To oil or not to oil.

Oiling coal. Can anyone tell me what kind of oil they use? Does it smell or smoke? Is it better oiled or not?

Usually a vegetable oil, some units like it and some don't. It is probably a preference thing. Almost any oil will work and it only takes a little. Try it and see if you like it, it will reduce the dust to zero. Water will do the same and then dry up. Don't use something that will attract bugs or get rancid. Be very careful about odor.

Keep in mind, oiled coal has its own issues.

In 08-09 I had 4 tons of rice and 6 tons of nut delivered with one gal of mineral oil per ton. It was the first time I tried it - got tired of "miners' nose" shoveling from a enclosed outdoor storage bin. Virtually no coal dust this past year indoors, no odor indoors however outside you will smell a diesel ordor for a few minutes. I bought this heating season coal oiled again.

Snuffy

I get mine pre-oiled from the dealer, no dust or smell. I think they use a very light mineral oil.
I don't think vegetable oil is recommended, it might go bad or attract bugs or something? not sure, there is a thread on here somewhere about it.

Vegetable or mineral. Isn't that an old joke? I will try the mineral oil, 1 gallon per ton. I think we had tried corn oil a few years back but I remember thinking we were popping corn all the time. Thanks.

hi everyone I use to work for a coal delivery company in central ma and we always use fuel oil, we would oil 22 tons to 10 gallons of fuel oil to keep the dust down in our own storage yard.

The guy that deleivered my coal said some people want it oiled. They use peanut oil. He says it smells good. Fuel oil...smells bad.

Got my oiled coal delivered yesterday. 1st time I got it delivered with oil but after they chuted it into my basement no dust. They use 1 gallon of oil per ton of coal but you can get less if you prefer. Cost is about 7.50 per gallon. They used a non waxed light hydraulic oil. Coal guy said if its waxed it changes the flash point so it needs to be non waxed.

so a Wax-Off delivery is best....

oiled is better not just for the dust, but for the equiptment, especially for an auger-feed stoker. I use waste motor oil. to spray it easily i just heat it up. it's free and has no detectable smell. most vegetable oils won't work well because of their tendency to go rancid and become gummy; a light non-detergent (cheap) motor oil, used motor oil, hydrolic oil, or rapeseed oil is best, fuel oil will work, but if you spray too much it will have an odor that some people find unpleasant for indoor storage. I highly reccomend using oiled coal in stokers.

Do the fines clump up when oiled?

not really, they just stick to the larger pieces. I imagine in the right conditions if i saturated the coal then it could lead to fines turning into a clumpy sludge; i just spray enough on to barely wet the coal before i move it into my bin, then it gets mixed and "creeps" to cover all the coals in the pile.

I srpay it with used motor oil too.