I grew up in a house with a Kirks coal furnace.
When we built our new house in 2000 rather than put in Natural Gas I purchased a Pelco coal fired boiler. The boiler they sell today looks much better than the one I have (much more robust) but a 20,000 price tag instead of 7 G that I spent. + 2G for the underground pipe and 2G to insulate the pipe and a used hopper bottom to store the coal... Long story short, I don't think anything build today will last like your Kirks stoker did. And what I might have saved in fuel costs I spent more on maintenance and rebuilds. As well, we couldn't go anywhere for fear of breakdowns. We replaced the Kirks last year after 53 years of dependable service but it was totally worn out. Had to cut it into pieces to get it out of the house. And a new boiler in this house this year. So much happier now I wish I had never messed with the coal. I got really good at troubleshooting but coming home to a cold house...well who has time for that today? As well, when the fire goes out the boiler works in reverse and turns the house into an icicle in 6 hours. A barrel of glycol antifreeze went to 2400.00 so we just used water which added to the stress of keeping it going. I had spare parts for everything and could change most anything any time of day or night, but who needs that. 3 am and 30 below, what awful memories. Be glad for the economy the Kirks provided all those years but my advice is switch now before you sink a bunch of money into a moneypit.
