Blaschak Coal Quality Issues This Year?

Like I've said before, I only had issues with 3 or 4 pallets having ROCKS disguised as coal. Those pallets were mixed in a 14 pallet load I got in '11. It was a test of my patience, I can tell you that - I think I set blood pressure records the last 2 seasons! My ol' man had bought coal around the same time from the same place, and he too had his grates jam open several times before we ran through that crappy batch. Before that, it was fantastic - that's why I dropped the coin on the truckload. After those 4 crap pallets here, everything was good. The ash wasn't as fine/powdery as before, and was a bit darker grey in color, but still threw heat out and gave easy 24 hour burns.

So far this season, I've burned over 4.1 tons of bagged rice. Other than some bags having a gallon of water in them, and just a few pieces of nut & stove coal mixed into a few bags in one pallet, it's been great too. Using less coal during the coldest winter in years - I can't bitch.

I've burned two tons of Blaschak Stove sized this year and one ton of Nut sized. I had no problems at all size wise. I did notice a little more smell and a bit more smoke vs. last year, but it's not a issue for me.

I've burned approximately 7.5 tons of bulk Blaschak coal this heating season. I'm happy with the coal so far. There has been some small pieces of wood mixed in the coal, but not big enough to interfere with the auger operation. This is my first year burning this brand of coal. At this point I would use it again. John

Their rice coals sucks! I had the owner of the company personally tell me they are having problems, he told me to bring my coal inside the house and pre-warm and pre-dry it! WTF?! -17 below zero and the coal will not stay lit, or feed in the stove, outraged beyond words!

Ya doin bagged or bulk?

I tried bagged blashack and it did not burn well

Inspector9111 wrote:Their rice coals sucks! I had the owner of the company personally tell me they are having problems, he told me to bring my coal inside the house and pre-warm and pre-dry it! WTF?! -17 below zero and the coal will not stay lit, or feed in the stove, outraged beyond words!

If the coal is frozen, he is right. You can't dump chunks of frozen coal into the stove.

Bagged rice coal, and yes it is frozen. I drop it on the concrete to break it up. For 5 years it has never been a problem, but now they put the coal in some kind of "giant clothes dryer" and in the process grinds the coal into a fine dust. They recently coated the dryer with rubber, which lessened the dust, but it still sucks. Now, my coal has been at room temp for 24 hours and it still will not feed because it is wet/caked.

Looking for a different supplier of rice coal in Minnesota

I started the year with 3 tons of rice from Blaschak, having never burned coal before. The delivery guy brought it (bulk, not bagged), and we took what he brought. When my supply dwindled, my choice was to get a minimum order from the guy again (won't deliver less than 2 tons plus a delivery fee - not a problem, just sayin') or try Lehigh that I could get myself in smaller quantity. I find the Lehigh to be less dusty, with no treatment on my part. The rice seems to also be more uniform in size, and more shiny, if that makes sense. Less fly ash with Lehigh, too. But overall, I find both to be good, with all of my vast 4 months of experience! But as long as I have the choice, Blaschak is now my second choice. Both have been able to keep us warm, and that is the bottom line for us.

Yes with Blaschak there is lots of black dust that I am not happy about either.

warminmn wrote:Ive got inconsistent size like you mentioned. But there are no fines at all and its the best/hottest Ive burned in my 4 short years of burning Blaschak. No complaints here.

Ya, that Redding crap is something I'll never buy again. Soaking wet, full of fines, pure garbage. Blaschak has been, for me, the same for every year I've burned it.

Now someone chime in and tell us that it's all coming from the same place! LOL

av8r wrote:

warminmn wrote:Ive got inconsistent size like you mentioned. But there are no fines at all and its the best/hottest Ive burned in my 4 short years of burning Blaschak. No complaints here.

Ya, that Redding crap is something I'll never buy again. Soaking wet, full of fines, pure garbage. Blaschak has been, for me, the same for every year I've burned it.

Now someone chime in and tell us that it's all coming from the same place! LOL

Thought I better point out that my post was a year old. This years buy was good too, almost as good as last years. Bagged nut and stove. Maybe a little over oiled but still pretty good. Im happy with it.

My coal is soaking wet too when I buy it. Really, I think the easiest way to overcome wet coal is buy it in the spring or summer. Store it in a building and it will be dry, almost too dry dust wise, come winter. Ive never had a wet bag doing it this way and I am soaked thru after unloading it in the spring time.

I have to agree with warminmn, again, just based on my admittedly-limited experience. We took delivery of 3 tons of Blaschak rice in November, and the water that seeped from the pile was similar to what we might get in that area of the basement when we get 3 inches of rain. I was told ahead of time that they rinse the coal, the water is even factored in to the weight per the slip copy we got (so we did not pay for water weight, which I thought seemed very up front and honest of them), so the water did not shock me. By the last ton, the coal was very dusty and dry, but it burned well, again, to me that just seemed normal, with no other experience. The other rice I have gotten recently is not as wet, but it also does not seem as dusty. Then again, I'm using it within a month of getting it, so maybe it is not given enough time to dry to that same dusty level, just to be fair to Blaschak.

av8r wrote:

warminmn wrote:Ive got inconsistent size like you mentioned. But there are no fines at all and its the best/hottest Ive burned in my 4 short years of burning Blaschak. No complaints here.

Ya, that Redding crap is something I'll never buy again. Soaking wet, full of fines, pure garbage. Blaschak has been, for me, the same for every year I've burned it.

Now someone chime in and tell us that it's all coming from the same place! LOL

It comes from the same place ! (someone had to)

My wifey is just the opposite .. does not want Blaschak anymore but Redding (Reading?).

Aside from the retailer sending me a lot of iced-coal this season, I see a slight difference in Reading v. Blaschak being...larger nut coal size and particle size distribution with the Reading v. Blaschak and the extra stuff like small wood pieces.

As to the moisture and fines. I think that Reading and Blaschak could control this by requiring sellers to cover their coal bins (what an idea huh?) to control moisture. And both could require a max. amount of fines to be sold too, although this would be hard to actually control when it comes to your door but some specifications should be made (I am not aware of any).

Lots of water this year, for sure. My coal is wetter than it's ever been. Seems they enlarged the vent holes in the bag .... and it seems that wasn't the best course of action. Sizing is all over the map, and it seems to be burning just a touch cooler too.

Choices are limited around here - I can get Kimmel's at outrageous prices from a local place .... or get bagged who-knows-what from a place that bags their own (no thanks!) - those are the 2 other places close by. My current supplier delivers for a fee, and I've been splitting the cost with a neighbor. Can't beat that, so I can deal with these little annoyances.