Just started my first coal fire...

[Evil One]

In this area of Pa where we moved to, power outages are fairly common.
When Hurricane Irene came thru, we were without power for around a week.
Last week we got 15" of snow, and most of the towns lost power... luckily we were out for only about 30 minutes.
We decided that we needed a source of heat that does not rely on electricity.
Our place has a fuel oil burner, so in addition to costing a fortune to run... no power... no heat.
So... our main options would be either a wood or coal stove.
I have burned wood off and on for years.
However, here in NE Pa... coal flows like water.
Yesterday we picked up a used coal stove, today I installed it.
When I fired up the stove it was 48* in the house.
Within 20 minutes it was up to 68*.
It is now around 80* in the dining room, in the 70*s thruout the rest of the lower floor.
I am loving this.

Jim

 

[G-Mac]

Very nice, Evil One!

I used to work in a weld shop that was heated with coal.

I got up on the roof and cleaned the chimney on my wood stove last weekend, but haven't made a fire yet.

Any time now....

 

[1 old 0311]

Coal has been my heat source, off and on, for 60 years.


p.s. PLEASE be careful burning coal. It heats a lot hotter than wood.

 

[Evil One]

Yea, I have been doing a bit of research.
My neighbor heats with coal also and has been a help.
I appreciate the warning.


Jim

 

[rburg]

You still need a generator. Not a huge one, but having some electricity is pretty convenient. If you don't mind dodging extension cords, a Honda 1000 and a couple of fans will distribute the heat around your home. And a couple of light bulbs, cfl or LED will keep the place lit well enough you won't bump into walls. Will also keep the freezer cold or the 'fridge cool if they're all that's running. Also they make clean power, enough to run your computer or keep your laptop battery charged, and your cell phones topped off.

 

[Evil One]

A small gen set is in the works within the next few weeks.
These are things I have felt that I needed for a while anyway.
I really dislike being at the mercy of the grid.


Jim

 

[MaximumLawman]

I was thinking of heating the cabin with this old Detroit Jewel wood/coal burner:

 

[1 old 0311]

I was thinking of heating the cabin with this old Detroit Jewel wood/coal burner:

In a word WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[enfield]

I carried a lot of coal to a coal furnace when I was a kid in WV. Two buckets every morning before school.

My emergency heat source is gas logs, installed summer before last.

 

[jrm53]

When I was a kid we heated with coal before Dad got a propane stove and it had a thing on the bottom where Mom stuck a steel thing and ran it back and forth and it would shake out klinkers that was left when the coal burned. We didnt use it but for 2 or 3 years. Jeff

 

[PA Reb]

I bought and installed a boiler a few years ago that fires with soft coal, wood, and also has an oil burner on the side. I haven't used anything but coal since and the house is always toasty warm. Windows cracked open all winter and no snow withing three feet of the house !

 

[Frank46]

I worked in a coal fired power plant in the late '60"s. When they had outages on some units in the winter you'd freeze your you know what off.
Solution was to find a 55 gallon drum, chop the top off, use a pick axe and knock some holes in the side. Put some wood in and once it got going added the coal. Wasn't any shortage of coal. The mills would choke up when the coal got wet so you had to open the reject door to clear out the blockage. I used to shovel about 10 5 yard containers before lunch. Same after I ate. Come the next day it would all be back.
Hated shoveling coal, but at least I kept warm. Frank

 

[5Wire]

If the B MT, put more :
If the B full, don't,
You'd B an * it!

—from my granddad

 

[Onomea]

Dang, Maximum Lawman. That's beautiful!

But what is the relationship of the first pic to the second? And how did you get there?

Let's hear the story!

 

[MaximumLawman]

Dang, Maximum Lawman. That's beautiful!

Thx....My grandparents had an old Kalamazoo stove to heat their cottage, EXACTLY like this one:

I always wanted one. Still haven't found one like they had. Along the way I found the one pictured in the earlier post and the one behind it on Craigslist close enough to home to look at. It was in the loft of an old barn. I paid $350.00 for both (probably overpaid a little...)....The one pictured is a Detroit Jewel, Novel Oak #516 Model made by Detroit Stove Works which used to be right on the Detroit River just east of Woodward, I think. I really want a nice fancy-looking one like that Kalamazoo with the isinglass windows. That stuff is still readily available. The most beautiful stoves are the highly-nickled baseburners like this:

Looks like HG Wells' time machine. See how they used a black wash to fill in the low areas on the nickel....Just gorgeous....

The one pictured in the earlier post is my first one. I just took it apart and sandblasted it and had a few minor welding repairs made. Sent the nickel-plated parts out for new plating. I don't have the finial for this one. Painted it with a brush with Thermalux hi-temp paint, sealed everything with stove cement in a caulking tube and bolted everything back together with new stove bolts. You can still use the old stove polish but that's way too messy for me. This one is a coal/wood burner. Dedicated coal burners only have one vent at the bottom and maybe another vent on the back of the stove up by the flu. Wood burners also have a vent in the door. I'm a little hesitant to burn coal in this one since it burns so hot. An old timer I know who still heats his whole house with an old Garland Base Burner in his basement said I could line the firepot with a home-made lining of fire brick mortar. I may just buy a modern coal burner if I want to burn coal. I don't feel like looking for the right fire pot if this one cracks!

I have another one I'm working on now, another Detroit Jewel that's a little more fancy with a nickel-plated foot rail. My favorites are the Kalamazoo and the Round Oak Beckwiths made in Dowagiac, MI. They cost some dough if they're complete, even unrestored.

I like working on these things when you can find a complete one because they really don't require much finesse work unless you're working on the delicate finials. Just blast em, plate em, paint em and bolt em back together. Even a measure once, cut three times kind of guy like me can do it! My next one, I may add a little white or dark green to the paint so it's not quite flat black.....Another trick is to rub them with wax paper when you're done. Brings out the relief of the castings nicely.

If you're into (old) coal burning stoves there's a great "stove museum" in Goshen, Mass. The guy there has beautiful stuff. We made a 3-hour detour on a trip out east to see his place. He has 100+ year-old stoves that are like new.
http://www.goodtimestove.com/

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Living in the deep south (below I-10) and getting our clock cleaned every so often with hurricanes has made me a firm believer that every man should own a chainsaw, a generator, a pressure washer, several assorted firearms and a boat in addition to the usual man stuff.

 

[Jim in Wisconsin]

When I was a kid I found out that wooden bushel baskets and hot clinkers from the furnace don't mix. We did have a stoker, though, so I can't tell tales of how rough we had it.

 

[Evil One]

I grew up in middle Georgia.
As a youth I picked fruit, melons, veggies.
As a teen we moved to southern Missouri, where I did general farm work... bucked hay.
A couple of things I have learned in my 40 years... When its hot, you can only take off just so many clothes... and you are still hot.
If its hot and the power goes out, good luck cooling off.
If its cold and the power goes out, fire is a wonderful thing.


Jim

 

[rge1066]

Indeed, coal is a fine thing here in PA. All my life growing up we had a coal-fired boiler, and when I was 12 or 13 my father broke his leg at work. The coal and ashes were now my duty, and I maintained it into my late teens until we switched to an oil boiler.

We never wanted for plenty of heat and hot water, and now that I think of it, it was pretty cheap...

Enjoy a warm winter!

 

[tops]

I was thinking of heating the cabin with this old Detroit Jewel wood/coal burner:

You have a super nice stove. That is the Rolls Royce of stoves. Larry