Coal Stoves

Coal Stoves were getting out of fashion for a while, but with the prices for other fuel types steadily growing, more and more people are considering using coal stoves as their main source of heating for their houses again. Coal stoves mainly use coal as fuel for burning; many earlier stoves were designed to burn either wood or coal, but since wood and coal have different burning properties, most of the recent models were specifically designed only for one type of fuel as per EPA requirements and standards. The coal itself can come in different grades and the best grade for heating homes is Anthracite, or "hard coal", and the best Anthracite in the US is mined in Easter Pennsylvania coal mines.

Coal stoves can come in several types, including free standing unites and built-in fireplaces appropriate for residential use and bigger furnaces capable of heating larger spaces, like workshops and such. Coal stoves are quite similar to wood burning stoves in their principle of work. Simpler models would use a natural draft and more expensive ones would have air fans and blowers to assist for combustion. Coal stoves usually produce much more ash than wood burning ones (about 10 times more), so a large ash-pan is a welcomed feature. All coal stoves would have grates and for coal to burn properly, the air coming in for combustion should enter below the grate and come up through the coal bed. Automated coal stoves usually use smaller size of coal where most natural draft units would use a medium to large size coal.

One of the currently popular types of coal stoves is stroker-feed coal stoves. These are more sophisticated units with automatic coal feeding and ash removal. They also often equipped with thermostats for controlling the coal fire, which makes them pretty fully automated. Storker-feed coal stoves use smaller size coal.

There're a few concerns when using coal stoves. One of them, which is often overlooked, is possible damage to a chimney. Coal contains sulphur and some other active compounds and elements that can make some damage to stainless steel chimneys when the coal is burning. So, it's quite essential to clean the chimney every spring before beginning of the humid summer months when corrosion is most active. Another concern is starting coal fire. It can be tricky and even frustrating at the beginning and if you have no previous experience of doing it, you can probably benefit from looking at this article explaining how to do it easier. As coal stoves are not simple to start, they are usually kept running for a whole day, and hence more suitable for continuous burning.

There're several benefits of using coal stoves as well. The first one is of course cost-efficiency. Coal stoves are cheaper to burn than almost any other fuel type stove, except probably for corn stoves, which can be quite cheap burners as well. Storing of coal is much easier than wood for example. It's waterproof and completely inert to attacks of insect. Coal can be store outdoor or indoor and quite often is stored in the basements. Hard coal (or Anthracite) is clean burning and producing no visible smoke, emitting much less carbon dioxide than other grades of coal. Not automated coal stoves are pretty much independent units and will provide heat for your house even if you have a power outage.

If you're looking for cost-effective and reliable source of heating for your house and coal is available and affordable in the area you live, then coal stoves can definitely be a prime choice as a source of heating for your house or whatever you need to heat.

You can see current listings for Coal Stoves here: