Deep Mined or Strip Mined

SAU wrote: and I know you guys clean your coal but didn't know the process until now.

I guess it could be classified as cleaning but the cleaning is when it goes to the sizing plant. They run it over screens and use water to help get the smaller stuff to go through the screens. Anthracite when completely processed is quite uniform in size and won't have much dirt and dust at all. When it exits the breaker it's pretty much a perfectly sized and clean piece however further breakage occurs from there simply from it dropping from the chute, the loader moving it around, breakage during delivery. etc. Where I was getting my coal they cleaned it one more time right before it went in the truck, they loaded it into a separate hopper and it went over a screen with spray bars. If you have really clean product that hasn't been messed with much you might end up with a shovel full of dirt and dust over a 5 ton load.

If you are anywhere near the Pottsville PA area, there is a place called hegins Mining company. They serve deep mined coal. I took some 55 gallon drums on a trailer, and they shot the coal right inti the barrel from the breaker. used a appliance dolly with a strap to get it off

155 a ton

i live next door......that is mostly stripped mined coal....lotsa ash......i drive 14 miles to superior for the good deep mined stuff

I live 3 miles from Blaschak's Breaker operations, I just purchased a ton of their coal for $210. I have burned their coal for years in a 30+ yr old EFM stoker. A few years ago I was able to get deep mined coal from the Mt. Carmel area.I saved almost 2 ton a year burning the deep mine coal. Unfortunately I no longer have a deep mine coal connection and I'm back to burning the Blaschak dirt, rock, coal mixture.
Anyone that has access to deep mined coal will see and feel the difference when they lift the ash tub.

There is no difference between "Stripped and Deep coal". The difference is how it is handled after it is mined. I suspect alot of the coal that is used in home heating is just raw coal that has been "sized " by crushing and screening. They spray water on it to keep the dust down during this "crushing and screening" process. The fact that it is wet does not mean it has been cleaned. The cleaning process is when it is floated in magnetite., and other processes. In a good cleaning plant the product will be much more consistent than any raw coal. So, if you want the best coal get it from the best cleaning plant.

Larger companies, who are making a product for the "steel industry" with strict specifications are probably producing the best coal.

$210 a ton? that's friggin crazy for stripped mined garbage

I'm back to burning the Blaschak dirt, rock, coal mixture.

There's plenty of deep-mined breakers around you. I went to Superior yesterday and got 2 ton for the stoker, about 120 miles each way.

There is no difference between "Stripped and Deep coal".

Sorry, I have to disagree with you. I've burned different brands of strip coal and that's why I only buy from deep-mined breakers now. I can get strip coal locally and save myself I lot of time and driving. Strangely enough I ran out of coal for the stoker and bought some bagged Reading to get me through. It was uniformly sized, very clean, burned great, lots of heat, nice red ash coal. I know this is the exception rather then the rule with Reading. I was lucky enough to get some really good product, but if I buy some more in a few months it could be crap.

Wood'nCoal wrote:

... 8< ... Sorry, I have to disagree with you. I've burned different brands of strip coal and that's why I only buy from deep-mined breakers now. I can get strip coal locally and save myself I lot of time and driving. Strangely enough I ran out of coal for the stoker and bought some bagged Reading to get me through. It was uniformly sized, very clean, burned great, lots of heat, nice red ash coal. I know this is the exception rather then the rule with Reading. I was lucky enough to get some really good product, but if I buy some more in a few months it could be crap.

I don't want to sound like and add for this coal dealer we've shared Wood'nCoal, but I can't say I agree that it would be crap. I haven't burned his rice yet (soon I hope ). I've never got anything from him that caused a problem that wasn't caused by my handeling of the stove. Yes, I have found small pices of wood in the pea that I've bought and an occassional rock that I believe was balast from the RR tracks above the bins townie kids probably chucked in. Nothing that's bound up my grates except the clinkers I created. Might add, I've used 20+ ton over the years.

It's just so convienent for me to just cruise to his bins 10 minutes away. With my old f-150, I only bring back 3/4 of a ton per trip and the damn 2" hitch's gusset plates have rusted through. That said, I'd be really interested in doing a run sometime to try the certified deep mined stuff I migt be able to come up with some better transport

Vig, I see your point. I haven't had bad coal from him either, I've only bought bags there on and off for a few years. I have some stove size coal here that you can have to try--I guarantee that it won't burn!!!

I bought 5 tons of nut and stove mix from the breaker at Reading, and then bought 3000# of bagged nut from Reading's bagging plant..

I won't intentionally buy Reading coal again.

The bagged had at least two or three cups of fines in each bag, along with lots of wood pieces, some as big as a pack of ciggarettes. The stove and nut bulk coal had lots of wood pieces and lots of partially burnt coal in the ash in my hand fired boiler..

I have since tried several different brands of coal.. and all were cleaner, and all burnt better with less waste and ash.

There are HUGE differences where you buy your coal from.. The only people who say different are those who have never bought from different sources or their sources all get their coal from the same mine..

Bituminous coal is even more variable.. every vein of coal seems to have different properties and burns different..

Greg L

I buy only from KNOWN good deep mine sources.. Superior, Summit, UAE, to name a few.

Bituminous coal is even more variable.. every vein of coal seems to have different properties and burns different..

Very true, the mines over here blend from different areas of the same mine to increase BTU and decrease ash from one customer to the next. If a power company has a contract they get the good blend if not they get the spot market trash.

LsFarm wrote:... 8< ...There are HUGE differences where you buy your coal from.. The only people who say different are those who have never bought from different sources or their sources all get their coal from the same mine..
Greg L

That part about never from different sources ... would be me The yard is 10 minutes from my house. It's really convenient, but there's a premium $ at 215 - 235/ ton bulk. If I had the equipment and the time .....

I just wonder because it looks different when I get it at various times of the year. Always the same at the same time each year, but different in fall vs. early winter vs. late winter. Makes me wonder. I've heard that some dealers get min order from "(brand name)" who caries the credit line over the low sales months, then from other breakers during the year when the cash flow is on. Heck, I even had a half ton once that burned with a red flame. It's not consistently identical but never junk; long burns, no rocks etc.

Before I started buying at the breaker my coal retailer told me Reading would extend him credit the entire summer, no interest. He sold two brands but the better product was only sold in the fall and winter so he could get it sold before his bill was due. He had Reading available all year long. He also had a large trash can in his scale weight office with all kinds of stuff he found in the coal, sticks, stone and lumps of lime. He would weight it and deduct it off his bill. He claimed the lumps of lime were from limestone power put down in the mines. I don't remember the reason it was used.

i've said it before, I will say it again.......there is a breaker right next door to my place......their sign may say deep mined coal, but we know otherwise now..........i burned thier coal for 2 yrs and had lots of problems and low heat till someone from this forum turned me on to deep mined coal......now I drive to hegins for superior anthracite.....i couldnt be happier!

That breaker next to were you live does run deep mined coal BUT they also run strip mined coal along with it which in itself is no problem. The problem is that breaker doesn't have anything more than a picking table for getting the rock out. When you run good deep mined coal or really really good strip mined coal that is perfectly fine. There are a couple of other breakers like that that don't have any flotation equipment. Two of them are ones that are popular on this forumn, if there supply of good deep mined coal and/or really really good strip mined coal dries up there coal will be hit and miss too. There is absolutley nothing wrong with strip mined coal as long as it is cleaned properly. A lot of the strip mines are ripping out old deep mine workings anyway. And just because it comes out of a deep mine doesn't make it good coal either. One deep mine always put out coal in the 16% ash range while some strippings are putting out Lykens Valley coal in the 4 or 5% ash range. It all boils down to how the coal is processed.