Anthracite Coal Delivery in SE NY

JohnD. · Post by **JohnD.** » Tue. Oct. 28, 2014 5:14 pm

Hi Tom,
Glad to hear about your good experience with Rella coal. And I'm a Viet Nam vet, so your tip about them honoring vets is really good to hear. Since delivery won't happen for a few weeks, hopefully they'll give me a price adjustment. Bethlehem might be cheaper, but the price I paid in quality and ash - and labor - isn't worth it to me.
Thanks for all your help.
John

tcalo · Post by **tcalo** » Tue. Oct. 28, 2014 5:18 pm

JohnD. wrote:I'm a Viet Nam vet

Thanks for your service and God Bless!

hardfire · Post by **hardfire** » Fri. Nov. 28, 2014 2:41 pm

I'm on Long Island, too... glad to read your comments - I thought there was something wrong. Last year was the first time I had a problem burning, the quality of my second delivery seemed low - too much ash and poor burn quality. Unfortunately, I've still got about 1.5 tons of that coal. I washed it thoroughly this summer to try and flush out dirt and fines. It also seemed to have trash in it - bits of wood, stones, etc. Was it the bottom of a bin? I'm also considering Rella as my main supplier as a result. The "other dealer" had a change of personnel, which coincided with the poor quality coal.

JohnD. · Post by **JohnD.** » Sun. Nov. 30, 2014 12:00 pm

I had the same problem - high ash and chunks of what looked like burned rock. We tried Rella's bagged coal - Blaschak - which was super clean and burned beautifully. Unfortunately, I don't have the room to store bagged coal on pallets, and it is more expensive. I have a 2-ton coal bin for bulk coal, which Rella delivered. But it's not the same quality as the Blaschak - It's cleaner than the LI competitor's coal, but it also leaves large, unburned clinkers. And my stove's been going out overnight at times, even after I've shaken it down late the night before. So far, I'm not thrilled with this bulk coal, but I don't have much choice. I'm not going back to the "other guy." I like when coal is consistent - the way it used to be - but I'll have to work through this and do the best I can.

hardfire · Post by **hardfire** » Sun. Dec. 14, 2014 6:17 pm

Good News! The washing and sifting of the 1.5 tons of "leftover" dirty coal from 2013-2014 season appears to have worked... I'm burning this weekend and all is going very well, not an excessive amount of ash, running my FB475 just over "2" on the draft knob (1-8 settings) and cooking @ 475 degrees. Please post whether 2014-2015 bulk delivery quality has returned to previous acceptable quality (clean and well sized) or whether the problem persists. Stay warm, everyone and Happy Holidays!

JohnD. · Post by **JohnD.** » Sun. Dec. 14, 2014 8:40 pm

I have a 30+ year-old Crane 44 burner - it's very dependable and I love it. I got the bagged Blaschak coal from Rella this fall, and it burned clean and steady. Then I ordered 2 tons of their bulk coal - more affordable for me, and I'm lucky if I last 2 days. That's with constant care and shaking it down as best as I can. It seems to fuse together and form very large clinkers, which makes it extremely difficult to shake down. It goes out overnight, which should never happen.That's why I'm burning coal and have been for these many years. - for lasting fires. I'm not very happy with this bulk coal. First, I'm going to try spraying mineral oil on the buckets that I bring in - a tip from Izaharis, up in the Finger Lakes of NY state. If that doesn't work, I'll take your cue and try washing it, though that might be hard at this time of year. Thanks. I'll get back to you.

tcalo · Post by **tcalo** » Mon. Dec. 29, 2014 4:49 pm

I lit up Halloween weekend and the stove has been running great. This is my first year with bulk coal from Rella. I've used bagged Blaschak in the past and it burned great, but bulk is nearly $100 cheaper so thought I would try it out this season. Like I mentioned, I tried Bethlehem Coal last season and had a horrible experience. Tons of trash in the coal, huge amounts of ash and plenty of clinkers to keep me busy all winter long. So far Rella's bulk coal has been giving plenty of heat and ash isn't too bad. Very few clinkers. Granted I haven't been running my stove as hard this winter compared to last. I'm sure once I rev it up I'll get more clinkers, nature of the beast. Overall very happy with the coal quality!

tcalo · Post by **tcalo** » Sat. Jan. 17, 2015 4:27 pm

Just an update. Heat output has been great with moderate ash. I have been getting quite a few clinkers without really pushing the stove, many more than bagged Blaschak coal. My stoves been running about 425 degrees. They break up easily and seem to work their way to the top of the coal bed after a good shaking. Happy burning.

JohnD. · Post by **JohnD.** » Sat. Jan. 17, 2015 5:12 pm

It turns out we had a very bad batch of coal delivered. We tried everything to make the coal work, but the giant clinkers fused together and smothered the fire. After 3 hours, no matter what I did, the fire would choke itself out. Shaking it down was impossible with these clinkers blocking all heat and air. I was making a new fire every day, to no avail. Finally, after a month of battling with this coal and losing, we went to Rella Coal, where we had made the purchase. As soon as we walked in the door with the box of clinkers, they knew immediately that we were one of the recipients of the bad load of coal that they had received from the mine, which the owner said had never happened in 35 years. They came and removed the bad coal, delivered new coal, which I opted to upgrade to Blaschak, and my stove is now humming like a top, keeping us warm, with normal coal tending. It's how it should be. Thanks to Rella, I'm a happy coal burner again, and thanks to all of you coal burners who tried to help me.