My Coal Quandary

 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Sun. Dec. 01, 2019 6:39 pm

Well right now the snowstorm has turned into a monsoon. Maybe mother nature is going to knock some of it out for me. :mrgreen:


 
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joeq
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Post by joeq » Sun. Dec. 01, 2019 6:48 pm

Hey CS, I'm experiencing it right now also. Looks like we may finally get to have a normal New England winter, unlike the past few yrs where it's been pretty "lack-luster." My JD 214 w/ snow-thrower is waiting for some action. (I know, watch out for what you wish for) :roll:

 
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VigIIPeaBurner
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Post by VigIIPeaBurner » Sun. Dec. 01, 2019 8:12 pm

I thought about making a 1/4" hardware cloth gate to lash on the GC2310's bucket. The bucket has hooks on top. Figured I partially fill the bucket, put the wire gate over the bucket. Just tilt and jiggle until it's pretty clean to the eye then untye the gate and dump the clean coal in the bin. There wasn't much there so I ended up doing most of it over an old rusted out Koker feed hopper and let the screened coal run off into buckets. I got about a dozen buckets but if I had a few tons, I'd do the screen gate on the bucket and let the hydraulics do the work.

 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Thu. Dec. 12, 2019 6:16 pm

Here's an update. I've looked everywhere locally and couldn't obtain a piece of screen large enough to deal with it. Not buying 100'. So I've given up and started running it through as is. It has been eating the rocks, acorns and dirt without an issue. I'll just keep my fingers crossed and the hopper at a low level in case there's a code 3.

 
KLook
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Post by KLook » Thu. Dec. 12, 2019 7:03 pm

Whats a little dirt.....it is rocks you are burning after all....

Kevin

 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 12:28 pm

20191222_112807.jpg

The Clinker

.JPG | 672.5KB | 20191222_112807.jpg
Well, it looks like the results are in, LMAO. It appears Mr Axeman has no trouble feeding or eating the rocks and dirt. What it does do to it however is other worldly. I've noticed an increasing number of very bizarre clunkers. Since I unloaded the cleanest coal first leaving the dirtiest stuff for last so if there was a problem it would be with the least amount left. Well, there was a problem. I went to empty the ash and the tub was topped off with raw coal. If that wasn't odd enough, the beast was still heating the house like it always did, loading along. I poked around in the firetube and low and behold, the clinker that ate New York! It was massive, hard as a rock and wouldn't budge at all no matter what I did. I shut it down and went in after it cooled with a Bosch hammer drill, beat it up and removed it. It was monstrous! Anyway, all cleaned up and refired. Let's see what happens next.

 
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CoalJockey
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Post by CoalJockey » Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 2:28 pm

Holy crap CS, stuff like that usually comes out of a hand fed, not a stoker!

Now wait a minute... you Axeman guys always tell us these things eat up and spit out clinkers like no ones business... :eh:

Looks like you met your match! :lol:


 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 2:41 pm

Never had a clinker in my old HITZER for 10+ yrs Tyler. -- of any size. :) Been usin BLASCHAK nut (one season tried stove/nut mix) from the get-go.

 
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CoalJockey
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Post by CoalJockey » Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 2:47 pm

They don’t show up here either Fred.

Only occasionally in the hand-feds when running bituminous and never in the stokers. One eats a lot of garbage that gets swept up with regular coal yard housekeeping. Pick out the pieces of 2-b off the shovel, any smaller stones goes right on through.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 2:52 pm

My hand-fed boiler used to make clinkers the size of a loaf of bread.

 
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Post by CoalJockey » Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 3:04 pm

Rob R. wrote:
Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 2:52 pm
My hand-fed boiler used to make clinkers the size of a loaf of bread.
A big greenhouse near me tried some anthracite a few years ago in his outdoor boiler. He would pull them out and sell them for $3.00 apiece as a garden novelty. Genius.

 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 4:07 pm

Sooooo, I'm wonderin--is the culprit the stove or the coal???????????????

 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 4:26 pm

It has to be the coal, with the dirt. This thing makes big clunkers and spits them right out. This clinker was the entire firepot. Seemed more glass like then ash.

That pic is just the bigger chunks, I had to bust it into pieces small enough to pull out the port.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 4:44 pm

Dirt & rock in the coal = clinkers.

 
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CoalJockey
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Post by CoalJockey » Sun. Dec. 22, 2019 4:59 pm

What if you mix it with some good coal and favor the good coal a little more?

Like a 75/25.


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