Rice or Buck, What Do You Like?

So its mud season here and my boiler is at idle most of the time. But the question is, if your stoker can handle it do you like a larger sized coal ?

At the advice of a couple of veterans here, I ordered a tt load of buck for my 520 stoker. I liked that it was cleaner. I burned much less than last years rice size. It is louder in the auger tube ,but that's all for a down side to it. I'm sure that I would try it again next time.

Dave

For long idle periods, smaller coal is better. Barley coal would be the best at long idles. The reason for this is even though there is less air flow through the smaller coal, it is more densely packed so there is more coal lit. I don't think an EFM will feed barley so go with rice.

-Don

StokerDon wrote: I don't think an EFM will feed barley so go with rice.

-Don

It would be close... I think my rice is half barley.

I've run Barley, Barley/Rice mix, and Rice in my stoker, did not notice much of a difference to be honest. I'm staying with rice right now since it's easier on the auger.

StokerDon wrote: I don't think an EFM will feed barley so go with rice.

IIRC it fed and burned 100% sub-bit coal dust in tests, so I don't expect it would have a big problem with barley.

Mike

I like "big rice" the best, unfortunately it is tough to find. Thankfully I don't normally run the stoker beyond 5 teeth and it does fine with just about anything. After running a load of buck two years ago I switched back to rice and plan to stick with it.

Barely seems like it would be more likely to get ground up between the auger flights and the tube.

I like rice, no issues and I run all year.