Tri-Burner With Corn??

Hi all, can't seem to find any info on this.....looking at buying a cheap Susquehana Reading with dual tri-burners.

Can I burn corn in this thing? How about lignite coal?

Thanks,

Jared

Hi Jared and welcome to the forum.

The Tri-burner is an over feed type stoker and is designed to burn rice or buckwheat anthracite coal. I have mixed some hard wood chips and hard wood pellets in with the anthracite, but I can not see how it will burn just corn, hard wood pellets, or hard wood chips, without the fuel burning up through and into the hopper. As for any other coal other than rice or buckwheat anthracite, I can't see how it will work, once again without burning up into the hopper.

If you do purchase the Tri-burner, it does perform rather well on the correct fuel, but I would consider installing a full time combustion blower and the Coal-trol digital thermostat. It is a great combination.

The existing plastic blower fan wheel is removed and you install a 50 or 60 CFM blower mounted under the stoker, blowing into the air hole. This will allow better efficiency and a more complete burning of the anthracite.

pozarns wrote:Hi all, can't seem to find any info on this.....looking at buying a cheap Susquehana Reading with dual tri-burners.

Can I burn corn in this thing? How about lignite coal?

Thanks,

Jared

No, it will not burn corn or lignite coal. The corn will gum up the grate and seal over the air holes, and get sticky and stop the corn from moving down the grate.. lignite burns a lot like wook or wood chips/pellets, and will like Doug said above, cause hopper fires..

The design is made to work with the burning characteristics of anthracite coal.. this type of stoker won't work well if at all with other fuels..

If you find an underfeed stoker like an EFM, or maybe a BItuminous coal burner like a StokerMatic or Combustioneer, they might work with a mix of soft coal/corn or maybe just corn.. I know they will work with a mix of wood pellets or peach pits. But unless you get these 'other' fuels for just about free, it is hard to beat anthracite for trouble-free heating.. The Bit-burners work well on good BIt coal.. if you are near the various mines/breakers to pick and choose the best Bit coal for your stoker.

Greg L

DOUG wrote: If you do purchase the Tri-burner, it does perform rather well on the correct fuel, but I would consider installing a full time combustion blower and the Coal-trol digital thermostat. It is a great combination.

The Reading Tri-burner has been tested with the single motor, impeller running full time, in combination with a CoalPilot, it performed flawlessly. Having the impeller running full time, at full speed, prevents overheating. You don't need an extra combustion motor, save your money !

Regarding the hopper fire issue....

My idea was to install a hinged "flap" at the entrace to the stoker where the carpet feeds the fuel. When the carpet retracts, it will create a barrrier between the burning fuel and hopper, thus preventing fires. Am I dreaming? I hate to pass up a good deal, but if it is truly not possible to burn other fuels, I could end up with a 500# paper weight.

you could take some off my hands,got a few laying around the farm

pozarns wrote:Regarding the hopper fire issue....

My idea was to install a hinged "flap" at the entrace to the stoker where the carpet feeds the fuel. When the carpet retracts, it will create a barrrier between the burning fuel and hopper, thus preventing fires. Am I dreaming? I hate to pass up a good deal, but if it is truly not possible to burn other fuels, I could end up with a 500# paper weight.

I don't think you are dreaming, I would give it a try, I would try it without the flap first, but I bet the first thing you'll notice, that the feed motor would be too slow , coal burns slower, and the slow movement of the carpet is a good match for the burning of coal, the other factor is the weight, and that is matched with the thickness of the Carpet/slider.

in order for your project to succeed, most likely you need the pusher type stokers ( keystoker/Harman ) and somehow increase the feed rate, otherwise you are looking at far less BTU's output.

These are my educated guesses, but I think they have merits.

The good news are: you can find the same form factor motor with reduction gears that has a higher RPM, and you can always modify the carpet/slider easily.

Find an older carpet type stoker and try your other fuels in it. I would NOT trust a flapper to block the fire from migrating back into the hopper. The fuel cannot be 'cut off' and then restored with any type of flapper that I can visualize.. It would have to be a sideways sliding knife that cuts the bed or wide ribbon of coal and this would be for how long?? the fuel needs to feed almost continously.. I can't see it working..

Unless you can get this dual triburner for ultra cheap, like $6-800, I'd stay away from this experiment,, unless you are putting it in an outbuilding, not your house, and you don't keep anything you don't want burnt up in the outbuilding..

Greg L

Well I would plan on also covering the hopper lid and having an auger system that would keep the hopper less than half full. I figure this should contain and supress any fire wanting to creep in.

Does anyone have any pictures of the tri-burner and its carpet operation? Can't seem to find any. Also I have read that the "new" ones operate differently than the old? Can someone explain this? The susquehana I'm looking at is a year old. From what I understand from reading the "carpet" simply moves back and forth and slides new coal onto the stoker plate.

pozarns wrote:Well I would plan on also covering the hopper lid and having an auger system that would keep the hopper less than half full. I figure this should contain and supress any fire wanting to creep in.

Ummm maybe - but Ill bet not

This stuff burns back in equipment designed not to - imagine what it will do in equipment never designed for biomass???

You all are slowly convincing me to pass on this experiment. I certainly don't want to burn my house down no matter how cheap I can get these furnaces.

If you really can get the "stuff" cheep -- it will pay to get a "stuff" burner

and sell the coal burner

hey, I think let's stop all this corn discussion, it's becoming disgusting !

Send me a bag of corn, I'll try it for you, and have it on video, we'll find out whether it burns or turns into popcorn !
I have plenty of Triburners Mechanisms.
I can try it with or without a stove, with or without a hopper, and I think somewhere on this forum, I have posted all the pictures of the triburner mechanism.

anybody wanting pictures of the mechanisms for Alaska, Reading, Leisure Line, Keystokers, or Harman, just email me .

OK how's this???

You mount your auger at the top of the hopper. The auger has its opening facing up, so material is conveyed through the top and spills down directly onto the carpet feeder.(maybe some sloped plates could be welded into the hopper to direct the material straight onto the feeder). You auger is wired to turn at the same time the feeder requests fuel so there is never a significant "pile" ontop of the feeder. Kind of an "on demand" conveying system. The bottom of the auger could be insulated with fire retardant material to prevent heatig of the tube and thus preventing combustion of material in the auger should anything below light up. And whalla, our triburner is now a universal, "stuff" burner.

I have too much time on my hands.....