That's It- Stick With Blaschak!

Well I have to shut my stove down again because the shaker grates are jammed in the full-open position again!
First time ( a few weeks ago) I thought it was me being to agressive with the Harman shaker but...... not twice!
I've been burning Blaschak for years with no problems but I recently bought a ton of coal from Eastern Coal & Ice, Brockton, Mass & have had problems ever since. I noticed what looks like molten metal stuck to the firebrick in the back of the stove the other day, & had to chip it off. I can feel the shaker mechanism binding up when I shake the stove down & today it just jammed again. I've had it & will use up the balance of the Eastern coal (mixing it with Blaschak & then just stick with Blaschak from now on!!
(sorry for the rant but I burned my fingers & am not a happy camper right now!)

That is what I use ( Blaschak ) and have had nothing but GOOD GooD results !! I must admit I have used nothing else but to start with something this hassle free, I will not change that is for sure !! YEAHH Blaschak !!

jcw265 wrote:That is what I use ( Blaschak ) and have had nothing but GOOD GooD results !! I must admit I have used nothing else but to start with something this hassle free, I will not change that is for sure !! YEAHH Blaschak !!

Hi jcw did that retailer closer to you work out OK

Anyone recommend how I should burn the rest of the lousy coal?

Should I :
1. mix it with the Blaschak?
2. Alternate ?(bag of Blaschak & then a bag of the crap)
3. Burn the crap exclusively till it's gone?
4. Throw it through the windows of Eastern Ice & Coal, one chunk at a time?

what kind of coal did you get from them?

i tried a bag of there pea and didn't have any problems in my sf 150

i was thinking about getting a couple of tons of either there pea or nut.

they seen to be the cheapest around when you pick it up your self in bulk ($210t)

sandman wrote:what kind of coal did you get from them?

i tried a bag of there pea and didn't have any problems in my sf 150

i was thinking about getting a couple of tons of either there pea or nut.

they seen to be the cheapest around when you pick it up your self in bulk ($210t)

I bought a ton of nut coal after trying a few bags that seemed to work fine. (I'm thinking that the problems only show up after the crap has been used a while & has a chance to fowl the stove)

Devil5052 wrote:Anyone recommend how I should burn the rest of the lousy coal?

Should I :
1. mix it with the Blaschak?
2. Alternate ?(bag of Blaschak & then a bag of the crap)
3. Burn the crap exclusively till it's gone?
4. Throw it through the windows of Eastern Ice & Coal, one chunk at a time?

I have posted somewhere else here in the forum that I have had to do this after a bad coal incident . I have a bin in the basement and the coal is loaded from the street via a hatch so what I have done is put one guy in the bin and move the offending coal to the side as far as possible, then the outside guy starts to shovel the Blaschak in and the inside guy mixes it 1 to 1 or some times 2 to 1 depending how bad the coal is . I have managed to get rid of some pretty crappy coal this way including a real rocky batch . I have also spread the offensive coal out across the floor of the bin then formed deep rows in it every 2 foot or so and covered with Blaschak as you use it you get the mixing effect and as you get closer to the bad coal you just turn it into the Blaschak .

I am of the same mind set as you I just want the coal to burn clean and hot and not screw the stove up, Blaschak coal has never let me down .

I like to experiment with trying different coal but the truth of the matter is I no longer have the time or energy to undo a bad batch anymore .

Did the piece that jammed the grates look like either of these?

The first photo is strip-mined coal, nut size, from a supplier in Stroudsburg.
The second photo is strip-mined coal, stove size from a dealer in NJ, the dealer I bought coal from when I first got the stove. That coal jammed the grates.

I have found that my stove seems to digest pea size the best, I get the best burn from it. I'm currently burning the pea coal from the Stroudsburg yard. These hard metallic clinkers form from the impurities in the coal, they lie on top of the grates for a long time and form from the intense heat. Since the initial coal size is large they don't break up and drop during shaking. Since the pea is smaller to begin with, most of the bad stuff will drop during shaking.

I'm using pea size only now, I shake the coal bed thoroughly twice a day, more often during very cold weather. After shaking, I run a wire "poker" up through the holes in the grates anywhere I don't see bright orange light illuminating the bottom of the ash compartment. I wiggle the wire around until I break up the ash or clinker that's blocking the grate.

With nut size I would have to shake the fire a lot more, and fish the clinkers out through the loading door.

I'd mix the coal you have with the Blaschak, and stick to pea size.

have you tried giving them a call?

i guess i'll buy some more bags and run it for a week before getting a few tons

Wood'nCoal wrote:Did the piece that jammed the grates look like either of these?

NASTY COAL2.jpg

BADCOAL3.JPG

The first photo is strip-mined coal, nut size, from a supplier in Stroudsburg.
The second photo is strip-mined coal, stove size from a dealer in NJ, the dealer I bought coal from when I first got the stove. That coal jammed the grates.

I have found that my stove seems to digest pea size the best, I get the best burn from it. I'm currently burning the pea coal from the Stroudsburg yard. These hard metallic clinkers form from the impurities in the coal, they lie on top of the grates for a long time and form from the intense heat. Since the initial coal size is large they don't break up and drop during shaking. Since the pea is smaller to begin with, most of the bad stuff will drop during shaking.

I'm using pea size only now, I shake the coal bed thoroughly twice a day, more often during very cold weather. After shaking, I run a wire "poker" up through the holes in the grates anywhere I don't see bright orange light illuminating the bottom of the ash compartment. I wiggle the wire around until I break up the ash or clinker that's blocking the grate.

With nut size I would have to shake the fire a lot more, and fish the clinkers out through the loading door.

I'd mix the coal you have with the Blaschak, and stick to pea size.

Don't know what the offending coal looks like yet as the stove is stll roaring along. I'm trying to time it to last through the night but be out early in the am for cleanout & relight. I'll take a few pics in the morning.

sandman wrote:have you tried giving them a call?

i guess i'll buy some more bags and run it for a week before getting a few tons

I tried to email them a copy of my post here but the cowards have no email address!
I suppose I could call them but for what purpose? (They'll undoubtedly tell me that their coal is fine & I'm the problem)
It burns but I'll just have to be extremely careful shaking it down & may have to shut down every so often to clean it out.

You wanna know why this happened?.........You really wanna know why alice??.............I'll tell you why.........Just for that I'm not going to tell you!!!

( felt we needed a little Ralph Kramden here)

i'd give tham a call and see what they say.

worse case they say your on your own.

then you never buy coal from them again, and i probably wont either.

i got my last load of blachak rice from kirley masonary in mansfield

i would had got it in brockton, but they dont sell rice.

if it's not blachak, what kind of coal do they sell in brockton?

sandman wrote:i'd give tham a call and see what they say.

worse case they say your on your own.

then you never buy coal from them again, and i probably wont either.

i got my last load of blachak rice from kirley masonary in mansfield

i would had got it in brockton, but they dont sell rice.

if it's not blachak, what kind of coal do they sell in brockton?

No idea...It comes in clear 50lb bags???

Devil5052 wrote:

sandman wrote:have you tried giving them a call?

i guess i'll buy some more bags and run it for a week before getting a few tons

I tried to email them a copy of my post here but the cowards have no email address!
I suppose I could call them but for what purpose? (They'll undoubtedly tell me that their coal is fine & I'm the problem)
It burns but I'll just have to be extremely careful shaking it down & may have to shut down every so often to clean it out.

You wanna know why this happened?.........You really wanna know why alice??.............I'll tell you why.........Just for that I'm not going to tell you!!!

( felt we needed a little Ralph Kramden here)

To the moon Alice, to the moon!