Anyone else notice a drop in Blaschak quality control?

Have run a recent shipment of Santa Pea...
No rocks or wood...

Hi Smitty, I wonder if your shaker linkage, and grate linkage is getting enough wear after the many years, and is getting sloppy enough that you do't have a good control over the grates as you used to have??

Because I KNOW you know that when shaking down a fire, you really are not opening up the gap between the grates.. you are just shaking the floor of the fire, just creating a minor 'earthquake' under the coal bed so that the fire will let the ash fall free and through the slots in the grates..

If your grate/shaker linkage is getting sloppy, you may be opening up the gap wider than you think.
If your grates were covered with a layer of stone from the coal.. then maybe you would jam the grates??

OR,, maybe you need to shake the stove BEFORE you drink the third pot of coffee or ??? Maybe a little less 'energy' in the shaking action..??

AS for the changing of the quality of the coal.. I'm surprised, I've been through the Blaschak breaker,, they do an amazing job of separating out the crap from the coal,, and I've been through the bagging plant.. Blaschak wanted me to become a coal dealer in Michigan.. so I got the whole tour.

In coal mines, if the coal is from underground, or the surface mining has gone deep enough that they have dug into old mines, there is wood from the old bracing that gets into the coal.. and most of this is separtated..
My worst experiences with bagged coall was with Reading.. Pieces of water logged wood the size of a sub-sandwich, in bags of nut.. and a gallon bucket of wet fines to balance out the wood.. . That was the worst bagged crap I've ever bought..

Coal does change in quality, the veins of coal change as they get mined out, and the mines have to move on into new veins.. It's always changing.

Greg L.

I don't know if you guys with the rocks and wood are burning rice coal or not, but I do...and Blaschak is about the only name in town around here..I buy buy it bagged..I have never ever seen anything like you guys are describing!

The linkage could certainly be bent - I've slammed it in anger more than once. Even gave it a kick once too. Handle had to come off & go to the vice to get straightened after that night ....

I used to be able to shake this coal as far as I wanted to go without an issue. I always stopped when I felt resistance - because that was fresh coal. Pan area would be nice & red. Now, no matter how gentle you are, they jam ... then I have to grab the handle with 2 hands and TUG firmly without going in the other direction. If you go in the other direction it's all done - fire is dumped & your starting over ... unless you get lucky ( or angry enough) and your able to force the grates back to normal position.

After dumping the last fire, the grates were the first thing I checked. Thought something was bent & keeping the grates cocked. Nope - 100% a coal issue.

LsFarm wrote:My worst experiences with bagged coal was with Reading.. Pieces of water logged wood the size of a sub-sandwich, in bags of nut.. and a gallon bucket of wet fines to balance out the wood..

Strange. I bought 3 tons of Reading nut last fall, and it has been as good as anything I have used. I'm beginning to think it is random, and every brand has runs of good stuff and runs of bad.

I've noticed much smaller pieces in the nut, and occasionally a few bags with a lot of fines.
One rock big enough to jam my grate, but was able to get it out.
I did get my supply early summer. I think I'll grab a couple of bags off this
last new load, just to see if it's still running that way.
But yes... it's a lot different than last year.
I'm tempted to get stove this summer. I know it burns great.
I keep saying I'm going to get stove, I like it, but I always get nut.
I don't know why!
And maybe if it carries the same trend as the nut, will be smaller
than it used to be, getting close to the old nut!

The rice is ALWAYS wet....

Dan

I picked up eight bags of Blaschak pea over the weekend. After adding about 10 # to my fire, the stove almost went out. I had been burning Kimmel's nut with very good heat output. With the Blaschak I had to open the MPD all the way and open the ash pan draft all the way. The highest temp I could get out of the stove was 400*F running the flue draft @ -.06 WC. on the manometer.
The Kimmel's Nut burned with lots more heat , 500+*F with the MPD closed, ash pan draft just cracked open and running -.01 on the manometer.
So, I returned seven bags of Blaschak... and went on a Kimmels buying spree.

Bagged coal is like a box of chocolates....You never know what your going to get.....

Eddie

Did you expect pea size to burn the same as nut?

Rob R. wrote:Did you expect pea size to burn the same as nut?

I had also been burning Kimmel Pea with the same very good heat output......

I had mine go out the other day. It has been running along fine in the warm weather. It seemed like it got a bunch of non-burning coal out of a bag. Blaschak rice. I have found overall the Blaschak has been hotter then the Kimmels I bought 3 years ago. And the Kimmels had lots of rocks, sticks, and oversize pieces. Never know I guess, I like the box of chocolates analogy.

Kevin

I'm going to pick up 25 bags of Blaschak NUT this week & see what all this Blaschak talkin is about. I'll get back on this one. Yes, I will open them all & put them in one of my bins.

havnt had one iota of a problem with the blashack... 6 ton bulk

burned almost two pallets of thier rice this year also and not one issue or rock..... wierd

Good morning Guys,
I have always burned UAE (of course tried others as well) nut and pea in my hand fed stoves and just love it. I have never been a fan of Blashak but since putting in this 520 stoker at the parents house we have been using Blashak rice from a local supplier and, WOW! This stuff is totally different then the Blashak nut and pea I burned four years ago! This rice is mostly red ash, and burns very well with lots of heat. The nut and pea I tried before was high white ash with low heat. I won't switch from UAE but for the time being Blashak has really upgraded there coal in my opinion.

Thanks again,
Glenn

Opened a couple SANTA bags of NUT. Not wet & they were outside on pallets, not in his sheds, sized fairly uniform. BUT---wait for it---I think you guys should all burn UAE---damn Blaschack

Sounds like good stuff Fred - but you never struck me as a fussy eater anyway.