Cheapest supplier of smokeless coal/briquettes this year? 18 October 2022 at 2:15PM in LPG, heating oil, solid & other fuels 11 replies 779 views

MoneyMon555

Does anyone have the best prices for smokeless bags of 'coal' this year please?

I normally buy from a local chandlery, and it's gone from £12.50 for 25kg to £16.50 for 25kg this year. This might be the best price I can get it, but I just wondered what other people are paying for this kind of fuel, and if I can get it any cheaper?

(I vary between 'Excel, Red, and Supertherm.- 50p difference between them)

QrizB

£16.50 for 25kg is £660 a tonne.

If you want individual bags it's a pretty good price but if you can take delivery and store a full tonne you can probably get it for less. A quick Google fort an example found "Hot Ovoids" for £568 a tonne delivered.

You say chandlery - do you live on a houseboat?

MoneyMon555

QrizB said:

£16.50 for 25kg is £660 a tonne.

If you want individual bags it's a pretty good price but if you can take delivery and store a full tonne you can probably get it for less. A quick Google fort an example found "Hot Ovoids" for £568 a tonne delivered.

You say chandlery - do you live on a houseboat?

I can get a 50p a bag discount if I take 5 bags, which is about my storage limit, but thanks for the info on a tonne.

No, not on a houseboat....I use the chandlery for quite a few bits and bobs and it's convenient 

ariarnia

QrizB said:

£16.50 for 25kg is £660 a tonne.

If you want individual bags it's a pretty good price but if you can take delivery and store a full tonne you can probably get it for less. A quick Google fort an example found "Hot Ovoids" for £568 a tonne delivered.

You say chandlery - do you live on a houseboat?

we're considering getting or building a little coal store (right now we mostly burn logs so only the odd bag of coal). can you give any idea of the size a ton of coal takes up/the size we need to look for. 

MoneyMon555

ariarnia said:

QrizB said:

£16.50 for 25kg is £660 a tonne.

If you want individual bags it's a pretty good price but if you can take delivery and store a full tonne you can probably get it for less. A quick Google fort an example found "Hot Ovoids" for £568 a tonne delivered.

You say chandlery - do you live on a houseboat?

we're considering getting or building a little coal store (right now we mostly burn logs so only the odd bag of coal). can you give any idea of the size a ton of coal takes up/the size we need to look for. 

If you follow QrizB's link, it shows the 20kg bags,  and it's 50 of those. (I think?) , not sure if that helps visualising a tonne?

ariarnia

QrizB said:

 A quick Google fort an example found "Hot Ovoids" for £568 a tonne delivered.

sorry to hijack again but we're just looking at this and wanted to check the numbers. google says coal is about 7/8 kw per kg. anthracite is about 9wk per kg and ovoids looks like its about 5kw per kg. 

using that link as an example for prices and buying a ton

coal is £630 a ton (1000kg) so thats 63p a kg and about 9p a kw
anthracite is £620 a ton. 62p a kg and 6.8p a kw
ovoids are £568 a ton. 57p a kg and 11.4 a kw 

that about right (i know different brands of fuel and how its burnt will have slightly different kw values)?

QrizB

ariarnia said:

QrizB said:

£16.50 for 25kg is £660 a tonne.

If you want individual bags it's a pretty good price but if you can take delivery and store a full tonne you can probably get it for less. A quick Google fort an example found "Hot Ovoids" for £568 a tonne delivered.

You say chandlery - do you live on a houseboat?

we're considering getting or building a little coal store (right now we mostly burn logs so only the odd bag of coal). can you give any idea of the size a ton of coal takes up/the size we need to look for. 

A tonne of coal is a pallet full, so (looking at the photo) roughly 1.2m x 1.0m x 1.5m tall.

sorry to hijack again but we're just looking at this and wanted to check the numbers. google says coal is about 7/8 kw per kg. anthracite is about 9wk per kg and ovoids looks like its about 5kw per kg. 

using that link as an example for prices and buying a ton

coal is £630 a ton (1000kg) so thats 63p a kg and about 9p a kw
anthracite is £620 a ton. 62p a kg and 6.8p a kw
ovoids are £568 a ton. 57p a kg and 11.4 a kw 

that about right (i know different brands of fuel and how its burnt will have slightly different kw values)?

Your maaths looks to be correct, but I can't say whether you've got accurate energy content values from Google. I would be slightly surprised if ovoids really are as low as 5kWh/kg, as that's on a par with wood pellets.

ariarnia

QrizB said:

ariarnia said:

QrizB said:

£16.50 for 25kg is £660 a tonne.

If you want individual bags it's a pretty good price but if you can take delivery and store a full tonne you can probably get it for less. A quick Google fort an example found "Hot Ovoids" for £568 a tonne delivered.

You say chandlery - do you live on a houseboat?

we're considering getting or building a little coal store (right now we mostly burn logs so only the odd bag of coal). can you give any idea of the size a ton of coal takes up/the size we need to look for. 

A tonne of coal is a pallet full, so (looking at the photo) roughly 1.2m x 1.0m x 1.5m tall.

sorry to hijack again but we're just looking at this and wanted to check the numbers. google says coal is about 7/8 kw per kg. anthracite is about 9wk per kg and ovoids looks like its about 5kw per kg. 

using that link as an example for prices and buying a ton

coal is £630 a ton (1000kg) so thats 63p a kg and about 9p a kw
anthracite is £620 a ton. 62p a kg and 6.8p a kw
ovoids are £568 a ton. 57p a kg and 11.4 a kw 

that about right (i know different brands of fuel and how its burnt will have slightly different kw values)?

Your maaths looks to be correct, but I can't say whether you've got accurate energy content values from Google. I would be slightly surprised if ovoids really are as low as 5kWh/kg, as that's on a par with wood pellets.

thank you. those were just the figures we could find with a quick search while talking about it sat in bed we'll do some proper reasearch but its good to know the math is right as we can just plug in different numbers. might not be for this year but thinking about having a bit more household energy security as things are more and more uncertain. i think we would feel better to have them in store and its not like they go off!

A._Badger

I've been buying from these people for several years now, 1 metric tonne at a time. Their prices have always been the best I could find and the service has been fine. However, they have greatly trimmed their range in the past few months and no longer seem to sell the type I use. Not sure what I'll do when I need to re-order. All the same, their prices still seem quite good, given the mad times in which we live.

https://www.housefuel.co.uk/

QrizB

ariarnia said:

... thinking about having a bit more household energy security as things are more and more uncertain. i think we would feel better to have them in store and its not like they go off!

I agree that a full log store or coal bunker is a very reassuring thing to have!

My current house is mains gas and the previous owner pulled out the fireplaces, so while the flues are still there it would be a big upheaval to go back to solid fuel.

henry24

A._Badger said:

I've been buying from these people for several years now, 1 metric tonne at a time. Their prices have always been the best I could find and the service has been fine. However, they have greatly trimmed their range in the past few months and no longer seem to sell the type I use. Not sure what I'll do when I need to re-order. All the same, their prices still seem quite good, given the mad times in which we live.

https://www.housefuel.co.uk/

I've also had coal from them but this year I found my coalman was roughly £100 a ton cheaper and he carries the bags in where due to me having a stone drive I have to carry from the other company