How much trash in bulk coal is acceptable?
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Just got a new delivery bulk of Pea coal. My first reaction was wow that is allot of wood debris in this coal. With my auger based feed system I am concerned. How would you react to excessive wood chunks that clearly fit through the screener but weren't floated off and are potential choking hazards? Is this just normal and I've been lucky, or does my supplier (who shall yet be named until we figure this out) have a problem?
Last edited by wnycoalier on Tue. Sep. 25, 2018 8:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
- Rob R.
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Ideally there would be no foreign debris at all, but some amount is to be expected. I would call your supplier and ask what their specification is.
I would say if there is enough wood in the coal to cause a feeding issue, that is too much.
I would say if there is enough wood in the coal to cause a feeding issue, that is too much.
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With coal there is acceptable visible contamination such as the odd wood piece but then there can be invisible stuff such as coal that simply does not burn well. Experienced burners had suffered the fate of a bum load now and again and that can ruin a whole winter. So learn to be really picky about the supplier and the coal source. Even then as coal is a natural product there are variables and dealing with those can be an issue. However, compounded by a poor product to begin with and the rabbit hole gets deeper. I have been offered 20 tons of free coal dumped on my drive and have turned it down. Quality before price and if you look hard you can get both.
- coaledsweat
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I don't consider wood to be trash in coal as long as the peices are managable. I've bought bulk coal that had brake parts, electrical parts and copper wire in it. That's what I consider trash.
- coalkirk
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It's certainly more critical if you are using a stoker. Foreign matter can shut you down, break shear pins etc. I try to keep an eye out for anything in the coal as I'm loading my bin.
- Richard S.
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Wood typically comes from where they are stripping and get into an old underground mine. Glue it back together and you have genuine mining artifact on your hands.
Typically it's picked out but if a piece makes it into the crusher it turns into six gazillion pieces. Ideally it should not be in there but it happens and difficult to remove once it's crushed. It doesn't have the same BTU value as coal per pound but still has BTU value. There is no acceptable or unacceptable amount. As long as it's not a lot(and a lot is subjective) the only real concern is jamming something and I can't say I ever heard anyone mentioning it jamming something as long as it's sized.
Typically it's picked out but if a piece makes it into the crusher it turns into six gazillion pieces. Ideally it should not be in there but it happens and difficult to remove once it's crushed. It doesn't have the same BTU value as coal per pound but still has BTU value. There is no acceptable or unacceptable amount. As long as it's not a lot(and a lot is subjective) the only real concern is jamming something and I can't say I ever heard anyone mentioning it jamming something as long as it's sized.
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The issue for those of us with auger systems is that a longer piece will go through the breakers sizer, but it can accumulate and jam in the small passages of an auger.
- Richard S.
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I have an auger on the Van Wert, I've also picked out my share of wood in the coal when loading pea and nut. While I've seen longer pieces in nut and pea it was very rare to see one in the buck and rice.wnycoalier wrote: ↑Tue. Sep. 25, 2018 8:16 pmThe issue for those of us with auger systems is that a longer piece will go through the breakers sizer....
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Wood in coal is hard to remove once it hits the crusher. I worked in a breaker and know the whole process start to finish from mining to the breaker end. Wood gets in the raw coal either timber being smashed and sent in the raw coal or strippings digging into old works and sending it in the raw coal and then in the breaker misses it it hits the crusher and boom a million pieces. Wood floats so when it hits the heavy media system it floats and goes with the coal. If I need to explain a heavy media and how it works I gladly will. But coal floats in it and rock sinks so wood floats and it passes with the coal and unless the breaker has a dual media system it will pass into coal and pass onto the buyer. I burn buck pea nut and stove probably soon burning rice cause a stoker change but either way coal and wood and hard to separate once mixed. I currently get all my coal at coal contractors/ hazelton shaft and haven’t had wood issues yet with it but haven’t got any yet this year.