Burn extension

[JustWood]

Been outta coal for awhile. Drove a few hours down towards Hogz place Friday for a load.
21.5 ton and this is some of the best Clarion seam coal I've ever burned. As clean as anthracite but more ash. I'm getting 16-20 hour burns out of 20 lbs coal and topped of with wood . It's been 30 days and 10-20 at night.

 

[ScotO]

that's not too bad, Lee. Wonder how that coal would be in a small forge? You said it burns like antricite, does it also have very little smoke?

 

[Dune]

You burn coal? Reminds me of an oil removal company I used to do work for. The guy owned an apartment building heated with gas, but hauled free oil every day.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Looks like you have it outside in a concrete bin? Do you just grab some with the loader and dump it near the furnace as yo use it? Even clean, doesn't it make a mess?

 

[JustWood]

You burn coal? Reminds me of an oil removal company I used to do work for. The guy owned an apartment building heated with gas, but hauled free oil every day.

LOL :coolsmile: I mix in with wood about 1-1.5 ton/burning season. I sell the rest. It's cheap and prolly close in price to what I pay for unprocessed wood. Also a matter of convenience due to burn times. Days with solar gain and temps no lower than 30 at night I can push 24 hour burn times when the forced draft isn't kicking on frequently.

 

[JustWood]

Looks like you have it outside in a concrete bin? Do you just grab some with the loader and dump it near the furnace as yo use it? Even clean, doesn't it make a mess?

I shovel it into 5 gallon buckets. Store 4-6 buckets in the furnace room to dry out a little before burning. Dump it into shopping bags or small cardboard boxes and then right into the furnace. Sweep up any spillage with the bark/sawdust and put in next shopping bag/box.
This coal has hardly any dust ,more than likely due to very little handling. They pulled it right out of the seam and into my truck when I was there. Most of the time it's loaded out of a stockpile and has had more handling before it sees my truck box.

 

[Stephen in SoKY]

My first two tons of the year:

I picked up another 1.5 tons last week. This year I'm paying $100/ton.

I had been burning at night for several years but I've burned more this year due to some health issues last year leading to a shortage of wood. While bit does smoke at reload, after 15-20 minutes it burns without smoke or heavy smells:

 

[Dune]

How do you size the coal chunks?

 

[Jags]

How do you size the coal chunks?

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[Stephen in SoKY]

A pole axe and a sledge hammer. The bit I use is "run of mine" so I get huge variance in size as you can see. It breaks easily and cleaves on the seam with very little effort. I use my Dad's coal fork to grade out fines and anything under one inch:

I break the big lumps down to the size that fits through the door and use the fork to screen "stove" size or a mix from 1" up to orange/grapefruit size:

 

[Jags]

A pole axe and a sledge hammer.

Hmmm...I am picturing a new invention. A slide hammer axe (blade). Walk up to chunk, place blade where desired and slide hammer. ***Bonk*** and it is sized up.

 

[SolarAndWood]

***Bonk***

lol, are you going to try and trademark that one too?

 

[Jags]

***Bonk*** â„¢

Already done.

 

[JustWood]

A pole axe and a sledge hammer.

Hmmm...I am picturing a new invention. A slide hammer axe (blade). Walk up to chunk, place blade where desired and slide hammer. ***Bonk*** and it is sized up.

Something like that wood actually work well. Coal isn't nearly as hard as stone . The large chunks I have are so fractured that picking one up and dropping on another is all it takes to break apart.

 

[Jags]

Something like that wood actually work well.

If I was anywhere near ya, I would whip one up quick for ya, Lee. Scraper blade (or flat steel) welded to a pipe, couple of heavy washers and a slide hammer head (or heavy gauge pipe for the slide) and it would be done. Heck, I have the stuff in my shop to do it right now.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Lee, that reminds me of when I was a child and coal was really cheap. My father used to get one or two ton a year. Some of the neighbors burned wood in the day and all coal at night. I never did like the stuff and preferred wood but had to admit it could hold the fire a long time with good heat.