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Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Sun. Nov. 03, 2013 12:20 pm
by timandkellyplus10
I just began a burning quality and ash content test between the coal from RR Coal (used to be Meadowbrook) from Lykens and the Mallard Coal (used to be UAE) from Mt. Carmel. I burned the RR Coal last season and I'm looking to see if I can find higher quality coal for this season. I just recorded the stove temps and ash content from the RR Coal and now filled up the hopper with Mallard Coal. Now, since I'm new to coal, I have a couple of questions about my observations so far. With RR Coal, I burned 36 LBS of coal and got 6 LBS of ash. Would this be interpreted as 16.6% ash content? I divided 6 by 36. Next, I have a 75 pound hopper on my stoker. With RR, a full hopper weighed in at 78.5 LBS. Mallard coal was heavier at 88 LBS for a full hopper. What conclusion can I draw from this? Does the heavier weight mean higher quality? I am recording stove temps at various places using an infrared/laser thermometer. I am keeping all stove settings the same throughout the entire test and I will post my findings. Any other tips on how to perform an apples to apples comparison are welcomed. Thanks.

Re: Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Sun. Nov. 03, 2013 12:30 pm
by Carbon12
For precise measurements you need a laboratory and a Bomb Calorimeter. Any results you get are purely anecdotal. You would have to start off with an equal mass (weight for practical purposes) of coal and measure the resulting ash %. Fun to play with the stove and coal this way, though!

Re: Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Sun. Nov. 03, 2013 12:33 pm
by Lightning
timandkellyplus10 wrote:Now, since I'm new to coal, I have a couple of questions about my observations so far. With RR Coal, I burned 36 LBS of coal and got 6 LBS of ash. Would this be interpreted as 16.6% ash content? I divided 6 by 36.
There could be some unburned coal in the ash. How do you burn a portion of coal completely to get those results?
timandkellyplus10 wrote:With RR, a full hopper weighed in at 78.5 LBS. Mallard coal was heavier at 88 LBS for a full hopper.
Coals from different sources have different densities..

Re: Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Sun. Nov. 03, 2013 12:33 pm
by Rigar
conclusion:
88 lbs of Mallards coal weighs more than 78 lbs of RR coal! :lol:
...and they BOTH. weigh more than 75 lbs :lol:

all kidding aside-hopper capacity is for "average"...(what size coal?)
weight by volume will vary...particle size....moisture. etc....not necessarily a quality indicator tho

Re: Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Sun. Nov. 03, 2013 12:49 pm
by timandkellyplus10
I am burning rice. So I take it that different densities don't necessarily reflect different qualities. As far as how I burned a portion of the coal completely to get the ash result, it simply took 36 pounds of coal to top off hopper this morning, and I weighed the ash in the pan. I empty the pan every time I top off the hopper. I see very little unburned coal in the ash. Mallard claims 8% ash, so I'm assuming that I should see my ash content by weight cut in half. We'll see though. Yes it is fun to play around with it. All part of the learning process for me.

Re: Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Sun. Nov. 03, 2013 12:59 pm
by Carbon12
Tinkering with the stove is fun! As I found out,...the hard way,.....when the spousal unit demands that I stop tinkering with the stove and start tinkering with her,.......whatever stove setting you currently have that are working are close enough!!! Lol!

Re: Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Sun. Nov. 03, 2013 1:00 pm
by Lightning
timandkellyplus10 wrote:I empty the pan every time I top off the hopper.
Hmmm. I dunno, I don't think that's gonna work.. The ash you are weighing didn't come from the same coal that was measured into the hopper. The coal in the coal bed currently burning could be taking up less space since its partially burned already.. I think its throwing off your conclusion. If you measured ash weight compared to coal weight over lets say a week, then yeah I think you would get a better ratio. My two cents :lol: But I missed the Holiday Inn seminar too....

Re: Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Sun. Nov. 03, 2013 1:14 pm
by timandkellyplus10
Yes, I agree that a coal to ash ratio over a longer period of time would be more accurate. I was just going for a ballpark figure now. I guess what you are saying is that coal quality normally varies somewhat in the same load with same company. Yes, I get weird looks from the wife as I play with the fairly new toy. The issue I was having last season though and now is that my ash pan is filling up long before the hopper is empty. I read somewhere that the stove companies try to make 1 hopper full of coal equal to 1 pan of ash. If this is the way it is supposed to be, then I am getting way too much ash. In the coldest part of winter, I will have to empty the ash pan twice a day sometimes, even though I was working off of the same hopper load of coal. Thanks for all the quick replies!

Re: Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Sun. Nov. 03, 2013 5:04 pm
by Rob R.
15% ash is not uncommon, and it is certainly possible that your latest load of coal is better than average. One thing I would like to point out...ash content by weight is not the entire story. Some coal creates a very fluffy ash that fills the ash tub quickly. The tub will be light, but you still have to empty it. If the coal burns well and you have a system to keep the hopper full and the ashes hauled away, you will do fine.

Re: Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Sun. Nov. 03, 2013 5:46 pm
by Lightning
I agree with Rob about ash density. It seems my ash this year (white ash coal) is much lighter and more fluffy than my red ash coal from last year.

Re: Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Sun. Nov. 03, 2013 6:55 pm
by fifthg
a true ash test,under lab conditions,goes like this in layman's terms:coal sample is dried completely,ground to a very fine powder,placed in a crucible,weighed,burned completely under controlled conditions,and then resulting ash is weighed.You will not achieve lab conditions,but if you consistently get less ash by using a certain supplier,you can deduce that you have better coal.Moisture does not count,i.e. it must be removed from the comparison equation.color and density mean nothing to ash test,but are another story

Re: Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Sun. Nov. 03, 2013 7:30 pm
by timandkellyplus10
Thanks again for all the quick replies. Yes, the ash that I was getting from the old load was more fluffy, clumpy, crunchy reddish ash. When the pan was full, I could smash it down quite a bit. Looking at the Mallard ash, it is quite different. It is more powdery with more single black pieces that look like unburned coal, but not sure. Hard to say yet, but it seems that it will take significantly longer to fill the pan, which is what I'm after. For what it's worth, the Mallard coal appears to be burning slightly hotter, for example, I observed an increase in temperature from 245* to 263* on a specific spot on the side of my stove. I observed similar increases on other parts of the stove. This may be insignificant though. I understand these are not lab results. Stack temp is 135* give or take with both suppliers. I have the feed dial set at 1.5 on scale of 0.5 to 5.0 on my Alaska.

Re: Test of Mallard (Old UAE) Coal Versus RR Coal (Meadowbrook)

Posted: Tue. Nov. 12, 2013 5:28 pm
by timandkellyplus10
Just wanted to post an update to the ash results with the Mallard coal. This was a short term ash test. I burned approx 34 lbs of coal, and collected 8 lbs of ash, with an ash percentage of 23.5% based on weight only. The ash was definitely more powdery and took up slightly less space in the pan, but there was a significant amount of unburned coal, or rock--not sure which. I had seemingly very little unburned coal/rock in the RR coal. Mallard seemed to burn slightly hotter. Based on everything I read on all these replies here, I decided to stick with RR Coal this season, since it is the closest breaker, and I can get it delivered for 185.00/ton. Thanks again to all who replied. I learned a lot here.