Old Hoval

 
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Dennis
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Post by Dennis » Tue. Jan. 17, 2012 5:03 pm

I also noticed on the top door where the secondary air flap is.I would asume when the oil burner was running it made the white marks on the door pushing dust out,if dust is being pushed out then is there too much secondary air going in.

The draft door is all the way on the bottom if you zoom in on it,with that be said is the ash blocking the air passage without a ash pan to hold it away from the draft door.

 
engineer
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Post by engineer » Thu. Jan. 19, 2012 3:09 pm

Well try again just wrote a reply and it disappeared. Anywat took pictures of coal bed from stating the fire to about 4hours later. Got blazing wood fire going with few pieces of coal picked off the floor when had good amount of burn with wood coals added coal one or two shovels at a time let sit 20 minutes or so added more coal. Did this until had the bed of burning coal shown in last piture. Presently have lower damper about 1/2 inch open or so and has been burning pretty well with blue flames for about last three hours. You can see in last fire picture that the center of the coal over the grate is burning pretty well butedges appear not to be burning. Fire box slopes up from grate then goes straight to smoke outlet.

Regarding the "dust" marks around secondary air opening not sure how this was used as just moved into house after inheriting from my Uncle. I have it closed right now.

As far as coal at edges is the burn happening there just not obivious when looking at burn?

Should I leave alone and keep bed level or move coal into center?

Do I need more coal on the bed? Or is the depth of coal more for length of burn? Bed depth is about 6-8 inches with another 4 or so to bottom of loading door.

When do you give the bed a shake?

Next big test is in morning after all night burn and getting fire going again. Is it the time for a shake then open air all way and moving and uncovering burning coal then slowly adding?

thanks for all the help

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franco b
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Post by franco b » Thu. Jan. 19, 2012 5:18 pm

Load it full up to door and maybe sloped back from there. If that firebox is backed by water you will always have a hard time with the edges unless firing the hell out of it. Stupid design like most hand fired boilers. As ash forms on the bottom grate the burn will progress from front to back with air coming from the front grate. It should be mostly blocked off.

You need a flat poker of maybe 1 inch wide and !/8 thick by 24 inches or longer to slide in the gap under the front grate and over the bottom grate to clear the ash and let it drop into the ash pit.

Give it about 8 hours and slide your poker in. Ash will be soft and easy while unburned coal will be hard. You have to get a feel for what works. Right now it will be easy because everything is fresh with no ash. The hard part is to clear the ash sufficiently to keep things going and with that grate design the burn will be uneven.

At this point load coal in several layers over time rather than all at once until you get a feel of how the fire behaves. If loading a large amount all at once give it some over fire air through the top door to avoid a puff back from unburned gasses.

 
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Post by engineer » Fri. Jan. 20, 2012 5:14 am

At the end of the day added coal to the loading door height, so would say 10 to 12 inch bed. Burning very nicely as has all day. This morning a few coals left, but when shaking grate they pretty much went the way of the dinasours. The shaking is not meant to fine tune by any means as the push/pull of the grate sends everything down into the ash area. So started another wood fire and bringing coal up to a good burn. Will take franco b's advice and hunt up a piece of iron that can get under front grate to "shake" ash from the grate. Given this machine is at least half my age and the domestic hot water tank has sprung a leak several years back may be time to investigate a new coal stoaker boiler even though I have 60 acres of woods and slabs left over from my band mill. Not getting any younger.

Also have taken everyones advice and I am just adding coal as day progresses and not "playing" with it! And I do like the heat thrown off by the blue flames!

As of this morning the coal was pretty much all consumed with just ash as when did shake the grate it did not completly clog the area below the grate. So I may be learning and hopefully the climb up to a good coal burn has leveled off somewhat.

As far as I can remember my Uncle never mentioned anything about an ash pan. I have never seen one and after cleaning out the house and moving in have not run across any. Anyone know if you can buy them or just go to any outfit that sells coal stoves? Will check out some of the sites.


 
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grizzly2
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Post by grizzly2 » Sat. Jan. 21, 2012 5:16 am

Glad to hear you are getting the burn lasting longer. As far as an ash pan goes, you can have a local sheet metal shop or any plumbing business that does duct work fabricate one for you. It shoud be wider than the grates of course, and as wide as will conveniently fir in the ash chamber would be best. Make sure not to make it so long that it tends to block off air flow from the draft (air intake). Add cary handle as space and your preferece for way of carying it dictates.

Once you get over the steepest part of the learning curve it all seems so much easier. You are probably right about thinking of buying a better designed coal fired boiler, wheather it be hand fired or stoker. :)

 
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Post by engineer » Sun. Jan. 22, 2012 2:30 pm

Thanks to all for the tips, have been able to keep burn going with more complete combustion, not throwing out unburnt coal. The tip for blocking the front grate even though not complete seems to help. The tip for flat bar to go under front grate for the "shake" works well without losing half the coal in the burn to the ash pan.

Have been able to keep a good burn all day and through the night. Will work on the exact damper setting for the burn/heat I need.

Since it appears I know enough to "leave it alone" I went out and bought 1200 pounds of coal to hopefully get me 6 weeks of cozy heat. It was a hell of a lot less than the 230 gals of oil that will only last me six weeks. For next season will have to work on place to store more coal, but then again it is always better to have someone else front the money as long as supply is there.

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Sun. Jan. 22, 2012 2:41 pm

Glad to hear you are getting it figured out.

Remember the opperative word is 'Shake',, not move rotate, or eventually 'dump'

Many of the shaker grates have way too much movement or travel available, and you can easily dump the fire.

So, just 'shake' the grates, just vibrate them. The ash has settled on the grates as the fire slowly burns. the ash is like a fragile house of cards; just
a bit of vibration and the house of 'ash' will collapse.

The only time more vigorous shaking may be needed is if your coal leaves partially burnt 'husks' behind, and or you burn really hot and get fused-ashes called Clinkers.

Stay warm !!

Greg L

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