthma and bronchitis which means she is not allowed to get near the ashes. No matter how careful you are, your going to float a few ashes when you change ash pans. It's the nature of the beast. I do all the coal loading, hauling, and ash removal. I hooked up a Bucket a Day to feed our oil fired boiler. We were heating our water with a hand fired bucket a day coal water heater via a heat exchanger. I unhooked the flue pipe from the oil boiler, swung it over and hooked up the Bucket a Day. It's great for shoulder months and or hot water. I hate burning the oil!!!

I caught the flu and knew that my wife couldn't tend the coal stove or the Bucket a Day. Before it knocked me all the way down I disconnected the flue pipe from the bucket a day, swung it over and reconnected the oil boiler. Put the fuse back in it and fired it off.
I unplugged the stoker and let it go out. Then I went to bed and didn't get back out for 4 days.

If you have the room you could pipe a coal stoker boiler into your existing boiler. No cutting holes in the floor, no running duct work, nothing except put the coal in and take the ashes out. I move my coal in 5 gallon buckets and since I don't like to lift 40 lbs of coal chest height, I shovel it in the stove from the bucket until it's half in then I pick it up and pour it in the hopper. Keep the oil burner as a backup and install either a stoker with a power vent or a coal fired boiler.

Rev. Larry
New Beginning Church
Ashland Pa.

Thanks katman, I'm pretty sure I'm going to hook into my oil burner.

Changed my mind. After talking to the wife, we are going to have a Keystoker 90 stoker stove installed on the first floor. It's automatic and will do more then we need. No vents and no expensive boiler to worry about. It's in the price range we can afford.