The Black Stuff

[Stasher]

Just reviewing our coal store for the coming months and I wondered what everyone else uses. We have seven sacks (and two blocks of Heiz Profi) left from last year, but I will be getting a least another half a dozen over the next few weeks. We do not buy coal 'loose' and I am a bit of a tart when it comes to what I buy. Our current selection includes (we do not live in a smokefree zone)

Heiz Profi Kamin Briket
Mixed Ovoids
Household Coal Group 2

I just wondered if anyone had particular coal/lignite or whatever that they prefer and I wondered why

Any takers?

[pseudonym]

In my Esse wood burner I use wood or anthracite.

[DustyDog]

Have a few shovel fulls of coal, but have several tons of logs for our Esse woodburner and the other two woodburners we have, in winter i reckon around a ton per month usage, oh and we also have the other black stuff, oil, bloody expensive though compared to wood. We use wood because i can buy it in 12-14 ton loads, last year it cost us £45 per ton, thats uncut lenghths, approx 12 foot in length, compared to approx £140 per half ton of coal, so wood a lot cheaper.

[jansman]

Wood is good, but coal packs a 'punch', we burn both. Fortunately we are not in a smokeless zone. This means we buy 50 kg open sacks of cobbles. In a year we use about 20 of those, plus wood. Of course, in the event of no coal, it will be just wood. I take my stoves seriously, they are our primary heat source.
There is no silver bullet though. Oil, gas or coal and wood, are all getting increasingly expensive.

[Stasher]

Wood is good, but coal packs a 'punch', we burn both. Fortunately we are not in a smokeless zone. This means we buy 50 kg open sacks of cobbles. In a year we use about 20 of those, plus wood. Of course, in the event of no coal, it will be just wood. I take my stoves seriously, they are our primary heat source.
There is no silver bullet though. Oil, gas or coal and wood, are all getting increasingly expensive.

I agree, coal packs a punch, it's great for 'turning the heating up', especially when the rellies come round. What are cobbles? All you guys seem to use a lot more coal than us. Last winter (which was mild) I think we used two 20/25kg sacks!

our heating is oil fired so if it's cold and the house hasn't been heated during the day I usually whack on the heating for an hour or two and get the fire going, that normally maintains the heat in the house. We are fortunate in that we have free wood (usually from trees that have fallen down). We had a humongous tree cut down last year courtesy of the electric board and I am looking forward to seeing that in the wood store next year

[tigs]

What are cobbles?

Cobbles are a lump coal. The size of the lumps are over 100mm or 4" in old money

Cobbles are more efficient when burnt on a larger fireplace, with a larger chimney with more ventilation

[DustyDog]

Aye, coal burns hotter than wood, only use if needed, hate putting oil Central heating on, cos it usually gets left on and oil cost so much, plus buying wood as we do, I get to play with my chainsaw.

[judicatr]

[quote="Stasher"]Just reviewing our coal store for the coming months and I wondered what everyone else uses. We have seven sacks (and two blocks of Heiz Profi) left from last year, but I will be getting a least another half a dozen over the next few weeks. We do not buy coal 'loose' and I am a bit of a tart when it comes to what I buy. Our current selection includes (we do not live in a smokefree zone)

Wow. I'm really surprised. I've never heard of anyone using coal for heating... well not outside of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" anyway. It sounds like this is fairly common in the UK...? Is coal your primary heating source or is it or is a supplemental source - like a woodstove here in the US. What are the environmental implications? I can easily imagine "environmentalists" heads exploding if widespread use of private coal burning stoves came into use in the US.

Very interesting...

Just curious,
Your American Friend

[jansman]

We live in a former farmworkers cottage. It has 2 fireplaces, into which I installed many years ago, a multifuel stove each. These are our primary heat source. We do have gas fired central heating, which is used rarely. Last Winter only twice. Neither of us like a warm bedroom. We are sandwiched between two other cottages and this adds an element of insulation to these single brick houses. As money has permitted down the years, we have added triple glazing and a double thickness of loft insulation. Add to that two good upvc doors, we are well sealed. As we only have a front and back wall essentially, I am looking at an external thermal insulation. The local authority housing has been retro-fitted with this(looks good too), and one or two folks we know say it has made a massive difference to their heating bills. Of course, being an older house,120 odd years, it is made up of smaller rooms, which are easy to keep warm individually. All the neighbours, except us and our previously mentioned elderly neighbour have turned their homes into more of an open plan style. Means all the heat goes straight up the stairs, meaning you have to keep churning the fuel to stay warm.
Anyhow, our simple, low-tech system has served us well and saved a packet of money. I hope that helps you envisage a 'traditional' British heating regime judicatr. I do have to say though that some of our friends do regard elements if our life to be a little Dickensian!

[Briggs 2.0]

At home we haven't bought heating oil, coal, molacite or gas for two years which I'm really pleased with. We use wood for central heating and hot water and here's a photo of our set up. I really can't put into words how pleased I am with this, the cost savings are great (over £2500) but heating our home with wood we've cut is probably the most rewarding thing we've done.

It's a panorama shot of our biomass system. We have oil and a coal/wood burner as backup but we've never used them. I love it.

It's hard work felling cutting and splitting. Me and Mrs B have prepared about two tons for the winter and it's fair to say Mrs B is in a near zombie state, stumbling about in need of a chocolate flavoured energy boost!

We were chatting about how much wood we use. Our rough estimate is about 6 tons per annum. According to the manufacturer's blurb our boiler is 90% efficient which I estimate is about right, we only have to clean out the ash once a month.