Rice or buck ?

I see some of you are burning buck in the 520 when rice is recommended.What is the advantage? Cost ,BTUs ??

buck is in less demand,so is usually more available than rice.some say there is more grinding of the buck thru the worm,thus more wear and tear,however,it will not give you enough increased wear to worry about.many suppliers will sell you buck for less than rice cost,all you have to do is ask sometimes.I know Gale mining ,1-570-668-5410,will sell buck for less than rice for this reason.you can tune your 520 to burn either,buck might require a little less air than rice,because buck allows better air flow

fifthg wrote:buck is in less demand,so is usually more available than rice.some say there is more grinding of the buck thru the worm,thus more wear and tear,however,it will not give you enough increased wear to worry about.many suppliers will sell you buck for less than rice cost,all you have to do is ask sometimes.I know Gale mining ,1-570-668-5410,will sell buck for less than rice for this reason.you can tune your 520 to burn either,buck might require a little less air than rice,because buck allows better air flow

Are you running Gale's buck through a 520? The last time I burned Gale the sizing was uniformly quite large. It burns very nicely in the bigger EFM's, but I would guess it might be a challenge for the smaller auger tube of a 520.

Mike

fifthg wrote:buck is in less demand,so is usually more available than rice.some say there is more grinding of the buck thru the worm,thus more wear and tear,however,it will not give you enough increased wear to worry about.many suppliers will sell you buck for less than rice cost,all you have to do is ask sometimes.I know Gale mining ,1-570-668-5410,will sell buck for less than rice for this reason.you can tune your 520 to burn either,buck might require a little less air than rice,because buck allows better air flow

Well said. I will add that buck does not pack as tightly in the tube, and if you try and run with less than about 48" of tube you will get gasses blowing back through the tube into the bin. Make sure the buck is at "target spec"...if it is oversized or even on the high side of the size range the auger might have a tough time with it.

ok,ok,just try a couple of buckets and forget all these opinions,see for yourself.I burn buck in my 520 with no problem

Me too, but I run a full length auger.

I can't answer for a efm, but I'm glad that I switch from rice to buck in keystoker.

if you can burn something other than rice,do it.There is too much demand for rice already,and when there is a coal shortage,which is often just a rice coal shortage,you will be feeling pretty smart.Making a market for more buck and pea helps producers keep prices in line,too.They won't have to make all their profit on rice,easing that price too.

I think you'll have to add more air for buck.

stoker-man wrote:I think you'll have to add more air for buck.

That has never been the case for me. Three different sources of buck, three different 520's.

I think it's definitely worth a try. If it works without any problems , then that's one easy way to lower the cost of a BTU. And that is good enough for me.

Rob R. wrote:

stoker-man wrote:I think you'll have to add more air for buck.

That has never been the case for me. Three different sources of buck, three different 520's.

My guess would be that on units that spend a lot of time idling and that don't face a big load, increased air may be a way to keep the buck burning in lieu of more frequent timer cycles. On units that are running harder (e.g., in view of the Canadian border) and definitely on the bigger EFM's, I would go along with Rob because the combustion air flows more easily through the buck, and doesn't need as much of a "push" from the blower.

Mike

The easiest thing to do is to start with EFM's recommended feed and air setting, then see how the ash ring looks under load. 5 teeth and just under 4.5 air is what I run with buck.