Coalpail.com Forum

Newbie here.

Built my bin in the basement last week. Coal man dropped off 3 tons of rice on Saturday, shoveled all of it into my bin on Sunday (8 hours of shoveling) Few questions...

1. Does anyone know of any machine or delivery truck that "pumps" the coal into a bin? This shoveling may get tough in several years as I age.

2. The rice seemed very clean but still noticed some little "roots" and twigs in it.(not many) ..these are about 1/8" by 1 or 2 inches and smaller......think they will present problems for my Keytoker 105? Do I have to pick them all out?
How clean should the coal be when you burn it?

3. Have a 2100 SF house, used 525 gals of oil last year...think 3 tons will be enough using a keystoker 105, keeping at 70 degrees for a season starting nov 1 through march 15th or so?

Thanks!

Yea there is a machine, its called a coal truck... Your "coal man" is not a coal man but a guy with a dump truck. Anyone that is coal man will have at least something or offer the service or getting in to where you want it. The how and what they offer is going to differ. Typically in Northeast Pennsylvania all residential deliveries are made by high-lift truck, these aren't as common elsewhere:
There's chutes on this truck and you can just about put it anywhere, even in a window 6 or 7 feet off the ground. Others may cart around conveyor lines and others will hang a chute off the side and shovel the entire load. There a lot of different services available, some will even wheel barrow it for you. Even with a regular dump for ground basement windows with a small chute you can chute it in the bin. the high lift is used for variety of reasons, not being able to get next to window being one of them... All of these methods require that the truck being able to get close to your window.

If in the future you cannot get anyone to provide these services at the very least wheel barrow it to the window even if you have to hire a one or two guys to do it. I used to do that for one customer but only because they were a long time customer and the smaller truck we had for that delivery was sold. Took two of us about an hour to move 5 tons from the truck about 50 feet to a ground level window. Just keep dumping it front of the window, clean the mess after you're done...

jrn8265 wrote:2. The rice seemed very clean but still noticed some little "roots" and twigs in it.(not many) ..these are about 1/8" by 1 or 2 inches and smaller......think they will present problems for my Keytoker 105? Do I have to pick them all out?
How clean should the coal be when you burn it?

The twigs shouldn't matter, you will get that sometimes but they shouldn't be excessive. Those do seem a little long to be in rice coal if they are that long... Typically what happens is a old piece a wood will come in with the raw product and it will get busted into a million pieces. This can come from a lot of sources, old timbers that were used in underground mines sometimes where they stripping. If they come in with the raw product its impossible to get them all out. Only takes one piece to make it look like a real lot.

jrn8265 wrote:used 525 gals of oil last year..

180 gallons of oil equals about 1 ton of coal so you're cutting it close.

Thanks, My bin is in the basement with access via a 12" x 12" window opening... a truck is able to get about 6 feet from the opening (opening is at ground level) on an angle.....you think a good coal truck would have the capability to dump into that?

6 feet away is not a problemm assuming there is no overhead obstructions. With a truck like that you can do it from 20 feet way under the right conditions. If you post a picture I could tell you exactly what can or cannot be done.

ok, will post a picture...also.....can't I just start the coal firing in my keystoker 105 unit with a propane blow torch directly on the coal?

No you can't light it with a propane torch, there's a few methods posted here: Lighting a Stoker

Richard:

I live in Western Massachusetts where there are no coal trucks delivering coal to my area that I can find. Do you know where I can buy an auger or "pump" suitable to have the coal augered or pumped up to my cellar window ( I have a walkout basement), so that I can fill my bin?

Thanks in advance.

Manny

You can use a grain auger which would be available from a farm equipment store or a conveyor but both of those are not going to be cheap and chnces are you'll need long ones which is really going to drive the price up.

How clean should Bulk Antracite rice coal be when delievered? I see some small twigs in it..normal? Thanks!

jrn8265 wrote:Newbie here.

Built my bin in the basement last week. Coal man dropped off 3 tons of rice on Saturday, shoveled all of it into my bin on Sunday (8 hours of shoveling) Few questions...

If you use a 5 gal bucket instead of a shovel you can move a ton of rice coal in 20-30 min. or 45 minutes if you are really slow.

I'll take shoveling over buckets any day unless you have to go any long distance, in that case they make wheel barrows. I once shoveled 12 tons across a 20 foot room in about 1 hour maybe an hour and half I had to shovel nearly every piece too... That was in my youth though. My buddies used to make fun of my lower back because it was disproportionately muscualr to the rest of my body.

Those buckets put a beating on your knees swinging back and forth..

You know you can get coal bagged in 50 or 100 lb bags. You should call your coal guy and find out the price difference on 3 tons bagged vs 3 tons bulk. My guess is about $50/ton difference. 8 hours of shoveling might not be worth it if you can't get it dumped directly into your bin. I got 6 tons of 100 pound bags last year, and I carried them all into my basement in about 1.5 hours.

Thanks, Lutzes Coal here in eastern pa does not deliver it bagged, though they have it for pick up....but their bulk is super clean blaschak and it is beautiful coal so I won't mind shoveling each year until I find something better here...wife thinks I'm crazy though...

Must be people have had coal bins in that region for so long that there's little demand for bagged coal. Here in upstate NY I like getting the bagged coal, however if I was able to get the bulk cheap enough I would certainly consider setting up a bin.