A Trip to the Coal Yard Direnzos

I wanted to share my experience making a trip to the coal yard. I live down in south east PA by pottstown. I wasn't happy paying the local coal suppliers mark up and trucking fees so I started doing my homework on where to buy bulk coal from the supplier up in NEPA territory. I have always burned wood and tried coal a few times with limited success. After finding this forum and developing a better understanding of how to burn coal, I decided to go all in this year. I settled on either Lehigh anthracite or Direnzos as the two yards I would use. Both were very helpful in providing directions and pricing but I got a better gut feel from Direnzos. It may not matter to some but anytime I can I try to support the small family owned outfits as they are few to find in this superstore world we are live in, I do. Besides if I'm going to spend my hard earned cash on heat, what better way could there be than to keep it local and support our own economy. Not one red cent sent overseas to the oil rich countries.

I modified a old car hauler trailer by putting sides on it and a coal chute for offloading. I made three trips in total about 2.5 tons per trip. The folks up at Direnzos were very nice and after explaining this was my first load at their yard took the time to walk me around and explain how their yard worked. The yard was easy to navigate with truck and trailer and was clean and well organized. The yard worker took pride in showing how well sized the coal was as well as how free of fines the product was. After three loads and three months burning the product, I can tell you I'm very happy with it. It produced a white gray fine ash and very little klinker. In talking with the staff at Direnzos they cater to the home heating customer and are very selective in their sources of coal. I have no affiliation with any coal yard and only want to share my experience with you. I would recommend Direnzos to friends and family alike. Take care and think spring it's right around the corner!!

Rob W.

Greetins' CC3 ! Welcome back !

Your thorough review of DiRenzo's Operation was very much appreciated. You did Your Homework,and did a great job relaying Your experience !

Another Positive-You Talked ! You told them that this was Your first time there,and they showed You the lay of the land,so to speak. They can't help You unless You bother to speak to them. That let You gauge them and their Operation. This goes for any Coal Op. Good Show ! You have a wonderful problem of being right in the thick of it in PA.

I remember my first trip to Lehigh (since the OP mentioned Lehigh). They, too, were very friendly and accommodating to a newbie like myself. They even invited my son, who rode along, inside for a fresh donut. After using a different supplier the prior year, the Lehigh coal proved to be superior in my system, and I have not looked back since. However, if DiRenzo is open to residential purchases during weekdays, this opens up a new source for me. Thanks for the info, as I was not really that familiar with DiRenzo. I have indeed heard from others that they have an excellent product.

Bob and Chris:

Thanks for the positive feedback. I've learned so much here it's good to provide some useful information to help out! Chris it's funny you mention weekday loading that's one of the reasons I went to Direnzos.

Yeah, when I go on Saturdays, due to family and other constraints, I get up super early and get there by 7:00 so I don't kill the rest of the day. To be able to scoot up there after work on a weekday and grab a truckload would be nice. What else have you used, and how does the DiRenzo compare, if applicable?

I went with Gale coal for the week day loading,price,nice helpful folks.

I also like to support the small family run business.

Price at Gale was $160/ton

What was the price at Direnzos ?

Good to see you going to Direnzo,they are a small family run outfit too.

Chris:
I'm new to full time coal heating. About 5-years ago I bought 5-tons at a breaker off 183 to run in my outdoor boiler. It was loaded with shale and gave me nothing but problems. Really turned me off to coal. I later learned my outdoor boiler needed some mods to burn anthracite efficiently. I also burn. nut anthracite at my cabin in Centre county. The coal up there makes a ton of clinker with a real fluffy brown ash. So I think it's safe to say the Direnzos coal is the first high quality coal I've burned. I took a 1/2 ton up to camp and my dual comfort and Buckwalter potbelly both burned it better than any previous coal I tried.

Windyhill:
I paid the same $160.00/ton for nut, picked up early in October at Direnzos

DiRenzo is at $190 per ton, on the phone today, for rice.

I have posted on this forum before . Live 3 hrs west of Toronto Canada . To get 100 US dollars to-day costs us $138 cdn dollars . That makes it bad to try selling anthracite and coal burning appliances . We have sold and distributed Heatmor outdoor boilers since 1995 and sold a few Keystoker units in 2014 when our dollar was near par and propane was $1 or more per liter . Have sold a few trailer loads of bagged Blaschak . Would you believe we need approx $9 per 40 pound bag to make it worthwhile in a small way - that is $450 per ton, and then I see you folks in Pa. getting bulk for $190 ??
Amazing thing is, I still love burning Blaschak bagged in my 1996 Heatmor with shaker grates- 2 bags a day or so in cold weather . Took a while to learn- if anyone wants my input as to how we do it- just get back to me .
Paul

Hello Paul

Sorry to hear the cost of coal is so prohibitive up your way. I did some modifications to my Sequeya OWB with shaker grates this year that really paid off. I'm getting 12-hour burn time and that's adding about 40# per loading. I documented it here the thread is titled "converting an OWB to a hand fired coal boiler". I would like to hear how your making it work in your colder climate. My biggest problem was the blower overfireing the coal and fusing the ash therefore putting out the fire. After making my mods the stove runs great.

Thanks Rob W

Hello Rob
I will be seeing the boys from Sequoia in 2 weeks at Ottawa Farm Show- nice lads- build good stuff. They sure knew which outdoor boiler to nearly copy ( Heatmor ) ha,ha
I feel my secret is a) a very deep bed of coal- mine is at least 18 inches b) try not to allow the fan to come on- I crack the plate on the ash tube cover about 1/8 inch at the top- hold it open with a screw driver- allow natural draft air to seep in 24/7 . The fan only comes on when the water temp drops- caused by not enough natural combustion air- it is amazing to us how this works . Because we have only a small amount of combustion air, we only have a glowing fire 80% of the time - that means we have less chance of a hot fire caused by the combustion fan coming on and that hot fire is what causes the ashes to reach the AFT ( ash fusion temperature ) - that is the hard fused ash you are getting c) we need to clean out our ashes once per day with the auger and shake like heck at least 2 x per day . We had to allow the shaker grates to open farther than came from the factory- actually we lift the control stop and shake in the dump mode- the odd time we will get locked up with a big clinker but go away for a few hrs and come back and give it another shake-usually that clears it out . Too many ashes will snoof it out sure as anything . My guess is that for every 2 bags of Blaschak we get 25% by volume back out as ash .
I would love to try 1 of those immersed in the water jacket aquastats that rotate with changes in temperature- non electrical- that open and close a damper - no time to get it done .

Rob
Forgot to mention- about 4 yrs ago took Wife, another couple plus our 2 Grandsons to a meet and Greet- toured Direnzos yard plus Blaschak the next day- Centralia etc- actually we hit the local newspaper
Paul

CoalCracker3 wrote:Hello Paul

Sorry to hear the cost of coal is so prohibitive up your way. I did some modifications to my Sequeya OWB with shaker grates this year that really paid off. I'm getting 12-hour burn time and that's adding about 40# per loading. I documented it here the thread is titled "converting an OWB to a hand fired coal boiler". I would like to hear how your making it work in your colder climate. My biggest problem was the blower overfireing the coal and fusing the ash therefore putting out the fire. After making my mods the stove runs great.

Thanks Rob W

Ha ha 40 lbs per loading x 2 per day is $500 per month at current New England prices, astronomically expensive.

Paul:
It's funny that we both made similar mods goes to proove there's 1,000 ways to skin a cat. I added a a length of stove pipe and a MPD to improve draft and slow the flue gases. Disconnected the blower fan and added a draft wheel to the ash door. I'm fairly inventive and It's always good to see another prospective. Good job and thanks for the feedback!

Lobsterman:
I burn coal inside In my Harman insert at 20-40# per 24 hour depending on temps. I only run the big stove during real cold weather. Either way at your coal prices it's no deal the way I'm doing it. The only reason I got away from burning almost free wood is the toll it and construction work has taken on the body after 30 years. Take care!

Paul:
I'm glad you got down this way and were able to tour the breakers. Centralia is a site to see. I used to drive past it on the way to our cabin. Really feel for that community. You can really see how active it is in the winter with the steam and gasses being vented.