Reading Rice

 
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pclfal
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Post by pclfal » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 8:33 am

I have purchased a Keystoker stoker, 105K BTU, Delivery should be in a few weeks. Built a 4x4x8 coal bin. I live in Eastern PA and ordered 3 ton of rice coal from a local dealer. According to the web site they sell Reading Anthricite coal. From things I've been reading in this forum, Reading is not that good, will I be sorry.

This is my first time working with coal and that seems to be a great descision.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


 
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Post by coalkirk » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 8:36 am

I know some have had problems with Reading nut in handfired stoves. I would probably buy a small quantity first and try it before I committed to 3 tons. Having said that, I recently bought 24 tons of summit rice without ever having burned any. :roll: Others here have burned and said it's good so I trusted their judgement.

 
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Devil505
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Post by Devil505 » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 8:46 am

I had allot of trouble with Reading nut coal in my hand fired last winter. It burned fine but would jam my shaker mechanism when shaking down. (lots of clinkers!) I have no idea how rice size will work in a stoker but if you can get different coal I would do that b4 they deliver 3 tons.
Last edited by Devil505 on Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 8:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

 
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Post by bksaun » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 8:49 am

I burned 3 tons of Reading rice 2 years ago in an Alaska Channing and had no problems, I would occasionally find a piece of pea size but it fed through and burned anyway. If they are consistant in quality you should be fine.

BK

 
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Devil505
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Post by Devil505 » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 8:54 am

bksaun wrote:If they are consistant in quality you should be fine.
That's one thing I have always found Reading Coal to be.......Consistent. (Consistently BAD!) :devil:

 
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Richard S.
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Post by Richard S. » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 10:02 am

One season is not consistent. ;) As you see we have one poster who has had issues and another that has had no problems. It's certainly possible Devil you just got a bad run. I work with a dealer who sells Reading, I've looked at it and it looks fine but looks don't tell everthing. I've seen it burning in the stoves hes had on display, burn and ash looked fine. He swears by it.

A few years back Hudson was putting out some of the best coal you could get. Really low ash like in the 6% or less range, high BTU etc. My customers were used to a slightly lower quality coal that Hudson was producing for years. It was ironic when I started getting a lot of complaints about the product from people with stokers. The hand fired customers were ecstatic. In any event after explaining to them that they would have to adjust the stove so it had a longer burn time, they were all quite happy with the product after that.

The point is this, you're going to get various qualities from one run to the next from all the producers. It can even change on a daily basis. Overall it should be pretty consistent though.

In the end the best thing to do is find a bulk dealer with a good reputation and let him deal with the quality issues.

 
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Devil505
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Post by Devil505 » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 10:08 am

Richard S. wrote:One season is not consistent. ;) As you see we have one poster who has had issues and another that has had no problems. It's certainly possible Devil you just got a bad run.
Many seasons Richard. I burned Reading coal for a few years (when I bought from Fortini Bros. in Plymouth) & I eventully switched to Blaschak once I realized that the coal was the problem & not my stove.


 
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pclfal
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Post by pclfal » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 10:13 am

I was thinking of trying this load and try another dealer on the next load to see if I see a difference. I saw one dealer carries three different ones, Blaschak, Reading and I'm not sure what the third one was. How do I know which one I'm getting if I order from them, can you request a specific type when you order from a dealer like that?

 
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Post by Richard S. » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 10:38 am

If its bagged the Reading and Blaschak will be in well marked bags.

 
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Post by BIG BEAM » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 10:54 am

I think stokers tend to be more forgiving to rocks,shale and even clinkers than hand fired stoves as far as function.Of coarse you won't get the BTU's out of crappy coal that you would with better coal.I would start with a few(20) bags of blaschak and try them.Blaschak is a good coal,not a great coal but I think it would give you a good starting point.
DON

 
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Post by gambler » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 11:06 am

The dealer that I get my rice coal from will not tell me where it comes from. When talking to him I get the imression that it is Reading coal that he sells (he mentioned about his dealer network and he sells Reading stoves). I do not have the luxury of going to a different dealer because there are none. So I am kind of at his mercy. The coal that I burned last year seemed to burn fine. It was not uncommon for the front of my stove to reach 650*. Other than it being a little high in ash content I had no issues with my coal if in fact it was Reading coal.

 
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Post by Richard S. » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 11:17 am

Gambler you can look to see if they are listed under Readings dealer locater: http://www.readinganthracite.com/anthracite_deale ... cator.html

 
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Post by Devil505 » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 11:41 am

gambler wrote:The dealer that I get my rice coal from will not tell me where it comes from.
If he won't tell you what it is then I'd guess it most definitely is Reading! (What I would do is have him deliver a few tons but then just refuse to tell him where his payment is!! ;) :devil:
Try here & find a local dealer
**Broken Link(s) Removed**

 
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Post by Richard S. » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 11:51 am

Just because he won't tell him means nothing, many dealers in out of the way places want to protect their sources. Pretty much pointless now with this site. :D

 
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Post by Devil505 » Sat. Aug. 23, 2008 11:55 am

Richard S. wrote:Just because he won't tell him means nothing, many dealers in out of the way places want to protect their sources. Pretty much pointless now with this site.
Oh......It's Reading all right! :P :P :lol:


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