Processing for #2 begins: February 11. As of March 2 (about 6 weeks total), awaiting results. If it's 6-8 weeks from processing time, I still have weeks to go. My own test took about 3 weeks from activation to completion, but that was a couple of years ago, so maybe there is a bigger backlog right now. Be the first to rate this.
Undo. kframe19. Yes, those kinds of fireplaces generally burned coal-depending on where you are they may well have burned lignite, which is a sort of in between peat and bituminous coal. The solid panels are a nice touch to have, still. Many times they've simply disappeared.
The two main things to be sure of are having a sound chimney that can take the hotter fire and regular chimneysweeping. For my family, burning that old coal was just fun, but with good equipment and careful operation coal can be as good a heating solution as anything else. Today very few Americans burn coal at home any more, just 143,000 homes in the 2000 census (one-third of them around the Pennsylvania anthracite country).