Frozen Rice Coal Help

Good afternoon guys,
I am having serious issues with my parents rice coal freezing and then not feeding into there EFM 520 stoker. Coal is in an external from house covered bin but was wet prior to putting in bin. Bin holds 3.5 tons. Has anyone found anything that works to keep the coal from sticking together? Antifreeze mix sprayed on coal? Mineral oil? Obviously motor oil is too thick. Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Glenn

Crap ! Grob,I'm afraid You've encountered Exteriorus Rectumus Painous Extremous ! I do believe that's the Latin Medical Term for Mom&Dad's Outside Coal Bin Trouble with "The Rice".....They must've delivered that Load late in the Fall and ran it through Niagra Falls during the Loading/Unloading Process. With things being the way they are right now,about all You can do is get over there with some 5 gal. buckets that You've drilled small holes in....Small enough to not lose the Rice on Thaw,but big enough to let the Thaw Water out.....Then,hopefully their stove's in the Basement where You can get those buckets a Safe Distance from the stove,and manage the Thaw Water Mess...Bustin' Up the pile to load buckets will be a pain,but if You get decent working weather,it may not be too terrible for You. I've heard of Guys getting a Torpedo Heater blowing into the enclosed bin(Obviously having it set back a safe distance) and then skim shovelling the thawed Rice off the top of the pile......Good Luck,and down the road,I'm sure others will deliver charming advice on how to avoid this type of Stockpile Hell in the future !

A water and mineral oil mix will work once the coal is dried out.
The coal I buy is oiled/probably fuel oil anyway and has perfume
sprayed on it as well as fuel oil is WELL just STINKY.

The torpedo heater is the fastest way to break it up and then bringing it
indoors to warm up and melt off. If they have a dehumidifier in the basement just dump
the coal on the floor or on a tarp if its a dirt floor and turn on the dehumidifier and
let it work.

Its no different than putting a dehumidifier in a room that has standing melt water from
four feet of snow that is surrounding the slab on grade boiler room on three sides where
the melt water is seeping in to the room.

Just be sure the heater is far enough back and there is a tarp covering the pile
to hold the heat. three pieces of PVC pipe and two elbows strapped together
with tie wraps in the grommet holes will work to keep the tarp open and hold the heat.

It will not take long for the ice to break up and the coal to start sliding forward if there
is room.

Thank you to both of you for getting back to me. I will post pics in the morning but in the meantime: The boiler is installed in there gerage (unheated) and the auger goes through the wall and outside into this railroad tie coal bin with a tight metal roof. They use around 15 tons of coal a year for a 4500 squair foot house plus we use the boiler for bio diesel production. 3.5 tons we keep in the coal bin I just talked about and the rest we keep in a huge coal bin that I made out of teliphobe pols with a clear PVC roof and rubber barn mat floor. Unfortunately this year the large bin of coal got rained on just before the cold weather hit. When I use the tractor to move the pile from the large bin to the 3.5 bin all of the coal is freely moving and there are not any signs of large clumps. I think what is happening is the coal is thawing in the 3.5 bin during a warmer day and then refreezing at night or during a cold day. I was thinking if I soaked it with antifreeze and water mixed then it would keep it from sticking together. I also thought about treated diesel since I have thousands of gallons of that around here but did not want to screw up there stoker or cause other issues. Still that sounds like it might be the ticket.

Thanks again,
Glenn

I would avoid diesel, it will stink and make a terrible mess. Anti-freeze is toxic, don't do it. It will also smell very bad when it burns.

Automotive antifreeze is corrosive to open steel.
Perhaps RV antifreeze would work better???

Yep,those were my thoughts,too,Coaledsweat.....Leave your solid combustable as the only combustable-no diesel. Since You've got an abundance of Bio-Diesel,how's that stuff do in a Torpedo Heater ? I think You've got to start drying out that Turkey in order to avoid a re-freeze. In the future,you can avoid this by going broke by pouring a heated pad plugged into those EFM's and heat that Puppy Up so no more trouble. You'll be having to massage that big bin around a wee bit to get to the core of the wet stuff....I don't envy You,but until You can avoid wet deliveries,or rain/snow hitting it afterward,this'll be the Best I've got fer' Ya' !

My first thought would be to find a way to get the otherwise wasted heat ( from your garage located stoker) into your coal bin.Insulate the bin and direct the radiant heat of the stoker into it.The energy of a torpedo heater would be far better spent on heating the house,but don't do that,you would be surprised at the fuel consumption and lose all your savings by heating with coal.If you want to keep the coal from freezing,keep it above 32 degrees.No need to keep it any warmer.The use of A/F and other chemicals will also be expensive and stinky.Oils won't stop freezing.

Good morning,
We do not use bd in the tarpedo heater for obvious reasons. As far as diesel smell goes that is really a non issue do to the bin being away from the house and the bin and house being in the middle of nowhere. The antifreeze being corrosive I had wandered about that and of course won't be going that rout. I agree above all that having the coal dry in the first place is the way to go and this next year's coal will be kept dry. As far as this years coal goes I am going to try treated off road diesel in a small batch in our barn freezer and see if that works first. I am thinking two gallon per ton mixing rate.

Thanks again,
Glenn

The propylene glycol antifreeze (as opposed to ethylene glycol - PG is in your food!) would be the proper antifreeze choice if that route is the route to go.

What would I do?

I would remove the coal and store it to dry over the summer and buy a new lot to replace it.

I will give both a try with the hope of PG working. As far as removing the coal the bin walls are 8 feet high so it would be all ladder and 5 gallon bucket... I have done it before but I don't remember it being lots of fun.

Thanks again,
Glenn

Have you considered sprinkling on rock salt.... similar as the method used for treating paved surfaces?

The moisture in the coal should dissolve the salt creating a brine that should seep through the pile and keep it from re-freezing.

SALT = CORROSION. IN the auger,in the stoker,in ``everything metal.

Just a thought, but do you think that several electric heat tapes like those used to keep water pipes from freezing, laid in he bin might thaw the coal. I guess if it works it might only affect the upper layer of the coal. Might be worth a shot though?
Rick

Good afternoon Guys,
It looks like the diesel is working and I am picking up some mineral oil this weekend. As far as the salt goes... Yep don't want that near my stoker. The heat tape is not a bad idea but there is just too much mass there. I thought about running a couple runs of PEX through the coal and running hot water through it but I think the diesel treatment will work as it has been working on a test batch I am working with.

Thanks again,
Glenn