pea or nut

I just bought a ton of pea coal for my Mark II. $260 here in NE Vermont. I will get the rest this summer/fall. I intend to purchase 5 ton total for next heating season. Is it the consensus here that pea is preferred over nut for the most efficient burns?

The ton I purchased was "Kimmels" from PA.

Anyone have anything to say about Kimmels and pea VS Nut?

Thanks.

I would try that pea size before you order more,most hand fired stoves work best with nut size.There are other members here that use the same stove you do,I'm sure they will reply soon.Good luck

Here is another member using the same stove who is replying:
I found that pea worked the best in the Mark I, because it didn't form large clinkers and was easier to shake down.
The ton of Superior I recently got is nut size, since it's better coal I figured I'd try the nut and it seems to be working out well.

I run pea in my Mark I. I used nut the first two seasons and I found that I had to run it WAY hotter than was comfortable. If I tried to throttle it down, it would load up with ash and choke itself out. With the pea, I can throttle it way back and run hands off for up to 20 hours. If it gets really cold, I like to throw some nut in to raise the temps, but I typically only buy pea in bulk. I live close enough to the dealer that I can go pick up some bags of nut if I need to.

Hitzer say I can burn pea or nut in my 30-95. The dealer had pea burning in his 30-95 in the showroom and said he had tried both sizes and thought pea burned better. I didn't ask why. I told him I would take 10 bags of pea to start out. When I opened the first bag at home I found they had given me nut size. It is burning very well so far (I have been burning for only 52 hours so far) . I will get some pea to see if I have a preferance. Perhaps as described in some other topics, I will use nut when I want more heat and pea when I want longer burns. Part of the fun in this new adventure for me will be in the experimenting and learning new tricks(even though I am an old dog).

I use Stove, Nut and Pea in my Mark II. Before you commit to all 5 ton in pea, at least try the nut. Each size has its own burn quality and depending on your setup one may burn better than another.
I find the smaller the size, the more control you get at lower burn temps. Pea is great for banking the stove overnight or when it gets warm during the day. Stove is better when the Mark II is running hard. I get 20+ hour burns and 68* house temps from a nut/pea combo when I am out working.
I use bulk Nut Blaschak, bagged Pea from Centralia Coal Sales and Stove from people who can’t seem to burn it successfully. I do have a barometric damper and a good draft at warmer temps.
Tried some Kimmels bagged Nut; it did not burn “nice” for me and had more clinkers that jammed the grates.
Bagged Blaschak Nut worked great but I can buy it in bulk locally and for less money per ton.

Is there any pictures some where that shows the difference between pea, nut and rice coal? Because I don't think pea coal would be the size of a pea, it would seem awfully small.

Sizes:

http://www.sizes.com/materls/anthracite.htm

Stove is roughly the size of a small fist
Nut is roughly the size of a chicken egg
Pea is roughly the size of a ripe olive
Buckwheat is roughly the size of a navy bean or Lima bean'
Rice is roughly the size of green peas on your dinner plate

I have no clue where these sizes got their names... certainly doesn't make sense to me

greg L

LsFarm wrote:Stove is roughly the size of a fist
Nut is roughly the size of a chicken egg
Pea is roughly the size of a ripe olive
Buckwheat is roughly the size of a navy bean or Lima bean'
Rice is roughly the size of green peas on your dinner plate

I have no clue where these sizes got their names... certainly doesn't make sense to me

greg L

Wow I was reading where someone was saying stove and I had no idea what he was talking about, just figured he was either crazy or just learning English. Couldn't figure out how you could have a stove inside of a stove.

So I would think that the size of the coal would be determined by the size of the grate openings? If a stove takes rice then it could pretty much hold everything above it and if it takes pea then it can't take anything below it?

Is there any pictures some where that shows the difference between pea, nut and rice coal? Because I don't think pea coal would be the size of a pea, it would seem awfully small

.

Yup

http://www.cjshomedecor.com/acatalog/an ... dsizes.jpg

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I promise to burn no anthracite before it's time.

Cool thanks guys

Hi Adam, rice and Buckwheat sizes are pretty much used only for stoker stoves.. But some stokers can use Pea size, like my AxemanAnderson boiler, an AHS boiler or a few others.

Stove, Nut and Pea are generally used in hand feed or hopper [gravity feed] stoves.

The size of the GRATE, determines the size of the coal usable in that firebox. You can change the coal size but not the grate size.

Greg L

Thanks Greg.


For Anthracite coal is there only the Blaschak and Reading brands available in all the sizes? Also is one really better then the other or is it pretty much each one's own personal preference?