AXEMAN 101 *Class Is In Session!*

I think the 260M is 1450# ready to rock and roll, the 130M is around 1100# IIRC.

LsFarm wrote:Ian, one thing to think about with your fan speed slowed down by 60%: The scrubbing action and self cleaning action of the high velocity air in the heat exchanger is going to be significantly reduced or possibly eliminated. You will want to keep an eye on fly ash accumulation in the bottom of the heat exchanger areas, the ash 'cyclone' and the cone at the bottom of the cyclone. All of these need a certain amount of air velocity to work as designed.

I'll keep an eye on it, it doesn't have any trouble blowing flyash out of every seam in the stovepipe, that's for sure. Now I know why they want every thing sealed up with the "end of the world as we know it" asbestos tape.

coaledsweat wrote:Now I know why they want every thing sealed up with the "end of the world as we know it" asbestos tape.

After my pipes were screwed together I used high temp silicone caulk around each seam. Seems to be working! And...it comes apart easily when asked to.

I wrapped my joints and seams with that foil backed sticky tape. Expensive at $27.00 +/- but it works.

Wrapping your joints if foil tape? R we still in AA 101 class? If the draft is OK??????, remember there was no foil tape 70 years ago..or 50 or 40.........No power vents either! We thought the moon was made of green cheese...what a disappointment! 780 million dollars and we expect that there is water there!! Wonder what the drilling rig will cost to get it? Price per foot? .....1 million a foot, 5 billion for mobilization, 500 mil for solar panels to power the thing.....
We are the next dinosaurs......Will they have a 'Czar of the Moon' to develop it?

Who is going to market coal to the little green men? ANS: no one! We get to keep all of it! Stoker-up, dudes!

By the way, Chuck Norris uses one AA130 on his each side of benching bar. ....and you think he's not tough?
Try that with a pair of 520's, bub. Left nut goes, POW!, Right goes........

After a few days with a lot of ash and unburned coal, I now have more than a half day with ZERO ash and the fire still looks happy. The only change is I notice it is running hotter due to the warmer weather, over the set high limit of 165*, about 15-20* over at times. Settings are 145* low and 165* high, anthrastat at 130*. Should I be operating at higher temps? Kind of strange trying to figure out the tuneup without any way to control the air, weird.

You can run your temps farily low, just at the level that will provide adequate heat, which is usually about 140* with these warm fall temps.. But once it gets cold, you will probably want to up the temp to move more BTU's to the baseboards or radiators.

You have to look at the AA's performance as an average of several days. Just looking at one day's ash, coal use, temps etc. , well this will drive you crazy because of the number of variables. We can't really see into the firepot to tell how deep the fire is. If the anthrastat lets the ashing go on untill the fire is very deep, then you empty that ash pan.. it may have so much fresh coal to burn, that it takes a day pluss to need to ash/feed again..

I try to 'guage' my AA's performance in 5-7 day stretches.. I look at outside temps [BTU load] and the coal used, and ash produced.. and assess from there..

Please note: there are huge differences in coal. I have coal from three different sources.. and I can tell quite well which one is being burnt each week by looking at the refuse in the ash pan. If you have only one coal to work with, this will lessen your variables to the burn process.

Take care,, Greg.

I concur with Greg completely! Both AHS and AA have no air adjustments as you now know, so you are pretty much in a drivers seat with no throttle, fixed jets in the carb, and only fuel quality as a variable. When I say: I isn't rocket science!!, that is not an exaggeration.
Another expression your mother probably had for you: Stop playing with it, it will grow! Leave the damned thing alone, pop a Quaalude, puff a fattie, whatever, just RELAX! Don't wear out the floor pacing back and forth, don't keep resetting the anthrastat, don't panic because we had a warm spell......yes, that complicates the issue, but it is not a deal breaker.

Some folks aren't going to be able to burn coal, it's too stressful for anal retentive types. If you have to have every moment under control, you better sell me the AA, (if the BP goes over 250/140 call me immediately!) and go buy a new Royall with electronic controls, excellent logic in design, and affordable!!!!

Many folks buy used EFM's, simply because they are extremely tunable. Air, fuel rate...infinitely adjustable......

whistlenut wrote:I concur with Greg completely! Both AHS and AA have no air adjustments as you now know, so you are pretty much in a drivers seat with no throttle, fixed jets in the carb, and only fuel quality as a variable. When I say: I isn't rocket science!!, that is not an exaggeration.
Another expression your mother probably had for you: Stop playing with it, it will grow! Leave the damned thing alone, pop a Quaalude, puff a fattie, whatever, just RELAX! Don't wear out the floor pacing back and forth, don't keep resetting the anthrastat, don't panic because we had a warm spell......yes, that complicates the issue, but it is not a deal breaker.

Some folks aren't going to be able to burn coal, it's too stressful for anal retentive types. If you have to have every moment under control, you better sell me the AA, (if the BP goes over 250/140 call me immediately!) and go buy a new Royall with electronic controls, excellent logic in design, and affordable!!!!

Many folks buy used EFM's, simply because they are extremely tunable. Air, fuel rate...infinitely adjustable......

I have to agree! Any coal stoker boiler after setup should only need to be visited to put coal in and take ash out. For me that is once a week in the summer, twice a week spring and fall and as needed in winter, usually every other day. A yearly cleaning and I do back my water temp off to 140 for summer. Don’t sweat the small stuff. It is interesting following this thread, sounds like your almost there with it. When you are just going down to fill the coal and take out the ashes and even that is a pain in the ass then you have reached your goal. Good luck.

Yeah, when you get to the point of saying 'Hey' I forgot to dump the ash and load the hopper yesterday, I guess I'd better get to it or the fire will go out... then you've reached 'coal nirvana'.. a load it and dump it system with nothing else to do..

You may have to install a reading light and a LazyBoy next to the boiler.. and get a few good books for the winter

Greg

It is a little unnerving to have absolutley nothing to do with it after all these years of running a hand fired. The thing is like a draft horse waiting around for something to do and it's bored. You go to visit her now and again, she didn't eat and the stall is clean. You come back a day or so later and the feed pail is empty and the stall needs shoveling out big time.

Is it normal for these to just run 40-50 seconds? I figured with the blower being detuned and all, it would have to run a while to make some heat. What would it run with a 2800 RPM blower, 8-10 seconds? Is this normal?

SMITTY wrote:I scanned through the last 6 pages to see if this spec was mentioned, but didn't see it ......

How much does this sucker weigh? My guess, it's gotta be close to 9 bills!

AA-130 shipping weight UnJacketed 930 lbs Jacketed 1000 lbs

AA-260 shipping weight UnJacketed 1410 lbs Jacketed 1530 lbs

LsFarm wrote:You can run your temps farily low, just at the level that will provide adequate heat, which is usually about 140* with these warm fall temps.. But once it gets cold, you will probably want to up the temp to move more BTU's to the baseboards or radiators.

You have to look at the AA's performance as an average of several days. Just looking at one day's ash, coal use, temps etc. , well this will drive you crazy because of the number of variables. We can't really see into the firepot to tell how deep the fire is. If the anthrastat lets the ashing go on untill the fire is very deep, then you empty that ash pan.. it may have so much fresh coal to burn, that it takes a day pluss to need to ash/feed again..

I try to 'guage' my AA's performance in 5-7 day stretches.. I look at outside temps [BTU load] and the coal used, and ash produced.. and assess from there..

Please note: there are huge differences in coal. I have coal from three different sources.. and I can tell quite well which one is being burnt each week by looking at the refuse in the ash pan. If you have only one coal to work with, this will lessen your variables to the burn process.

Take care,, Greg.

Only three different sources this year. less then two years ago you where up to 5 different sources trying to figure out that 260 it's not always the coal

coal berner wrote:AA-130 shipping weight UnJacketed 930 lbs Jacketed 1000 lbs
AA-260 shipping weight UnJacketed 1410 lbs Jacketed 1530 lbs

I guess I ain't gettin' one of those suckers down these stairs!

SMITTY wrote:

coal berner wrote:AA-130 shipping weight UnJacketed 930 lbs Jacketed 1000 lbs
AA-260 shipping weight UnJacketed 1410 lbs Jacketed 1530 lbs

I guess I ain't gettin' one of those suckers down these stairs!

Tuff but it can be done That is half the fun getting a stoker boiler getting in and out of tight spots
A two piece boiler would be easier a efm 100% Refurb 350 or 520 .

350 weight Boiler top 575lbs Base 135lbs Stoker 214lbs Jackets 105lbs Total 1029lbs
520 weight Boiler top 750lbs Base 142lbs Stoker 214lbs Jackets 109lbs Total 1215lbs

700 weight Boiler top 1100lbs Base 226lbs Stoker 375lbs Jackets 132lbs Total 1833lbs
900 weight Boiler top 1465lbs Base 283lbs Stoker 395lbs Jackets 167lbs Total 2310lbs
1300 weight Boiler top 1850lbs Base 330lbs Stoker 400lbs Jackets 175lbs Total 2755lbs

Looks like the 350 is for me ... unless I ever get around to building a bulkhead for this dungeon. I know my stairs can handle about 500#'s -- that has been tested.

That'll be waaaaaay in the future though. I'm done with major heating projects for the next 5 years or so....