Finally Found Out What I Have Lurking in the Shed!!

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Alberta_guy_in_PA
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Post by Alberta_guy_in_PA » Sun. Dec. 20, 2009 7:55 pm

I was given the manual for my duel fuel Harman that came with the house I bought. Its a Harman Trident Boiler model SF-360. good size unit, says it will heat a max of 4500 sq ft. This house is just a tad smaller, and it heats it real well. Last nite I turned off the oil at about 6pm and burned wood. It died overnite sometime, but the house was still 64 degrees at 9AM.
It seems hungry, and likes to run at about 140 degrees, but the manual says that about 180 is normal. Tonite I am trying straight nut coal, see how that goes.
anybody got any experience with one of these bad boys???

 
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gitrdonecoal
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Post by gitrdonecoal » Sun. Dec. 20, 2009 7:58 pm

got any pics you can post? pics help, im sure there is someone out there that has one of these units

 
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coalkirk
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Post by coalkirk » Sun. Dec. 20, 2009 8:09 pm

The Tridents are workhorses and you've got the grand daddy. Get a load of coal going in that thing and you will be impressed. It will burn wood ok but it loves coal.

 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Sun. Dec. 20, 2009 8:23 pm

Alberta_guy_in_PA wrote:It seems hungry, and likes to run at about 140 degrees, but the manual says that about 180 is normal. Tonite I am trying straight nut coal, see how that goes.
It will still be cooking in the morning unlike the wood, you will enjoy the difference.


 
Alberta_guy_in_PA
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Post by Alberta_guy_in_PA » Sun. Dec. 20, 2009 8:37 pm

The one time I really stoked it with nut, I wound up popping the 30 PSI relief valve on the boiler, and also the one on the oil boiler in the house. So, I am just trying to figure out how to maintain about a 140 to 180 degree water temp.
I think my chimney is a piece of junk though. there is a severely corroded cleanout door that just leans against the chimney pipe and has to be held in place with a rock.

 
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coalkirk
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Post by coalkirk » Sun. Dec. 20, 2009 8:40 pm

Did your PRV blow on temperature or pressure?

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Sun. Dec. 20, 2009 8:46 pm

Your system should have at least one, if not more, expansion tanks.. these are meant to 'absorb' the expanding water in the system as it is heated.. If the expansion tank's internal inflated bladder is bad, your system doesn't have any way to absorb the expansion of the water, and the PRV will open to control pressure..
I'd doubt that TWO PRV valves would open due to temperature, but Iguess it could happend depending on the system's layout.

Nice to have your house already set up to burn coal !!

Greg L.

 
Alberta_guy_in_PA
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Post by Alberta_guy_in_PA » Sun. Dec. 20, 2009 8:47 pm

went over on pressure, when I saw the water, the pressure was at about 35 or so. But I don't know when it popped.


 
sharkman8810
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Post by sharkman8810 » Sun. Dec. 20, 2009 8:57 pm

If you want to tame the fire a little and your using straight nut, throw a little pea coal on top, it will slow it down and maybe let it idle at a little lower temp. I don't know anything about the boiler model itself.

 
Joe in NH
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Post by Joe in NH » Sun. Dec. 20, 2009 10:41 pm

Alberta-guy: Is it safe to assume that you have the controls that come with the Harman Trident installed and operating correctly? I burn only coal in my SF260 (the mama bear of the family) and have the Johnson A350 set at 180 degrees. This water temperature will cause the draft door to shut and put the boiler into idle. I do get some overshoot but the water temperature never exceeds 190 degrees. You will also need to play around with the adjustment over the idle port to get it to where you have enough draft to keep the fire going but not enough to be increasing the water temperature. Do you know if your dump zone activated prior to blowing the PRV? Are you aware that you need to use the loading door spinners after loading fresh coal? My Trident is prone to some rather potent coal gas explosions if I am not careful about an over fire draft after loading coal. I open the spinners one turn on each but your larger firebox might require more air to clear the coal gas. You are fortunate to have a Harman Trident SF360 but it is a largest boiler of the group and it is important that it be operated in a way that meets your heating requirements . There are several forum members burning Tridents and we will be happy to help you. Joe

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Dec. 20, 2009 11:10 pm

It sounds like your system does not have enough expansion capacity. What size is your current expansion tank? Have you checked the pressure in the tank?

Your coal boiler holds about 40 gallons of water, that in itself would probably exceed the capacity of whatever size tank was originally installed with the oil boiler. I run two Amtrol Model 60 diaphragm tanks on my system, when I really have things good and hot it will get up to ~26psi.

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