Blaschak Sizing

this has probably been talked about before but I cant find it.

i got to the bottom of the coal bin. I needed just enough to get me through till warm weather finally sticks around. I went to the local dealer. im not naming names or prices. I got 1000 lbs. its small. I asked for Blaschak nut. I think he gave me pea passed off as nut. this year I got coal from lots of places to see whet the difference in quality. I never really gave coal much thought coal is coal right? well that's not the case! now before everyone starts betting me up on the forum THIS IS MY OPINION!

ok now to the question. I have noticed that, the sizing of the coal I had gotten in the past, was the same size "nut". does Blaschak nut have different sizing than everybody else? I have also noticed to get the same temps out of the stove I have to give it a lot more air than I have with the other coal. I think that's due to it being pea sized coal.

quarters used for sizing difference.

Looks like nut with some pea sized pieces. Might be a difference in the product, maybe the dealer didn't do a good job keeping the piles separated, or maybe it was just the tail end of the pile. In any case, what is the harm if you have to open the inlet damper a little more? I'm sure it beats fuel oil and LP by a big margin.

Hi Windago,there is a thread Anyone Else Notice a Drop in Blaschak Quality Control? on this same issue,and rocks as well I got 1 1/2 tons of bagged nut and the size is small compared to last years nut so It's the coal and not you .Take care Keepaeyeonit

For some silly reason, some people seem to think that mining & processing is an exact science. I have never seen anyone on micrometer duty near the scales. In my opinion, Blaschack is a lot more consistent then most I've seen. That said, now fuel oil & gas are way consistent. Get out & do some yard work.

Keepaeyeonit wrote:Hi Windago,there is a thread Anyone Else Notice a Drop in Blaschak Quality Control? on this same issue,and rocks as well I got 1 1/2 tons of bagged nut and the size is small compared to last years nut so It's the coal and not you .Take care Keepaeyeonit

i have noticed some rock. I look over everything that goes in the stove. if it doesn't look like coal it goes in the ash bin. most cases I end up with about a coffee can of what I call no good, out of a ton. but sizing is the question. why would they make it smaller? im not complaining. for this time of year its nice. after one day of using Blaschak coal, its nice to wake up to cooler temps in the house. ive been idling the stove with the other coal that ive been getting and still having to open windows to keep it around 80. with the Blaschak smaller sizing I can keep the temps in the house down. around 70/75. the complaint was isn't there some kind of industry standard on sizing? this would aggravate some people trying to heat there house. its always been bigger the size the faster it burns. IE more heat. if it was zero out side and I got this delivered sight on seen I would be not to happy.

ive burned pea in the past. in my case to keep the temp in the house, during colder temps ive got the stove just about full open.

buy the way im not beating up on Blaschak. I think that the dealer that I got it from will never see me again. in my case I think this is closer to range coal ive got rice to pea size. I use a grate to sift out the fine coal. if I don't it just falls through the shaker grate in to the ash pan. so I will use this in the boiler when I get it installed.

Sizing is dictated by law. Law also permits up to 15% undersized material. Nut has a large size range. It must pass over a 13/16" screen and through a 1-5/8" screen.

I find that small pieces tend to migrate to the bottom of the pile when handling.

I suspect that bagged coal will have size variations depending where in the run they are. Understand they are handling huge amounts of coal from our perspective. There will be some bags with smaller coal and some with larger coal - and this will vary from pallet load to pallet load, not bag to bag.

See attached law from 1947 FYI:

Keepaeyeonit wrote:Hi Windago,there is a thread Anyone Else Notice a Drop in Blaschak Quality Control? on this same issue,and rocks as well I got 1 1/2 tons of bagged nut and the size is small compared to last years nut so It's the coal and not you .Take care Keepaeyeonit

I don't know if its a QC issue ... but last year I switched to Reading coal, nut, and got hotter burns with it. This year went back to santa claus...was not that cold so its hard to say. Had no rocks or sticks (some sticks with Reading-nothing major).

I do think that their size has changed of the nut .... 1st season great ... 2nd season OK .... 3rd season has issues-switched to Reading 4th season-not able to really say to to warmth of weather overall

Anyone Else Notice a Drop in Blaschak Quality Control?

Size differences may be the reason for the above thread too.

Blaschak has pushed a lot more coal this year...
Picking up the volume when dealers could not source from their regular guy...
My thoughts are that in order to keep supply they allowed their sizing window to open a bit more...
Still legal just allowing smaller than santa normaly runs size wise...
To keep customers with coal in their bins and warm...
I applaud Santa for doing the right thing and picking up others slack...
They could have said what everyone else was sayin'...
Sorry no coal for you...

Good point CC. My money has always & will continue to be on the SANTA people. How could you not trust a face like that. --BUT-- I think that all you complainers should get back to your favorite mines come next season if SANTA's not made you happy for whatever reason

freetown fred wrote:--BUT-- I think that all you complainers should get back to your favorite mines come next season if SANTA's not made you happy for whatever reason

complainers? Blaschak is great coal! burns nice. the only thing I was complaining about was the dealer in my area. his coal was all over the place on size. I know from years past when coal was in high demand there coal lost some of its size. this is not a problem. if your dealer tells you about it. when the time comes you just move up to stove size from nut and it stays consistent with the sizing that you get from other breakers. size your use to, if you get coal from other places. IN NO WAY WAS I BERATING BLASCHAK COAL! in a 1000 lbs of coal that I got I found one piece that didn't look like coal. and I think it was from the dealers yard that I got it from. ok ill get of my soap box now.

PS. this was not a a question about the quality, just the sizing. thank you to all that answered.
PPS. pea is nice this time of year. im liking the lower stove temp and keeping the house at 70 not 85.

Yeah it does burn nice. I didn't know what I was missing when I started my coal burning with Kimmels. Could never get more than 12hrs out of a burn before the ash would choke it out. Was constantly finding wire, wood of all sizes, roots, rocks, & mud balls. One mud ball was bigger than a softball! Had to weigh 10 lbs - had smaller rocks all packed in it as well.

Never got any bags even close to that bad with Blaschak. And the burn is great. Always 24 hours if I burn it normal (meaning not cranked to 700° sides). My whole reason for posting that Blaschak thread was the rocks. I haven't dumped a fire in 7 years .... and just this past Feb./March I dumped at LEAST 5 fires due to rocks. Talk about being pissed!! Just dumped another 2 nights ago. I had to remove the handle & straighten it back out in the vice with a 4 lb sledge & lots of heat, after kicking the thing in a furious rage. SOOOOOOOOO aggravating!!

But the last few bags I've had are just about back to normal. I've had a few jams that cleared right up with a sharp jab of the shaker handle. That wasn't the case with the last batch. It bent the damn handle! Also my last 6 or so bags have been nice & big chunks of nut. Those always burn great & take very little time to catch. All winter I've been alternating (not by my choice) between pea sized nut, & nut sized nut. This year lots of variation there as well, but that I can live with. Rocks will drive me absolutely criminally insane ....