The Craigslist Crap Shoot

I guess you're never sure what you're gonna get when you go to pick up a Craigslist find. I was looking for coal and a guy was selling 2 tons for $20. It was a bit of a drive but I figured at that price, it would be worth it even if it wasn't the best coal. He said it was anthracite nut. In one of his emails he said it was "washnnut" I'm new to coal but I had never heard of that. Anyway, a sunny day drive through the WV countryside with the wife and no kids was a good thing even if the coal wasn't.
The guy with the coal was a nice guy, state trooper, said he had tried burning it in a Brunco, it just melted together in a clump and went out. He had given up on burning it. What little I know about coal I learned from you folks here, but I figured it was bit coal. Some of it seemed kind of soft but some of it I couldn't break. He said the people he bought it from told him it was anthracite. He helped load it, which I appreciated; I would have hated to have to see my wife shovel two tons of coal.
When we got it home I threw a shovel full into our OWB, which we keep going a little in the summer for DHW, and it took right off, some yellow smoke, though not a lot, and in 10 or 15 minutes melted together and kept on burning. I think it will do fine mixing with wood in the OWB this winter. What do you think; bit coal?
In another forum I get on sometimes, the rule is if you don't have pics, it didn't happen. So here you go.

david78 wrote:"washnnut"

Washed nut.
Yep, definitely soft coal.

You'd never find anthracite sized like that unless they were mixing it after sizing it. The sizing is very uniform and it's an additional process not applied to bit coal at least to the extent it is with anthracite. You'll have some smaller pieces in something like nut but no where near the amount you see there.

Is that a Suburban you moved the coal in?

Dull looking dirty clump together when burned and uneven sizing It is Bit coal

envisage wrote:Is that a Suburban you moved the coal in?

That's my hillbilly hauler, yes sir. It's a 3/4 ton, I've had plywood piled in it up to the roof, hardly know it's there. Most of the time I just use the trailer to haul stuff, but I can only get about 2500 pounds on it, so I needed to put some in the Sub to get the 2 tons.
Thanks for your replies, guys. I'm learning something new about coal every day here.

"washnut" LOL Yup, it's "washed nut size" bituminous coal. "nut" size in bituminous has come to mean spreader stoker coal; coal that's used in small industrial and power plant boilers that fired with spreader "kicker" stokers which spread the coal usually on a rotating chain or plate grate. it's not necessary to have the coal uniformly sized but it usually can't be over a maximum and excessive fines are usually undesireable, generally 1/2" x 3".

If you're lucky, it's good high BTU WV coal, unfortunately that will likely mean that it tends to have a high coke button or tends to swell into a lump while burning.

yellow smoke, different sizes, clumps together yep that's bit coal. If you don't like it, I'll give you 20 for it.

Well, I've been burning my bargain coal in my outdoor furnace for a month now and I'm lovin' it! It seems like good coal. When I throw it in on some coals, there's about a 20 second puff of yellow smoke and then it settles down and burns almost smokeless. I don't have any way to measure BTU's but three or four scoop shovels full seems to do the job of a firebox full of wood. A guy could get lazy burning this stuff instead of wood. So if anyone knows where I can pick up a couple more ton for $20, let me know.