best way to dry rice coal?

[G_Dub]

ok so the coal i have hasn't been dried thoroughly, i'm getting a horrible odor in my house while its burning. it came in burlap type bags, so i opened a few bags and put it in buckets outside to dry. any of you veterans have any other methods to share? any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks -gw

 

[stonehouse]

grab your pistol and make a few holes in the buckets.
I'd be more curious about the odor than the moisture content.
Maybe something's not right with your setup.

 

[berlin]

wet coal has nothing to do with your oder. coal does not in itself smell. you have a problem with you stove, more than likely your chimney is partially clogged w/ fly ash etc. at the elbow(s). check out your stove/venting setup! wet coal is not your problem!

on edit, check on the nepa coal forums, someone over there may have the particular appliance that you own and may be able to tell you the likely culprit for the smell; only a handful of people on these boards heat with coal.

 

[G_Dub]

hey thanks berlin,

i knocked out a bunch of ash from the vent pipe already, i'll try to take it apart and see what happens. i had someone come and look at it and he thought the coal was my problem. it is my first season burning with this unit, a keystoker rice coal burner, so i can use all the advice i can get. -gw

 

[G_Dub]

berlin,

you were right, after i dismantled the entire vent pipe i couldn't believe how much ash was clogging the pipe. it was very fine ash, it looked like sand. i almost filled up a 5 gal bucket with all the ash! i can't believe this unit was venting at all with all the crap i cleaned from the pipe. thank you very much for your help, and lesson well learned for next season. gotta go clean my living room now lol -gw

 

[berlin]

i don't know how many bends/elbow(s) you have in your setup between the stove and the chimney, but what most people end up doing is putting T's with endcaps wherever they initially would have placed an elbow. this allowes easy cleaning of the horizontal interior pipe surfaces throughout the season.