Does Coal Burn Best When It's Wet?

 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Tue. Dec. 10, 2013 8:08 am

ck, ya don't get any build up on the auger or tubing even though you did state "slightly"?

 
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coalkirk
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Post by coalkirk » Tue. Dec. 10, 2013 8:22 am

Nope. Slightly damp is the key. Too much water and I would. I use a mist setting on the hose nozzle.

 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Tue. Dec. 10, 2013 8:29 am

Gottcha, thanx for the come back :)

 
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Frytown
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Post by Frytown » Sun. Mar. 09, 2014 9:19 pm

Had 3 more tons delivered last week. Well I feel it has finally made it to the lift. Not working very well. The AA130 starved twice today. I thought I would be OK no matter what the man delivered. In three years never a problem with the coal. My set up is inside an old summer kitchen by itself. So the coal should be drying out, arg but those fines make it look like wet 2b- modified nothing getting up the lift. It seems I may have got delivered the bottom of the pile. Lots of fines and with the coal being wet just a disaster. This is the most frustrated I think it can get. The bin is all wood and I put mesh in the bottom so the fines have a chance to get out as well as possible water. Now I'm wishing I put a heat loop underneath the bin to heat it up and dry it quicker.

To remedy my situation. First I tried the leaf blower down the auger and in the dog house. Lol if this was in my basement wife would have divorced me. I disconnected the auger. And figured out there really is no solution but to work with it. Later today I shoved a 8' piece of 1.5" PVC pipe down the auger and used a vacuum vacummed some coal out and for a bit it seemed to work. Few hours later revisit and this time I tried running the old shotvac blowing down the PVC pipe. So far its still working. Maybe we will have heat tonight. I then cleaned up my mess from the leaf blower experiment.

If any one has some brilliant ideas I am all ears!!

Also it seems my bearings are now going out. My axeman expert Mr. Pepley hooked me up with sealed bearimgs from I think ABC bearIngs but could be mistaken. I ordered what I thought was correct from Axeman and realized once they arrived he got them from somewhere else. Why type of bearings do you have? Or recomend?


 
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Post by grimmy » Sun. Mar. 09, 2014 10:14 pm

Although the post was about a better burn with damp coal, I've noticed a few saying about wetting the coal to cut down on dust. Why not have a gallon of coal oil put on per ton? When you get loaded at the breaker or coal yard just request coal oil. No dust, simple.

 
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McGiever
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Post by McGiever » Sun. Mar. 09, 2014 10:18 pm

We have no breakers here in Ohio...so that's not a solution for us. :(

 
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Post by grimmy » Sun. Mar. 09, 2014 10:26 pm

You can purchase coal oil by the gallon, or in bulk and directly cast it in your bin. When the delivery is taking place. Say your getting 2 ton, drop your first ton, cast a half gallon or so and repeat. If it's shoot dropped or fed, sprinkle over the coal during the feeding of the delivery.

 
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Flyer5
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Post by Flyer5 » Wed. Mar. 12, 2014 6:57 am

Does the auger have a little of the screw part past the tube in the coal bin side? If that gets worn bad or not there it will also cause feed issues.


 
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Frytown
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Post by Frytown » Wed. Mar. 12, 2014 8:03 am

Auger is fine less than a year old. If any one can point me to a thread that has a picture of one of those hand augers they made for the fines issue. That would be wonderful. Currently a vaccuum is getting us through. I just try to vaccuum the fines out periodically. Boiler room is a mess.

 
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Post by captcaper » Wed. Mar. 19, 2014 7:34 am

I got a pallet of Blazcek from another dealer and it seemed to be more wet then my last purchase last fall. I had feeding issues about the same time as the new batch of Blazcek. The house temp would drop 4 deg when the outside temps dropped down real cold. Never had a issue most of the winter until this new batch. I had to turn the feed rate up from 2 to 5 1/2. It seemed the feed motor was turning on frequently but it wasn't pushing coal out onto the grate to get a large fire until I turned the feed rate up. I know that in this batch was some debris of small pieces of wood,etc. I do put it in large totes first for a day or so but it still is wet . I cleaned it out and didn't find anything but I will do a better job at the end of the season.
My normal coal dealer of Blazcek told me wet coal will give issues when feeding. He mentioned about clumping or gaps. Is it coincidence or did the control panel short out?

 
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Post by Rob R. » Wed. Mar. 19, 2014 7:39 am

Wet coal can certainly cause the issues you have described. By the way, it is spelled "Blaschak".

 
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Frytown
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Post by Frytown » Wed. Mar. 19, 2014 7:46 am

Well after a week of trouble the coal must have dried out enough.

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