Coal For Heating, Cooking and Laundry. Anyone?

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Manufactured Gas

So that is how it was actually made. I often wondered as a kid because there was a plant in the city I grew up in that you could not get near, about 15 miles from where I live now. It was near the banks of a major river that was quite close to the Atlantic Ocean. Apparently they used to pump the coal tar into the river years ago and now thay have found out how toxic is really is. The company that did own the gas works ended up being responsible for millions in cleanup costs. That plant died off after they introduced natural gas to the area. Which today is the most economical way to heat around here. But you have to be right in the city to get it. I have an old Sears Homart gas heater in my garage and the plate on the access door says that it can be used with Natural, Mixed, Manufactured or LP (Bottled) gas.
 
Natural Gas Prices Have Dropped So Low

This winter that it's almost being given away (well, not quite) and that is a huge deal for those whom heat their homes with the stuff, use gas for cooking and of course electric if local power plants are powered that way.

Who cannot benefit? Those who do not have natural gas to their homes and no way to get it either. New York Times ran a story several days ago about persons who are stuck using high priced heating oil (it hasn't come down that far even with the rather warm winter weather), wood, wood pellet or whatever to get by. One man interviewed was stocking up on wood for his stove to supplement the oil boilers in his house said he wanted to use gas, but the company turned down his request to run a line to the house.
 
I don't know anyone around here that still heats with coal, but when I was little, several houses in the neighborhood used it. I remember black smoke coming out of three or four chimneys of houses up the street. My end of the street has newer houses (post 1945), so they were heated by oil until some converted to gas when it arrived in 1961. The newest homes that used coal were built in the late 1930's; the house I'm currently renting was built in 1938, and there is a small metal door in the basement wall on the driveway side for coal to be put in the basement coal bin. The bin was torn out when the furnace was converted to oil at some point, and the tank placed there. The old boiler has been removed (along with the oil tank), and the house now has electric baseboard heat.

One of my neighbors used coal until around 1970, and I remember her having to throughly clean the house every Spring. Their furnace was forced air, and the walls would get streaked by the registers, so walls and ceilings, along with the drapes and other furnishings, were washed.

Carbon monoxide can result from any fuel being burned. In fact, most CO poisoning results from malfunctioning gas appliances. One of my neighbors almost was poisoned when her gas furnace developed a bad heat exchanger.

The old mansion Rich (Sudsmaster) mentions is the Dunsmuir House in Oakland. I toured it when I was in the SF area back in 1985. It is featured in the movie "Burnt Offerings", and visiting the estate was one of the major goals of my trip west. It's a beautiful place.
 
Oil vs gas prices

I just checked the costs of oil from my local fuel company, 3.50/gal for 400 or more gallons at once or $3.60 100-400 gallons. Kerosene is $4.04. The conversion of natural gas to oil price would bring it in at about $1.60/gal. The real black smoke from coal fires was because they were using bituminus or soft coal. Hard coal, anthrisite produces no noticeable smoke, just a tiny bit of white vapor during sub zero temps, much less noticeable than a conventional oil or gas burner would in the same cold temps out of the chimney. Although many people do use wood around here, I have found it to be very dangerous. Unless you clean your chimney throughly and often, the risk of having a chimney fire is very high. There has been numerous instances where people right here in this town have not only lost their homes but lives because of a chimney fire. With coal, there is absolutely no worry of ever having a chimney fire because no creosote is produced.
 
Yes, natural gas bulk prices have dropped but they have not been proportionately dropped for PG&E customers here. Still paying through the nose (IMHO) for it.

While any incompletely burned fuel can produce CO, such as might happen with a malfunctioning gas appliance, the point is that manufactured gas is the result of incompletely burned coal, so by design it contains large amounts of CO. While a blown out pilot light on a natural gas appliance is a safety hazard, it's not so much of a health hazard since methane by itself is not so very toxic (unless it replaces all the oxygen one breathes, or it ignites). But the CO in manufactured gas is extremely toxic, even in small amounts. It's good that it has been phased out in the USA for decades now. The old stories about people committing suicide by blowing out the pilot lights on a stove, turning on the oven, and sticking their heads inside were probably based on an era when manufactured gas was used, and the people died relatively quickly from CO poisoning. I've heard that it's not so easy to die from a natural gas fueled oven, and most people wind up blowing themselves up instead when the gas ignites from some spark in the building.

Yes, it's the Dunsmuir House. I've been there a few times. It's a popular place. I used to enjoy bicycling to it on weekday afternoons when admission is free, and it's a nice stroll around the grounds.

The coal from Lazzari in SF is bituminous, as is most such coal from Western mines. I'll look see if anthracite is available out here, although I have need to get any. I just chopped down a 30 ft tree on the property and have plenty of firewood for the few times a year I fire up the indoor fireplaces.
 
"This winter that it's almost being given away (well, not quite) and that is a huge deal for those whom heat their homes with the stuff, use gas for cooking and of course electric if local power plants are powered that way."

That assumes that the utility passes the savings to the customer. I don't follow what's going on with natural gas--it's not even an option where I live--but I have heard complaints about the company that provides natural gas for much of my area. There was recently a letter to the editor of a local news paper discussing this. It said that gas has dropped 35% in the last year, and yet the letter writer has not seen a 35% drop in gas rates. Instead, letter indicated that the utility apparently filed for a rate increase.
 
Coal Smoke

Though loved by *foamers* (a IMHO not so nice term for locomotive rail fans), a steam train using coal that is bleching tons of smoke shows that the thing isn't being run properly.

A good engineer and or fireman should be able to have the train run with little or no smoke depending upon what type of coal is being burned in the firebox. All that smoke means the locomotive is inefficient with coal and instead of buring the stuff is sending much of it right up and out of the smoke stack. Since coal cost money you can bet the *suits* at any RR office would look at how much coal was burned during a run versus what should have been and then perhaps sit someone down for a talk.
 
Gas-On-Coal

Stove was in our summer cottage, it dated to the pre-war era. It was converted at one time from 'city' gas to propane, which gave rather anemic performance. The coal side could get a whopping heat going in no time. It was the only source of heat for the cottage (when needed - spring or fall) and did a great job. Banking the fire for the night kept things nice and toasty until morning. My OM used to get a bag of either 'pea' or 'nut' coal at a garden center in PA (where the cottage was). It wasn't smoky unless the chimney was cold. He used to start a fire with newspaper or twigs just to get a draft going, then add the coal until it caught.
 
Banking!

That means to cover the hot coals with ashes at night, in the morning, you scrape the ashes off and add more fuel, in a few minutes you have a hot fire!
 
"Banking"

The way my OM did it on our coal-on-gas stove. Shake down ashes leaving hot coal on the top. Shovel in a couple of "shovelfuls" of coal, evenly. Shut all draft vents on the stove. Tilt stovetop lids to provide a draft. Go to bed. In the ayem, shut lids,open vents, shake down ashes, add a little coal. BOOYAH! Hot stuff in 20 minutes!

Adding ash to top of hot coals accomplishes similar, the idea is to slow down the rate of burning by reducing draft.

My dear aunt did this with her coal furnace in the basement. Even until the 1970s, she would order a "ton o'coal" for the bin down there. I can recall her throwing in a couple of shovelfuls of coal in there on her way out to bingo. In high heels no less! What price glamour?
 

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