Good Coal or Bad Coal

I'm in johnstown pa and I just bought some coal today from the same place I have always buy it. But this coal seems different. I use the coal for heating my garage. I got it going and noticed the coal lit much faster than usual. I usually have to get wood burning pretty good before the coal will burn but this time the coal burned fast and crackeled. Alot of dark smoke came out the chimmney. I do notice dark smoke at first when I start the furnace but after the coal reaches a hot temp. it stops smoking but this coal keeps coming out dark smoke. I noticed that the garage got warm alot quicker than usual. I'm wandering if I got a bad batch of coal? or a good batch

It seems to me that you got a load of bituminous. How's it burning now? After an hour or so you will need to poke it to break up the solid mass of burning coal so that it burns smoother.

Yes it is bituminous but it seems different than previous loads I have bought. Several differences for example: It starts faster than bituminous coal I have had before, smells different, a bit like tar. Smokes more from the chimmney, and longer but after it burns awhile it stops smoking. when I added another shovel full it starts smoking again for awhile, even after the fire is really hot. The thing I noticed the most is when I add coal to the fire it crackels like twigs in a fire. No coal I have ever had has crackeled before.

different bituminous coals will burn differently, it's not necessarily "bad" or "good". It's only "bad" or "good" coal if you like or don't like how it burns for you. It sounds like you may have gotten a load of higher volitile bituminous coal which, aside from obviously flaring more volitiles, often burns hotter in it's coking stage as well because it produces less dense coke, higher volitile bituminous is often (but not always) low coke index coal which means it tends to allow more air spaces between burning coal pieces and thus more air makes it's way through the bed. If the smoke from the chimney doesn't bother you (no close neighbors etc.) than you don't have to change what you're doing, however, if you'd like less smoke try "banking" the fire, filling one end of the stove deep and then after that settles down on the next firing, fill the valley, and so on, thus alternating where you fire the coal rather than "spread-firing" the coal over the entire bed.

Buddy, im from just over the hill from you in Ebensburg... I would say you purchased some Pittsburgh coal... I typially burn a Somerset nut that crushes pretty easy under your foot, has a lot of ash, and takes a fair amount to get it lit.... I did burn 25 ton of Pittsburgh coal a few years ago, it smoked all the time, and if you had a really hot fire and tried to bank it over for the day or night it would just take off... hardley any ash, you could just about light it with a match, burned very hot and was a fair amount harder, you had to just about stomp on it to crush it under your foot... I would say you have a "good" load of coal... at the time I had 25 ton of Somerset and 25 ton of Pittsburgh and I wish I would have mixed it before I put it in the bin. there is an outfit here in Ebensburg that will mix them for you for an extra price. I sort of rambled so I will stop while im still ahead. Good Luck

Sounds like you might be right on the Pitts. coal. It certainly fits your description to a tee. Would it help if I got a load from somewhere else and mixed it?

I would think that if you got some Somerset coal and mixed you may get closer to the results your used to seeing, its not going to bridge as much and might not be as volatile, depending on the ratio you mix... I used it in a pretty big boiler and just tossed some ash on top as I was banking it over for the day or night. Just a dusting, and it seemed to keep it from taking off on me. Dont get me wrong, its good coal, just not what im accustomed to either.