Wood / coal furnace

Casters were needed because I have to roll the bin back to the stove around a bunch of wood working machinery, or carry the wood from as far in as I can drive the tractor (not happening).

My bulk storage is one of the four "4 cord" sheds, which dry a minimum of a year or more...so the the is dry before it comes in to be burned, along with kiln dried cut offs from wood working. I actually built two of these baskets which are 48" wide x 32" deep x 48" high (not quite a 1/3 cord). One I put casters on for rolling in the shop, the other metal 'skid' legs because it gets set in the doorway of the hoop house.

 

With normal 15% to 25% humidity here the wood is almost kiln dried by the time I burn it.

 

Now that you've got a Furnas you can do some black smithing.

 

That hot blast furnace would make a pretty inefficient very large forge.
Inefficient only as long as all the heat wasn't needed.

 

I think my next mod will be add a magic heat.

 

See if there are any coal fired power plants around... and buy a beer or two and you might find some coal....

just saying....

 

The nearest coal power plant is about 40 to 50 miles away and burns powder valley basen coal from MT.
It's higher quality coal but not the near graphite like quality of what I have now where its so high density it tries to put out the fire and doesn't flake.
Coal that doesn't flake doesn't burn very fast.

 

I restored an old Sears pot belly-ish coal stove in the 80's and used it for a few years. Built a one ton coal box just outside the door and the coal delivery truck would back up and chute it full.
Likes: GREAT, steady, uniform, long lasting, strong heat and more convenient than wood.
Dislikes: Dangerous if you open the loading/cleaning door too early and an inrush of fresh air ignites the coal gasses that accumulate briefly after a fresh charge of coal. Big boom. Also, dusty as a mofo.

 

Once upon a time I built a wooden box beside the door that held a ton of coal and the truck would load it with a chute. No more coal delivery around here anymore either.

 

I got 40 bags of coal and a magic heat.
Might be cold this winter.

 

I installed a magic heat with a bypass.
Also used the coal furnace as a forge, it works pretty good.

 

My son was given an old Reliant Airtight from the 80's it was in pretty bad shape rust and the doors would not open. Spent a couple of days getting it back in shape and a few new parts my son will be putting it in the house he is building. Stove can burn wood or coal,

 

Coal is nice because it will burn for 10 to 12 hours with out touching it at all.
It will burn longer than that but you would need to restore the fire and get the coal hot enough to burn.

 

The anthracite coal likes to be burned with some wood and stirred around 2 or 3 times a day. It does burn for a very long time.

 

I started doing clinker recovery. I set up a aifter made out of stucco mesh by the ash pile to soft out thr let over coal, charcoal and nails.
Nails get magneted out.
I burned 4 bags of coal over this cold shock and recovered about 1/3 of a bag.

 

F yeah it was cold.

 

Two of the best prepper heating fuels are propane and coal. Buy them and forget them until needed! I would like to get a pallet of coal (about a ton) just to have some on hand. Coal could be used in a forge too.

 

Looks like it will be another 50% to 100% return on investment year for the coal furnace.

In 2019 I got about 54 bags of coal, burned maybe 6 bags, mostly just learning how to burn it.
2020 I got 35 or 40 bags, burned 3 or 4 bags.
2021, I got 50 bags, so far 0 burned.
How many bags do I have? a shit load.
I guess I'm investing in coal.
I have more coal, more wood and more wood chips than I have ever had.
I might even sell some, but I'll wait till people are on the verge of freezing to death before I do.
Can't really sell wood chips as I don't know anyone who burns them.