Lehigh Buck pics and bin loading

Here are my pics that show the fines in my Buck purchased in super sacks. I picked up 10 bags all on skids so I believe I could not have added to the fines during the handling process since the bags were moved on skids and only picked off skids when unloading in the basement. As you will see in the video the coal has quite a drop initially to the basement floor but I think once the pile is starting there should not be any addition breakdown of the material? This coal has burned very well, I have about 2 ton left of the 10 purchased and ash is white and normal. In the outside video I did not have enough slope and had to help the coal by hand, my daughter loved it. Also the coal was very wet as left the bags outside and is wonderful when filling the basement bin....absolutely no dust! Not sure how well the fines will show up, I tried to light the area up as best I could.

It is helpful if you get something in the picture for scale...
Quarter/ nickel / dime will give a reference most will understand...
Get a representative sample in a 5 gallon pail and spread on concrete floor...

CapeCoaler wrote: ↑

Tue. Feb. 19, 2019 10:14 pm

It is helpful if you get something in the picture for scale...
Quarter/ nickel / dime will give a reference most will understand...
Get a representative sample in a 5 gallon pail and spread on concrete floor...

Good idea, really hard to see in pictures.

A good way to show the fines and/or dirt in your coal is to fill a spaghetti strainer (colander) about 3/4 full and shake it sideways. The fines and dirt will work their way down and out of the bottom and sides.

coalmanjoe wrote: ↑

Wed. Feb. 20, 2019 3:27 pm

A good way to show the fines and/or dirt in your coal is to fill a spaghetti strainer (colander) about 3/4 full and shake it sideways. The fines and dirt will work their way down and out of the bottom and sides.

Spaghetti will never be the same...Momma will neither...

Yea very hard to tell, I mean the closeups do show a pocket of fines, however remember coal in a one ton sack will have all the undersized settle to the bottom of the sack due to the vibrations during shipping. So it would end up in pockets. I mean it does look like a bit more undersized than I would like to see, but the representation is hard to gauge. Also with a sack you will have some breakage as it goes into the sack and some breakage when you dump into the bin. I think it is more undersized represented there than we normally run, however I would think it is well within standard Anthracite specs for undersized.
On the flip side im happy to hear the coal is burning well for you.

LehighanthraciteMatt wrote: ↑

Wed. Feb. 20, 2019 4:19 pm

Yea very hard to tell, I mean the closeups do show a pocket of fines, however remember coal in a one ton sack will have all the undersized settle to the bottom of the sack due to the vibrations during shipping. So it would end up in pockets. I mean it does look like a bit more undersized than I would like to see, but the representation is hard to gauge. Also with a sack you will have some breakage as it goes into the sack and some breakage when you dump into the bin. I think it is more undersized represented there than we normally run, however I would think it is well within standard Anthracite specs for undersized.
On the flip side im happy to hear the coal is burning well for you.

Another thing is all fines from each bag get dumped into the same spot. If I were to wash each bag down when I get them home would it reduce the dust? Open up the top and run a bunch of water in it? Possibly not since I left them sit outside for a couple months before I put them in the basement.

swyman wrote: ↑

Thu. Feb. 21, 2019 7:12 am

Another thing is all fines from each bag get dumped into the same spot. If I were to wash each bag down when I get them home would it reduce the dust? Open up the top and run a bunch of water in it? Possibly not since I left them sit outside for a couple months before I put them in the basement.

Running water into the top of the bag would only centralize the undersized more to the bottom of the bag.

LehighanthraciteMatt wrote: ↑

Thu. Feb. 21, 2019 7:23 am

Running water into the top of the bag would only centralize the undersized more to the bottom of the bag.

Back when I farmed with my family we had a soybean screen auger whereas it had a large screened drum around a auger that was in the center and the outside screened drum would rotate cleaning most of the fines out of the grain BEFORE going into the silo. It seems coal would be a lot tougher than soybeans as to not breakdown, I would have to play with screen sizes but do you think something like that would work? Here is a pic of what I'm talking about.

swyman wrote: ↑

Thu. Feb. 21, 2019 7:31 am

Back when I farmed with my family we had a soybean screen auger whereas it had a large screened drum around a auger that was in the center and the outside screened drum would rotate cleaning most of the fines out of the grain BEFORE going into the silo. It seems coal would be a lot tougher than soybeans as to not breakdown, I would have to play with screen sizes but do you think something like that would work? Here is a pic of what I'm talking about.353449_opt.jpg

It would, but you would have more breakage with the auger present. They make trommels without augers that are quite effective but also very expensive.

LehighanthraciteMatt wrote: ↑

Thu. Feb. 21, 2019 7:37 am

It would, but you would have more breakage with the auger present. They make trommels without augers that are quite effective but also very expensive.

I guess in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter. My boiler doesn't seem to miss a beat, I am just seeing a lot of fines at the moment because I am down to my last couple ton. This is the first year that I have had a storage bin so if you took all the fines from each bag in past years and threw them in a pile, I am sure there would be some. Don't worry, I'll still be coming about August!