Coal Usage for April 2014, Plus the Running Tale of the Tape

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Wed. Apr. 30, 2014 6:41 pm

850 lbs. used for April (~715 lbs. for heat and ~135 lbs. for DHW)
481 HDD's for April

10,493 total lbs. burned from Oct. 1st, 2013 through April 30th, 2014 (~9,533 lbs. for heat and ~960 lbs. for DHW)
6,593 total HDD's

Average of previous two seasons (2011/2012, and 2012/2013) to this juncture = 8,623 lbs coal (for heat and DHW).

~1,870 more lbs. burned this season to date (and all of this additional coal would be for heat only).

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Wed. Apr. 30, 2014 7:48 pm

Don;t know my HDD - I'm sure with my Davis weatherstation I could probably find out .... but me and math have a bad history ...

Burned 30 bags, or 1,200 lbs. from 3/28 - 4/28. That's a record LOW in my 8 years of burning, due to the stoker.

Hambden Bob · Post by **Hambden Bob** » Wed. Apr. 30, 2014 8:11 pm

Tales of the Burn Season are very interesting. This Winter sure opened a lot of Peoples Eyes! Nicejob,Gents.

Post by **Rob R.** » Wed. Apr. 30, 2014 9:21 pm

I have burned just under 7.5 tons since October 1st. No clue how much was used in April...this house renovation project has made it tough to keep track of anything.

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Wed. Apr. 30, 2014 9:33 pm

We're at 4.8 tons total so far since 10/28 - longest I've ever burned, and least I've ever burned per day average. LOVE this boiler!!

We used 9 less bags the last month of use over the prior month. I'd bet I can dial the temp down another 20° (from 145° cut-off) when heat is no longer needed, and just heat DHW. Would have to be much less than 30 bags a month though to make it worthwhile. Otherwise it's cheaper to burn oil.

oliver power · Post by **oliver power** » Wed. Apr. 30, 2014 9:39 pm

Had 5 ton to start with. Thought maybe, just maybe I'd squeeze through the winter. April 24th I bought another 400 pounds (ten bags). Looks like I'm going through about 30 - 40 pounds every 24 hours. Some time over the weekend, or first part of the week, I'll be buying more.

oliver power · Post by **oliver power** » Wed. Apr. 30, 2014 9:55 pm

lsayre wrote:850 lbs. used for April (~715 lbs. for heat and ~135 lbs. for DHW)
481 HDD's for April

10,493 total lbs. burned from Oct. 1st, 2013 through April 30th, 2014 (~9,533 lbs. for heat and ~960 lbs. for DHW)
6,593 total HDD's

Average of previous two seasons (2011/2012, and 2012/2013) to this juncture = 8,623 lbs coal (for heat and DHW).

~1,870 more lbs. burned this season to date (and all of this additional coal would be for heat only).

WOW!, We sure are close in coal usage. I'd say within 2-1/2 five gallon pails is close.

hcarlow · Post by **hcarlow** » Thu. May. 01, 2014 10:20 am

I learned a lesson this year for sure , not to shut down so early . I shut down the second week of April and did a complete clean of boiler etc. only to keep finding ice in the puddles right up to yesterday morning . My wife said , " don't do that again " . We had a couple warm days at the start of April so I thought spring had sprung , boy was I wrong . Had a little sufur smell during those warm days so decided to shut her down, will be more patient next year .

whistlenut · Post by **whistlenut** » Thu. May. 01, 2014 12:42 pm

This year should reaffirm that you should NOT second guess 'Mutha Nature'. Only 44 here right now, and another couple of weeks of 'below normal temps' due. Stockpile a couple extra tons or go nuts and get the whole load for yourself. 40 lbs a day, hot water and HEAT is a very economical number.

DePippo79 · Post by **DePippo79** » Thu. May. 01, 2014 3:04 pm

So much for letting the stove burn out today. Still cool at night. Going to get another ton tomorrow. Hopefully I'll only burn a few bags out of it. Can't believe I went thru a whole ton in April. On the bright side a heating zone hasn't come on since the first week of April and that was only because I ran out of coal. Looks like forties at night till about May tenth. Matt

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Thu. May. 01, 2014 6:17 pm

oliver power wrote:WOW!, We sure are close in coal usage. I'd say within 2-1/2 five gallon pails is close.

Were we also close overall for the 2 previous seasons?

plumber · Post by **plumber** » Thu. May. 01, 2014 8:50 pm

1260 lbs for April. 7340 lbs for 2014!! Since November 1, 2013 when I turned on the heat I've burned
11,780 lbs. I killed the power to the zone circulators this morning. There will be no heat until November 1. Deal with it!! Now to see how the new boiler does for just DHW.

whistlenut · Post by **whistlenut** » Thu. May. 01, 2014 9:41 pm

May 1st to Nov 1st......remind me not to show up on a cold rainy day........It's not over yet.......we still have lots of snow on the north facing terrain.

40 lbs on cool days, 15 to 25 if no heat is required............

BigFoot · Post by **BigFoot** » Sun. May. 04, 2014 11:24 am

don't know the total used but on the 28th of april I put a ton in the bin (total 12 tons from sept)but think I had the temps to high at 180 to 200 ,not set at 150 to 180 ,will keep track of summer total for H/Water just glad I wasn't heating with Oil !

2001Sierra · Post by **2001Sierra** » Wed. May. 07, 2014 10:40 pm

April usage 600lbs. Heating 2200 sq ft most of it 70 on average.