Got My First Ever Delivery of Anthracite Coal!!!

i heard some discussion of the ash being used as driveway fill. my driveway is terrible, several big old nasty mud puddles including one in front of the barn. can I use the ash to fill these holes. is the epa going to come after me for it? how does the ash work does it eventually set up and harden or does it stay loose regardless of how long it sits there?

That is definitely not rice in the handful pic.. Looks like a buck/pea mix. Not sure how/if thats gonna work/feed in a keystoker..

Edit- 2nd pic with coins looks like buck to me.

it looks like the same size as the coal that's in the hopper currently and that was coal from tractor supply sold as rice. I bought one bag from there. that seems to feed no problem. I did notice that there were larger peices of coal but there were some smaller pieces mixed in. none of it was large like nut coal. the reciept specifically states that it is rice coal. what if I had a problem do I call the coal place I ordered it from because the receipt states rice specifically and that is what I ordered?

i just did a double look in my hopper and it looks exactly like the stuff I hauled around all day. I know what was in the hopper feeds just fine because I ran the stove on that coal for a night. I don't think I will have a problem I just hope I am right. I specifically told the guy exactly what stove I am running and he said that he sells many keystoker 90k units. so I am thinking he would only sell me something that will run in that stove

what ever size it is, it is plenty shiny and that is good, the more shine the better. have fun burning it!

Let your stove burn a couple days on it now, even if you have to open windows. Better to know if it will burn in your stove now than in December. It will test your stove too.

You are going to love being warm, not 65 degree warm, but warm, this winter. (unless 65 is your thing!)

probably going to be setting the thermostat at 67-68 this winter. we are supposed to be getting slightly colder temps middle of next week. night time lows in the 40's cold enough to justify running the stove. I think that coal will burn fine, if what is in the hopper is the same size and it ran just fine on that bag. the coal I just got should be better then tractor supply junk. tractor supply isnt known for selling the best stuff.

I like the positive attitude! When you see how cheap it is to run you may turn the thermostat a little higher! Please keep us updated on your results and congrats on being ready in September instead of November like so many do.

in regards to that being a former pellet burner I am thrilled at the prospects of inexpensive heat. last year I spent $1,000 on pellets at the beginning of the season thinking I should set until January. YEAH right it got cold and I started burning a ton every 3 weeks. im glad to be done with pellets sold the Harman as well I got $1,600 out of it, it paid for my coal and I had almost $600 bucks left over.

anyways I love the idea of spending $1,000 and mostly likely being completely done buying heating supplies unless we have another winter of constant below ZERO temps, even then it wouldnt take much to make up the difference. im thinking I will save $7-800 bucks per year and even with the savings I still will have a warmer house. so what's not to be excited about? cheaper warmer heat after 6 years of buying overpriced, under-performing wood pellets.

when I bought the Harman I was using a cheap tractor supply stove which did not provide nearly enough heat. I was considering buying a coal stove at the time. the people at the dealer who sold both Harman pellet and Harman coal told me that I should only consider buying a coal stove if I planned on installing it in the basement, they told me it would be much dirtier then the pellets. they also told me that the P61 would burn far less then the tractor supply unit, yeah right B.S. the Harman did provide MORE heat but still not nearly enough. it was an improvement from the completely inadequate POS tractor supply unit but the years I had the tractor supply unit were mild years. the first year we had the Harman the house was warmer but it still was fairly mild. the last two winters have been very bitter and miserable, once again the inadequacy of pellets show it it's ugly head. the people at the Harman dealer told me that the stove would only burn MAX 4-5 ton per year. not even close for the past two winters.

why did a dealer that sold both Harman coal and pellet sway people away from buying a mag stoker and instead buying a pellet stove that ultimately they might not be happy with. I think its odd that a year after I bought the harman, Harman got out of the coal stove line. I think the dealers were pushing pellet stoves on people instead of explaining the differences. sorry Harman but I was not happy with the fuel your products use.

i think Harman selling off the coal stove line is going to prove to be a huge mistake for them. as pellets continue to rise in price and people slowly trade in their pellet stoves for other options Harman is stuck not having coal stoves as a great option to offer the consumer. I think the Harman company makes a good product but if they arent offering coal stoves they are making a HUGE mistake. pellets might price themselves right out of the market. I was glad to offload that thing before pellets went to $300 per ton and that stove would become worthless. if pellets costs start to as much as propane and fuel oil they will start to disappear. no one will buy them anymore. I am also sick of the pellet stove dealers to this day telling flat-out lies about pellets and coal.

ad356 wrote:i heard some discussion of the ash being used as driveway fill. my driveway is terrible, several big old nasty mud puddles including one in front of the barn. can I use the ash to fill these holes. is the epa going to come after me for it? how does the ash work does it eventually set up and harden or does it stay loose regardless of how long it sits there?

Looks like everyone over ran your question. It will get clumpy but stay in the hole. Fill every hole you can find.

The ash filling the holes will eventually harden although I found it works a little better as a 'binder' used with 3/4 stone that you also put in the holes. I usually back drag with a loader bucket to scrape some stuff into the holes then spread the ash over the area. Out by the mailbox was a bad area from the mail truck driving off the pavement into the dirt to reach the box but has now hardened up real well with ash use.

I use it on our stone driveway and found when you first put it down and it gets rained on and you walk on it you will track it around on your shoes. After the powdery stuff soaks in with a few rainy days, the gritty stuff stays on top and doesn't get tracked in.

i ran my stove today and the new coal seems to feed OK but I think I have to learn how to adjust this thing. when I lit the fire, I filled the burning grate area. I had a nice hot fire and the stove was really heating. the problem I have is that as the stove was running the fire gradually died down until it just about went out. I think it was my fault though as the last time I ran it I had the feed turned way down but I did that after I had a sustained fire. this time I didnt adjust the feed rate higher when I started the stove on the new coal. I turned up the feed-rate but I think I did it too late and the fire was already weak. I know the coal was feeding as there was unburned coal behind the fire. the stoker was set at almost fully closed

my RC damper was set on full open and the combustion fan in the back was open about 1/4 of the way. the manometer (which is hooked up) was reading .03 aprox.

i know this stove runs well because I have had several fires but this is the first time I had what I guess I would call an outfire. of course the wife was complaining the the house was hot and I gave up on it.

any general rules to prevent loss of fire running this stove.

im guessing that every bag of coal is slightly different and if the pieces are a little smaller then the feed rate must be increased

is there a air space under the fire grate that has to be cleaned out? my Harman was like that but that's pellet. you will have to excuse my ignorance I have never burned coal before. is there somewhat of a learning curve with a stoker?

sounds to me like the feed rate was set to low before the fire was established, turn it up more and wait till you have about a 4 inch band of burning coal across the entire grate before adjusting the feed rate, should take at least 20 minutes. Be careful not to set the rate to high as some stoves will push the fire right off the grate.

You'll get the hang of it

ad356 wrote:is there a air space under the fire grate that has to be cleaned out? my Harman was like that but that's pellet. you will have to excuse my ignorance I have never burned coal before. is there somewhat of a learning curve with a stoker?

Yes and its critical to keep fines from gathering in there and cutting off the combustion air. Usually you can pull the combustion blower and with the right shop vac attachment reach in there without pulling the grate and disturbing the gaskets. This is part of once a year maintenance