Newbie here...first post...interested in coal

 
Texican65
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Post by Texican65 » Wed. Sep. 29, 2021 6:29 pm

charlesosborne2002 wrote:
Wed. Sep. 29, 2021 3:51 pm
Bear in mind that some of these pieces have been in the elements for 80 years.

Or 80 million years... it does not have a sell by date.
Ha! Well put Charles.

Some of the coal that I’ve found has moss on it. So laying in the rain for 80-100 years won’t effect burn ability?

October 1st is when I fire the wood stove up…I’ll mix some of this stuff in and see if it burns.


 
Hoytman
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Post by Hoytman » Wed. Sep. 29, 2021 9:57 pm

Perhaps not anthracite, but at my parents house we had a large chunk of bituminous from EKY....lump. It has sat outside for about 30 years now in the landscaping and has slowly gotten smaller and smaller as water and winter has taken its toll on it through the years. What was once larger than a 5 gallon bucket has over the years reduced to a piece the size of a softball. It just kept breaking up finer and finer.

 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 7:48 am

A local coal supplier gave me some coal taken out of an old house. It was dull - not shiny looking like fresh delivery coal, because it had been exposed to air so long that the oils were gone from the surface.

It burned fine.

I've had soaking wet coal come right from a bag that had too much water added. The coal was literally in a puddle in the bottom of the plastic bag.

It burned fine.

Long ago,.... on an Army post that still used WWII era wooden barracks that I stayed in, all those barracks used coal fire hot water heaters in a small room next to the shower room. Every barracks had their coal piled outside the door to the heater room. The piles were uncovered in the rain.

It burned fine.

Paul

 
Hounds51
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Post by Hounds51 » Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 9:48 am

The only trouble with wet coal in the winter time is that it freezes up. You have to break it up with a pick.
I am lazy after 1 winter of doing this, I found it much easier to cover my coal to avoid the big freeze.
I now keep it in a semi covered coal bin.

 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 11:06 am

True. I covered the bags when I had pallets stored outside my back door.

But my point for the newbie is,... coal left out exposed to years of the sun, rain, (and snow), it doesn't not effect coal - unlike every other type of heating fuel.

And, an added plus is that coal does not attract bugs and other critters. Although my cat misses playing with the wood pile chipmunks. :D

Paul

 
Hounds51
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Post by Hounds51 » Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 12:10 pm

Sunny, what you say is true, coal never goes bad, like the other fuels do, but your cat will probably use the coal (if stored loose in bulk) as a litter box. I had that happen to me before.

 
Hounds51
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Post by Hounds51 » Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 12:19 pm

Has anybody started to burn coal for the season yet? I am still using the oil furnace at this time. Get's up to the low to mid 60's and only drops to the 40's at night. Still too early to even make wood fires in the mornings. Went from the 90's to the 60's in like 2 weeks.
Someone said it's going to be a hard winter, and the price of fuel is rising sharply. We got our coal in July, because of the Biden factor. Looks like it paid off for this winter, but next winter might get quite expensive.


 
waytomany?s
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Post by waytomany?s » Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 12:31 pm

Not yet. I'd love to burn some wood, but my Harmon is buried under the last load of wood my son threw in the cellar. Thank God I put 2 half sheets of plywood up to protect the glass and the stove pipe.

 
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Sunny Boy
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Post by Sunny Boy » Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 2:02 pm

Hounds51 wrote:
Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 12:10 pm
Sunny, what you say is true, coal never goes bad, like the other fuels do, but your cat will probably use the coal (if stored loose in bulk) as a litter box. I had that happen to me before.
:D Not likely. My cat is too much of a princess to get her white paws near any coal. Cleanest cat I've ever known. ;)

Paul

 
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mntbugy
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Post by mntbugy » Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 2:09 pm

Something like this... WTF

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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 3:21 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:
Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 7:48 am
I've had soaking wet coal come right from a bag that had too much water added. The coal was literally in a puddle in the bottom of the plastic bag.

It burned fine.
In the corner of my bin there is a pit for a sump pump. I moved the sump pump but let the pit fill up with coal. I burned a load a coal that was under water for 8 years when I cleaned out the bin. It burned fine too :lol:

 
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Sunny Boy
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Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 4:02 pm

Just don't wait too long to burn it or it could be hazardous.

Given enough time coal turns into diamonds.

Find a nice big old diamond and think, gee I'll give this to the wife,

The wife says thanks,...... and then she starts to wondering what you did that was so terrible that you felt guilty enough to give her a big diamond.

Then the wife kills you in your sleep.

So, ..dealing with really old coal can be extremely hazardous to your health. Hurry up and just burn it !!!! ;)

Paul

 
Texican65
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Post by Texican65 » Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 10:52 pm

Welp…I fired up the Woodstove to-night…currently burning black locust…primo firewood.

After achieving a nice bed of red hot wood coals…I mixed in a few pieces of the supposed “shale” from the old mine nearby. And…they are burning just fine! I mixed this coal in with some wood…and after 25 mins in the stove…the coal chunks are nice and cherry red with flame erupting off of them.

The wood and coal seem to be burning nicely to-gether. Is there any reason not to mix in some coal with wood periodically?

 
Hounds51
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Post by Hounds51 » Sun. Oct. 03, 2021 1:04 pm

Texican65 wrote:
Thu. Sep. 30, 2021 10:52 pm
Welp…I fired up the Woodstove to-night…currently burning black locust…primo firewood.

After achieving a nice bed of red hot wood coals…I mixed in a few pieces of the supposed “shale” from the old mine nearby. And…they are burning just fine! I mixed this coal in with some wood…and after 25 mins in the stove…the coal chunks are nice and cherry red with flame erupting off of them.

The wood and coal seem to be burning nicely to-gether. Is there any reason not to mix in some coal with wood periodically?
Nope, no reason what so ever. What ever works for you. Once upon a time I had some channel coal here, and mixed it in with my wood with no problem.

 
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Formulabruce
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Post by Formulabruce » Thu. Nov. 04, 2021 2:50 am

The coal, even Bit coal ( which burns much faster than Anthracite), will also help keep the creosote
off the inside of the chimney. Honey and Black Locust will make plenty of creasote And noise!
All the creasote is in the BARK, this is why Pellet stoves never have any tar or creasote. All the wood
to make the pellets is Debarked.


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