Got plenty of Propane ?

CavemanCharlie wrote:

I didn't know you could still get coal for home heating. All those old furnaces were taken out of commission around here many decades ago. How do you get the coal to your house? Do you have a room in the basement full of coal and several of times a day you go down there and shovel it into the furnace. Like on the old trains and steam ships? I'm only asking because I don't know.

The coal furnace I am using now is our backup unit. We are remodeling and I will need to reroute our water lines for the baseboard hot water heat, so we are using this old forced air furnace now.

Yes, it is the same principle as the old trains, but not quite as bad. I have a coal bin in the basement and unless it is extreme cold, we go to the basement and put a few shovels of coal in the furnace twice a day.

It makes steady and warm heat, as much as you want, for about $100/month in winter. We use just over a ton a month in the coldest months @ $85/ton. We haul it in a truck and carry it into the bins once a month.

Our boiler system that we'll bring back online for next season is self-fed hard coal (anthracite). Once lit, we put a little coal in the hopper every few days and empty a small pan of ashes. It is all automatic.

Anthracite does not have dust, smell, or smoke, though it is about $230 or so a ton. This setup quite easily provides all the heat AND domestic hot water you can possibly use. It is expected to use about 3/4 ton per month in the winter, maybe less depending on how well the remodel goes ;)

This boiler will be in parallel with a modified oil boiler that can take over if we are away for more than about 5 days.

But we do like an open fire, which is what we use the ventless propane freestanding fireplaces for.

Coal, especially hard coal stokers for either boiler or hot air, is certainly a cost effective and efficient alternative to other forms of heat- especially for those of us without municipal services like natural gas, water, sewage, etc.

A handfed furnace can use a blower to spread the hot air in the house, but doesn't require any electricity to burn. Always a good backup in an area that often has at least one multiple-day power outage each year.

The propane units also serve that purpose during an outage. We don't bring the generators online unless it lasts more than about 8hrs.

Hope this answers your questions.