Coal dealers in Ohio

Isayre,
I'm running a DS machine 1400 stove, no hopper,burning eastern Kentucky bit coal.The size I burn is from softball size up too 5"x5" lumps.I burnt ohio coal last year and did not nearly have as good results as I have this year.I heat 1400 square foot home,even in this cold weather i'm only burning 35-40lbs in 24 hours.I would get a DS machine get it installed and start saving money,and the warmth of coal heat.

Some super news for those who live within the general vicinity of Akron, Ohio. I just called 'Church Coal Firewood & Mulch', and they are closed on Sundays, but their answering machine message says they are now offering anthracite at only $225 per ton. I assume it is pick up only at that price. I will have to call them during their normal business hours to learn more. What would be some good questions for me to ask?

PS: Their Kentucky coal (called "Lump", whatever that means) is $200 a ton. I would have thought that Kentucky coal would go for a much better premium to anthracite, but such is obviously not the case.

I go over into Kentucky and pick up my coal,and it's 95.00 a ton and i hand pick the size i want.I figured up in the price of coal and gas for my truck,got 4700lb of coal, i had 315.00 in it.Not bad if this will last all winter.I would have alot more in electricity in 1 month if i would heat with that.

hman, would you mind posting your KY coal source?

S.M.J. coal yard in Wrigley,Kentucky.It is 35 miles south of Grayson,Kentucky on rt #7 and jct #711.They will either load or you can hand pick, i hand pick no fines this way.Another place is Red Bud coal south of Ashland,Kentucky on rt 23. I called last week and it went from 100.00 to 125.00 a ton.It is still 95.00 a ton at S.M.J.Big Sandy Stone also handles coal,in Louisa,Kentucky,on rt 23 south.

Does S.M.J. offer 'Nut' Coal (which I believe is roughly 2" x 1 1/4" give or take (passes through a 2" screen, and is retained by a 1 1/4" screen)? What size to you pick up when you load your own? Would Nut be what I want for a hand fired stove such as the DS in an Eastern KY coal?

I'm pretty sure they have nut.I know they got 4 different sizes.I get what they call block coal, softball size and up.I hand pick it.If they load, no difference in price.If your going to burn hand fired stove, i would burn the bigger coal.I can get an easy 12 hour burn time,with the size i'm burning.Their is a couple other places around the Youngstown area that sells coal, Kentucky,Ohio and anthracite.Central fuels and Thompson Brothers,Berlin posted both of these places.

A reasonable price in your area (based on what dealers in your area are selling it for) is between 200 and 235/ton. It commands a premium because it's excellent coal, large sizes are more $$ at the mine, and the price of diesel fuel and associated trucking costs are high; in some cases people will pay more for it than anthracite. BTW you want the largest sizes of coal - don't waste your time with "nut" coal if lump is available!

I have no personal experience with either of the stoves you mentioned, but a nice, big firebox with both overfire and underfire air controls and a large ashpan with 8" flue outlet is what you want, The DS machine stoves seem well built.

I believe the DS stoves have only a 6" flue. Would that work, and if not, why? I know that they are willing to make custom modifications, so overfire air controls may be an option. 8" flue may also be an option. The DS stoves air intake iscontrolled by a bimetalic damper. I'm assuming that adding overfire air would defeat this dampers function. Is that correct?

no problem using the factory underfire bimetal damper, you simply crack the over fire air controls to allow the volitiles to burn more completely and leave them open a bit. 6" would work, but put a 6 to 8 adapter right on the flue outlet of the stove, if they have the option of an 8" outlet, by all means go for it.

The overfire air knobs which is on the door was not any more in price.The bimetalic damper still works just the same.I only open them up so far,especially with new charge of coal.I been able to get by with 6" chimney.I had my flue come out the top of my stove,goes straight up.I don't even run a mpd or a barometric damper.I turn my stove up about every other day, and blow the soot out.I cleaned my chimney out after 3 months of burning and had very little soot.But thats me.My brother had to put in a 8 inch chimney on his DS machine stove.

Bottom line once again seems to be "Learn,Learn Alot,Before You Buy!". You are talking two definitely different fuels here. While Anthracite offers a smokeless combustion with a simple grey fly-ash plate out on pipes and flue's,I'd want to know alot more about the soot plate out and spontaneous combustion characteristics of the Kentucky Bit. I'm not saying the 'Ol Kentuck's bad,but I've got to learn alot more about it. I'd think you should too. Berlin and hman are proof of it's worth. Learn from them as they're using it. As far as the DS Machine line of stoves,I'd say go for it.

bob's right, the advantage of anthracite over KY coal is smokeless combustion. however, if you don't live in an area with cranky neighbors extremely close to your own home, KY coal offers some substantial benefits, higher btu/lb, less $$ per btu (in your case), lower ash and longer burn times. Although KY coals are high vol, they typically produce less smoke and soot than almost any other high volitile bituminous coals because they tend to release their volitiles very slowly.

Hi guys, I called churches today in Akron. The man I talked to told me some things that did not sound right to me. He said that the Kentucky coal he has is Kentucky blue. The ash content is 8-9 percent and the btu is 12,500. I have not burned this before but I am very interested. I hope someone can tell me if they think this is the same as Kentucky bit.

Call it what you will, all Kentucky coal is bituminous, no? There are only (to my knowledge): Peat, Lignite, Sub-Bituminous, Bituminous, and Anthracite. There are certainly sub categories within each of these.