Coalpail.com Forum

Hello all.

Since Green Valley shut down, I've been having a hard time finding decent quality coal.

I need stoker coal. Washed, cleaned, and appropriately sized. I also need good nut, stove, or lump sized.

Greenbrier Smokeless is on my 'do not buy' list, Bluestone is in a 'transition period' and has stopped coal sales, and my guy on the mountain has nothing.

I'm an idiot and have maybe a week of coal left and have been feeding my combustioneer pellets. Burned half a ton in less than a week.

Please, if anyone knows of sales and someone who can deliver, let me know. I'm almost to the point where I'm going to have to return to wood...

The only place I know that's kind of close to WV is Summers Farm Supply in Jefferson, MD. I know they have a variety of sizes and they do deliver but that's limited. Good Luck, Lisa

3J trucking has bit coal (not sure what size) as well as anthracite. They are south of Morgantown on 92.

They might be too far away for you, but he is a good guy to deal with.

Can't imagine other dealers not having coal closer to you or a mine that would sell it, but that is where I've seen bit at.

SD

I forgot to update this. My apologies.

I found a supplier for both stoker coal for the combustioneer and larger coal for my handfed stoves.

I'm buying from an independent mine near Quinwood. They're mining Sewell seam coal. Sizing, quality, and non-combustibles content are all very good. The pea sized is clean as heck and very consistently sized.

On the other side of this, my combustioneer is still grumpy and wants to create giant coke trees so I have pulled it offline. I will be doing a variable frequency drive motor conversion and isolating the combustion blower from the auger motor. I will post details that layout my progress as time/memory allows.

Thanks everyone.

Not you everyone, but the VFD w/ 3 phase motor is a nice feature for combustion tweaks.

Can you give the name of the coal supplier along with a contact and phone number.
Thanks

I have no idea what the mine is actually called. The man I deal with is named Freddy Taylor. The mine is up Big Mountain Road just outside of Quinwood. I have his number on a piece of paper somewhere and will post once I can find it.

As an aside, I never got my stoker finished up and actually tuned to run on his coal. It cokes - a LOT but is good quality and clean. I'm trying to find the time to finish my VFD conversion and recently saw your post about a firebrick arch. Let me know how that works out for you as I fear we face similar hurdles.

Also, I'm close to Quinwood - whereabouts are you located?

Thanks for your reply. I am located south of Beckley approx. 7 miles from Ghent.

I hope you get your stoker working for now is about the time of year to need it. I know how cold it gets there.

Yes, the coal I have used is coking coal but I have always found a way to burn it somehow. We sold to US Steel so
no doubt it is good for making steel but not the best for home heating.

I have installed many VFD's so if you need any help programming let me know. Some of them can be a little tricky in getting the parameters right.

An update on the arch above the fire pot:

I ended up using ceramic insulation board 2" thick as Berlin suggested.

It really made a huge difference in helping to achieve a more complete burn.
This has helped with the coke plumes burning better also.

I temporarily put some insulation on the top and sides of the boiler and this seems to help significantly with boiler cycling just to keep the water hot while not calling for heat.

If anyone knows of Bit stoker coal available with in 50 to 75 miles of Beckley area I would sure appreciate the information.

Larry

ldmill wrote:An update on the arch above the fire pot:

I ended up using ceramic insulation board 2" thick as Berlin suggested.

It really made a huge difference in helping to achieve a more complete burn.
This has helped with the coke plumes burning better also.

Larry

I'm glad it worked well for you. I have had good success with that modification in more than one appliance and coking coal.