Newbie...here...any subbituminous fans out there?

[Texican65]

Hi guys,

I posted my introduction over in the Hand Fired/Anthracite area, and some of the guys recommended that i post here in the sub/bituminous section as well.

I've heated with wood in an early 1980's Lopi 380 stove for 15 years...and I'm a train conductor...hauling coal up to Canada quite often. I've become interested in maybe getting a coal stove for the garage, after finding an abandoned coal mine in the woods about 5 mins from my house. It's filled in and completely over grown with blackberry bushes...but there's what looks like to me...coal all over the place. Laying on the ground...in piles, scattered all over the place. Seems like i could load up as much as I want and use it.

Only trouble is..this is a subbituminous/bituminous area. I've heard reference that it can be dirty handling and when burning...but that there are specific stoves to handle this type of stuff. I'm interested in hearing who burns subbituminous, and if you have any advice/insight on what gear works best for residential burning.

I showed some pictures of the stuff I've found over in the other section, and one of the members thinks it might be shale rock. It could be...as I'm no geologist...but this stuff is "paper" light and when broken is very dirty and leaves black residue all over my hands...and is black on the inside.

Are there any dealers who ship coal to WA state? Tractor Supply has been brought up, I will inquire with them before I try and source a stove. It would be nice to know of some others.

Thank you...I'm happy to be here.

Dow

[Coniglio]

Hi Texican,with that abandoned mine being nearby could these be bonies--semi coal and rock scrap sorted out of the coal and dumped there? Frank

[Lightning]

Looks promising.

Have you tried burning any?

[Texican65]

Hey thanks for the replies gents…sorry it’s taken so long to get back…life kind of got in the way.

Yes I did mix in several of the pieces in the photos with wood that I was burning in my woodstove, and it all burned up, down to nothing but ash.

I’ve found a couple other abandoned coal mines in the nearby woods not too far from my home…a guy could load up truck loads of this stuff if he wanted.

Hiking the old abandoned railroad right-of-ways through the woods to and from these mines, I have found piles and piles of this old sub-bit laying around too…it’s all over the place.

[Texican65]

The coal that we haul on the railroad is from the Wyoming Powder River Basin, and it’s all Subbituminous I believe, and it’s being shipped all over the world for use. Is sub-bit really that nasty?

Thanks,

Dow

[Lightning]

Sounds like you have a pretty good source of free heat then!

[davidmcbeth3]

Waiting over a year to respond to Lightning is tight !

[Texican65]

Waiting over a year to respond to Lightning is tight !

Ya sorry about that… I was going through a divorce and my entire world fell apart.

But…my wife and I saved it. Still a challenge everyday, but my family and children are safe, and she and I are working on each other and bettering ourselves.

Now if I can only get her to come explore some mines with me…and then let me start stock piling coal at home.

[davidmcbeth3]

"its either me or your 503."

And where shall I forward your mail to ?

[Lightning]

Now if I can only get her to come explore some mines with me…and then let me start stock piling coal at home.

That'd be a really cool thing for you guys to work on together. I don't know what the Terrain is like, but maybe you could pull some with a wagon and 4 wheeler? Or if it's not accessible possibly load some onto a sled once there is an inch of snow on the ground.

[carlherrnstein]

Careful going into abandoned mines, low oxygen levels are not uncommon in them. Also be cautious about open burning on your property you don't want a Centralia situation.

[WyoCoalMiner]

"The coal that we haul on the railroad is from the Wyoming Powder River Basin, and it’s all Subbituminous I believe, and it’s being shipped all over the world for use. Is sub-bit really that nasty?"

The subbituminous coal that we produce in the PRB has low ash content, and also very low sulfur. BTU is lower than eastern coals, ranging from about 8000-9000 BTU.

Sorry, I couldn't tell you anything about the quality of the coal in your area. Good luck!

[archangel_cpj]

"The coal that we haul on the railroad is from the Wyoming Powder River Basin, and it’s all Subbituminous I believe, and it’s being shipped all over the world for use. Is sub-bit really that nasty?"

The subbituminous coal that we produce in the PRB has low ash content, and also very low sulfur. BTU is lower than eastern coals, ranging from about 8000-9000 BTU.

Sorry, I couldn't tell you anything about the quality of the coal in your area. Good luck!

I believe that's why Union Pacific Locomotives tended to have different firebox layouts than Eastern Counterparts the big three I believe had significantly larger fireboxes because UP owned subbit mines and burned it... With lower BTUs per ton they needed more grate area.... Norfolk and Western made alot of power with smaller (foot print wise) Locomotives one reason being they had access to pretty amazing WV coal low sulfur high BTU... They also were just really great at designing and building their own locos...