Alaskan Soft Coal Experiment

 
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stoker-man
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Post by stoker-man » Fri. Mar. 19, 2010 1:51 pm

Received the shipment of Alaska bit from Short Bus today and it is a whole different animal than the Wyoming bit.

The sizing of the Alaska bit is perfect. It is shown side by side with anthracite rice.
Alaska-rice-bit-coal.jpg
.JPG | 323.2KB | Alaska-rice-bit-coal.jpg
The Alaska bit ash and clinker is identical to anthracite, shown side by side.
Alaska-coal-ash.jpg
.JPG | 448.5KB | Alaska-coal-ash.jpg
This video shows the start up of the fire. Note the blue flame, not seen with the Wyoming bit.





This video shows the established fire with a feed rate of 11 and air of 4-5.





This video shows the fire restarted after a 45 minute shutdown.





This video shows the smoke produced at rest.





I'll burn the rest of the coal on Monday.

From what I saw today, the ash clinker is identical to anthracite rice. More than twice the amount of air is needed to burn this coal than the Wyoming coal at the same feed rate, so the fire was hotter and the water warmed much faster. The fire does not go out during extended rest periods. The fire makes NO visible chimney smoke when burning with the fan, similar to anthracite. The sulfur odor is noticeably less than what the Wyoming coal produced. There was never a large hardened clinker in the pot because the fire burns around the edges. I shut the stoker down until Monday with a full pot of ignited coal to see what type of clinker might form. The sparks produced during stoking are less than the Wyoming coal.

There is nothing negative to report about this coal as of now.

I am open to suggestions from bit burners as to what I can do to CAUSE a clinker to form, or any other tips.


 
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Post by GeorgiePorgie » Fri. Mar. 19, 2010 10:54 pm

No negative is always good, but how much is a ton ?

 
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Short Bus
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Post by Short Bus » Sat. Mar. 20, 2010 12:21 am

This coal costs 65$/Ton in Healy Alaska.
I don't see any smoke on my Anchor stoker, when stoking or at idle, but I have rose colored glasses.
I'm amazed the postal service delivered this so quick, I sent sample on Monday.
You might just turn your stoker on Monday and have it fire up, mine will hold fire a long time.
My clinkers form mostly when fired for long periods of time, I don't know how long, they just seam to happen more during the cold months, my stoker is basically outside in -10 to -40 weather so the combustion blower is blowing cold air.
Last edited by Short Bus on Sat. Mar. 20, 2010 4:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

 
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ontheroad
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Post by ontheroad » Sat. Mar. 20, 2010 12:26 am

just saw this post and read hope that you are talking about coal from alaska and if so to the question of how much a ton as of last fall it was 65$ a ton at the mine

 
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Post by stoker-man » Sat. Mar. 20, 2010 12:55 pm

As Short Bus suggested, the fire was still hot down deep in the pot after 19 hours of rest and there was a talcum power-like ash on top. So, I don't think there is a clinkering problem with a long rest period.

On Monday, I'll burn for the entire day.

 
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Post by Scottscoaled » Sat. Mar. 20, 2010 6:52 pm

Hey that's a pretty cool burn! So if that is at full feed( 11 teeth) what type of heat output would that be roughly calculated? Is there plans to try the Nova Scotia bit coal? Looks like you get to have all the fun Chris :)

 
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Post by stoker-man » Sat. Mar. 20, 2010 7:47 pm

Anybody who wants me to test coal can send me some.

It's pretty hot coal. Not quite as hot as anthracite though.


 
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Post by Tamecrow » Sat. Mar. 20, 2010 9:13 pm

stoker-man wrote:Anybody who wants me to test coal can send me some.

It's pretty hot coal. Not quite as hot as anthracite though.
How much do you need, and where do I ship it to? I think Nova Scotia bit is ~13,900 btu.

Terry

 
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Post by valley trash » Sun. Mar. 21, 2010 12:42 am

Short Bus wrote:This coal costs 65$/Ton in Healy Alaska.
I don't see any smoke on my Anchor stoker, when stoking or at idle, but I have rose colored glasses.
I'm amazed the postal service delivered this so quick, I sent sample on Monday.
You might just turn your stoker on Monday and have it fire up, mine will hold fire a long time.
My clinkers form mostly when fired for long periods of time, I don't know how long, they just seam to happen more during the cold months, my stoker is basically outside in -10 to -40 weather so the combustion blower is blowing cold air.
Do you have any pics of your setup? I was told that the bit up here wasnt good for stokers. I find that this stuff burns almost too good. I love them big chunks and how they can burn close to 12 hrs.

 
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Post by Short Bus » Sun. Mar. 21, 2010 1:44 am

Hey Valley, check your messages top of main screen.
Short Bus

 
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Post by stoker-man » Sun. Mar. 21, 2010 6:38 am

For Tamecrow, we need rice sized coal. I've had samples that contain dust, all the way to softball-sized chunks. I made my own breaker. It's called a forklift driving over coal placed between two sheets of heavy steel. My breaker works for experiments, but I won't be putting Blaschak out of business.

Actually, very dusty coal will auger feed, but it's risky for a jam.

 
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Post by Short Bus » Sun. Mar. 21, 2010 1:28 pm

I would never admit to crushing coal between two plates of steel that way, but you might through some steel nuts between the plates to reduce the fines, be sure your plate is thick enoughf as you don't want dented plate.

 
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Post by Sting » Sun. Mar. 21, 2010 4:19 pm

I still think it might be fun to build a little crusher for this. Maybe something that delivers a bushel a minute wouldn't be too over the top.

 
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Post by rockwood » Sun. Mar. 21, 2010 6:11 pm

I thought I had seen or heard of every type residential coal furnace til I came across this a while back.
Would love to get my hands on one.
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/ModernMechani ... ions_0.jpg
Maybe the pulverizer could be adjusted to produce different sizes...?

 
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Post by stoker-man » Mon. Mar. 22, 2010 4:53 pm

Was able to test burn this coal all day today. The coal was drawn out of a can using only the short auger and tube at the maximum feed rate of 10 teeth. With a cold boiler, 41 gallons of water was heated from 100 degrees to 160 in 50 minutes. To do this with rice anthracite under similar conditions takes 17 minutes. The first picture shows an established fire after 3 hours.
Alaska soft coal established fire.jpg
.JPG | 185.7KB | Alaska soft coal established fire.jpg
This is the height and width of the established ash ring. Feeding at 19# an hour, maximum, with air at 4.5. If the coal is advertised at 7200 BTU per pound, that is about 134K BTU per hour gross output.
The video shows the lack of any hard clinker. The ash is like Styrofoam pellets to push off the edge.





Whether the heat output can meet the demands of a house in Alaska cannot be determined by me. The coal must be dry enough so it won't clump in the bin and minimizing the fines will be beneficial. The buck sized coal feeds well, has less fines and is totally silent in the pipe. As far as I can tell by this limited test, this should burn successfully if a large BTUH requirement is not called for.


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