Does Coal Quality Very by Brand

I was burning Blaschak pre-bagged coal last year but towards the end of the heating season I bought bulk coal From another local supplier and it doesnt seem tp burn as hot or as efficiently. The bulk coal was Jeddo brand and Im not too impressed for the 30 dollar a ton savings!

We all seem to have our favorite brand. The ash content is very important if you are burning a hand fed unit. I have been burning a Buderus hand fired for 28 years. I have had very good luck with Kimmel, and Jeddo.

What is the importance of the ash content in hand-fired stoves? I have heard it said that with too low an ash content the coal won't burn well, but I don't understand why.

I buy my coal from the same source and each year the ash is different. It all comes out of the same hole in the ground, I guess different layers of coal have different properties. The last batch had very low ash about 8%, this years coal has about 12%. The only difference is how often I have to change out the ash pan in the summer, in the winter I dump it every day regardless.

e.alleg wrote:I buy my coal from the same source and each year the ash is different. It all comes out of the same hole in the ground, I guess different layers of coal have different properties. The last batch had very low ash about 8%, this years coal has about 12%. The only difference is how often I have to change out the ash pan in the summer, in the winter I dump it every day regardless.

Unless your buying it right from one of the underground mines. How do you know it is coming out of the same hole all the time. The Surface mines move from one place to the next and alot of the Surface mine breakers buy from Several mining Co. So the coal can come from many different Places . Plus when you see the ash content Jump that much that should tell
you something A 4 % Jump in the same vein of coal is alot .

2001Sierra wrote:We all seem to have our favorite brand. The ash content is very important if you are burning a hand fed unit. I have been burning a Buderus hand fired for 28 years. I have had very good luck with Kimmel, and Jeddo.

I have burned Jeddo for several years. It burns very well. However I have recently discovered a new trick . I will not say what it is, but I will say the price is much better.

Coal is a very interesting substance. Its actual molecular carbon structures are vastly different mine to mine and varies greatly from one end of a vein to another. It's burning qualities will vary too depending on what other compounds are in it and their amounts.

Ash content is SO IMPORTANT with a hand fired. You are shaking the ash down, and that can be real work. The lower the ash the easier your life will be. Buderus hand fired for 27 years. High ash coal is like pouring dirt into your stove.

We have an Efel hopper fed stove, and the lower ash coal burns far cleaner and for about 1 hour longer per stoking. Less ash when you are hand shaking the stove is a definite plus for me. I also like it that I only empty the ash pan once a day now. Some Scranton area coal we've used barely burned or took a super hot wood fire to start. That was a total pain. I will stick with my Tamaqua area coal.

Does anyone have any experience with Reading Coal? It is $50 cheaper then Blashak in my area.

I burned Reading pea coal for years without any major problems but switched to "hard" anthracite which burned cleaner with less klinkers. At the time, the hard anthracite was only $10 more per ton so it was a no-brainer. This all came from the same dealer, FM Browns in Reading, PA.

Will

wlape3 wrote:I burned Reading pea coal for years without any major problems but switched to "hard" anthracite which burned cleaner with less klinkers. At the time, the hard anthracite was only $10 more per ton so it was a no-brainer. This all came from the same dealer, FM Browns in Reading, PA.

Will

If your talking about Reading Anthracite coal co PEA size coal All of Reading Anthracite is hard Anthracite coal
And being it was from a dealer in Reading PA it would of been Anthracite being Reading PA is less then 30 miles from the
Anthracite coal fields There is No coal mines in or around the Reading PA area must come north less then 30 miles
No bit/soft coal down there either .

2001Sierra wrote:Ash content is SO IMPORTANT with a hand fired. You are shaking the ash down, and that can be real work. The lower the ash the easier your life will be. Buderus hand fired for 27 years. High ash coal is like pouring dirt into your stove.

Low ash coal is not always better when the ash content is below 5% the coal will not burn to well it will be harder to light
and will burn up faster with less heat output That is why you will see many coal breaker add higher ash content coal to mix with low ash content coal to up the ash content so the coal will burn longer and will light easier They will add a % of
slate as well as bone some will also add coal dirt / fines to get the ash content up . 6 to 14% ash is where you want coal to be anything lower or higher will not burn well or hold a fire long there are some where around 30 different veins of anthracite coal not all are the same some will be low ash content other's will have high ash content higher % of bone which is rock that is formed in the coal it does have a small amout of carbon in it the trick is to get the right mix of
coal's some veins are just naturally better then other's has the right ash content and high BTU value with out doing anything to the coal but clean it & size it burn it other veins will need help adding other's to make it burnable .

valleycoal wrote:Does anyone have any experience with Reading Coal? It is $50 cheaper then Blashak in my area.

I have had no problems other than the ash content seems to be pretty high. Nice hot comfortable fire, very easy to lite..