Any AA-220 owners

Thanks guys.... Yes I agree the boiler load is (should be) very small at this point. The grates were not back as far as they should have been. I see grooves on the bottoms that appear should be seating on the air ducts (for a lack of better term). By measurement is appears these should recess on to the walls of the air duct. It is cooled down and cleaned out. Now to reset the grates. I will let you know how it goes.

dfridleyjr wrote:Thanks guys.... Yes I agree the boiler load is (should be) very small at this point. The grates were not back as far as they should have been. I see grooves on the bottoms that appear should be seating on the air ducts (for a lack of better term). By measurement is appears these should recess on to the walls of the air duct. It is cooled down and cleaned out. Now to reset the grates. I will let you know how it goes.

Well there's the problem....

Yes it was!! I have stopped the loss of coal problem. Now to evaluate burn rate again. I am sure I was losing some efficiency.

Would it be best to use just one side right now until a higher heat demand is warranted?

Thanks

dfridleyjr: I have been running my 220 for just over a week now and have just had one stoker going. It is working great, keeping the boiler very steady and keeping the house (2500 ft) nice and toasty (my wife is in love with that right now). From the looks of the weather report I will be lighting the other stoker this weekend.

One question I have being new to coal is about the ashes. They are larger than I expected. I will have them stay together and hang over the edge of the stoker for an inch or so at times before falling into the pan. I can break them easily in my hands after they fall. Is this normal? If not what's happening? I grew up with wood heat and am used to ashes being basically dust. Thanks for the help in advance and Thanks Matt and Dave for a great boiler!

Bill

Coal ashes tend to fuse together and form something called clinkers. I don't have your type of stoker mechanism, but from what I've seen with mine it appears that how you are describing your ashes is normal for coal.

I came from a wood burning background as well, and a few of the the first things I learned are that coal generates ashes that bare little resemblance to wood ashes, and that coal generates appreciably more ashes than does wood.

dfridleyjr wrote:Hello all ....I am new to the forum and I am in the process of the first time lighting of my AA220 right now. At 120F and working through the idle firing process at the moment. This is my first boiler of any sorts. So I will only be able to provide limited information and only specific to this model.

Hi Ed, How is it working? I keep waiting for an update. Dave

Thanks Larry, I think that is what I'm getting. I was having some dark pieces of coal (not completely burned?) in the pan but I made some adjustments and now seem to be getting less and less of that. Now browns and tans in the pan. The amount of ash produced is taking some getting used to.

Bill

billybones wrote:Thanks Larry, I think that is what I'm getting. I was having some dark pieces of coal (not completely burned?) in the pan but I made some adjustments and now seem to be getting less and less of that. Now browns and tans in the pan. The amount of ash produced is taking some getting used to.

Bill

When it's not really cold outside I get partially burnt coal in my ashes. That progressively goes away as the weather turns colder. I never really tried to quantify it, but I'm speculating that coal ashes could accumulate at a rate of perhaps as much as 5 to 10 times more on a mass/volume basis than wood ashes do. That said, I'm fairly convinced that my ash accumulation this season is somewhere around half of what it was last season. My overall efficiency (so far at least, it being early) is measurably higher this season also. Harmony this season vs. Blaschak last season.

Hello gents.... sorry for the delay in responding but I had to write a proposal for some new work and have been working ALOT and did not have time to get on here.

The ashes you all are describing are exactly what I am getting and was confirmed earlier. I did go to only one grate burning as well and it has helped with the burn rate. I also am getting some unburnt coal falling over into the ashes. I categorized it as about 5% of coal. I am only heating the water to 150F. All I need to keep the hotwater tank in the house warm and more than enough hear for the house this time of year.

I am using Blaschak rice coal and it is VERY wet. If I keep the hopper full it appears to get dried out over time but if it gets too low then I am getting very wet coal in the bottom? How or does this even affect the burning of the coal?

I have the boiler in my shop and it is heating an area of about 300 sq ft without using a blower/heat exchanger on my old electric furnace. Free heat essentially. I cant wait to see what my electric bill does as my hot water heater is used by 8 poeple through the week (6 kids, me and the wife). The house furnace is not even running except early morning and the house stays HOT with conduction heat through the heat exchanger and furnace metal. Temps outside when this was happening was about 35 morning to 45 during the day.

Keep a day or more 'ahead' with the bagged coal...open a few bags and let it dry out ahead of usage. Thanks for the info on the 220...I know it will be a GREAT performer.

Get yourself a large plastic tote, wooden crate, whatever...and position it so that it can drain out one end or the bottom. Use that as a staging area for your coal; you do not want to put sopping wet coal into the hopper. It has a negative impact on combustion, can make the coal bridge, and it is tough on the hopper.

For those having trouble envisioning this drying method, please don't forget to drill drain holes in waterproof containers. Dry coal, like dry wood burns best and since it is all about cost saving and safety, do anything you can to keep your 'stash' protected! In case you are new to this, frozen coal does NOT shovel well, if at all. However the good news is that when it thaws next spring, you can still use it! Try that one with pellets!!!!!