Blaschak Bagged Coal is Very Wet and Freezing

I burn 5-6 tons of Blaschak rice a year and have noticed a few bags that were like big ice cubes. I dropped them on the floor and it broke up enough to put in the hopper of my Liesure Line stoker. Once it the hopper the stove does not really care it it is wet, dry, frozen, or whatever. It always burns the same. My fall 2010 purchase of coal does seem to burn with less ash than the previous year. The heat always seems comparable year to year. I did notice the size of the coal seems larger than rice should be. Has anyone else had that problem? It seems I should buy barley coal so I would hopefully get the correct size for rice coal. I have many pieces of coal 1/2 to 3/4 inch and that seems large for rice. Overall it burns good... and thank goodness because I don't know of any other suppliers near me in Connecticut.

Not with rice...I have a Hitzer 503 insert with a hopper system. But with my nut coal this year (got 2 tons nut in OCT 2010) the coal was smaller than previous lots (4th yr burning).

It did not heat as well. After going through 1 ton, I got some Reading nut coal. Coal bits were larger and burnt much hotter & better. So, I stuck with the Reading coal until the temp. got up and now am burning the remainder 1 ton of the Blashak (sp?) coal now. The coal burns fine but just is not getting the stove hot enough for some reason.

The Reading did have, as many people have noted before, bits of wood & whatnot in it. Nothing making it unsuitable. The Reading grate shaking is also noted to be harder to perform than the Blaschak coal. First yr buring Reading .. always used Blaschak before...next season? hummmm thinking

This year I only burned Blaschak for a few weeks at the start of the season. Then I switched to Kimmels and my stove has been running very smoothly. With Blaschak, the moisture would build up in the hopper, rusting it out and forming a coal slurry which would jam the auger. None of that this year.

The only way I will ever buy Blaschak again is in bulk. The bagged stuff never seems to dry out no matter what I do.

wlape3 wrote:This year I only burned Blaschak for a few weeks at the start of the season. Then I switched to Kimmels and my stove has been running very smoothly. With Blaschak, the moisture would build up in the hopper, rusting it out and forming a coal slurry which would jam the auger. None of that this year.

The only way I will ever buy Blaschak again is in bulk. The bagged stuff never seems to dry out no matter what I do.

I am thinking of switching from Blaschak to Kimmels for next year. It means a longer drive but at least I'd have a choice and since I plan to rent a truck so that I can make only one trip why not. I understand Kimmels burns better with less ash. Any thoughts on benefits or disadvantages of either. Does Kimmels come in nut and pea? Lisa

Hi Lisa, Kimmels bags rice,buckwheat,pea,nut and stove. Check to see if you dealer what your looking for. I don't stock buck because there has been no call for it.

lowfog01 wrote:I am thinking of switching from Blaschak to Kimmels for next year...Does Kimmels come in nut and pea?

My biggest gripe with Kimmel is that the bags of nut contain a lot of pea. It burns well when I want a long slow fire for Fall and Spring, but not as well when the weather is really cold. Don't rule out Reading, if you have a source for it. I tried ten bags of Reading nut a couple months ago and liked it so I got four more tons. It is much more consistently nut sized than the Kimmel and I think that is the difference -- better air flow through the coal makes for a more even burn through the whole coal bed, and a lot less ash buildup in the corners of the grate.

Having said all that, the Kimmel I have on hand now was bought two or three years ago, and may not be at all the same as what they are selling now.

lowfog01 wrote: I am thinking of switching from Blaschak to Kimmels for next year. . Any thoughts on benefits or disadvantages of either.
Does Kimmels come in nut and pea? Lisa

I think the Kimmel's nut is on average bigger than the Blaschak nut.
We have both. Honestly, I see very little difference between the two.
We've alternated this season, just to compare.
They both burn really nice. (IMO)

Dan

lowfog01 wrote:

wlape3 wrote:This year I only burned Blaschak for a few weeks at the start of the season. Then I switched to Kimmels and my stove has been running very smoothly. With Blaschak, the moisture would build up in the hopper, rusting it out and forming a coal slurry which would jam the auger. None of that this year.

The only way I will ever buy Blaschak again is in bulk. The bagged stuff never seems to dry out no matter what I do.

I am thinking of switching from Blaschak to Kimmels for next year. It means a longer drive but at least I'd have a choice and since I plan to rent a truck so that I can make only one trip why not. I understand Kimmels burns better with less ash. Any thoughts on benefits or disadvantages of either. Does Kimmels come in nut and pea? Lisa

The other thing I like about Kimmels is the woven bags dry out over time where as the "Santa" bags do not.

I too have noticed greater variation in size for Kimmels. For me this is a plus as my furnace operates differently than a hand fed. Mine increases the size of the fire bed as demand for heat increases and evenly distributes the heat throughout the house. When I used a hand fed faster burning coal was desirable in January and early February when temperatures were coldest. The "mixed size" stuff was better for the shoulders of the heating season. This essentially happened as I worked down my coal bin. The start of the season was slow burning, mixed size pea coal with more uniform coal after I had it refilled in late December or early January. This worked out for me because I was very close to the coal region at the time.

Will

lowfog01 wrote:....... I understand Kimmels burns better with less ash. Any thoughts on benefits or disadvantages of either.......

This is 100% OPPOSITE of the experience I had. With Kimmels I could never get a burn much over 12 hours, & I had at least 25% more ash - if not more. Not to mention all the trash found in the bags -- mud balls, rocks, wire, etc .., and the wide variation in sizing (that's probably more due to handling than the company ... but you never know). Maybe I got a bad run, but I burned it for 3 years. Blaschak was night & day better in every way.

Just my experience - YMMV.

wlape3 wrote: The other thing I like about Kimmels is the woven bags dry out over time where as the "Santa" bags do not.

Will

The Santa bags do have perforations, just not a million of them..
And being plastic, they retain moisture longer.
But they do dry out. Mine are as dry as they are ever going to get.
They were sure wet when I got them though.

Dan

lowfog01 wrote:I understand Kimmels burns better with less ash

ALL the Kimmel I have burned has had a coarser, scaly ash that was hard to shake down in my Harman. I have also found junk in it, mostly wire, but not enough to be a bother.

I used to find lots of rocks in Blaschack. No wood that I can recall though. I also have found rocks in Kimmels but no wood or wire.

Last year the Blaschack I burned had no rocks but was always wet and caused numerous shutdowns of my furnace.

This year my second load of Kimmels had absolutely no rocks and has run very smoothly for the last several tons. The coal is still a bit wet but not soaking wet like Blaschack.

For my money I'll keep using Kimmels. Been burned too many times with Blaschack.

When I used a hand fed unit I bought both Reading and Blaschack pea. Reading had some out sized pieces and wood but it all burned well so no worries. The Blaschack cost an extra $10 a ton but was more uniform and produced less clinkers. After one winter burning Blaschack I decided the extra 10 bucks was worth the fewer clinkers. Ash was about the same.

I think what works best for you is a matter of stove type and your storage circumstances.

My Blaschak rice this year burned with less ash that last year. I get good heat. Not much else to compare to. No rocks or junk and I burn bagged. Mine were not full of water this year. Maybe just a few were overly damp. The rest was good. If anyone in CT is looking to get together and buy a truckload of rice coal let me know.

I've watching this thread for awhile now and figured it's time to post. I have been burning bagged Kimmels for the past couple years. I was having a helluva time with it being very wet and full of fines which would cause it to create a void in my hopper. Many times I would wake up to a colder than normal house, go downstairs to check the boiler and see that the temp was around 100*. I would thump the hopper and the coal would collapse. I would try to dry out the bags and drain them on a towel in the mechanical room. I would only put one or two bags at a time in the hopper. I would stir the coal before bed. I started thinking about mechanical things I could build that would stop the voids from forming. Then I decided to try another coal.

I called around and found a Blaschak dealer not as close as the Kimmel dealer, but within reach and was passable on my way home from work. I started buying some Blaschak and every bag was either bone dry or close to it. I could fill the hopper to the brim and never had another issue with the voids. It also burned hotter so I was able to dial out the feed nut a turn too. I used this coal for a few months and during that time I did get some very wet bags, but since there were very little fines in them, they would drain and dry out fast. If they didnt dry out in the bags on the floor, a day or so in the hopper and it was all dry.

The price was higher than the Kimmels, but the product was superior and worth the difference.

I have gone back to Kimmels as of late because I've turned back the boiler and have only been making hot water and sometimes turning the heat on to take the chill out of the house. I still don't fill the hopper to the brim just incase. The bags now seem to be a tad on the dryer side and perhaps less fines.

I bought four, 40 lb bags of Blaschak rice coal yesterday for $7.25 each. This is my first purchase of Blaschak coal. To get a better price at my local Blaschak dealer, I can buy it by the 50-bag ton ($345/ton, or $6.90/bag)! The place I bought this from stored the bags outside, uncovered.

When I stood one of the bags up, I noticed water leaking out of the bag. When I opened the bag, I was surprised how wet the coal was. I was thinking that the heavy duty plastic bag would keep moisture out! I opened all four bags, and found that they were all very wet. Based on these findings, I wondered if the coal was originally bagged this way. Reading these posts I've learned that wet coal in these plastic bags is common, that the bags do not keep water out, and that the coal is originally bagged dry.

I emptied one of the bags onto black plastic to sit out in the warm sun to dry. We've had nice, dry 82 deg F weather in Wilmington, DE today. After drying in the sun all day, the coal looked and felt dry, I rebagged the coal and weighed it. It weighed 37.2 lbs. I did not loose any coal in the process. I have not weighed the other three bags that I've opened.