How Much Ash?

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WIcoal
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Post by WIcoal » Sat. Mar. 08, 2008 8:49 am

I have read that a 40# bag of rice coal will produce 4# of ash? Is that true?
Using a standard paper grocery bag or the plastic bag that the coal came in; as gauge, how full will it be with the amount of ash that is produced?
Does a 40# bag of Reading and Blaschak rice coal, produce the same amount of ash?

 
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Post by WNY » Sat. Mar. 08, 2008 9:15 am

I think Most brands have around 8-12% ash. So a 100# full hopper will give you 8-12# of ash. Some a little less, some a little more, but hard to tell, you might get a lot of shale, some junk, it's not ash, but un-burnable stuff and adds to the weight of the ash.

 
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Post by LsFarm » Sat. Mar. 08, 2008 10:08 am

Coal is pretty dense, ash is not. And the ash can be either very light and full of air, or relatively dense, but still not as dense as coal. So, depending on the stove, the temp it is running at,and the coal itself.. I'd say you will see pretty close to 20% ash volume with coal that is 10% ash by weight. Just holding up my thumb and squinting :D :? :)

Greg L


 
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Post by WIcoal » Sat. Mar. 08, 2008 11:23 am

WNY wrote:I think Most brands have around 8-12% ash. So a 100# full hopper will give you 8-12# of ash. Some a little less, some a little more, but hard to tell, you might get a lot of shale, some junk, it's not ash, but un-burnable stuff and adds to the weight of the ash.
How many 40# bags would you guess, would it take to fill up that ash hopper? Reason I ask, is that sometimes coal users say they are real happy with the fuel, but not so happy with the amount of ash.

 
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Post by LsFarm » Sun. Mar. 09, 2008 2:31 pm

I think that is because they may have burnt wood in the past... wood by volume has very little ash.. Almost the entire piece of wood is burnt up. It is all organic, it was after all, a growing tree at one time.

Coal on the other hand came from the ground, it is the product of growing vegitation, but millions of years old, it has a lot of minerals in with the carbon from the plant life.. Some coal just has more than others.

So there is a greater amount of ash to remove and dispose of compared to a wood fire, but in my mind it is well worth it considering how well coal maintains a fire and how even the heat is. An how little work there is tending a coal fire.. The worst is every 12 hours or so.

Greg L.

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