we had an old wood and coal burning furnace to heat the house on the family farm since the early 30s,, that sucker could get it going pretty good if fed well. nothing like shoveling coal.. or cutting and sawing wood up and hauling it.. over and over.. I miss it tho.. for all the muss.. that sucker would almost glow and singe yur brows if ya weren’t careful feeding the beast.
I have no idea how much stuff it spewed, the area survived, no one lives there, but it sure ain’t Chernobyl either.
an interstate freeway and interchange made sure of that.
oh vell . nothing to grouse about, progress happens, it’s all commercial stuff now,, and a shadow of itself. Time to go fire the fireplace, ponder what I can do to restore individual freedoms and not disturb the climate of the neighbors.
The house I grew up in was built next to my grandfather’s general store, they shared the same wall. I remember the big potbellied stove in the store. We’d burn our paper trash in it during the winter and also had coal as the primary heating element, with the occasional tree limbs. One had to watch it so that it did not get to hot and cause the tin stove pipe to the chimney from getting ‘cherry red.’