AXEMAN-ANDERSON ANTHRATUBE

Hello everyone,
Greetings from New Hampshire. I just completed the install of an A-A 130-M boiler. It has been running for a week without any problems noted. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with these units? Specifically , consumption rates, observed temperatures and controller setpoints. I was going to adjust the anthrastat and thought I would check with you folks first for any recommendations. Hope to hear from you. JKP.

Congrats on your install of the 130m, a quick couple questions about your install,

what coal do you burn?
do you domestic hot water?
what controllers do you use and is this a new unit?
how many zones what type of heating aka hot water baseboard, old iron rad, radiant?
what are the design temps of your install like inside aka 68F-72F, outside 0F - -30F and what BTU load?

I am burning blaschak pea coal. My unit is connected in parallel with my oil boiler which has a super store water heater. This is a new unit supplied with honeywell controllers. I added a limit controller that clips on the output pipe and wired it to my basement circulator. In the event of an overtemp ( I set it at 200 deg. f) the circulator turns on to dump excess heat. I have four zones of baseboard heat .One for each floor and one for hot water. Lastly, my house is around 68 degress inside. Outside temp is around 20 deg. f at night, right now. Thanks for the reply. JKP

Hello JKP, welcome to the forum. I moved your question to the stoker forum for a little better exposure.

There are currently two active AxemanAnderson boiler users, myself and u235. We both have AA 260M boilers. We can try to answer your questions.
There are quite a few owners of the AHS S130 boiler which is the same size as your boiler with different coal feed and ash shaking mechanisms.

What adjustments do you want to do to the anthrastat? What does the ash in the ash pan look like?? The directions in the AA manual outline which way to adjust the anthrastat to get the grate to shake more or less.

Let us know what you want to accomplish and we'll try to help.

Greg L

Could you post the brand name , specs. and model number of the electric motor on your 130M.? Thanks

.

JKP, I guessing your using hot water baseboard that was most likely designed around 180F water temp. If you have a L8124A Aquastat on the rear of the unit(site hole end) I would sent the high side at 180 which comes with a 10F fixed diff, and the low side at 160F and set the diff, at 10f . now for another piece of information is that the front of the unit (fan end) will run about 10F to 20F depending unit coal load and ashing. so on that end I would recommend a L4081 wired as a Out fire / high limit which would stop the timer from running the unit if it was two hot. On this aquastat I would sent the low at 120F and the high at 230F. Now I asuming you are using a timer if not this helps in the summer if your doing domestic hot water or for warm days in the winter to keep the fire going and coal feed and the unit ashed. as for ashing anywhere from 120 to 140, I would start low and work up and move it very little at a time plus only use the little screw in the center.

Some info here for your A-A boiler, converted to PDF by member Yanche.

Thank- you Yanche and Coaledsweat for the info. That report is the reason why I bought the A-A.
The unit has a 1/4 hp. Marathon electric motor with a 1725 rpm rating, model number DQL...... If you need the exact number I'll get it for you. My first order of business is to reduce the anthrastat setting to try and minimize the consumption. I was wondering if anyone had any specific settings for that controller.
I do have a timer, but it has not been needed either becuase it is cold enough ouside or the unit is running a bit too hot under present settings. I'll need to disect the ash more closely to get you a detailed strip finding report. I'll try to do that tomorrow after work. Thanks for the help.
JKP

Hi JKP, if you think you are not burning all the coal, and getting unburnt coal in the ash, then reduce the temperature setting on the anthrastat. If your's is marked in degrees, it should be set at 140* from the factory, set it down to 135* and see if you notice a difference in the ash contents. If your anthrastat is marked in 1-8 or something similar, just turn it back a fraction [counter clockwise, to a smaller number] And see how or if that helps.

How much coal are you consuming right now?? In mild weather, you can reduce the boiler's temperature setting and save some coal. What is the Aquastat low setting at?? I keep mine at 155-160 when the weather is above 20*, I'll set it 10* higher for nights in the teens. This works in my home, with my baseboards, a lower water temp reduces the heat output of each baseboard. But if you don't need 180* water, then don't heat it that hot untill you need it.

Give us some consumption numbers. And how big your house is , how well insulated, and how good the windows are. In this mild weather, I'm burning only a little more than a five gallon bucket every 12 hours, and my home is 3500sqft, poor insulation and windows.

Greg L

Greg Question for you, Just wondering if your using less coal then the other unit?

Yes, my self-designed wood/coal burning boiler burns a lot more coal to keep up with BTU demand. I've learned so much about burning coal, design of a firebox, design of a water jacket and volume of water... it is a crying shame that I can't make the boiler over again...

My 'big Bertha' [my name for her] consumes about three times the coal that the AA boiler consumes. There are lots of reasons for this burn rate. The design is sort of like an EFM or Gentlman Janitor, or Van wert boiler. It was designed as a hand load but now has an underfeed stoker in the burn box. Hot-air flow is not opimal in my design, I was worried more about creosote from burning wood, so I designed the interior to be fully accessable to aid in scraping creosote. This is not good for extracting the heat from burning coal.

Anyway I'm very happy with the coal consumption in the AA boiler, in another month or so the jury will be out on how much I'm burning. It's hard to tell with only a few days of burn time so far and all the variables and adjustments.

Greg L