What do you do with your fine stuff?

filix · Post by **filix** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 8:12 am

Hello coal burners. I bought a ton of blaschak anthracite coal. 25 bags of nut and 25 bags of stove. I think I like the stove size better. It has more air around it, and seems to burn better. But I was a little disappointed in how much sand like particles of coal some bags had. What do you do with it? Are all bags of coal this way? Or has lehigh less fines? Thanks.

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 8:32 am

With the pallet of Lehigh stove coal I bought a couple of months ago, some of the bags have a lot of fines, and some don't. It's been that way with every brand of bagged coal I've ever bought. Seems to be more fines in the bags of stove coal than bags of nut coal.

The only way I get less fines is in bulk deliveries, because my bulk dealer does a very good job of washing the coal as he loads it on the delivery truck.

BTW, there's heat energy in the fines that your paying for. And, you can burn the fines, if done right. Don't spread them over the firebed. Place about a fist full in a clump like it was just a large piece of coal and it will burn without choking the firebed.

You can also use the fines to blanket and "bank" a fire to have it burn slower during warmer weather. Just leave about an inch or two of the edges of the firebed clear of fines so the firebed can breath. When you need more heat, just shake the ash through like you would normally.

Paul

jedneck · Post by **jedneck** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 9:03 am

I do same as sunny. I use em for when long slow burn is needed. I paid for em I’m gonna use em.

SawDustJack · Post by **SawDustJack** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 9:26 am

I have always found fines in bagged coal as well. I have used a few brands. Some bags have less fines than others, but they all have some. I did try and save them to burn on shoulder months when I first started using bagged coal. At this point, I just shovel them in with the rest of the coal and not had any issue. I do try and not pile them in one spot and make sure the fines are evenly spread. Just like jed said...I paid for em! It all adds up to heat!

ratherbeflying · Post by **ratherbeflying** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 11:38 am

i take a shovel full and run a line down the middle of the bed, sometimes i do two or three lines spaced out depending out "damped down" i want the fire and how much of them i have. works great!

Donb · Post by **Donb** » Mon. Dec. 31, 2018 11:59 am

My little Warm Morning won’t tolerate fines but the much bigger Chappee does easily. Both are hand fired. I screen for the WM then toss it into the Chappee, mostly against the back wall where it settles into the bigger coals and is consumed.

Don

ratherbeflying · Post by **ratherbeflying** » Tue. Jan. 01, 2019 1:00 pm

hahaha nice, i just dumped two shovle fulls in a fat line in the middle of the fire bed after i reloaded and had high blue flames for about ten minutes. now i have the primary open about enough to just fit in the graphite of a number 2 pencil in the holes. -.02-.03 draft 50 degrees outside stove face is 325 stove collar is 250. shell go an easy 24 hours and only need 20lbs if that to top off again.

ShawnLiNy · Post by **ShawnLiNy** » Thu. Jan. 03, 2019 2:20 pm

I use same method as Ben , pouring a line or 2 over the full load when fines are left over , I prefer to use bulk as fines are not as prevalent as with bagged coal

corey · Post by **corey** » Thu. Jan. 03, 2019 3:25 pm

I put in 3 shovel full of fines at a time i dont want to waste them.

warminmn · Post by **warminmn** » Thu. Jan. 03, 2019 3:28 pm

I do what sawdust does, just throwing it all in at one time. I hope I never see the day I have to sift out the fines but I have had a lot of fines in some of the TSC coal.

Donb · Post by **Donb** » Sun. Jan. 06, 2019 3:29 pm

Earlier in this thread I mentioned I put the fines in my Chappee with good success. Today I found the bottom of my ‘bin’.....a plastic 55 gallon barrel that I refill weekly through a window. Burning coal to heat the entire house is new to me with plans for a 2-3 ton basement bin for next season.

Anyway, the free coal I’m burning has quite a bit of fines but who’s to complain about free? I get about a half a pail of fines each week and just toss them in a pile at the rear of the firebox. Today they were wet too, like gritty mud, but in they went just the same. An hour later they are dried out and cookin’ real good. See the pic. Note how the fire is working it’s way up through the mud. I had a hand held lamp lighting up the interior to see the fines way back there.
Don

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Sun. Jan. 06, 2019 3:50 pm

It is all heat, in it goes. As every one has said good for slowing things down on a warm afternoon.

CapeCoaler · Post by **CapeCoaler** » Sun. Jan. 06, 2019 8:05 pm

Every thing goes in the hopper...
All mixed together...

ratherbeflying · Post by **ratherbeflying** » Sun. Jan. 06, 2019 9:59 pm

whats a hopper? lol is that opposed to hand fed? kind of like a pellet stove but coal?

Odyknuck · Post by **Odyknuck** » Sun. Jan. 06, 2019 10:01 pm

I have a hopper is in the top of my DS1500. Fill it similar to a Pellet stove. It sits over the coal bed and gravity feeds new coal as the coal burns below. What's in the bag goes in the Hopper. I will say the Blackshack I bought has very little fines in each bag.

What do you do with your fine stuff?

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