I currently burn about 3 cords a year in a woodstove for supplemental heat in my home, so I'm no stranger to processing wood. I just think it would be kinda neat to burn some coal in it.
I have obtained a source for the coal, and it's fairly close to my house, but they seem to be apprehensive (but not unwilling) to work with a small-time guy like myself.
here's a neat resource I found for anybody else who lives in Illinois and is interested in coal resources and quality. http://www.commerce.state.il.us/NR/rdonlyres/8E62 ... utline.pdf
I had a brief conversation via emails with the local mine and this is a copy of that exchange.
Ms. Robertson,
I found your contact information from the following document issued by
the OCD: (no need to repost that)
I live in Hamilton, IL and wish to obtain some coal for burning (hobby
purposes, mainly) in my antique wood/coal stove. I get blank stares
and odd looks when I ask around aout a source for coal, so I hope you can
help me. I live very close to Industry, IL, which appears to be home
to Black Nugget, LLC.
Do you know of a source where I can buy small amounts at a time,
preferably under one ton per order?
Thanks in advance,
Dan
Daniel,
Our mine in Industry, IL is the North Grindstone mine and the contract
miner is Black Nugget, LLC. We do sell stoker coal from our North
Grindstone Mine to the public for $60.00 per ton plus 6.75% tax. We
don't care if you want .25 ton or 25 tons, we will sell it to you, but
we would prefer you come into the mine with a semi truck or some
bigger vehicle other than a pick up truck.
Please contact me in advance at the numbers below if you are
interested and I will give you some specifics for when you come into the mine.
Thank you, Jennifer
Jennifer,
Is the preference of vehicle because of the way it has to be loaded? I
ask because I understand it's hard to dump into the back of a pickup.
The only option I have available (at this time) is to pull a gravity
wagon with the Pickup truck. if it's just a loading method concern, then
this might solve that problem. I've attached a picture of a gravity
wagon (not mine) to make it a little more clear about what I'm talking
about. usually rated for 5+tons.
Otherwise, I'll look into sharing a load with someone, cost
effectiveness of loading a semi with 1 ton or less isn't very good.
thanks,
Dan
Does that sound weird to anyone but me? I guess they are just working with larger consumers or something? Is there any advice that you all can give me before I proceed? Maybe I should just forget it? When I look at the cost of it, it really starts to make me think. I'm gonna estimate that a ton of coal just about equals a cord of wood in BTU content, well I pay anywhere from 100-135 for a cord (ok, let me say that I WOULD pay that locally, if I didn't process my own wood) so this is a very good price when you look at it for $ per BTU, right? maybe i'm looking at it all wrong.Daniel,
We can try the gravity wagon and if we have problems we might ask you
not to return with it. It will be loaded with a front end loader, so we
shouldn't have problems, at least I would hope not.
99.9% of our vehicles in and out of the mine are semis and we don't want
to have trouble with the public and a smaller trucks coming into the
mine. We don't want to have a liability issue if one of the semis sends
another vehicle off the road because the semi is taking his/her half
down the middle of the road.
If you decide to get coal from us, please just be careful and be aware
of the semi trucks.
Also, if you need directions to the mine, please let me know and I can
e-mail them to you.
Thanks, Jennifer
advice or suggestions? i'm totally out of my comfort zone right now, but I've been here before with Wood burning stoves, so I'm not overwhelmed (yet).