Space for wood heat in Tiny House?

[glenn-k]

Coal is kind of nasty stuff.  Lots of black dust along with the bigger lumps.  I used to get it in 50 to 100 lb gunny sacks -I'm not sure on the size.  I got small coal for my forge.  We had a feed store here that carried it.  I think it is mentioned above that the coal requires a grate in the stove.  

The Round Oak stove I have came in a coal burning model with a grate or a wood burning model without it.

[John_C]

Coal has fallen out of favor as a residential heating fuel, replaced to some extent by wood pellets, an engineered (expensive)  fuel.  You would have to check around for a source.

They will want to deliver it by the ton.  My grandparents had a ~12x12 section of their basement walled off as a coal bin.  The truck backed up close to the house and extended a chute much like a concrete truck. They slid the coal down the chute and through a small trap door above grade into the coal bin.   The several ton pile of coal lived next to the furnace-boiler that sent steam to the radiators throughout the 2 story house.  Once in the coal bin it was basically ignored until needed. I don't remember ever being there when the coal was delivered, but I presume there was some coal dust stirred up then.  Otherwise my grandfather had a small shop and work bench area that he often used and the rest of the basement was used for storage, drying laundry (before elec. clothes dryers) etc.  So other than the roughly once a year coal delivery it wasn't an unpleasant place.

Hope it helps.   BTW I think what you would want is low sulfur hard anthracite coal.

[Freeholdfarm]

Yes, the anthracite should be less dusty than what Glenn was buying.  But it isn't readily available everyplace.

As far as I know, it's coal that burns hotter than wood.  A stove can be safe for wood, but need adapting to burn coal.  At least that's what I've been told by several sources.

Unless you live in a really cold climate, if your house is well insulated (or underground), it ought to hold heat well enough to get you through the night even with a small stove that will only hold a fire for part of the night.  The house we are living in (a three year old manufactured home) will hold temperature for several hours at outside temps in the teens and twenties (farenheit).  Of course, we don't like the house to be warm at night -- we turn the thermostat down to 55 F.  But even so it's seldom colder than about 62 F in the morning.  

Kathleen

[MountainDon]

Coal v. Wood. ? There's so little coal readily available to the average residential user it seems. And there's little info around too it seems. It's a little confusing.

One thing I know for certain is that wood doesn't care much where it's air supply is coming from; top, bottom, side, whatever. Butcoal will not burn unless the air enters from underneath. That's one purpose of the grate the coal rests on. The other purpose of the grate is to let the ash fall through. A shaker grate is best to aid the process.
A coal fire is harder to get going than a wood fire, so coal would be better suited to a situation where the fire is going on acontinuous basis.

Back home when I was a kid I think Dad basically started the furnace in the fall and unless the weather was weird, got real warm again, the fire burned till spring. (He had a worm drive auto feed furnace with the coal coming directly from the "coal-bin" like the above mentioned 12 ft x 12 ft room.    We handed the steel pails of ash out the basement window and hauled them to the ash dump (metal lined container in the trashcan area.)  

Dad's coal was delivered in burlap sacks as a truck couldn't back in to be able to chute dump. That was a dirty job.  

Yes, coal burns hotter than wood but there must be something else to worry about as well. For example, Godin recommends the use of only low-volatile soft coal otherwise overheating may occur. (soft; I believe that  is bituminous? That's not really great coal; burns dirty and handles even dirtier.) To me wood is more volatile than coal, so maybe there's some possible problem there similar to low vs. high volatile soft coal... burns gases overheating the upper portions of the stove?? I'm just reaching for answers here....

Here's where I get more confused over whether or not it's ok to burn wood in a coal stove.  Vermont Casting makes a great coal burner   http://www.vermontcastings.com/content/products/productdetails.cfm?id=238   and they state emphatically that no other solid fuel be used except to start the coal fire.   :-/  

Here's something I copied from the VC coal stove owners manual.... "Do not burn bituminous coal in a stove which has been
modified to burn anthracite. Burning bituminous coal in a stove which has been modified to burn anthracite could cause very high temperatures and create a hazardous condition."

They used to make this stove in a wood model but don't anymore.     The coal one will burn 18 hours on a single load of anthracite (hard coal).

Maybe one shouldn't play with fire when it comes to second guessing the stove manufacturer. At least you'd be safe(r).  

I think I'll stick to wood; I've got trees to burn but no coal mine.  

[Amanda_931]

We had a coal grate in a not-much-improved 1850's row house I lived in--very briefly--in Nashville.  I think it was supposed to be our only heat, although we had a gas space heater taken from a house that was being torn down, but it was upstairs in the kitchen.  At the time there were a fair number of houses that had once--and still could--burn coal, so it was pretty easy to get.  Don't know about now.