Deep Mined or Strip Mined
Mike, Do all the strip mines float their coal? In a deep mine maybe they don't have to float their coal because the miner can do a better job of mining than a drag line operator hundreds of feet away? Are you saying that a well run deep mine can get away with just a picking table?
I love learning this coal stuff.
DON
I love learning this coal stuff.
DON
As a rule the coal from a deep mine is cleaner than the coal from a strip mine BEFORE it goes to a breaker. Most of the breakers out there have some sort of seperation equipment. Only a handfull of small breakers don't. All of the big breakers from the 1920's on had some sort of seperation equipment even if the were running 100% deep mined coal. In your average vein of Anthracite you have whats called a divider. It's not really coal and it's not really rock it does burn but at a lower BTU than the coal around it and with a higher ash content. It's almost impossible to remove without seperation equipment. The coal from a strip mine is not inferior in any way shape or form from the coal from a deep mine. It just needs a little more processing than the coal from your average deep mine because of the extra slate that gets picked up with it when being mined.
People I know who work at the mines or breakers(I live just outside Wilkes-Barre, Pa) have said that coal should have "bone" in it to burn well. I took this to mean the pieces that are somewhat dull looking rather than glossy. I see it in the coal I have (chestnut from Chervy) and have had no problems. No klinkers and fine ash in the pan. It's supposed to be deep mined and it sure burns nice, but I don't know for sure. Is this true about the "bone" or are they yanking my chain?
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I bought a load for myself and my grandfather at Split Vein in Shamokin and we're both getting upwards of 60% ash back....what gives? I'm using a Keystoker KA6 and he has a Harman Boiler. I'm really not happy with this. Where can I get better coal down that way? I buy 4 ton at a time. We used to buy at Sovitsky Bros. but they are no longer in business.
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If you want to listen to the old timers that's what they will tell you.warm now wrote:People I know who work at the mines or breakers(I live just outside Wilkes-Barre, Pa) have said that coal should have "bone" in it to burn well. I took this to mean the pieces that are somewhat dull looking rather than glossy. I see it in the coal I have (chestnut from Chervy) and have had no problems. No klinkers and fine ash in the pan. It's supposed to be deep mined and it sure burns nice, but I don't know for sure. Is this true about the "bone" or are they yanking my chain?
- Richard S.
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- Posts: 15243
- Joined: Fri. Oct. 01, 2004 8:35 pm
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- Stoker Coal Boiler: Van Wert VA1200
- Coal Size/Type: Buckwheat/Anthracite
By weight or volume? 60% by weight would be a little unbelievable.BennyLumpkin wrote:I bought a load for myself and my grandfather at Split Vein in Shamokin and we're both getting upwards of 60% ash back....what gives? I'm using a Keystoker KA6 and he has a Harman Boiler. I'm really not happy with this. Where can I get better coal down that way? I buy 4 ton at a time. We used to buy at Sovitsky Bros. but they are no longer in business.
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Volume...I'm going to weigh my next output and input for a better idea.
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Ok using my KA6 I put 92.2 lbs in of rice and took out 27.8 lbs of ash in about 26 hours....my math is horrible to figure out the percentage but it's kinda high I think and it's all clump and little dust. I'm heating my domestic hot water and about 3000 square feet of uninsulated Victorian home.
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I just figured it up at just over 30% by weight. Pretty high isn't it?