Water in Coal

I e-mailed the B coal company, they were up front about there operation and the water in there coal. they said it is washed drained and bagged, if you prefer it dryer buy it in the summer months when its dryer because of the weather. That good enough for me I`ll buy in sept.

Not sure where you went to school, but, Sept. is not considered a summer month up here

freetown fred wrote:Not sure where you went to school, but, Sept. is not considered a summer month up here

I did not have the luxury of high school but I kinda figured coal bagged in August would arrive at the dealer in sept.

Don, the coal that is bagged today will probably be on the road tomorrow. It is distributed from all the bagging plants very quickly. There is not enough room for several hundred tons of bagged anywhere, plus double and triple handling gets costly.

I'd think about ordering sooner than later. Good luck in your adventure.

In my own experience, the coal suppliers do nothing special to protect the bagged coal from the elements. In fact, sometimes they are just left outside to get rained on. Plus when they stack them up, it's impossible for them to naturally dry out. Just another reason why its not worth buying bagged coal. Now, I've also bought loose coal wet as well, but I was told that was because I bought in January and the coal doesn't sit long enough to get dry before I get it. And the huge storage shed where they store it is not even protected from the elements either. So if you buy shortly after it rains, your sure to get wet coal. I did buy in June, and it didn't rain for a while. That same coal was sitting in their storage for a while, so it had a while to get dry. That coal was dry as a bone. It has been warm out for a while then and not as many people were buying, so it wasn't flying out the door so fast as compared to January. But, that's also why the price is a little cheaper. (Supply and demand) THE best time to buy is June, July. Defnitely not September when people are stocking up to start off the winter. Buy when no one else is, that's the key. You'll get a better product at a better price.

I buy bagged coal. Its usually wet when I get it. But I bring 6-8 bags in at a time and then they get dumped into a Rubbermaid container that sits right next to my DS 1600 that holds 300 pounds of coal. Before I dump the new bags in I fill my coal hod with the morning's or night's coal (depending on what time I bring coal in) so that the hod that goes into the stove is dry. This way, by the time I go to get coal out of the container either in the morning or evening it's had 12+ hours to dry out due to the heat of the stove. Sometimes I'll put damp coal in but never soaking wet.

I bought 5 ton a few years ago from K....., bagged rice. After burning it that year, I vowed I would not go back to them, bags rotted out from being that wet, I had stains on my stove, carpet, garage floor. Since then, I travel a little further and get bagged coal in poly bags, and no problems since!!!

Some dampness can be a good thing too dry and you get a lot of dust. I bought 21 tons bulk couple years ago have it out in the yard covered by a tarp so its wet content changes a lot. I shovel it in big janitor style trash cans and the water works its way to the bottom. I roll the cans into the garage. I did bags first two years and they did get water in them. I kept them outside and they froze like concrete. I like my setup better now. I had to bring the bags and let them thaw out.The coal in trash cans only gets a little frozen you can break it up. I even have a spray bottle near the trash can so if it looks too dry I spray it so I don't get a mouth full of coal dust, its not fun it you do. Stokers can rust up as mention. So I say a little damp not wet. I have observed if its bone dry the stove does burn hotter.

joe

I have two stoves
LE Pioneer (Great Room)
Power vented Harman Stoker (finished basement)