Mallard Contracting CO.INC the New UAE.

Thought I would chime in now that I'm about a 6+ weeks in with the GlenBurn/Mallard Contracting coal. I bought directly from the breaker and had trucked in. Very easy to deal with- friendly folks and probably the easiest transaction yet when buying bulk coal. Net cost on site including trucking ended up being about $200/ton for a triaxle full.

The coal itself looked clean but I had far more fines than I would have expected towards the bottom of the pile (which is what I am burning now). I did not see any other extraneous debris. The coal color was "duller" and less shiny than the old Harmony. Size looked very uniform (other than the fines noted) and feeds fine in the stoker boiler.

MUCH MUCH more ash (about 60% more) when compared with the last of the old Harmony I finished burning in November. I am running a LL220 Boiler and with the new fans (Thanks Matt & Dave) and with lots of additional patient counsel by Matt on tuning the system the boiler is keeping pace although it has to run flat out to do so when temps are <5*F and the house temp can't keep up once <-5*F. I am finding a fair amount (maybe 15% total volume of ash) of unburned stuff/rock/partially consumed coal in the ash despite getting the "complete burn" with about 1.5" of ash on the end of the feed ramps. With the very cold temps we have had the last couple of weeks I am burning about a full bin (300-320 or so lbs/24hr period) which is consistently yielding about 36-38 lbs of ash (after tare for the ash pan) so roughly about 12% real world number ash content for this load of buck.

If I was using the old Harmony as a standard and a "10" this would probably be a 7.5 with points off for increased ash and the fines found in this load. Disclaimer would be this is the first coal I've used other than old Harmony after Greg (LsFarm) and Coalberner hooked me up with that when I started burning coal right up front.

I would rate the transaction and business end an easy 10 and would gladly do buy from them again if based only on this part of the interaction.

HTH somebody here
Bob

Got a ton of reading coal during the last arctic blast and found it could not keep up even after I set the damper to unknown ranges. Got a half ton from mallard since then.then comes this new arctic blast... mallard coal has performed very well with heat. Fines are terrible yet and ash is something I will have to get used to. Burns hot. Dirty coal. Lots of ash. Harmony I will miss you.

I'm about 3/4 through the 1.5 ton, yes, more ash and bone, more fines, but it burns hot and the EFM seems to like it. Will go back again.

There may be better (Cleaner) choices available in a 2 mile radius.

• Atlas Coal Company but nobody's reporting much about it
  Helfrick Mid Valley Hot long burning but a good bit of ash

I'm open to suggestions, Mt. Carmel is a 2 hour drive for me, I can get coal closer to home, so quality and price matter.

Picked up a ton of nut about two weeks ago, Soo many fines in it I had to screen it and wash it with the garden hose
Not too much fun washing coal in the driveway in January, Not going back, Gonna try Direnzos next time

I changed from Glen Burn-Harmony to DiRenzo. Its like night and day. The Harmony coal was full of fines looked like mud. DiRenzo burns hotter and clean with a lot less ash. I think the DiRenzo coal I got is better then the old Harmony Mine coal. It was hard to change from Harmony since I can see the mine from my house. But I'm glad I did.
BigJohn

I think I am going to give DiRenzo a try this coming year as well. What was there price for rice again?

Thanks,
Glenn

I paid $180.00 per ton at DiRenzo

Ouch. Never mind, won't be doing that. Shame sounds like they have good coal.

Thanks again,
Glenn

Tried rice coal from Atlas Coal size on the small size more like barley with a lot of fines, but it did burn well good heat plenty of ash. Next load was from Glen Burn (Mallard) rice seems like a mix of buck and rice burning well same amount of ash as Atlas. At this point old Harmony is gone for good

roadking wrote:Tried rice coal from Atlas Coal size on the small size more like barley with a lot of fines, but it did burn well good heat plenty of ash. Next load was from Glen Burn (Mallard) rice seems like a mix of buck and rice burning well same amount of ash as Atlas. At this point old Harmony is gone for good

I shed a tear each time I scope some more UAE rice into my coal bin. With this cold weather my stash will be gone by the end of the winter.

You guys need to keep that Direnzo's a secret. You are going to ruin a good thing.

roadking wrote:Tried rice coal from Atlas Coal size on the small size more like barley with a lot of fines, but it did burn well good heat plenty of ash. Next load was from Glen Burn (Mallard) rice seems like a mix of buck and rice burning well same amount of ash as Atlas. At this point old Harmony is gone for good

I generally feel the Helfrick Mid Valley coals a bit smaller sized also on both the Rice and Pea I got ?

Number 2 fuel oil burns pretty clean and consistent no matter where it comes from.

Electric heat is even less hassle and all you have to do is turn up the thermostat.

Gas heat is good too as far as convenience and predictability is concerned.

Moving to a warmer climate is good but then tornados or hurricanes might have to be considered.

No ash pan emptying or other labor intensive problems that burning coal creates with any of these heat sources for those concerned about to much ash,stones,fines,dirt,dust.

Just throwing out some solutions to the ash pan weary or those who feel they don't get their monies worth when buying coal anymore. I doubt we will ever see the great coal with all the good characteristics that OLD HARMONY was.

I have burned rice coal from six different breakers and each had their own problem and it's called work but I never got what I would say BAD COAL from any of them.Some I liked some I didn't but they all heated my home without much issue.I had to lug out ashes with all of them,some a lot some a little less.Some of those breakers get coal from several strip mines so who knows were the hell it came from? One time it's great the next not so great.Colder winter and I got alot of ash too.