why is it so hard to find coal???

im looking for bit coal in tennessee or southern kentucky and cant seem to find any, seems like everybody i call dont sell it no more OR they only want to sell 20 tons at a time

I'm not especially happy with my supplier, but he's the only game in this end of the State that I can find. I keep encouraging those folks in Franklin (Ky) to carry bit but the reputation as dirty/smelly puts most people off. It's a real shame that I can buy ant more easily than bit here in Kentucky.

I'm always up for a realistic discussion, BUT, is NOT Bit dirtier & smellier then Anth?

Stephen in Soky wrote:I'm not especially happy with my supplier, but he's the only game in this end of the State that I can find. I keep encouraging those folks in Franklin (Ky) to carry bit but the reputation as dirty/smelly puts most people off. It's a real shame that I can buy ant more easily than bit here in Kentucky.

Stephen in Soky wrote:I'm not especially happy with my supplier, but he's the only game in this end of the State that I can find. I keep encouraging those folks in Franklin (Ky) to carry bit but the reputation as dirty/smelly puts most people off. It's a real shame that I can buy ant more easily than bit here in Kentucky.

i found a guy in east Tn that sells bit BUT he buys it from whoever is cheapest at the time and he has been getting some real crappy coal lately and ive had it with him, i think im going to have to drive 3-4 hours up into KY to buy it, but that will ad a bunch to my cost the stuff im getting now crowns up so bad i have to go outside and break it up every 2-3 hours or it gets cold in the house. then other ti,es he has what i would call "dirt" its real fine and the biggest pieces are maybe nickel size and that dont burn good in my furnace either,

freetown fred wrote:I'm always up for a realistic discussion, BUT, is NOT Bit dirtier & smellier then Anth?

Stephen in Soky wrote:I'm not especially happy with my supplier, but he's the only game in this end of the State that I can find. I keep encouraging those folks in Franklin (Ky) to carry bit but the reputation as dirty/smelly puts most people off. It's a real shame that I can buy ant more easily than bit here in Kentucky.

yep is dirtier than anth but its a bunch cheaper to burn, around here all i can find is bag anth ant that would total about 350 or so a ton, i burn mine outside in a furnace so the mess isnt a problem and i live in the country so the smoke/smell isnt a problem either.

I can't really compare having never burned ant, but the bit I'm burning this year smells like coal outside on reload, but doesn't smell of sulphur hardly at all. Yes, my coal does smoke for a few minutes after a reload, but 20 minutes in here's a worse than usual example of what comes out the stack:



Bit stokers burn even cleaner than that with regards to smoke. Neighbors that pass by have asked me why I quit heating with wood as there's too little smoke once the vols have burned off to be seen from the road.

As to being dirtier, my coal isn't washed when I buy it (Bulk) so yes I suspect it has a few more fines attached to it than bagged ant. However, between buying it & loading it into the stove most of the fines stay outside or in the bottom of my scuttle. Overall my stove area is MUCH cleaner with bit than it ever was with wood.

I haven't had any real issues with soot despite the fact that I'm running 6" class A chimney. The only time I've had soot issues was when I was using fines, now that I screen better I've had no buildup to speak of.

My nearest neighbor is 7/10's of a mile away and he makes more smoke burning wood than I do bit. Are you going to Sampson's?

Don't confuse me with some silly ass, uninformed tree hugger. I'm just stating what a lot of people believe, and without education, they will continue to believe. Of course w/ this A-hole POTUS slam dunking coal every chance he gets, doesn't help anything.

Ummm, Fred, I never thought any such thing. My apologies if I in any way offended you.

ETA: I posted that photo to hopefully dispel the notion some folks have that if you burn bit you're constantly surrounded by a black, sulphur laden smoke throughout the entire burn cycle.

No offense taken, just stating the patheticness of the whole she-bang.

Stephen in Soky wrote:I posted that photo to hopefully dispel the notion some folks have that if you burn bit you're constantly surrounded by a black, sulphur laden smoke throughout the entire burn cycle.

Looks good to me! I drove by a few outdoor wood boilers this morning that from a distance looked like the house was on fire.

There are lots of misconceptions about burning bituminous coals....especially with hand firing. This mostly comes from those who try burning it without proper advice or instruction and therefore have a bad experience with it and then call it "bad" and "dirty". Once you learn the correct method for a particular appliance, it becomes very easy. There will always be some smoke/smell when hand firing bituminous coal but if you live in an area where you can buy stoker/slack coal for $80 per ton or lump for $90 per ton, it's really a no-brainer as to what you should heat with

Once the volatiles cook out of bituminous its more or less smokless but by then its coke burning.

well i dont know who Fred is ranting about, i didnt see any bashing going on, (about burning coal anyway) so who was that comment directed at ??????

Trust me, if & when Fred rants, everyone knows. What bashing?? A little touchy this evening aren't we.? Lighten up my friend, it was a generalization on the mood of today concerning coal burning in general.