Despite the post I just made about Klinkers, coal is MUCH less work than
wood, puts out lots of heat and has no smell. I heat my house with coal for
about $400 for the winter. Oil would be about $1200 to $2000. The nice part
of buring coal is that I can burn the wood I cut down or scraps from the
shop, but when I don't have the time to mess with the stove the coal has a
long burn time and puts out good heat the whole time.
"yourname" wrote in message
...
amed garage/studio 9' wall with a gambrel roof. I'm building into a
hillside and the building won't be square (40' x 28' x 50' on the long
side & whatever across the front-hill, long story involves the wife & her
garden.....) on the hill end so I'm interested in how you handle that
with icf forms.

As far as the heat source is concerned I'm thinking about a coal fired
boiler(auto stoker) it would easily heat the shop and also offset the
house load too, but if that doesn't pan out a large water heater and a
couple of solar panels would do the shop nicely.

If you can arrange some south facing glass etc, it always helps.

If you are going to make money in this space, think seriously about a well
designed solar and then an oil fired or nat gas backup. Coal just sounds
like tinkering to me. Yeah, maybe cheap, but if you are bored, get a
woodstove, at least it smells nice. Wood can be free. Pallets are awesome
sources of heat.

That's the ticket, some nice big solar arrays, tell the wife she can plant
flowers around them. An oil boiler for the peak hours, and a woodstove for
when you ought to be working and feel like burning ****.