Coal size comparison of two suppliers of rice coal

stoker-man · By: **stoker-man** On: Mon Jan 04, 2010 9:37 am

I had posted about a stoker using rice coal from an unknown Hazelton breaker. The bed was too tight and extra air was needed and there was alot of unburned coal in the ash.

The sample on the left is rice coal from Blaschak and the unknown source used in the boiler above is on the right.

Richard S. · By: **Richard S.** On: Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:17 am

I would suggest it's not the size but the coal itself that is the issue. My eye tells me the the Hazelton coal is a better product, I'll guess about 6% to 7% ash.

It has that real dark glassy look to it. Right off the bat you can see it has nice round all shiny pieces and the Blaschak has flat pieces that are more boney. Hazleton is known for having some very dense product, You DO need more air, when they were running that at Hudson I was getting all kinds complaints from those with stokers but once I got them straightened out with the air they were happy. The hand fired crowd couldn't have been more pleased.

As far as the size goes some of that Blaschak looks a little big and the Hazelton looks more consistent. If anything I would suggest Blaschak's is a little oversized but it's hard to tell from picture.

ken · By: **ken** On: Mon Jan 04, 2010 12:01 pm

I had a problem getting heat out of Stockton coal. The coal was the same size and when the pusher plate would push more out , it just compacted it so tight. I took the adjustment cover of the convection motor. Still wasn't much better. Lost about 5 degress burning that stuff. Put the Blaschak back in and had the fire dancing off the top of the stove. Even left the cover off. Their coal , some is round , flat , jagged , different sizes. Lets air through nice. Very few pcs don't burn up left in the ash pan.

Berlin · By: **Berlin** On: Tue Jan 05, 2010 2:41 pm

the coal on the right looks like a much more uniform product. The best processors, usually with the fewest ash/debris in their coal will have nice uniform pieces like what's on the right, at least when dealing w/ bituminous. Small/more uniform pieces do require more air, not just because the particular coal may be more dense, but also because, as was mentioned, the uniform pieces require more air/pressure to burn throughouly. however the consistancy of the product should produce a very predictable and constant feed rate/ corresponding air setting.

Coal size comparison of two suppliers of rice coal

Coal size comparison of two suppliers of rice coal

Re: Coal size comparison of two suppliers of rice coal

Re: Coal size comparison of two suppliers of rice coal

Re: Coal size comparison of two suppliers of rice coal