Well I'm pretty serious about a house; I've got an accepted purchase agreement and there are just a few more details to be worked out.
Currently, it has a 100,000 BTU Trane propane forced air furnace. It was installed in 1985 and the heat exchanger is pretty badly rusted. I feel I need to do something so I started looking at options. I'm already investing quite a bit of capital into remodeling the bathroom - not for aesthetics, mind. The tub enamel has chipped and is begining to rust around the drain. Only a matter of time before it starts leaking and damaging the subfloor. Similarly, the kitched counter tops are cracked and chipped (everything is original ... built in 1960).
My point is this: I'm running out of cash! Naturally, I've been looking at the most cost effective way I can heat my house with the smallest initial investment. I read a couple of studies about heating fuels and found that coal is still an extremely cheap and efficient way to heat a house. Of course, the risk is higher with solid fuel furnaces and coal requires more homeowner involvement than a typical gas furnace.
I kind of like the idea of using coal, though. It's old-fashioned, cheap and effective. I'm young and in good shape to shovel coal. By the time I move into another house, I'll probably be old enough to not want to mess with it anymore...
Right now, there is a limestone fireplace in the basement (where the shop will go - it has a garage built into the other half of the basement). The flue tiles are cracked so the chimney would need $$ to be used for solid fuels again. There is no fireplace upstairs, but there is a really spacious living area and the chimney is accessible from there. The only reason I can think of for not having a fireplace upstairs is that the chimney wouldn't be tall enough to pull well. Anyway, if the chimney is tall enough and I can get it fixed with a liner, I was considering buying a coal stove from Harman. I think it would be neat to have a stove upstairs in the living area, but not sure how practical it is without it being tied into the ductwork to get hot air everywhere in the house. It is just a 1 story ranch, about 1600 sqft with 3 bedrooms.
I was looking at something like this:
Much fancier and it quickly becomes cheaper to buy a new propane furnace. What are your thoughts? I could put it downstairs and figure out a way to tie into the blower and duct work, but if I do that, maybe I should just make my own stove/furnace. These are stylish enough that they would look good in a living area. Also, there is an optional water coil to heat water... if it was in the basement, I could use that and the water would circulate via thermosiphon. If I wanted to put it upstairs and heat hot water, I'd have to get a small circ. pump.
Regarding coal storage, the house has two very large, underground, unused cisterns (it's on county water now). I was thinking about coming up with a way of using them to store a couple of tons of coal. I figured they'd be waterproof and out of sight.
I don't know ... I'm just tickled by the idea of actually using coal to heat my house. When I was little, I used to say I was going to do that because I was enchanted by the idea, but I never realized it might actually be a possibility. I'm still not convinced it's the most practical thing to do, though...
[This is semi-OT since I know a lot of guys here have experience with using solid fuels to heat their shops ]
Currently, it has a 100,000 BTU Trane propane forced air furnace. It was installed in 1985 and the heat exchanger is pretty badly rusted. I feel I need to do something so I started looking at options. I'm already investing quite a bit of capital into remodeling the bathroom - not for aesthetics, mind. The tub enamel has chipped and is begining to rust around the drain. Only a matter of time before it starts leaking and damaging the subfloor. Similarly, the kitched counter tops are cracked and chipped (everything is original ... built in 1960).
My point is this: I'm running out of cash! Naturally, I've been looking at the most cost effective way I can heat my house with the smallest initial investment. I read a couple of studies about heating fuels and found that coal is still an extremely cheap and efficient way to heat a house. Of course, the risk is higher with solid fuel furnaces and coal requires more homeowner involvement than a typical gas furnace.
I kind of like the idea of using coal, though. It's old-fashioned, cheap and effective. I'm young and in good shape to shovel coal. By the time I move into another house, I'll probably be old enough to not want to mess with it anymore...
Right now, there is a limestone fireplace in the basement (where the shop will go - it has a garage built into the other half of the basement). The flue tiles are cracked so the chimney would need $$ to be used for solid fuels again. There is no fireplace upstairs, but there is a really spacious living area and the chimney is accessible from there. The only reason I can think of for not having a fireplace upstairs is that the chimney wouldn't be tall enough to pull well. Anyway, if the chimney is tall enough and I can get it fixed with a liner, I was considering buying a coal stove from Harman. I think it would be neat to have a stove upstairs in the living area, but not sure how practical it is without it being tied into the ductwork to get hot air everywhere in the house. It is just a 1 story ranch, about 1600 sqft with 3 bedrooms.
I was looking at something like this:
Much fancier and it quickly becomes cheaper to buy a new propane furnace. What are your thoughts? I could put it downstairs and figure out a way to tie into the blower and duct work, but if I do that, maybe I should just make my own stove/furnace. These are stylish enough that they would look good in a living area. Also, there is an optional water coil to heat water... if it was in the basement, I could use that and the water would circulate via thermosiphon. If I wanted to put it upstairs and heat hot water, I'd have to get a small circ. pump.
Regarding coal storage, the house has two very large, underground, unused cisterns (it's on county water now). I was thinking about coming up with a way of using them to store a couple of tons of coal. I figured they'd be waterproof and out of sight.
I don't know ... I'm just tickled by the idea of actually using coal to heat my house. When I was little, I used to say I was going to do that because I was enchanted by the idea, but I never realized it might actually be a possibility. I'm still not convinced it's the most practical thing to do, though...
[This is semi-OT since I know a lot of guys here have experience with using solid fuels to heat their shops ]
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