WET Coal

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CrazyHorse
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Post by CrazyHorse » Mon. Dec. 07, 2015 4:00 pm

I recently got a rice coal stove and really like it. It seems like all the bagged coal has a lot of water in it, Kimmels, Franklin, and Reading. I know its ok to burn wet coal but I don't like the idea of dumping soaking wet coal into the hopper. Do you guys try to dry it a little first or just dump it in?

 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Mon. Dec. 07, 2015 4:06 pm

Don't dump wet coal into the hopper it will cause all kinds of feed / blockage issues.

Slit open a few bags and let them dry out before using. keep a few open to stay ahead of your usage.

Damp coal is OK, wet coal is bad.

 
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Post by franco b » Mon. Dec. 07, 2015 4:20 pm

Wet coal is always bad. Rice will clump and not feed properly plus rot the hopper. It also costs some heat to evaporate that water and if it condenses in the chimney it rots that too. It will kill a stainless chimney fast.

Order early so bags have a few months to dry themselves or open several days prior to use to mostly dry.

 
CrazyHorse
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Post by CrazyHorse » Mon. Dec. 07, 2015 4:35 pm

I have been cutting small holes in the corners of the bags and setting them on a cinder block outside to let the water run out. Then dump into plastic containers and leave in the room with the stove. I just cant believe how much water is in some of the bags regardless of what brand.


 
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Post by franco b » Mon. Dec. 07, 2015 5:02 pm

CrazyHorse wrote: I just cant believe how much water is in some of the bags regardless of what brand.
If they did not wash it well with clean water there would be a lot more dust.

The privately bagged coal I buy from a supplier in Putnam county NY (Tri-County Coal) is bone dry and free from dust and fines. Clean and shiny.

 
CrazyHorse
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Post by CrazyHorse » Mon. Dec. 07, 2015 5:21 pm

franco b wrote:
CrazyHorse wrote: I just cant believe how much water is in some of the bags regardless of what brand.
If they did not wash it well with clean water there would be a lot more dust.

The privately bagged coal I buy from a supplier in Putnam county NY (Tri-County Coal) is bone dry and free from dust and fines. Clean and shiny.
That makes sense. Next year I will be better prepared and buy ahead of time. I still have a lot to learn about burning coal.

 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Mon. Dec. 07, 2015 5:27 pm

Cutting small holes will do nothing. Even after slicing a 1' section off the tops of the bags & letting them sit a few days, the lower half of the coal is still very wet when I dump them in. Every Blaschak bag this year has been saturated. I noticed they enlarged the breathing holes in the bags this season - could account for the increase in moisture ...

My boiler doesn't care if the coal is wet or dry. It just destroys my hopper, and has a tendency to make steeper V's in the coal feeding, which need to be knocked down at least every 24 hours. Otherwise the paddle (on mine) becomes exposed. There's a distinct rotten-egg stench when that happens. Sometimes I get lucky and catch it before the fire goes out.

 
CrazyHorse
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Post by CrazyHorse » Mon. Dec. 07, 2015 5:39 pm

SMITTY wrote:Cutting small holes will do nothing. Even after slicing a 1' section off the tops of the bags & letting them sit a few days, the lower half of the coal is still very wet when I dump them in. Every Blaschak bag this year has been saturated. I noticed they enlarged the breathing holes in the bags this season - could account for the increase in moisture ...

My boiler doesn't care if the coal is wet or dry. It just destroys my hopper, and has a tendency to make steeper V's in the coal feeding, which need to be knocked down at least every 24 hours. Otherwise the paddle (on mine) becomes exposed. There's a distinct rotten-egg stench when that happens. Sometimes I get lucky and catch it before the fire goes out.
I cut holes in the bottom of the bags so it drains out, then put in containers to dry some more. Still kind of a pain in the butt, one of the reasons I bought a coal stove was because I was told how low maintenance they are compared to a pellet or woodstove.


 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Mon. Dec. 07, 2015 5:43 pm

I agree - even with all this, it's still less maintenance than a pellet stove. :)

 
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Post by CrazyHorse » Mon. Dec. 07, 2015 5:53 pm

SMITTY wrote:I agree - even with all this, it's still less maintenance than a pellet stove. :)
At least we can still burn wet coal, wet wood pellets is game over. I like the quote you have from Thomas Jefferson!

 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Mon. Dec. 07, 2015 5:58 pm

Thanks! :cheers:

Yep - wet pellets = cold house! There would be nowhere for me to even store pellets here. Outside = wet, in the basement = wet. I'd have to store them upstairs, and probably collapse the entire floor ... :lol:

 
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Post by Clousseau » Tue. Dec. 15, 2015 3:28 pm

New to burning coal this year also after falling, limbing, cutting, splitting, stacking, & restacking 10 cords a year for 40 years. Thought coal burning was a cinch until I ran into the 'wet" coal issue which I had not heard of before I purchased my Keystoker Ka-6 boiler. Ran for a month fine, then 2 full weeks of frozen up -push bar issues & fires going out. After tearing down the stoker & doing some additional work to make the parts work very freely, I also now carefully deal with the bagged coal before it goes in the hopper. I use an awl & punch a dozen or so holes in the bottom of the bag, slit open the top of the bag & let it rest on cardboard on the floor upright. Some bags are dry, others have quite a bit of water. After 1 day, I dump the bag into a 5-gallon plastic bucket which has four - 3 inch holes drilled in the bottom with insect screening covering the holes. 6 hours later the bucket is dumped into the hopper as moist but not soaked coal. More work than I wish, but learning is a bitch. Next year, bulk coal in a bin, delivered in the summer for hopefully less money! Boiler has been running non-stop now for 2 weeks!

 
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Dec. 15, 2015 3:34 pm

Glad to hear you found a solution and your boiler is running as it should.

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