We had a stoker fired coal furnace and it became my job to fill the hopper. If I forgot about 1 or 2 am when the hopper became empty the smoke backed up and leaked out of the hopper and I would have to go down and fill it. OH it smelled.
My dad said the first winter after they moved into a new house with gas heat that they almost froze because they were not accustomed to the gas. With coal my folks if they got cold were used to just standing on the hot air vent and warming up.
Ken Martin
Most of the coal burning furnaces were stoker fired...IRON FIREMAN was the stoker of choice. Most were "hopper feed" ie coal had to be shoveled from the coal bin into the hopper of the furnace. At our house...we were among the last in town to get oil heat....(the old "shoemaker's child syndrome") we had a "bin feed" stoker..All it required was the raking down of the coal occasionally and, of course the daily or semi daily routine of removing the clinkers. Pete
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