Who Else Still Burns Coal?

[Mr.Mike]

Now that it's heating season up here in the north east, I've fired up the coal stoker. I live in North east Pennsylvania so basically the coal capital of the world, so clean burning anthracite is easily accessible to me. Anyone else out there still burns coal for heat?

EDIT: Fixed Capitalization in Title - Bob

 

[ron123]

That's pretty interesting. TBH, I didn't know burning coal for heat was still done anywhere in the US. Our previous house had a steel door that opened from outside, into the basement...pretty sure loading coal into the house was its purpose. It had been welded shut long before we bought the house, though.

 

[mso489]

I grew up with coal, adults going down to the coal scuttle and shoveling it into the furnace. In my folks first small house, the furnace was free-standing over a wooden floor, and I discovered the floor burning in a game of hide and seek, but someone else had to report the fire alarm because I thought maybe that was how it worked ... at about age 4. The house is still there, with a second story added, and presumably a new furnace, but our family moved out about a year later. I haven't lived in a coal burning residence since. I think it would be hard to get delivery in my N.C. city. My first house had oil heat, but we went to natural gas and had to petition the utility to get a gas line to our house which was right in the middle of town. The line installers thought we must have been related to the governor. We weren't.

 

[Mr.Mike]

Yea people still burns coal around me. Here's a pic of my stove

 

[Mr.Mike]

I grew up with coal, adults going down to the coal scuttle and shoveling it into the furnace. In my folks first small house, the furnace was free-standing over a wooden floor, and I discovered the floor burning in a game of hide and seek, but someone else had to report the fire alarm because I thought maybe that was how it worked ... at about age 4. The house is still there, with a second story added, and presumably a new furnace, but our family moved out about a year later. I haven't lived in a coal burning residence since. I think it would be hard to get delivery in my N.C. city. My first house had oil heat, but we went to natural gas and had to petition the utility to get a gas line to our house which was right in the middle of town. The line installers thought we must have been related to the governor. We weren't.

Cool story, glad to hear the house didn't burn down! I've seen those old furnaces, they were huge!

 

[alaskanpiper]

Interesting. Oil and Wood for yours truly.

 

[jpmcwjr]

My house in Illinois started with coal, but converted to oil in 1950.

 

[hobie1dog]

I've never heard of a clean burning coal.

 

[Mr.Mike]

I've never heard of a clean burning coal.

"Cleaner"

 

[condorlover1]

My old house in the UK was totally coal heated. Each bedroom had a fire place, the front and back rooms had the old cast iron grates. My kitchen had a Nuttal No.1 cast range with water jacket that provided hot water for bath night - I jest not. I used to buy from Charrington Fuels in Victoria Road 1.5 tonnes of coal every autumn and have it delivered to the coal bunkers on the side of my cottage. I loved coal, you could burn all your rubbish from the kitchen and it was cheap as chips. Used have the chimneys swept every September and the house always had a nice warm welcoming smell to it. The down side was having to clean out all the grates in the morning and lay out a new fire and making sure the range was stocked with enough coal to burn whilst I was away at work. Happy days!

 

[Mr.Mike]

My old house in the UK was totally coal heated. Each bedroom had a fire place, the front and back rooms had the old cast iron grates. My kitchen had a Nuttal No.1 cast range with water jacket that provided hot water for bath night - I jest not. I used to buy from Charrington Fuels in Victoria Road 1.5 tonnes of coal every autumn and have it delivered to the coal bunkers on the side of my cottage. I loved coal, you could burn all your rubbish from the kitchen and it was cheap as chips. Used have the chimneys swept every September and the house always had a nice warm welcoming smell to it. The down side was having to clean out all the grates in the morning and lay out a new fire and making sure the range was stocked with enough coal to burn whilst I was away at work. Happy days!

Thanks for sharing condor, those older hand fires stoves were tricky to keep going, it definitely was an art. My stove is a modern stoker, which has a grate with forced air to burn the coal, and a feeder mechanism that keeps the fire stoked.

 

[condorlover1]

The trick was tightly rolled up balls of newspaper, kindling wood, unburnt coal from the ' Cinder Sifter' and small pieces of coal. Once its gets going you add larger pieces of coal and the rest is easy. I had a heater brick which was a copper covered brick that sat next to the grate with a kettle on it so you had hot water to wash in first thing in the morning. Coal fires work in old house since the windows, floor and everything else had a steady draft from cracks. I used to go to bed about 8.30 in the winter and since I only had gas lighting I used to read with candle with a mirror behind it to throw out more light. The only issue was waking up about 1.30 in the morning and having to add more coal to the fire since the bedroom had got chilly!

 

[Mr.Mike]

The trick was tightly rolled up balls of newspaper, kindling wood, unburnt coal from the ' Cinder Sifter' and small pieces of coal. Once its gets going you add larger pieces of coal and the rest is easy. I had a heater brick which was a copper covered brick that sat next to the grate with a kettle on it so you had hot water to wash in first thing in the morning. Coal fires work in old house since the windows, floor and everything else had a steady draft from cracks. I used to go to bed about 8.30 in the winter and since I only had gas lighting I used to read with candle with a mirror behind it to throw out more light. The only issue was waking up about 1.30 in the morning and having to add more coal to the fire since the bedroom had got chilly!

Neat info about the brick

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

My understanding is that in many parts of England and Poland they still do burn coal quite actively, especially in rural areas.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I don't heat my home with it, but when I have to forge new specialty tools or get a specialty job that involves iron, I still use coal in the forge. There's an abandoned coal mine past the farm, where I can load up as many buckets as I want for free. Wait... I mean that I load up as many buckets as I want and then drive really quietly out of there, without being seen.

 

[btp79]

I would if I could find any. Our deer lease in Gatesville Texas has an iron stove that would be perfect. Instead someone has to wake up every few hours to toss a log on or we wake up freezing lol

 

[Mr.Mike]

That's why I ended up going with coal, only need to tend it once Evey 16 hours or so

 

[mortonbriar]

My old house in the UK was totally coal heated. Each bedroom had a fire place, the front and back rooms had the old cast iron grates. My kitchen had a Nuttal No.1 cast range with water jacket that provided hot water for bath night - I jest not. I used to buy from Charrington Fuels in Victoria Road 1.5 tonnes of coal every autumn and have it delivered to the coal bunkers on the side of my cottage. I loved coal, you could burn all your rubbish from the kitchen and it was cheap as chips. Used have the chimneys swept every September and the house always had a nice warm welcoming smell to it. The down side was having to clean out all the grates in the morning and lay out a new fire and making sure the range was stocked with enough coal to burn whilst I was away at work. Happy days!

Now I know why you have seemed vaguely familiar all these years, you are a character out of a Dicken's novel!

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Grew up in a rural area in Southern Indiana. We had a coal furnace until I was around 12 years old. We also had electricity, running water (hot and cold), etc..