Stove vs furnace

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Pa-kid
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Location: Schuylkill County PA
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM DF 520
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Reading RFSD-04
Coal Size/Type: Rice anthacite
Other Heating: EFM oil/coal furnace DF520

Post by Pa-kid » Sat. Dec. 01, 2018 9:50 am

Hey guys, new to this forum, my name is Brian and I just started using coal and love the whole idea. Especially since I live in Schuylkill county pa where coal is EVERYWHERE!!

Question 1... without going into too much detail, I have a working efm anthracite/oil combo furnace with old, super hot cast iron baseboard radiators. 2 story house. If I could get my basement coal stoker providing heat that will suffice, I know the furnace will be much hotter, convenient, etc... could I save any money going to the stove or is the furnace, generally speaking, that much more efficient and money saving? I'm currently trying to test and compare.

Side note, I have a reading stoker, like the juniata but older, can't find any info on it. Anyway, I have it ducted to my first floor through a register and trying to figure out how cold returns work etc... Anyway, there ya go. I would love to quit using the furnace all together. But if the stove won't save me any money, I'll keep it as a back up. In my head, a small stoker would use less coal that a big furnace, less heat yes, but tolerable if we could save money.

 
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McGiever
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Post by McGiever » Sat. Dec. 01, 2018 9:31 pm

Good idea, go ahead with your testing of each. You never know which might save you a buck or two.

That DF520 is a Boiler...not a Furnace...furnaces blow hot air out of ducts with registers.

 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Sun. Dec. 02, 2018 7:36 am

I'd burn coal in the boiler rather than using the stove. You can zone the house if it isn't already to have more comfortable room specific heating. The stove can't do that. Concentrate on insulating and fixing drafts to save coal.

 
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StokerDon
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Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. Dec. 02, 2018 9:57 am

If you have a hot water heating system, and an EFM to push heat through it, that is the way to go. A little stoker stove/furnace doesn't stand a chance against any EFM, unless there is something wrong.

-Don


 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Dec. 02, 2018 10:02 am

EFM all the way. Warm basement, warm house, lots of domestic hot water. If you need some help getting it running, we can walk you through it.

 
franco b
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Post by franco b » Sun. Dec. 02, 2018 10:06 am

Warm air rises. Without a place for cool air to sink and return to the stove, circulation will be poor.

 
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BunkerdCaddis
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Coal Size/Type: pea/nut/rice/stove-anthracite, nut/stove bit when I feel the urge
Other Heating: oil fired hydronic

Post by BunkerdCaddis » Sun. Dec. 02, 2018 10:25 am

Pa-kid wrote:
Sat. Dec. 01, 2018 9:50 am
I have a working efm anthracite/oil combo furnace with old, super hot cast iron baseboard radiators. 2 story house. If I could get my basement coal stoker providing heat that will suffice,
If I had a working EFM 520 in my house I would be one happy camper, period!

If your opinion of it is "old, super hot cast iron" then it is either not set up right or operational error. Spend some time and learn how hydronics work, you will be most satisfied you did. I am by no means an expert but my current house with an oil boiler had three zones with unrelated rooms mixed together (bathrooms and living room on one zone for example). I spent six months teaching myself hydronics (John Siegenthaler's book "Modern Hydronic Heating" . It is a trade school textbook and is not cheap, but is the best investment you will make in your home hydronic heating). I now have 6 zones, a more comfortable house and a considerably more efficient system. The future project is to incorporate a coal boiler to lower the cost of fuel.

Do a search on the df520 in the search bar there is a wealth of info on this site regarding them, read up on some of the install threads to learn how the systems are put together.

 
Pa-kid
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Location: Schuylkill County PA
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM DF 520
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Coal Size/Type: Rice anthacite
Other Heating: EFM oil/coal furnace DF520

Post by Pa-kid » Tue. Dec. 04, 2018 9:04 am

Well guys, I guess that answers my question. I was thinking that the stove would save me some money. There is nothing wrong with the boiler other than it probably needs a new domestic coil. I'll read more about it and learn the ins and outs. Thank you for the input. And so far, with the cold air return, the stove keeps the first floor at 72-74 deg using about 60 lbs of coal per day. But I noticed some sunburnt coal in the ash pan and my boiler burns 100% no left over. Curious to see how much coal I use per day in the boiler. I'll post the results if anyone is curious.


 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Dec. 04, 2018 12:29 pm

The only way that stove will save you any money is if you keep part of the house colder than you do now. That will likely happen anyway due to the poor heat distribution, but that may or may not be what you want.

The other thing to consider is domestic hot water. If you don't use the efm, you will need to find another means to heat the water. If plan B is a gas or electric water heater, you will need to allow for that in your savings comparison.

Personally I would never mothball an EFM and cast iron radiators to save a few bucks by heating only half the house. Considering your coal cost, you should be able to have a house that is warm top to bottom, with unlimited hot water, for a very reasonable cost.

If you want to burn less coal, work on keeping more heat in the house.

 
Pa-kid
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Location: Schuylkill County PA
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM DF 520
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Reading RFSD-04
Coal Size/Type: Rice anthacite
Other Heating: EFM oil/coal furnace DF520

Post by Pa-kid » Tue. Dec. 04, 2018 1:22 pm

Rob, you are right. It's not worth the couple of bucks if any can be saved at all. I suppose I'll use the coal stove as a backup should the efm stop working for any reason. Thx for your input and I'll keep her running. Now to start learning how to clean and maintain it. Thx again everyone.

 
Pa-kid
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Posts: 15
Joined: Sat. Dec. 01, 2018 9:30 am
Location: Schuylkill County PA
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM DF 520
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Reading RFSD-04
Coal Size/Type: Rice anthacite
Other Heating: EFM oil/coal furnace DF520

Post by Pa-kid » Tue. Dec. 18, 2018 4:34 pm

Just an update fellas... I dialed in the efm and still have some work to do to get it perfect. I am now burning about 45-50 lbs of coal when it’s right around 30 deg f outside, house is warm top to bottom. That’s less than I was using with my stove. So far so good.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Dec. 18, 2018 7:54 pm

Pa-kid wrote:
Tue. Dec. 18, 2018 4:34 pm
Just an update fellas... I dialed in the efm and still have some work to do to get it perfect. I am now burning about 45-50 lbs of coal when it’s right around 30 deg f outside, house is warm top to bottom. That’s less than I was using with my stove. So far so good.
That's how it should be. Nice work.

 
rodhotter
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Post by rodhotter » Thu. Feb. 28, 2019 9:18 pm

good job coal is king for economy + efficiency. i am in north'd county + get good coal from Harmony, just outside MtCarmel. i have a small + well insulated by me house + like cool sleeping so only some warm air gets into the bedroom, saves + is better + healthier sleeping in the cool under the wool covers. when my uncle passed aunt changed to oil for obvious reasons, the basement was cold + the cost was triple the coal. we are lucky to be able to do for ourselves + save some $$$, unlike wood coal is minimal work + needs little tending even if hand fired like me

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