House With Large Coal Stove in Kitchen??? (insurance, transfer) - Northeastern Pennsylvania - Pennsylvania (PA) -Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pocono area - City-Data Forum

sheena12 · 06-12-2010, 02:40 PM

We are looking at a house with the above situation. We like the stove - it's an antique and very quaint looking.
It still works according to the seller.
Could we move it to the family room and if we did what kind of money are we talking about?
I would imagine that we would need someone who is certified in that sort of thing.
Coalman are you out there???

sheena12 · 06-12-2010, 02:42 PM

Oh I for got to add there is also a conventional gas stove for cooking in the kitchen.
The coal stove is for heat not cooking.

thecoalman · 06-13-2010, 12:52 PM

I'm assuming it is real stove with the cooktop and oven? Some people call a heat only unit a stove. Unless you're looking to move it becuse of the space I'd suggest just leaving where it is for a season and see how it works out. You'll proabaly find out you love it and be looking for another stove for somewhere else in the house.

Personally if I had the room I'd love to have one in a kitchen, the only problem with them is if the kitchen is small you might make too much heat unless you can move the heat into other rooms. You can fully cook on one but they aren't very practical for something like boiling water, just takes too long and you really have to turn it up to do that. That 5 minute Mac and cheese turns into a 1 hour ordeal and you get to learn the true meaning of slaving over a hot stove.

What they are useful for is stews, soups and anything that takes a long time. My Aunt used to have one in a finished basement, they used it primarily for heat but if they had a party they would put the food on it to keep it warm. They also used it for making jerky in the oven, it's ideal for dehydrating food and it doesn't cost you anything. Another use I've seen them used for is as a humidifier if you have dry house. As long as you have some patience and you're cooking something that doesn't need to be done right now you can use it for cooking.

If you're going to move it the biggest thing to consider is you need to run the flue pipe to the chimney. It's not exactly rocket science installing one if you have existing thimble(hole in the chimney). If you're doing anything beyond that you'll probably need building permit and have it inspected by both the building inspector and more importantly the insurance company.

A coal stove is probably the safest form of heat you can have but because of the constant flame and radiant heat the insurance companies sometimes will give you problems. Most don't understand there operation and look at them like wood stoves which is very bad comparison.

sheena12 · 06-13-2010, 05:35 PM

maybe I should let it be for a season. If we get this house I am rather excited about having a real coal stove! The seller says it heats the first floor and then some.
I jave not seen the stove myself = my DH was transferred up there and has to live there because of the mortgage.
All I know is that the stove is porcelain and is original to the house.
Are these types of stoves becoming rare in NEPA?

sheena12 · 06-13-2010, 05:37 PM

BTW in the winter months slaving over a hot stove is one of my passions!
In rge summer - not so much.

bsanva · 06-13-2010, 06:49 PM

It is going to be extremely costly to move this. It is more than just picking it up and moving it. You have to vent it properly, which will have to be specially put together for your situation. If it is especially big, then you may need additional floor supports. Further, you will need a brick or tile which properly protects the walls, floors, and everything else from catching fire due to heat (not necessarily just flame). Because this is a specialty type of job, you are likely going to have to pay a rather high price.
Sounds like a cool stove. These old stoves are becoming more and more rare, but you will still likely find more in this area than in most of the country.

thecoalman · 06-13-2010, 07:06 PM

I think they are somewhere in the neighborhood of 50K BTU which could keep a large room and/or few smaller rooms comfortable.

Most likely it's pretty common model, they made a lot of those stoves so you can find a lot of them and aren't worth much. If it's in really good shape maybe 3 or 4 hundred. There are ones worth small fortunes as in 3 and 4 thousand but they are very intricate, very ornamental and rare. That type was typically used in wealthy households.

If you need more info I usually check this forum at least once a day, you could always use my own forum and get the advice of more people.

Energy, Anthracite & Bituminous Coal, HVAC

What I would suggest is finding out from the homeowner about maintenance and how to use it if you can. There's nothing better than having someone there to run you through the process and what you need to know. The most imporatant thing to keep in mind when you burn coal is it produces fly ash, this will accumulate in the flue pipe on any horizontal runs and at the bottom of the chimney. It's important that this is removed, how often depends, it might be once a month or once a year. If you don't it will eventually choke the draft and you could have gases backing up in your house one of which is CO and that will kill you to put it bluntly. I don't want to scare you but that is just the facts, it's true of any type unit that burns anything but since the ash can block the pipe it's more likely to be a problem with coal. Be sure you have a CO detector too.

Jungle George · 06-13-2010, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheena12

maybe I should let it be for a season. If we get this house I am rather excited about having a real coal stove! The seller says it heats the first floor and then some.
I jave not seen the stove myself = my DH was transferred up there and has to live there because of the mortgage.
All I know is that the stove is porcelain and is original to the house.
Are these types of stoves becoming rare in NEPA?

I used to cook on one of these old porcelain guys...food never tasted so good!! Also kept the house toasty, but you'll need to have floor registers/open doors to share that warmth so the room it's in doesn't reach 140!!!

thecoalman · 06-13-2010, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bsanva

It is going to be extremely costly to move this. It is more than just picking it up and moving it. You have to vent it properly, which will have to be specially put together for your situation.

With coal there really isn't anything special about it, standard galvanized pipe is all you need for flue pipe. You will have to replace these about every 5 to 10 years if you only use them on a seasonal basis. Three screws at each joint, some furnace cement at thimble and support for any horizontal runs. You'll want add in a manual damper on the flue pipe on older ones as they are notoriously hard to control. You could literally hook up a hand fired coal stove in a few minutes if you're used to working with tools. The only real issue is clearance, chances are the stove in this house is no where near what the insurance company is going to want to see though.