I Wonder if people still heat their home with coal.

[Lef T]

Having a breakfast conversation this morning.
I told my girlfriend that my grandfather used to heat his home with coal.
He had a coal chute where the truck would dump coal into a pen in his basement.
He had a coal furnace.
That must have been a pain to have to keep tending it.
My girlfriend told me as a kid,her apartment was heated with a coal heater.
I wonder if this is still a thing.
Maybe in Europe?

 

[mfguitar]

There are a few around here but more modern coal heaters that use bagged coal that is more refined than your grandads' coal.

 

[teletimetx]

There’s something like 220-230 coal burning power stations currently in the US and more than 8,000 worldwide, so for homes that use electricity (from those plants) for heat, I would say there are many homes heated by burning coal - just not at the house.

My kids were born in a house that once had a coal furnace that had been converted to natural gas in the 50’s.

 

[fjblair]

Haven't seen a coal heated home since the late 70's/early 80's. When I was a kid a relative had a coal heated house and that place was NEVER cold lol, that stuff burns hot I guess.

 

[Milspec]

I lived in a 5 plex apartment building back in the early 2000's that still had a coal fired boiler for heat. It was one of only 3 in a city of about 400,000 at the time. The biggest problem was finding someone capable of servicing it and the fire codes made it impossible for anyone not grandfathered to operate one.

I suspect that there are likely quite a few of them out in the boonies down in coal country. How many I don't know, but likely still around.

 

[acousticnitemare]

There’s something like 220-230 coal burning power stations currently in the US and more than 8,000 worldwide, so for homes that use electricity (from those plants) for heat, I would say there are many homes heated by burning coal - just not at the house.

My kids were born in a house that once had a coal furnace that had been converted to natural gas in the 50’s.

This. The full house heating coal burners I've seen were all converted to natural gas.
That said, there's still (wood) pellet stoves and "wood burning" stoves about that heat a large living room with a large lump of coal for the evening.

 

[Boreas]

We had a huge coal burner in the center of the basement when I was a wee lad. IIRC, it was ductless, just hot and cold registers. Rented house - was not insulated. Stairway to the upstairs bedrooms was the source of heat up there. I believe the farmhouse was built around the Civil War era.

Ashes/cinders were spread on the driveway. Coal was dumped via chute into a bin in the cellar. Dad fed the beast twice a day as I recall. Maybe an extra shovelful at bedtime if he was feeling generous.

House eventually burned down some time after we left. Likely lightning. It was hit 3 times in the 4 years we lived there!! The barn was hit one day when I was about 4 while I was watching a storm. It burned down in about 30 minutes.

Not a great place for acoustic instruments...

 

[blowtorch]

My maternal grandfather delivered coal to businesses along State Street back in the day.
Via horse buggy.
This is back before he got into dairy farming, starting from the bottom up- milking someone else's cows for a dollar every other day.

I find these things amazing to reflect upon

 

[Killing Floor]

There are still some in the East.

Coal is remarkably efficient as an energy source, thermodynamically speaking.

 

[Boreas]

My maternal grandfather delivered coal to businesses along State Street back in the day.
Via horse buggy.
This is back before he got into dairy farming, starting from the bottom up- milking someone else's cows for a dollar every other day.

I find that amazing to reflect upon

My dad and HIS father used to shovel snow from the ROADS for the Township when he was a kid. Horses did the bulk of it I believe. My guess is they shoveled intersections and perhaps the end of driveways of important people.

 

[Lou Tencodpees]

I grew up in Detroit through the 60's. We had our furnace converted to gas from coal in the mid 60's, maybe 66, 67. I remember the coal delivery guy, the chute, the coal room, the shovel. And waking up cold!

 

[boris bubbanov]

I was in Central Virginia a couple years' back, in an Antique Store and the guy was heating the building with coal. Guy was probably in his 50s, but looked closer to 80 years of age. And I only think he got away with it, because the place was constructed more like a barn than a house.

I think I was in there a total of 30 minutes. Can't imagine be subjected to that, for weeks on end.

No, I haven't seen much of this, in a long time.

I think coal is down around 22%, of the sources for electricity generation in the USA and it would be lower still, but for the situation in Eastern Europe (natural gas having increased in cost about 160%). Coal has its applications - the one that flabberghasts me are these wood pellets. Sure enough, a dumb waste of time and resources.

 

[archetype]

There’s something like 220-230 coal burning power stations currently in the US and more than 8,000 worldwide, so for homes that use electricity (from those plants) for heat, I would say there are many homes heated by burning coal - just not at the house.

My kids were born in a house that once had a coal furnace that had been converted to natural gas in the 50’s.

We had a coal to oil conversion when I was a kid. It was like a giant, cylindrical octopus with ducts that spread like tentacles below the floor joists.

 

[archetype]

This. The full house heating coal burners I've seen were all converted to natural gas.
That said, there's still (wood) pellet stoves and "wood burning" stoves about that heat a large living room with a large lump of coal for the evening.

I heated with wood for 3 years when I lived out in the country. I always had a small amount of coal on hand, so that if the wood wooden't get the house up to a sufficient temperature I could just toss in a bit of coal with the wood. Coal burns hotter'n hades.

 

[stantheman]

Ford's Coffee Shop in Andover, MA had a Chute. Many times "When I Was Young" I'd see the Cross Coal Company truck making his rounds on Main Street.
"The rooms were so much colder then."
Sing it Eric.

 

[nojazzhere]

Having a breakfast conversation this morning.
I told my girlfriend that my grandfather used to heat his home with coal.
He had a coal chute where the truck would dump coal into a pen in his basement.
He had a coal furnace.
That must have been a pain to have to keep tending it.
My girlfriend told me as a kid,her apartment was heated with a coal heater.
I wonder if this is still a thing.
Maybe in Europe?

I've personally never seen an old residential building that ever used coal, but have seen several older commercial-type buildings (most specifically a school and church) that still had coal "chutes" outside, where coal was delivered. None of these still used coal, but the doors on an outside wall (labeled Coal) were still there. Cool artifact, IMO.

 

[4wotitswurth]

In the UK back in the 60s I remember coke, sort of pebble like refined coal? Dropped off in the coal bunker out in the back yard. dont remember it being very good at dispersing heat in the living room, most of that went up the chimney… so outside the small area right in front of the fire, the temperature dropped pretty quickly. I recall the warning to kids to stay back from the hearth, maybe it was a myth, but twas said a few back then got burnt when their night dresses caught fire as they stood close to the flames to keep warm. Enter the wire mesh fire guard…. The good old days, errr maybe not!

 

[rxmoore]

I grew up in Detroit through the 60's. We had our furnace converted to gas from coal in the mid 60's, maybe 66, 67. I remember the coal delivery guy, the chute, the coal room, the shovel. And waking up cold!

I'm a Detroit Boy myself (Myers and Schoolcraft on the West Side) and I share this same memory, although we left Detroit when I was still pretty young.

For the record, about 125,000 to 130,000 US homes still use coal as the primary heat source.

 

[Brad Pittiful]

coal = electricity

not 100% of electricity though

 

[Big_Ger]

My girlfriends parents had a coal fired central heating boiler until a couple of years ago. Her dad was a miner so he got free coal for life