Oiling coal

Just did an oil change on my truck & I was thinking, is it possible and/or practical to oil your own coal? What kind of oil do suppliers use & how do they apply it?

Hi SPC:
There have been a few posts about oiled coal and I seem to remember that the dealers used vegetable oil, and not very much at that. As far as motor oil is concerened, it might not burn as cleanly as veggie oil and the aroma may not be too appealing.
An alternative method would be to wet your coal; have a spritzer bottle handy by the bin or else hose it down once in a while to keep down the dust.
John

Don't use Waste Oil, don't even think of it please. You could be endangering yourself from a potential to overfire and have a serious melt down.

Veggie oil I've been told on this forum is used by some suppliers,
I'm partial to Peanut oil myself

If your from Providence RI, are you getting your coal delivered from Cranston by any chance? If so, ask Manny if he offers pre-oiled.

I have a ton of bagged Rice that comes in Nylon Burlap that allows water to pass through so I'll just spray a bag down with the garden hose and let it drain out.

I am going to regret saying this but I burn bituminous coal and I use waste motor oil on it all the time.. I know , I know, EPA regs, bad for the earth.. yada, yada, I guess i am just an Ozone killer...
I use it on top of the coal ( about a half a quart) it works well when first starting a fire and I have never, ever had an issue with overfiring... I think i should note here that my boiler is in my un attached garage and not inside the house so smell is not an issue. not sure I would use it in my haran in the basement though.

I don't think over fire is an issue at all from oiling coal. A flash fire maybe but the btu gain even from waste oil is neglible. I think hte biggest detractor of using waste oil would be the smell of it burning off. I think the oly real effective way to get it oiled is at the breaker where the coal is spread out enough to coat the coal evenly. your bestbet now is to use a garden sprayer to wet dwon the coal as you add it to your coal bucket.

I just ordered a LL Pioneer from Manny, excellent to deal with. He suggested spraying with water. I just didn't know the effect it would have on the hopper rusting.

Ed.A wrote:If your from Providence RI, are you getting your coal delivered from Cranston by any chance? If so, ask Manny if he offers pre-oiled.

My Bad....I assumed/ taught that petroleum products in a conventional fire box was a no-no, I promise not butt in again.

Hey I learn something new here everyday. Heck I've about 10 gallons in the garage just settin there....hrmmmm.


SPC, I met Manny this summer, he gave me lots "O" info on coal burning and Stokers, a really nice guy. What is he getting for bagged Rice now? I'm about 40 mins south of you so I'd be interested in pricing.

I have not bought bags but he charges $210 per ton.

Ed.A wrote:SPC, I met Manny this summer, he gave me lots "O" info on coal burning and Stokers, a really nice guy. What is he getting for bagged Rice now? I'm about 40 mins south of you so I'd be interested in pricing.

i have Blaschak in 40lb bags. they wet it down when packing it with something. either water or veg oil , hard to tell. after sitting in the hopper it tends to dry out.

i'm only on my second season using the mag stoker & remember reading in the manual (when it was delivered) "don't burn wet coal" but since the coal is delivered wet and pretty much stayed that way (damp anyway) in the cold garage, that's how i burnt some (or most) of it. the wet coal burnt the same as some i had let dry, so "what's the big deal" i thought.

when i took the stove apart in late spring to completely clean it i think i found the reason for the warning. upon removing the stoker assy. from the back of the stove, the sides and bottom were badly rusted (just at the beginning where it enters the stove) and the bottom of the gasket was in terrible shape. after much wire brushing with a mini-grinder & repainting with 'brush-on' high heat paint, and a new gasket...i swore never again.

this season i'm bringing in 5 gal. buckets & letting them dry before filling the hopper. if you use wet coal & see 'black water' spots on the floor from the back of your mag, be prepared for some serious work on the stoker assy. when you take it apart for cleaning & overhaul in the spring. i certainly expected some rust on the inside, but not to that extent.

with my old manual feed wet chestnut was not a problem, but with 100#'s of wet rice sitting in a covered hopper, you're looking for a problem in my opinion.

i wonder what's going to happen to the very good lengthy harman warranty once they're sold & whether my dealer in the area will still be 'my dealer' in the future.

what a fabulous forum this is...i doubt i would have 'got up & going' so quickly last year with this stove had it not been without all the invaluable information listed here. the creator of this site deserves a 'high five.'

regards all,
tom

Tom

My bagged rice coal is wet too, I use a plastic muck tub, holds about 3 bags of coal. I cut 3 nice size holes it the bottom and laid a piece of plastic screen over it. Set the tub on 2 bricks, this let's the air flow through and dries out the coal just enough. It's still moist enough not to create a lot of dust, but dry enough to not rust the stove.

I had no rust in the my Alaska Channing after last year.

I use a metal feed scoop to load the hopper, this let's you handle the coal gently and not create dust.

BK

EdA: Please always add your thoughts. The many and different perspectives of all the members here on the forum is what makes it informative and fun.

I agree that adding motor oil to a coal fire may not be the best idea. The waste oil would act like the sooty volitiles in Bituminous coal. So I wouldn't use it on anthracite.

However there are a lot of people who have made up make-shift waste oil burners that add waste oil to wood burning stoves, so it is a possible way to burn the oil.

I have a dedicated waste-oil furnace in my shop that I use to burn the oil and ATF generated every year by my other side interest: Dodge cummins truck hot-rodding and transmission upgrades. So I usually have about a month's worth of oil to burn each winter. This dedicated furnace is designed to burn the dirty, nasty waste oil. It loves the clean ATF I feed it.

Take care. Greg L

The hand fired guys are going to love this, how about spraying a little Pam veggie oil in the hopper once in a while.