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Thread Number: 76902
/ Tag: Ranges, Stoves, Ovens
Coal For Cooking/Heating. Any Of You Lot Actually Experience? |
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Post# 1007746 9/18/2018 at 22:10 (2,046 days old) by Launderess  (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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All this noise about DT and "bringing back" coal had one thinking; it must have been a nightmare to cook on a coal range. That and or having to heat a home with the stuff.
All that soot, having to manage/regulate a fire, much less get one going sounds like one large pain. Then having to haul away ashes and finding a place for disposal. Even thought of using a gas fired AGA range puts one off, cannot imagine using one heated by coal. | ||
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Post# 1007754 , Reply# 1 9/18/2018 at 23:06 (2,046 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine) |
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I have a coal pot belly stove from a train caboose that was very easy to run. Start with regular charcoal, shovel some coal on it as it gets going good, fill it halfway, shut the damper back and 12 hours later, shake it down and put more coal in it. Once the temperature hit 40 outside, it went out when there was no draft left in the chimney. No worrys about a chimney fire as the flue pipe was cool to the touch as all the heat radiated off the bottom. Alot of work and I am too old to mess with it anymore. I'll keep my oil boiler and backup gas. You couldnt even melt butter on the top of this stove.
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Post# 1007769 , Reply# 3 9/19/2018 at 03:50 (2,045 days old) by askolover (South of Nash Vegas, TN) |
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 Daddy had a coal stove in his workshop when I was little. He would buy big rocks of coal from the local grain mill of all places. We would break them with a hammer to smaller pieces and stoke the stove. It was very warm in that old uninsulated shop. I wouldn't even know where to buy coal now. Vanderbilt just switched their powerplant's steam boiler to a new gas fired one a couple of years ago. They even demolished the smoke stack so there's no going back! They are one of the few places in Nashville that produces some of their own electricity. | ||
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Post# 1007804 , Reply# 6 9/19/2018 at 09:48 (2,045 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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My aunt and uncle have a wood-burning stove used to heat their house up in Maine--along with endless cords of wood.... And which to my knowledge, had never run out...
I'm suprised to see in one post "char", next to "coal", when bags of charcoal I see warn (w/ the word "Danger") that "burning charcoal indoors can kill you", and at least starting in the era where it was finally okay, to cite that a product misused "can cause death"... -- Dave | ||
| Post# 1007816 , Reply# 7 9/19/2018 at 12:38 (2,045 days old) by washman (o) | ||
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never used coal but I did find a lump in my stocking one Christmas. | ||
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Post# 1007850 , Reply# 11 9/19/2018 at 18:16 (2,045 days old) by turquoisedude (.) |
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 My grandmother in the UK still heated with coal until the late 1980s when my aunts ganged up on her and installed gas central heating in her house. From the first visits I can remember (going back to the late 60s), grandma Cann heated the house with coal fireplaces. The one in her living room had a water back of some kind for heating water, so if you wanted a hot bath or water for dishes, you had to light a fire. The slightest whiff of tar will send me back to her old house in the midlands. Here in the land of the maple leaf, we almost exclusively had oil heat, except for one rural home that had a wood-fired furnace. | ||
| Post# 1007853 , Reply# 12 9/19/2018 at 18:27 (2,045 days old) by Xraytech (Rural southwest Pennsylvania ) | ||
We never had coal heat, but everyone in the family had wood stoves used as supplemental heat.
I assume my home, built in 1946 had a coal furnace originally as there is a coal chute in the wall of the porch, I still use that chute, but my coal cellar is now filled with wood. Being in a rural area outdoor furnaces are fairly popular here, they are either wood or coal fired. I know some people with them who burn coal exclusively. | ||
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Post# 1007859 , Reply# 13 9/19/2018 at 19:07 (2,045 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine) |
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Post# 1007862 , Reply# 14 9/19/2018 at 19:43 (2,045 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Thanks guys!
Please keep all these great stories coming!
Have never used nor been near anything that burned coal (or wood for that matter). Outside of BBQs with charcoal briquettes know nothing about burning any such things for heat. Didn't know coal gave off a whiff when burning. Did know from my hobby interest in steam locomotives (that burned coal) that black smoke was a sign of waste. Well at least when it came to coal fired locomotives, but suppose that translates across the board, no? | ||
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Post# 1007865 , Reply# 15 9/19/2018 at 20:05 (2,045 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine) |
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Wood waste is now turned into pellets for both heating and BBQ grills. Coal is still stinky, dirty and wood will creosote a chimney and start a chimney fire in no time. I am going to stay in this century with just oil and gas, much safer. I used that pot belly stove with coal in the back chimney of my last house and it would heat just fine but used a 50 lb. bag of coal every other day. I had wood here for a while and after the ice storm of 1998, when we lost power nearly 2 weeks, I had a chimney fire, even though I had cleaned the chimney less than 2 months before. Not messing with either any more. Sold the woodstove, put a nice gas unit in that heats as good as that did and works with no power.
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Post# 1007894 , Reply# 16 9/19/2018 at 23:32 (2,045 days old) by petek (Ontari ari ari O ) |
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My nana's old house in Hamilton had a coal "octopus" furnace down in the cellar. I remember as a kid being scared to go down there. It was a gravity furnace with no blowers etc. I'd go if Lou, her husband went down to shovel coal but that was all. She had a new gas furnace installed probably when I was around 7 so about 1963 maybe before.
My great aunt in Manchester UK, also had like Paul described a coal fireplace, but in her kitchen with a water tank behind the wall for hot water,, There were fireplaces in every room but the rest had been converted to gas.. Not sure what the reason was the kitchen was left with a coal fire. She also had the coin operated electricity meter. I read somewhere those were for people who may not be able to pay (ie poor) but she wasn't "poor" and could certainly afford to pay a monthly bill. | ||
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Post# 1007903 , Reply# 19 9/20/2018 at 01:53 (2,045 days old) by SudsMaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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My boyhood home in Connecticut in the 50's had a big green "octopus" in the basement that burned oil. You could always tell when it first fired up in the winter from a whiff of that oil aroma. It was slightly scary, as was the huge (to a boy) black oil tank in the basement. The last winter we were there, money was very tight, and we ran out of heating oil. I remember having to huddle around a single old electric heater in the living room. In the spring we moved to California and all the heating there was natural gas fired, or electric powered heat exchanger.
Since then some of my homes have had fireplaces - the current one has two. But I don't heat with them much, even though both have inserts with fans to help distribute the heat. The closest I've gotten to coal for heat was some charcoal I bought in the late 90's. It was made in China and looked like it had been pressed into hollow little tubules. It had an oily aroma and I figured at least part of it was made from coal. It burned OK, though I may even still have some, since I moved to real charcoal and various woods like hickory for BBQing. I'm not surprised to read that coal fired heating appliances leave less ash and are less labor intensive than wood fired stuff, since coal is more dense and perhaps has residue that won't burn. | ||
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Post# 1007908 , Reply# 20 9/20/2018 at 02:07 (2,044 days old) by askolover (South of Nash Vegas, TN) |
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During the energy crunch of the '70s Daddy built a chimney onto the house and bought a big wood stove. It was such a thrill every fall to put the stove up and get ready for winter. It was so warm. We'd take it down in the spring. Then in the late 80's we got a cast iron Consolidated Dutchwest stove that could burn wood or coal and had a catalytic converter in it if used for wood. We'd buy a premade log called "the all nighter" that had coal in it and it would keep the fire going overnight and then put wood in in the morning. That stove was so heavy we just left it in place year around, plus it was pretty and went well with the decor of their house. It was a lifesaver during the ice storm of '94 when the power went out. We had a gas range and water heater so we could cook and take showers. After that we installed an unvented gas heater in the hall by the bedrooms should the need ever arise again. They still have that stove but it now resides in his new shop to keep the cats warm. They just use the gas central all the time now.
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| Post# 1007909 , Reply# 21 9/20/2018 at 02:14 (2,044 days old) by LordKenmore (The Laundry Room) | ||
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| Post# 1007911 , Reply# 22 9/20/2018 at 02:28 (2,044 days old) by LordKenmore (The Laundry Room) | ||
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More seriously... I've never come near coal as a heat or cooking fuel. I'm pretty sure, though, that one set of grandparents still used coal (at least part of the time) when my mother was growing up in the 50s.
Part of me has (not terribly seriously) thought it would be interesting to experience a coal furnace. It would be a good match for the part of me that wishes it was some distant past decade! I've heard it said coal is cheap for heating, which appeals to my Inner Cheapskate. But I don't think I'd like the work involved, and I'm appalled by the environmental impact.
Since wood came up... I lived a few months with a place that had a wood stove, and I liked using it. It didn't, sadly, have a glass door so I could watch the pretty flames. (Yes, I'm easily entertained.) But it was comforting having it in case of power failure (which can happen in winter here--and a power failure can last and last and last). It was also nice during a really cold snap, during which the heat pump struggled to keep up.
I sometimes have thought I wouldn't mind heating at least part of the time with wood (and I certainly would like the option as a backup for power failures). But I can't see myself out in the woods, swinging an ax... Although I have also thought that one can buy wood, and the money would stay local, not head to the pocket of a big energy CEO lounging on a beach.
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| Post# 1007937 , Reply# 23 9/20/2018 at 08:26 (2,044 days old) by runematic (southcentral pa) | ||
 Growing up, we heated/experimented with almost every form of product. We had a wood stove. It's a lot of work to cut down trees or cut up fallen timber. Stoking the fire was also a PITA. We switched to coal. Coal is dirty but heats well. Again though, keeping the coal fire burning and cleaning out the furnace was a pain. The house had electric baseboard, but that got expensive. When money was tight, we had a few Kerosun heaters set about. Again, keeping those things in kerosene was a pain. We got a deal on a pellet stove and that wasn't bad. It was undersized for what we were trying to do with it. We now heat with LP & I love it. Call the propane company, get the tank filled, and that's it! Oh, my brother & I still live in the house we grew up in. We own it now.
In our pole barn, we have an early potbelly stove that came out of an old one room school house in the area. When we stoke that baby up, we can put in over 100lbs at one time if we wanted to.
Here in PA, we have awesome hard anthracite coal. It's readily available a lot of places. There are quite a few companies that will deliver it by the ton. We usually just buy a couple of 50lb bags at the local hardware store. You can buy it in may sizes: Pea, rice, nut, and stove. There a a few coal shakers left where you can drive right up and they'll dump it out of the shaker and onto your truck.
I like the smell of coal burning. It's slightly sulfury. We have a local pretzel bakery that uses coal to cook the pretzels. That gives the pretzels a unique taste. | ||
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Post# 1007956 , Reply# 27 9/20/2018 at 13:03 (2,044 days old) by petek (Ontari ari ari O ) |
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When we moved back here 12 years ago and I was scouting for houses (hubby was away at the time) I looked at one very nice two story colonial which was built probably around the early mid 60's. As soon as we walked in the front door there was a "hint" of oil smell. I was really surprised to find out that it had an oil furnace in this day and age and wonder why actually since gas is available city wide, perhaps not in that location at the time but certainly since the 70's
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| Post# 1007982 , Reply# 28 9/20/2018 at 17:59 (2,044 days old) by Xraytech (Rural southwest Pennsylvania ) | ||
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Upon thinking I recall our high school and elementary school were both heated with coal.
The high school opened for the 1963/64 school year, and the elementary school opened in the mid 1980s. In the mid 1990s when asbestos was removed from the high school the heat was switched to natural gas, but at least up until I graduated in 2004 the elementary school was still heated with coal. My aunt owned a flower shop and her neighbor was a barber shop, that was not much larger than a 1 car garage, a little cinder block building painted butter yellow with a red brick facade. The owner of that barber shop heated solely by coal heat until her retired and closed up shop in the late 2000s, he was an elderly man(still wore double knit polyester plaid pants) I always enjoyed that slight sulfur smell of coal burning. I have considered getting a ton of coal to mix in with wood in my wood /coal stove | ||
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Post# 1008054 , Reply# 30 9/21/2018 at 03:55 (2,043 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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Now my grandparents’ house had a coal chute, but it was sealed-up before I came... Just a panel next to a basement window that had my grandpa’s workshop right under it, whereas the furnace was right in the middle of the basement, replaced by an oil-burning furnace, at least according to my mom...
I only remember the Lux-Aire gas furnace, she and grandpa opened when it was running & see those flames in there... And the off-season just had very low, mostly-blue embers, that was the standing pilot light—decades later my own furnace, here, had... As for the oil furnace, there, I think the tank for supplying the oil, would have gone against another adjacent wall distantly next to it, with some sealed piping, I remember seeing over-head, that the active gas piping right from the meter for it, and the water heater replaced, or became just in use... Next to the meter outside, was a short pipe, capped off, that the oil was delivered through... I remember a furnace shown in my family’s old encyclopedia brittanicas which showed a screw-drive system delivering the coal into a furnace, 8n one of 5he pictures, most-likely in the Coal chapter... I don’t know how my family got that coal into their furnace, the trough it would have been delivered in, was a distance away, in a little corner, unless the furnace for it was right next to it along that wall, there, predating my granddad’s workshop, though his tools, (lathe, drill-press grinder, with a couple single-tube fluorescent lights over them) are very much from that era... Hard to believe they could overcome the coal gas fumes, the rigors of stoking that furnace & the not-so-clean, burning, hauling and storage, which with given the cold winters we have (& had very much, back then) were a very drop-everything necessity to heat your home... — Dave | ||
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Post# 1008059 , Reply# 31 9/21/2018 at 06:35 (2,043 days old) by kimball455 (Cape May, NJ) |
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During my childhood and early grade school the house was heated with an ornate coal base burner, a coal cook stove, and a kerosene stove. Later, the coal base burner and the coal cook stove were replaced by kerosene stoves. When natural gas became abundant these were replaced with gas console stoves. Cape May moved from coal to oil to natural gas. When I went out on a cold winter day during the coal era you could smell the coal fires. That gradually change to the smell of the oil burners. Now, with natural gas there is nothing but the smell of the ocean when you go outside in the winter.
Harry | ||
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Post# 1008063 , Reply# 32 9/21/2018 at 07:26 (2,043 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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"screw-drive system delivering the coal into a furnace&#
That would be a stoker.
Long used in industrial/commercial equipment(steam ships, locomotives, etc...) to feed boilers by the 1950's or so they began to make an appearance in domestic settings. For railroads and steam ships the theory was simple; mechanically delivering coal to boiler(s) reduced the need for manpower (firemen for locomotives, and stoker for steamships and elsewhere). Also as boilers/engines grew more powerful a man or men just couldn't shovel coal fast enough to meet peak demand. This is how you manual stoke a steam locomotive: And here is how it's done with a stoker: As you can see a stoker is nothing more than a worm/screw that both crushes large lumps of coal as it moves the stuff towards boiler or furnace. Eventually some bright blubs got the idea to introduce automatic stokers for domestic and other applications. Iron Fireman was one: archive.org/details/Sweets1938Se... Automatic stoking helped deal with several issues related to using coal. One, they dealt with the often unpleasant and labor intensive task of shoveling coal into boilers/furnaces. Two when part of an overall system automatic feeding of coal could produce heating automatic as anything from oil or gas. That is you could regulate temperature via thermostats leaving a complicated network of chains, dampers, and other devices to control the fire. Instead of having to go down to cellars and "bank" a fire for the night, you just turned down the heat regulator. Beauty of this also was that one could also wake up to a warm home as some systems even had timers. They were rudimentary (often worked by wind up clocks) compared to today's but never the less. | ||
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Post# 1008064 , Reply# 33 9/21/2018 at 07:43 (2,043 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Keep The Home Fires Burning
Is not just a war time ditty offering advice to the women back home; but was a large part of their lives at that time.
Be it coal, wood, peat or whatever until replaced by gas, oil, or electricity a home would have one, two, or more fires that had to be kept up. Kitchen range/stove and steam boiler/furnace in cellar were just two. Depending upon the home and household financial circumstances there could be various fireplaces as well; all this right up through WWII and after. Since men folk were away at their office or whatever occupation it usually fell to women/housewives to keep those fires going. That is unless the family was wealthy enough to afford servants or maybe lived in an apartment building where at least the hot water/heat was tended to by someone else. Some coal heating systems advertised all a man needed to do was tend to the fire once in the morning, set things, then it should be left alone until returned after work. Rubbish. Depending upon weather and other circumstances the boiler/furnace often did need attending during the day, and since Her Indoors was home...... The various automatic devices (stokers, magazine feed) all advertised and promoted "Don't Let Your Wife Shovel Coal". Going on about how the automatic feeding and regulation of fire saved the Little Woman from toil, heavy lifting and in general messing about with what should be man's work. From what one understands a coal fire going out be it in a locomotive, ship, home boiler/furnace or stove was a huge deal and royal pain. If the thing couldn't be started up again the whole "fire" would have to be dumped and a new one started. Wood obviously is an easy fire to start; OTOH coal, especially the hard stuff can be difficult to get a good fire going. Hence "keep the home fires burning"..... | ||
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Post# 1008072 , Reply# 35 9/21/2018 at 11:57 (2,043 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.) |
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“There was always a film on walls and shelves that had to be scrubbed off by some good ole elbow grease! “
I’ve never used coal for heat,but the little three room school house built in 1887 that I went to for the 8th grade had oil heaters, and they stunk and were filthy. I think that anything that burns with a flame to heat causes a film to develop on the walls and every other surface of a home, be it coal, wood, oil, propane or natural gas. Our last home had a gas stove and gas forced air heat. The kitchen counters were white formica and I had to scrub them down at least every two weeks because of the dirty film the gas stove left on everything. We have a pellet insert that we used every fall and winter to heat with from 1997 until last fall. I decided that since the cost of the pellets had gone up so much we might as well try using the electric hydronic baseboard heaters and see how the cost compared. Well, it only cost slightly more, maybe an additional $40.00 per month during the coldest months than using the pellets. The house was MUCH cleaner, way more convenient and comfortable than the pellet stove heat. So, we’re done with burning anything for heat from now on. Plus, with the Bay Area Air Quality Control Board, there are now so many “No Burn Days” anyway , due to air pollution, that burning pellets or wood for heat is impractical. Fortunately, the power seldom goes out here, so relying on electric heat isn’t problem. Eddie | ||
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Post# 1008078 , Reply# 36 9/21/2018 at 16:09 (2,043 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Oil for heating/cooking
Comes in various grades; the lowest (bunker fuel No.6) is quite dirty and really nasty stuff. Then mayor Bloomberg as part of his nanny state NYC government and newly created environmental plan for NYC forced all buildings to convert from No. 6 fuel oil to lighter and cleaner grades.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_oil... How nasty is bunker fuel? Well it basically is the residue what is left after more desirable grades of petroleum have been burned off. It would have been waste until some bright bulbs found that the cheap and plentiful stuff could be used in boilers, furnaces, etc.... However No.6 and other low grades of bunker fuel are basically sludge. They must be warmed in order to flow from storage tank to heating device and are nasty to burn. In addition to particulate matter the stuff leaves heavy residue that can clog up boilers and generally make a mess. Before our building switched over to (ok forced) to higher quality fuel oil one could smell each time the boilers came on. Railroads, ships, buildings, etc.. all welcomed switching out of coal for "cheap" bunker fuel oil. In NYC alone there are scores of buildings that went up early in last century still with their original coal boilers. The things were merely switched over to burn fuel oil. | ||
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Post# 1008081 , Reply# 38 9/21/2018 at 16:33 (2,043 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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There have been debates going back ages to when natural gas first was being piped to residential areas about safety.
Many then and still today believe natural gas will "blow up" your house/property. Thus stuck with coal and or moved onto heating oil, but wouldn't have gas for heating or cooking, period. If you live in an area which does not already have natural gas, getting it may not be easy either. Know here in NY area the various utilities won't run a main to a block or whatever unless nearly all or a good majority of homes agree to have the stuff. People used to go around and talk to their neighbors asking if they would sign up for natural gas. Now if you live out in the boonies, forget it; no one is going to run a natural gas line just for you; well maybe they might if you paid what likely is going to be very dear costs. In an effort to get large buildings off heating oil, ConEdison (pushed by NYC and NYS) has been upgrading gas mains on blocks all over Manhattan and other parts of city. Idea is that with increased supply running down the block building owners would only need to pay for having a larger main run to their buildings. This may be necessary since many buildings only supply gas for cooking which does not require large mains. Heating was coal and now oil. Some more modern buildings use duel fuel boilers (gas and oil). | ||
| Post# 1008085 , Reply# 39 9/21/2018 at 17:30 (2,043 days old) by Xraytech (Rural southwest Pennsylvania ) | ||
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Actually, in the early 1970s there was an explosion in my home due to natural gas.
The neighbor across the street had a natural gas leak coming from their supply line, the gas built up in the well for my home, and when the pump for the well kicked on it caused an explosion. It damaged all the corners of my foundation, some brick damage to outside, blew out the cellar windows and sent the cellar door flying back part my garage. | ||
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Post# 1008087 , Reply# 40 9/21/2018 at 17:48 (2,043 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Am not saying there aren't natural gas explosions; just no where near the level many old timers would have one believe to justify sticking with fuel oil.
Boston, MA for instance just had a major natural gas explosion: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachuse... www.chicagotribune.com/news/natio... | ||
| Post# 1008121 , Reply# 41 9/21/2018 at 21:50 (2,043 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c ) | ||
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our house we just moved from has oil heat, I used to service oil and gas furnaces so I haven't ever had problems, if you smell oil or have a film on your walls, then you have a problem, properly installed and serviced oil furnaces are as clean as any other heat. | ||
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Post# 1008190 , Reply# 43 9/22/2018 at 14:58 (2,042 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA) |
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Growing up we had oil hot air heat. Don't remember any problems with dirty walls etc. and Mom was a fanatic about clean. I do remember having the Bard serviced and cleaned every year and the same with the Bard A/C. | ||
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Post# 1008198 , Reply# 44 9/22/2018 at 16:43 (2,042 days old) by JustJunque (Western MA) |
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Another "octopus"
The house that I grew up in had the huge octopus furnace in the basement, which had a dirt floor.
I was told that it had been a coal furnace originally, but that was before my time. At some point, it was converted to natural gas. Then, probably in the 1980s, they had the huge octopus removed and replaced with a much smaller natural gas unit, with baseboard hot water. At some point, they also had a concrete floor poured in the basement. Barry | ||
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Post# 1008307 , Reply# 46 9/23/2018 at 16:27 (2,041 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine) |
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Those Water Backs in a fireplace. If you wanted a bath or washed dishes, could you just use a small wood fire in the warm weather? My coal stove would go out when the outside temperature was about 40 as it stopped any draft from the chimney, so coal would only work during cold weather. My mother had a hissie fit when our old coal converted furnace got a cracked heat exchanger and sent soot and stink thru the vents. We promptly got a new Homart oil forced air furnace, hooked up properly.
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Post# 1008326 , Reply# 47 9/23/2018 at 18:24 (2,041 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Probably one of the more famous and recent
Doings with back boilers and coal ranges was in the series 1900 house.
Heating contractor tried to do his best, and cover for mistakes but clearly both himself and the family were out of their depths. Lacking any sort of safety release valves and or other similar devices commonly found on boilers, these back boilers could (and often did) explode. Since really only way (then) to control things was to manually adjust dampers/fire. If you got busy or whatever and let that tank continue to "boil" for long periods..... Modern heating contractor hired for the 1900 House project nobbled the range's hot water producing capability by moving firebox too far from heat exchanger/back boiler. Result was nil to no hot water. The man was finally called back and to undo what he had done and admit the mistake. Mind you he meant well using modern day thinking/experience, but when applied to living in early 20th century it just didn't work. Recall reading comments at time series was running from those who lived with or through using coal ranges/back boilers. They were common enough well into 1940's and 1950's. They still are and many people love their back boilers. When you think about it a back boiler increases the efficiency of a coal or whatever range. That is you're taking heat that otherwise would go to waste and or is being generated anyway to make hot water. Sort of like running a coil off a steam/hot water heating system to make hot water. Problem for both systems is just that; one must have the range/boiler going year round in order to get hot water www.1900s.org.uk/1940s50s... | ||
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Post# 1008367 , Reply# 48 9/23/2018 at 23:18 (2,041 days old) by SudsMaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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Fascinating videos on steam locomotive coal firing management. The automatic stoker certainly seems an improvement over the "little, often" drudgery. I suspect even with the auto stoker, however, coal fired steam engines are still labor and maintenance intensive, and diesel-electric vastly more economical.
I was surprised at how the fireman in the older locomotives had to break up the big blocks of coal. I always assumed (perhaps from the looks of the fake coal in the model train tenders) that the coal was already broken up. I guess the reasoning was that it gave the fireman something to do since he was there full time anyway. I was also surprised by the water troughs between the rails for the passing locomotives to scoop up. I think later designs had condensers that captured a lot of the water out of the exhausted steam. At least more advanced steam cars of the 20's and 30's had that (Doble was one brand). Once I remember seeing my Dad having to clean out the oil furnace burner. So it did require some maintenance. I never knew what grade heating oil they used, but there was usually a whiff when the system started up first in the winter. It was a gravity flow sysem, not forced air. So I guess it would have worked in a power outage as well. The forced air gas system in this house is about 40 years old now. It seems to run quite well. I did some upgrades on the intake/filtration side of it after I bought the home. It used to tin can a long flat galvanized intake run under the floor when it started up and stopped blowing. I upgraded the air return filters and also wrapped the intake run with fiberglass insulation. This helped quiet things down and probably made it more efficient as well. The home had been vacant for almost a year, and the first time the furnace came on that first winter, there was a definite mouse aroma. Small wonder my cat was so interested in it, LOL. That aroma gradually went away and I never asked the cat why. | ||
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Post# 1008368 , Reply# 49 9/23/2018 at 23:25 (2,041 days old) by SudsMaster (SF Bay Area, California) |
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Post# 1008381 , Reply# 50 9/24/2018 at 06:21 (2,040 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Stoker: www.steamlocomotive.com/appliance...
Condensers on steam locomotives caused more trouble than they were worth, and thus it never took off. Water pans were used by the New York Central: railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php... cs.trains.com/ctr/f/3/t/204315.as... In general using coal for fueling any sort of furnace or boiler was nasty work. Steam locomotives and ships in general were labor intensive to run and maintain. Switching over to oil solved some issues, but soon even that went as diesel displaced steam engines. | ||
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Post# 1010181 , Reply# 51 10/9/2018 at 04:30 (2,025 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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H.E. Shacklock Cooker | ||
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Post# 1010185 , Reply# 53 10/9/2018 at 05:47 (2,025 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Post# 1010246 , Reply# 54 10/9/2018 at 21:53 (2,025 days old) by abcomatic (Bradford, Illinois) |
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"Ruby, you wretched girl!" | ||
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Post# 1010250 , Reply# 55 10/9/2018 at 22:18 (2,025 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Sadly despite the success of his range business things did not end well for H.E. Shacklock. Unable to shake his inner demons the man committed suicide.
paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspa... His company would eventually be acquired by Fisher & Paykel, who own it still, though they have long since ceased using the Shacklock name. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ely_... | ||
| Post# 1011770 , Reply# 56 10/22/2018 at 06:57 (2,012 days old) by hotpoint95622 (Powys) | ||
Goal
until recently we used coal and wood to heat our home, fuelling our Rayburn range cooker which heated the central heating radiators, domestic hot water and cooking all in one......
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| Post# 1011774 , Reply# 57 10/22/2018 at 07:08 (2,012 days old) by hotpoint95622 (Powys) | ||
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coal
Rayburn, still in production though bought out by AGA and made not far from where I live in Shropshire...
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