Black Dust

 
mplynn64
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Post by mplynn64 » Sat. Oct. 24, 2009 3:03 pm

Am curious about having black dust thourghout the house... The wife dusting today and finding alot of black dust throughout... Is it normal? What about the health hazards? AM kind of new at al this and I did fingure on some mainly from start up. not sure if after we can actually keep it going if this ould be the norm for the cold season? Wife is very upset over this... how can I make her more relaxed with it? :? :?


 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Sat. Oct. 24, 2009 3:12 pm

Never saw any black dust with mine - just light colored dust from the ash. Haven't heard of anyone getting dust from coal either - even with bulk delivery - , so not sure what you've got going on there.

Do you have an oil fired unit in the house as well? Sometimes those can puff black powdery soot out of the baro or sight opening if they haven't been cleaned in a long time.

 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Sat. Oct. 24, 2009 3:35 pm

mplynn64 wrote:Am curious about having black dust thourghout the house... The wife dusting today and finding alot of black dust throughout... Is it normal? What about the health hazards? AM kind of new at al this and I did fingure on some mainly from start up. not sure if after we can actually keep it going if this ould be the norm for the cold season? Wife is very upset over this... how can I make her more relaxed with it? :? :?
There is no health hazard to speak of. I'll assume this stove is in the living area? If so, be a little more careful when handling your coal (black dust, raw coal/white dust, ash). If you use a shovel to load, that may produce what you are seeing. If your coal is dry, spray it with a light spritz of water before you move/handle it and it will not let any dust go. Some members have come up with unique solutions for this issue, PVC loading tubes comes to mind.

 
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lowfog01
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Post by lowfog01 » Sat. Oct. 24, 2009 4:16 pm

I've never had a black dust problem and I've been fighting flyash dust since day one. Just this year I've finally gotten a handle on the dust. What brand coal are you using? Does it seem to have a lot of fines? I know when my 15 year old son opens a new bag and tips it over at his waist high to fill the bucket I see some minimal black dust. We have him do that outside now. All I can suggest is spraying it down before you mess with it. Some folks use oil. There are many threads in the archives on "oiling your coal." Check them out. Lisa

 
mplynn64
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Post by mplynn64 » Sat. Oct. 24, 2009 4:44 pm

I am guessing then it is coming from when I load the stove... It has a hopper I load on the top will have to be more gentle in loading... Also think it may be coming from startup could be I am opening door to quick to load coal.. Any suggenstions.... Also wanted to thank those who have been repsonding.. I realize I am new and do have quite a bit to learn... :D

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Sat. Oct. 24, 2009 6:02 pm

mplynn64 wrote:It has a hopper I load on the top will have to be more gentle in loading...
Bingo, try putting a sheet/blanket/something over whatever you load it with and the hopper before you dump it. Dump the coal under the sheet. Let it sit covered for a few minutes prior to removing the sheet and that should help a lot. Or wet the coal. :D

 
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Post by mplynn64 » Sun. Oct. 25, 2009 11:36 am

lowfog01 wrote:. What brand coal are you using? Does it seem to have a lot of fines?
NOt sure I understand the question here alot of fines??? Coal was left by previous owner about 1 ton.... I do believe it may be very dry... will wetting it down stop from starting?


 
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lowfog01
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Post by lowfog01 » Sun. Oct. 25, 2009 12:19 pm

By fines I mean the tiny, tiny (dust) pieces of coal at the bottom of the bag or bin. If there are a lot of them they may be flying all over when the coal is dumped or moved. The good thing about coal is that it will burn wet so sprinkling it with water to hold the dust down won't matter at all. You're not talking about drenching it, just a spray from a spray bottle. Just a thought, are you turning off any and all fans in the stove room before you open the stove to load coal or emptying the ash pan? You want the air to be as still as possible and move very slowly. Lisa

 
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Post by CapeCoaler » Sun. Oct. 25, 2009 12:57 pm

Damp coal will burn just fine...
so will wet coal but rusting of metal hoppers is an issue...
When I mine old basement bins I bring a 2 gallon pump sprayer...
Keeps the dust down...

 
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dlj
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Post by dlj » Sun. Oct. 25, 2009 8:25 pm

Back when I was blacksmithing, I'd take coal, put it in a bucket with holes in it and pour water over it washing so there was no dust left on it at all. It then went straight to my forge and burned. During burning, the fire size was controlled with a sprinkler pouring water around the outter edges of the buring coal I wanted to control.

Coal doesn't suck up water. It just runs off it taking dust and dirt with it... won't be a problem burning washed coal...

dj

 
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Post by traderfjp » Sun. Oct. 25, 2009 9:37 pm

I had a bucket or two of coal in my garage. The coal dried out and when I went to load my hopper with the bucket I had to fight the black dust. 99.9% of the time I get my coal from outside and the bags are a little damp so there is no dust when I pour out the bags. If the bags get too wet it causes another problem which is a stream of black liquid that pours out from the corner of the bag when carrying the bags through the house.

Here are a few solutions. The blanket idea is not bad although it may be cumbersome and you'll have to be very careful when you take the blanket off. I was thinking that you could cut a small hole into the back of the hopper about 2-3" from the top. Then set it up so a vaccum hose would fit nicely in the hole. You could buy an inexpensive mini shop vac and when you pour in the coal all the dust will be sucked into the vac. You would have to pour slowly to let the vac do its job. When you're done, pull out the hose, and make a cover out of metal (I'm sure you can buy something at Ace) and use a screw to hold it in and just slide it over the hole when done. The other way would be to wet the coal before loading the hopper. I'm not sure how well this would work because you'll probably only wet the surface and to really wet the coal you'll probably be loading some water into your stove too. One more idea is to put a cover on the bucket and install a 3" tube to make a chute which would also cut down on the dust when pouring your coal.
Last edited by traderfjp on Mon. Oct. 26, 2009 12:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

 
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the snowman
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Post by the snowman » Sun. Oct. 25, 2009 11:38 pm

When I first started burning my hand fed I was not careful about controlling the black dust from the dry coal. I now turn off all fans before loading or shaking and I will lightly spray the coal and slowly load the stove. I can see how water in a hopper would be a problem. The wife is much happier now that I control the dust from the coal. This is always a good thing.

the snowman.

 
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dlj
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Post by dlj » Mon. Oct. 26, 2009 12:02 am

the snowman wrote:When I first started burning my hand fed I was not careful about controlling the black dust from the dry coal. I now turn off all fans before loading or shaking and I will lightly spray the coal and slowly load the stove. I can see how water in a hopper would be a problem. The wife is much happier now that I control the dust from the coal. This is always a good thing.

the snowman.
Snowman, I just realized you are in the Tug Hill region of New York. No wonder you call yourself snowman. Doesn't that region get something like the most snow in the north east?

dj

 
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the snowman
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Post by the snowman » Mon. Oct. 26, 2009 7:39 am

DJ:

Yes, we do! It is great! I had over 40 inches of snow on the ground before thanksgiving last season. Our snow never left until very late into the spring. I'm hoping for a repeat performance from mother nature. It snowed every day last winter. We received shovable amounts of snow every day last winter. Usually the snow comes early, piles up in large amounts, and stays late into the spring. I love living in the snowbelt.

the snowman.

 
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dlj
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Post by dlj » Mon. Oct. 26, 2009 9:13 pm

the snowman wrote:DJ:

Yes, we do! It is great! I had over 40 inches of snow on the ground before thanksgiving last season. Our snow never left until very late into the spring. I'm hoping for a repeat performance from mother nature. It snowed every day last winter. We received shovable amounts of snow every day last winter. Usually the snow comes early, piles up in large amounts, and stays late into the spring. I love living in the snowbelt.

the snowman.
Snowman,

Is this the region in upstate NY where you often find old farm houses with doors on both the first and second floors so in the winter they could still get out of their houses from all the snow?

I used to live on a ridge facing the Mohawk valley that had a micro-climate that was also pretty deep in snow (not like tug hill though). There used to be a snow drift next to my house that was about 20 feet high all winter. Used to get snowed in for weeks at a time and have to snowshoe down to the town a few miles down the mountain.

dj


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