Valier Coal Yard and Harper and Gallo

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CoalisCoolxWarm
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Posts: 2323
Joined: Wed. Jan. 19, 2011 11:41 am
Location: Western PA
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: old Sears rebuilt, bituminous- offline as of winter 2014
Coal Size/Type: Anthracite Buckwheat
Other Heating: Oil Boiler

Post by CoalisCoolxWarm » Fri. Oct. 25, 2013 3:13 pm

Went to Valier today for Bit, stove size (lump)

$85 /ton, $75 /ton nut, Kittanning seam.

Still good coal, but owner is in rare form today. As others have commented, he is known to be...tempermental. He was exceptionally so today, long before I got there. Nothing big, but if you are the type who get offended easily by rude or grouchy behavior, you may want to bring your patient buddy along to this yard :)

Harper and Gallo are closer, but MUCH more expensive.

H&G has this stuff available.
Run of Min $100
KY Nut $120 (similar to Kittanning/Pittsburgh seam?)
Harrisburg or Somerset $140

Both have Anthracite hard coal (<- added for search engines) in Stove, nut, pea, buckwheat and rice.
Valier is $200/ton and H&G is $205, any size.

Anybody have opinions on the KY Nut and Hbg/Somerset?

I added barometric damper to old 17" hand fired stove and it doesn't seem to want to change temps once it is going. Guess that's a good thing. Might try some 'better' coal, since it seams (pun intended) to be using less, at least in the first few days.

 
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CoalisCoolxWarm
Member
Posts: 2323
Joined: Wed. Jan. 19, 2011 11:41 am
Location: Western PA
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: old Sears rebuilt, bituminous- offline as of winter 2014
Coal Size/Type: Anthracite Buckwheat
Other Heating: Oil Boiler

Post by CoalisCoolxWarm » Sat. Dec. 07, 2013 2:05 pm

Update: H&G KY 'nut'

We are burning our first ton of KY Nut from H&G. The coal itself seems okay, but the size is pretty
inconsistent. I'd say about 1/3 is nut, 1/3 pea, and 1/3 sand.

The large amount of sand size is really hurting our burns. We are constantly tending and fighting the burn. It burns well when you have the larger stuff loaded, but we are trying to get the sand junk burnt, too.

I amd going to ask if they have larger lump or stove KY at the end of the month. I specifically requested low dust as it makes problems for our hand fired and this is what we got.

If we can't get more consistent in the actual nut or larger sizes from H&G, we'll be back @ Valier, maybe try their Kittanning nut.

Just a heads up to those thinking about trying this if your furnace doesn't do well with fines like ours.


 
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Berlin
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Post by Berlin » Sat. Dec. 07, 2013 5:02 pm

did you not like the valier oversize? why do you think you would prefer their "nut" size coal?

I'm curious because last time I was down there, their "nut" size had gotten smaller than it was in years past and was the size of most standard bit stoker = 1-1/4" x 1/4" 10%< fines. Their old "nut" size used to be between their current "oversize" and current "nut" size.

 
User avatar
CoalisCoolxWarm
Member
Posts: 2323
Joined: Wed. Jan. 19, 2011 11:41 am
Location: Western PA
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: old Sears rebuilt, bituminous- offline as of winter 2014
Coal Size/Type: Anthracite Buckwheat
Other Heating: Oil Boiler

Post by CoalisCoolxWarm » Sat. Dec. 07, 2013 11:34 pm

I di like Valier's Kittanning Stove size. It burned hot and long and seemed to work well with the baro. I was thinking nut would be more uniform in size and maybe could get once a day fill-er-up

Good performance + consistent fuel + simple routine = ideal system

Can't blame a guy for trying 8-)

Harper is a bit more convenient and I don't have to borrow a truck. Not a requirement and not worth trouble coal, but we all try to get our systems tuned and trouble free.

Not everyone who helps with our furnace (when we are out of town, for example) has an interest in tweaking for that perfect burn, so gotta consider that, too.

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