Our Glenwood 109

 
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tcalo
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Post by tcalo » Sun. Feb. 19, 2017 2:59 pm

I made a screen a while back to help screen out the fines. I used 1/2" mesh screen in the bottom of a 5 gallon pail. It worked quite well. I did notice that some times the fire gets a bit chocked down after tending and thought the pieces were a bit on the small side still. So I modified the mesh screen by clipping away some of the mesh leaving me with 1" holes in it. I screened the coal using this new method and wow...what a world of difference. The pieces are now more consistent with chestnut size measuring about 1 1/2" overall. The old method left me with more of a mix of nut and pea size coal. The fire would normally take about 15 minutes to bounce back after tending, this morning it took only 5 minutes...and that was with this warm weather we have. I guess more air flow though the bed. The problem is I have quite a collection of fines now using the larger screen. They look usable, but it makes the G109 noticeably sluggish. It feels as though I'm throwing money away...because I paid for this coal! Maybe I'll save it up and hopefully come across someone who can use it one day!

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Old screening method

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New screening method

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Bucket

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Modified screen

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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Sun. Feb. 19, 2017 3:12 pm

I'm sure you can find someone down there that uses a pea coal stove. Maybe ask your dealer ?

If you got the really cold temps we get upstate those small pieces would come in handy to help reduce the strong bitter cold weather draft. And they add fuel density to give a longer burn time, too.

During the day I use more of the larger pieces from the edge of the bin. At night I dig in the middle of the bin to get a higher concentration of smaller stuff to slow the fire down for the night. Works much like a set-back thermostat does.

Paul

 
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joeq
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Post by joeq » Sun. Feb. 19, 2017 6:04 pm

Hey Paul, didn't you experiment with gluing together fines, to make coal bricks? I thought someone had mentioned using corn syrup as a binder, or something like that. I've acquired almost 10 gallons of fines, that I was contemplating sticking them together, and burning it, somewhere, somehow. :roll:
P.S. Nice job on the pail Tom.

 
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tcalo
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Post by tcalo » Mon. Feb. 20, 2017 9:55 am

I may have to scrap the modified screen and use the original 1/2" mesh. I'm getting a lot more pea size coal than anticipated. I don't want to waste all this coal so I'll have to burn it. Looks like it's time to have a talk with my coal supplier.

 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Mon. Feb. 20, 2017 11:41 am

joeq wrote:Hey Paul, didn't you experiment with gluing together fines, to make coal bricks? I thought someone had mentioned using corn syrup as a binder, or something like that. I've acquired almost 10 gallons of fines, that I was contemplating sticking them together, and burning it, somewhere, somehow. :roll:
P.S. Nice job on the pail Tom.


Yup, coal fines "cupcakes", And they burn very well, but they are work and then waiting to dry.

But then, you can burn the fines fine just by putting a half shovel full of fines in a clump right on top of the middle of the firebed where it can burn like a single large piece of coal.

The trick is to NOT spread out the fines, or the fire will be smothered. And don't do a large batch at once. Just small clumps more often. Then you'll be surprised how fast you can use up the fines that settle to the bottom of coal buckets. There's lots of BTU's that you paid for in those fines that so many coal burners just want to throw away.

And they are great for slowing down a too-hot firebed. ;)

Paul

 
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Post by joeq » Mon. Feb. 20, 2017 4:24 pm

Another great tip from the master. :D
Because of the warming this week, I'll be giving them "fine piles" a try. Thanks Paul.
P.S. I kinda had a "hankering"(?), for them sweetened up corn syrup cup-cakes tho. :lol:

 
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Canaan coal man
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Post by Canaan coal man » Tue. Feb. 21, 2017 9:26 am

up until a few days ago I have been using milk crates for screening just a few shovels into the crate and a few shakes and all the buck, rice and fines fall out the bottom. They even have nice handles for shaking. :D

Then I grabbed my fine tine pitch fork from the barn that works real good and no bending over........ :D


 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Tue. Feb. 21, 2017 9:54 am

joeq wrote:Another great tip from the master. :D
Because of the warming this week, I'll be giving them "fine piles" a try. Thanks Paul.
P.S. I kinda had a "hankering"(?), for them sweetened up corn syrup cup-cakes tho. :lol:
Well, if your crazy enough to eat them, when the gas cramps start,..... don't bend over near the stove. :D

Paul

 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Tue. Feb. 21, 2017 10:02 am

Canaan coal man wrote:up until a few days ago I have been using milk crates for screening just a few shovels into the crate and a few shakes and all the buck, rice and fines fall out the bottom. They even have nice handles for shaking. :D

Then I grabbed my fine tine pitch fork from the barn that works real good and no bending over........ :D
Are you going to burn that small stuff after you sort it out ?

The problem with small stuff is if it's evenly distributed across the firebed it slows all the fire. If it's sorted and put in in "clusters" then it just burns like one large chunk and the fire doesn't get stalled, but you still get the heat you paid for that's locked up in all those smaller pieces and fines.

If you look at what percentage of each ton is being sorted out and not burned, that's the same percentage of money. You spend the money so not using all the coal means that your cost of heat is proportionately greater.

Paul

 
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Post by Canaan coal man » Tue. Feb. 21, 2017 1:46 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:
Canaan coal man wrote:up until a few days ago I have been using milk crates for screening just a few shovels into the crate and a few shakes and all the buck, rice and fines fall out the bottom. They even have nice handles for shaking. :D

Then I grabbed my fine tine pitch fork from the barn that works real good and no bending over........ :D
Are you going to burn that small stuff after you sort it out ?

The problem with small stuff is if it's evenly distributed across the firebed it slows all the fire. If it's sorted and put in in "clusters" then it just burns like one large chunk and the fire doesn't get stalled, but you still get the heat you paid for that's locked up in all those smaller pieces and fines.

If you look at what percentage of each ton is being sorted out and not burned, that's the same percentage of money. You spend the money so not using all the coal means that your cost of heat is proportionately greater.

Paul
Anything smaller than large buck will end up going to a friend that burns with stokers. It wont be used for drive way fill. It is more important for me to have a consistent burn with clean well sized coal, than get an adjustment wrong for the day and come home to a cold house or overly warm house.

 
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tcalo
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Post by tcalo » Sun. Feb. 26, 2017 3:01 pm

I had 2 sample bags of coal that I saved to show my dealer, one pre screened and one post screened. I contacted my coal yard about the issue and they wanted me to come down and talk with them about it and show me around their yard. I went there Saturday and met with the delivery driver, who's also their mechanic. They sell and service stoves, all stokers. He showed me around the yard and explained their operation. Funny, it's the only coal yard on Long Island and they were a bunch of stiffs when I first started dealing with them. Now that I'm a seasoned customer they treat me very respectable. They explained to me how the process of moving the coal from the mine to their yard and eventually to my house unfortunately cause fines. Everything from the conveyor belts at the processing plants to the pay loaders they use. Every time the coal is moved or dumped either into a truck for delivery or into a bin it's banging into each other which causes fines. They said anything from nut size up has a better chance of breaking up due to the size of the pieces smacking together. I asked why bagged coal doesn't have as many fines in it, they told me the screening process is a bit different and a bit more gentle on the coal. It sounded like a valid explanation to me. They made good and offered me several bags of Blaschak coal on the house for my troubles. I was contemplating using stove coal thinking it would render more usable fines, since the fines would be bigger. However, not sure my G109 would handle stove coal all that well. They said the larger the coal the more fines you'll get, simply because the larger pieces have more force when moving. I used to use bagged coal, but the $100 more a ton between bagged and bulk forced me to switch to bulk. My hands are tied since they are the only dealer in the area. I guess I'll keep screening!

 
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Post by Sunny Boy » Sun. Feb. 26, 2017 4:17 pm

I've heard the coal-banging excuse. There is some merit to it. But some dealers clean coal better than others.

I've used bagged and bulk. The six bags of Blaschak stove I bought to try had about as much fines as the TSC Kimmels nut..... which has about the same as the bagged I used to get from my bulk dealer before I built the coal bin.

The least fines I get are with bulk. My dealer is pretty good at washing it as it's loaded into his high-lift dump truck and it's delivered still wet.

When I cleaned out the coal bin in my house on Long Island there was a lot of fines. But my dealer there didn't wash the coal before delivery. It arrived dry and dusty. I had to leave the bin room closed for many house to let the dust settle.

A few years ago thinking there had to be a lot of fines building up in my present house, I let the bin level get down so I could clean it out and not lose new delivery space to old fines. I was surprised to see that there was a lot less fines than I expected after several years of burning three tons a year. Was only about half a 5 gal bucket worth of fines.

Paul

 
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tcalo
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Post by tcalo » Sun. Feb. 26, 2017 4:31 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:When I cleaned out the coal bin in my house on Long Island there was a lot of fines. But my dealer there didn't wash the coal before delivery. It arrived dry and dusty. I had to leave the bin room closed for many house to let the dust settle.
Paul, may I ask what coal dealer did you deal with while living here? I'm only aware of 2 coal dealers on Long Island, Rella Coal in Medford and Bethleham Coal in Central Islip. I tried Bethleham once but wasn't too pleased with their operation. I've been using Rella for years now. They don't wash their coal and deliveries get quite dusty. Thankfully I have an outdoor bin.

 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Sun. Feb. 26, 2017 7:00 pm

No, I don't remember the name of the coal company Tom - just that it was one in Suffolk somewhere and they had a high lift dump truck to shute the coal into the house's original bin room through a window.

It was over 35 years ago. I stopped using the coal stove because I needed all the basement space for my wood shop when I started my company.

Bethlehem doesn't sound familiar, and I doubt it would be Rella because of having to deliver from Medford all the way in to Amityville. It might have been a company no longer in business ????

Paul

 
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Post by tcalo » Mon. Mar. 13, 2017 11:28 am

So after much trial and error I believe I came up with something that works quite well for screening my coal. The pail with the screen in it worked good and left me with nice size pieces suitable for my stove. However it was quite dusty and left me with a huge amount of leftover smaller coal. I felt it was a waste to just toss it since I did pay for it. It was also a bit of a pita to shake. Not to mention it left me with a nose full of coal dust as well!!!

So with a stack of extra plywood at my job I got to work. I used 3/4" finished plywood and basically built a long box open on one end. I attached 2 handles across the top for easy handling. I decided to use 1/2" mesh screen which screens out all the unusable coal, basically leaving behind pebbles and dust. I incorporated an access panel in the back to dump the fines. I load the box with a few shovel loads of coal and dump it into my hod. I pull the access panel out and dump the fines into my ash pail. Simple as that!!! My hands stay a lot cleaner and it's not as dusty. I would rather screen out some of the smaller stuff, but I was just getting way too much of it.

I know how we love pictures...enjoy!

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