Downside to Free Coal

Twice in a row now this has happened. I am not complaining, just stating an odd occurrence. My past two free coal finds have been in houses built in the 1800's. Stone foundations and in the corner lies the coal bin. So I am chugging away, 2 buckets at a time, and everything is going well. I pull a ton first day, another ton second day, there looks to be another good load for the third day, 1000 or maybe 1500 and I am going for the corner. And as I am pulling off the top in the corner I notice wood ashes have been dumped on the coal, My guess is that someone had dumped the ash there who did not know any better, but why not just dump the ashes on the floor, it is a dirt floor, even if it was cement, why the coal bin and why the corner? Maybe coal as in old coals from a wood fire, so ashes will not hurt? So any way, this has happened in two separate 1800 houses , all in a week, and both bins, ashes in the corner. I suppose its been there long enough you liable to find anything in a coal bin. A year back I found some old bones at the bottom of a bin, dog or cat, "not human".
I did have my sieve screen and barrel for a few more buckets, but did not have the energy to sift for the rest of the day.
Am I missing something here, stop drafts, or slow the coal fire down with an ash/coal mix? Was this just fate/chance, or was this some kind of common place thing that people did back then, for a reason?

alpineboard wrote: A year back I found some old bones at the bottom of a bin, dog or cat, "not human".

My Uncle buried a cat once, they use them as litter box sometimes especially with the rice. The homeowner eventually found the cat in the bin buried under the coal.

people who burn wood even today , save wood ash ,as it is a very good plant fertilizer possibility?

No reason for including wood ash to be used with the coal fuel when burning to my knowledge.

I won't take free coal like the OP does. A day/ton ... sounds like the people get free labor to remove their "waste".

Hopefully only 1 flight of stairs

Years ago, I am talking 30 years now I often got free urban mined coal from peoples basements. There was no forum back then so my observations where not comparable to anything else. I often struggled something awful to burn that free CRAP. I just thought it was me, but we all know there can be considerable differences with coal. It is what it is, free has both advantages and disadvantages. Don't get me wrong I still take free to this day

What I need for an easier day is one of these robotic mules, They do not climb stairs yet, but I just read the US gov has funded 32 million for research/implementation of stair climbing ability. They already do well on snow and a frozen pond, (other youtube vids).



I will bring some portable stairs, for it to get into the bed of the pick up truck, have it dump the load, and return all from memory of gps coordinates. This is coming sooner than you think. Affordable... well that is another story, DIY, maybe.
Will have to design coal carry cargo containers w/auto drop dump doors.
Lots of other applications for all types of these robots , if you poke around youtube and the web.

I take free coal whenever I can get it. If it has any BTU value left I'll burn it in something...... I have two leads on free coal. One is just shy of a ton of nut/pea mix. The other is about 500 lbs of buck. Never mind that my stove burns pea or nut. I'll get the little bucket a day started and use the buck to damp it down for the night. I was using a bunch of rice last year and got overnight burns with it. It was kinda cool the next morning but 3 out of 4 times I could revive it with some wood then stack on the pea. I'd heat it back up during the day and then repeat the next night. I could usually do this for about 3 days before the little fire pot area clinkered up so bad that I had to dump everything and use a poker from the top to crush up them clinkers so they would pass through there. Sometimes they were the size of your fist.

Anyway free is free. The money I save can take me and Moms out to dinner and a movie once a month.

davidmcbeth3 wrote: I won't take free coal like the OP does. A day/ton ... sounds like the people get free labor to remove their "waste".

If you move 1 ton in an hour and are paying $200/ton you just made $200 an hour.

What amazed me once was I had customer that had their boiler go bad near the end of the winter. They switched to gas and had about 2 ton left in the bin. I called around to a few customers near them and no one wanted it. Was actually very easy one, you could back right up the basement steps and the bin was at the bottom of the steps. It's a lot of work but when you look at the value it's well worth it.

alpineboard wrote:What I need for an easier day is one of these robotic mules, They do not climb stairs yet, but I just read the US gov has funded 32 million for research/implementation of stair climbing ability. They already do well on snow and a frozen pond, (other youtube vids).



I will bring some portable stairs, for it to get into the bed of the pick up truck, have it dump the load, and return all from memory of gps coordinates. This is coming sooner than you think. Affordable... well that is another story, DIY, maybe.
Will have to design coal carry cargo containers w/auto drop dump doors.
Lots of other applications for all types of these robots , if you poke around youtube and the web.

Is that a pic of your mother-in-law .... LOL

Richard S. wrote:

davidmcbeth3 wrote: I won't take free coal like the OP does. A day/ton ... sounds like the people get free labor to remove their "waste".

If you move 1 ton in an hour and are paying $200/ton you just made $200 an hour.

What amazed me once was I had customer that had their boiler go bad near the end of the winter. They switched to gas and had about 2 ton left in the bin. I called around to a few customers near them and no one wanted it. Was actually very easy one, you could back right up the basement steps and the bin was at the bottom of the steps. It's a lot of work but when you look at the value it's well worth it.

That's correct Rich, I play a little game and if there is any time in life you get to decide how much money you make in an hour, this is it. One time I backed right up to the pile, a step or two away for room to swing the 5 gallon bucket. I remember 64 buckets of good clean nut being done in 45 minutes. I keep track on pc of paper, as I go. 6 or 7 spade shovels full fills the bucket.
And of course in 90 degree heat. The vast majority of coal I find happens during a heat wave, it is almost predictable. But I did get one last year in November.
On the topic of robots, there are some in the world that are creating some pretty good looking robots, not the work horse mule that I pictured, I guess I will have to settle for a good looking work horse.

I all ways found it advantageous to bring along a young strong back who would agree to $20-50 for the chore. Yes, free coal became coal you paid for but saving your back,,,,,,,,,Priceless!

Scottscoaled wrote:I all ways found it advantageous to bring along a young strong back who would agree to $20-50 for the chore. Yes, free coal became coal you paid for but saving your back,,,,,,,,,Priceless!

We used to have this one delivery to this old Italian guy, he had a real nice garden and a small coal stove in basement kitchen that came right out of the early 1900's. He'd only get like one ton a year. I guess he used it for cooking, canning or whatever. I had to walk about 30 feet up a mild slope, up about 5 steps, go 15 feet, another 2 steps then another 75 feet and finally dump it into the bin about 4 feet high. He got charged a lot for it and he'd always give me a $20 tip but honestly he could of kept it. LOL The worst part about that was the buckets banging against your legs.

The down side is getting it home, and finding it isn't anthracite.

I got some coal home one day and found it wasn't anthracite I just mixed it with some decent anthracite and burned it anyway. It made the fire interesting for a couple of weeks but it put out some BTUs'

Scored on a basement mine today. A lady was moving and told me I could have the coal in her basement. Took a look and it was a big pile of nut coal. 52 buckets later it was at my house and filled my new one ton bin. There is about 6 or so buckets left that I'll get sometime tomorrow. Got a line on another 500 pounds or so of buck that will burn very nicely in my bucket-a-day water heater. Almost time to go 100% coal again for the season!!!!