just a quick note on my new 140 auger. so far i'm very impressed with how little coal I've been using to keep the house comfortable as the contractor and I finish it up. I have a 2500sf old house that originaly had boiler/radiators so I have a little issue with getting heat upstairs but I should have run up there by xmas.filled the hopper on tuesday night after painting and got back there tonight and still @20# left in it with thermostat set at 65f. seems to work well with blower turned low and and running constantly.
issues are: I think it may be losing alot of heat up the flue. damper is set as sensitive as can be but doesn't open near as much as I would have expected with 35" of flue and the pipe is to hot to hold my hand on it for more than a few seconds upstream of the damper. the ash dumps off only at the front of the pan,i assume due to the rotation/feed of the auger. wife didn't close hopper door last week and fire went out due to combustion blower switch not closing. unit them fed out @100# of coal into bottom of unit.
all in all i'm very happyso far and knowing that the previous owners were filling an oil tank every 2 weeks and I can probably get by with 2 tons of rice coal @ $205 per ton ea month makes me even happier.
mike
Status of New Alaska 140 Auger
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WNY
- Member
- Posts: 6307
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 14, 2005 8:40 am
- Location: Cuba, NY
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Keystoker 90K, Leisure Line Hyfire I
- Coal Size/Type: Rice
- Contact:
If you have the hot water base system, why didn't you put in a stoker boiler and then you could have heat where you need it.? I have the same problem, getting the heat to the 2nd floor, I will be converting to a boiler/baseboard in the near future for more even heat.
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wlape3
- Member
- Posts: 2553
- Joined: Mon. Jan. 12, 2009 7:38 pm
- Location: Delanson, NY transitioning to SE Mass
- Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Alaska 140 Auger
- Coal Size/Type: Rice
- Other Heating: Propane
Keep us updated on your progress with the 140. If you have any questions just PM me and I will answer as many as I can. I'm into my 3rd season heating with the 140 auger and have probably encountered most of the problems that can happen.
The solution to the hopper door issue is to either put a heavy can or other object on the switch or to jumper it out near the auger motor. The switch is there to prevent the hopper door from being left open too long and letting gases from the furnace from escaping into the room. My experience has been that this is not a concern so long as the hopper is at least half full. Most of the time if there is an issue it is not CO but water vapor or slightly sulfurous odors which can set off your CO detector if it's a combination unit like mine.
My unit has both a low fire and a high fire setting. My dealer told me that newer units do not allow you to set the low fire setting any more. Hopefully, this is not the case. You have to explore which setting is best for your system to balance fuel consumption versus keeping the furnace burning. With a good draft you can run it very low. Mine is currently set to 1 and has not had a problem. By the way, these settings are not calibrated so a 1 on my unit may not be a 1 on yours.
I've been running mine for nearly 3 weeks now and have consumed less than I expected. This includes some very cold days and nights.
About the ash, it has been my experience that most of it does fall into the front part of the pan. I usually just push it to the back end every couple of days depending on firing rate. You can also chop it up a bit to reduce volume and get more in the pan but I usually don't bother since I only have to change the pan once or twice a week anyway.
One thing the dealer may not have told you. You should remove the bottom plate on the burner about once a month to let the coal fines drop out. Otherwise they will build up in the grating and reduce your airflow. This can be done while the unit is in operation, just be careful to wear gloves. It's usually not very hot but it doesn't hurt to be careful just the same.
The solution to the hopper door issue is to either put a heavy can or other object on the switch or to jumper it out near the auger motor. The switch is there to prevent the hopper door from being left open too long and letting gases from the furnace from escaping into the room. My experience has been that this is not a concern so long as the hopper is at least half full. Most of the time if there is an issue it is not CO but water vapor or slightly sulfurous odors which can set off your CO detector if it's a combination unit like mine.
My unit has both a low fire and a high fire setting. My dealer told me that newer units do not allow you to set the low fire setting any more. Hopefully, this is not the case. You have to explore which setting is best for your system to balance fuel consumption versus keeping the furnace burning. With a good draft you can run it very low. Mine is currently set to 1 and has not had a problem. By the way, these settings are not calibrated so a 1 on my unit may not be a 1 on yours.
I've been running mine for nearly 3 weeks now and have consumed less than I expected. This includes some very cold days and nights.
About the ash, it has been my experience that most of it does fall into the front part of the pan. I usually just push it to the back end every couple of days depending on firing rate. You can also chop it up a bit to reduce volume and get more in the pan but I usually don't bother since I only have to change the pan once or twice a week anyway.
One thing the dealer may not have told you. You should remove the bottom plate on the burner about once a month to let the coal fines drop out. Otherwise they will build up in the grating and reduce your airflow. This can be done while the unit is in operation, just be careful to wear gloves. It's usually not very hot but it doesn't hurt to be careful just the same.
purchased the house as a forclosure. it was abandoned last november and big ass mega-banks being what they are,nobody checked the property until march. I ended up removing over 9,000lbs of busted radiators and pipes in addition to almost 12,000lbs of plaster and 1600sf of water damaged solid oak flooring. amazing what kind of damage one phone call might of prevented.