Blashack vs. Kimmel's: First impression

Well, I finally broke my self-imposed light up restriction of Dec.1st last night, & started burning Blashack for the first time. Definitely getting longer burn times, more consistent sizing, alot less fines & MUCH less wood & debris, & seems to have less ash also. With Kimmels I always had to shake down twice a day, but with this first load going 15+ hours, I think I can get away with once a day. The current load has been going for 13 hours without any signs of slowing down, so I'm going to let it fly until tomorrow. Ash is definitely whiter that Kimmels, although alot of that was the charcoal used to start it, so I'll have to check the second ashpan full tomorrow AM.

Took 1- 3/4 forty lb. bags to fill my Mark III with a couple layers of charcoal burning over the grates.

So far, so good!

My first impression of both last season was that they were about the same. I didn't notice any difference in BTU's. I did however notice that the Blaschak had less fines and was more consistant in size. I'm burning Kimmels right now. I started my second pallet 3 days ago. There is a difference from the first pallet. The ash is a little less, it's whiter and seems to keep my boiler around 10* hotter using the same amount of coal. The ash was brownish with the first pallet. I guess it's coal from a different source.

Yeah I noticed alot of variables with Kimmels. Last year was probably the worst quality coal I've ever got from them -- lots of ash, & it seemed to burn faster than ever. That might be why I used so much last year. Plus, every year there were differing amounts of trash mixed inside the bags (wood, wire, rocks, etc.)

I just dumped the ashes this morning for the second time -- they are definitely whiter & more fine/powdery with no bone that I can see at all. Kimmels always had bone, & clinkers with a molten metal look to some of them. Burning 24 hours with ease -- after 24 hours with Kimmels, the fire would be just in the center 20% of the firebox & basically 1 step away from going out.