I Lit My First Coal Fire Last Night!

nuthcuntrynut wrote:i had to turn temp down, dump zone was tripping, I need to get busy on that domestic water coil, and tie in a dedicated power circuit to the boiler and vent. Bet the coal usage will triple after dhw is up and operating, but for now it cycles a few times a night as zones come on, but idles all day. Temp plummets when a zone comes on, I may need a buffer tank, drops 30 degrees in less than a minute . takes about twenty minutes to recover or more.

This model boiler has a very small amount of thermal mass compared to most coal boilers. There are pros and cons to this, but the frequent dump zone activation and rapid temperature drop upon load are cons, in my opinion at least. Learn to live with it or add a buffer tank. "Boiler Buddy" is one that comes to mind.

Rob R. wrote:

nuthcuntrynut wrote:i had to turn temp down, dump zone was tripping, I need to get busy on that domestic water coil, and tie in a dedicated power circuit to the boiler and vent. Bet the coal usage will triple after dhw is up and operating, but for now it cycles a few times a night as zones come on, but idles all day. Temp plummets when a zone comes on, I may need a buffer tank, drops 30 degrees in less than a minute . takes about twenty minutes to recover or more.

This model boiler has a very small amount of thermal mass compared to most coal boilers. There are pros and cons to this, but the frequent dump zone activation and rapid temperature drop upon load are cons, in my opinion at least. Learn to live with it or add a buffer tank. "Boiler Buddy" is one that comes to mind.

How big is the house,how many feet of baseboard/rads do you have. Have you done a heat loss calculation.
Your current set up won't work during cold weather,especially hooking up DHW.Might need a circulator shut off when boiler temps drop too low? I'm not too fimilar with all the fancy set ups,but there are many people here to help. good luck with the new boiler

Dennis wrote:Your current set up won't work during cold weather,especially hooking up DHW.Might need a circulator shut off when boiler temps drop too low? I'm not too familiar with all the fancy set ups,but there are many people here to help. good luck with the new boiler

I agree with an aquastat to shut off the circulator if the boiler temp goes below 150 degrees. However, the biggest downside of this idea (which I have incorporated on my own boiler) is that if the fire goes out its best to have the water circulating around so it doesn’t freeze as rapidly in the zones and cause the pipes to split. I have an aquastat bypass switch on mine.

lsayre wrote:

nuthcuntrynut wrote:... Temp plummets when a zone comes on, I may need a buffer tank, drops 30 degrees in less than a minute . takes about twenty minutes to recover or more.

What is the water capacity of the WL 110?

PS: I think the water capacity of my AHS S130 is 27 gallons, and I consider that marginal. At one time or another I have considered getting a "reverse indirect" hot water tank, as that would both suffice as a buffer tank and a DHW tank, serving dual purpose.

http://www.thermo2000.com/content/en-US/s2_produi ... mizer.aspx

http://www.jupiterheating.com/ergomax-indirect-wa ... eater.html

http://www.ergomax.com/New-Tanks.htm

The smallest of these (from either manufacturer) are 23 gallons in capacity, and looping the boiler to one of these would (in my case) make for 50 gallons of capacity.

a12 gallons,

i do have near 2" of ash at end of grate, so I'm not pumping out the BTU that I should be, when temps plummet ill crank it up, of course it will effect the idle circuit too.
house has about 85 linear foot of baseboard, and two toe kicks, 85k BTU at -20 degrees, thislittle boiler will have a work out during our cold spells, but with four separate zones I know it will do ok.

nuthcuntrynut wrote:i had to turn temp down, dump zone was tripping, I need to get busy on that domestic water coil, and tie in a dedicated power circuit to the boiler and vent. Bet the coal usage will triple after dhw is up and operating, but for now it cycles a few times a night as zones come on, but idles all day. Temp plummets when a zone comes on, I may need a buffer tank, drops 30 degrees in less than a minute . takes about twenty minutes to recover or more.

Did you set the max fire adjustment first? This must be done before adjusting any timers. Also you will get a large drop if the max fire is not adjusted properly. What is your high limit set at? It can be 90* out and if it is set up correctly you should rarely hit the dump zone. I keep mine at 215^ . Put the manual under your pillow tonight.

high limit is 180, has the dump zone to dump at 205, idle circuit was coming on way to much I've got out set at 9 off now 1.5min on and rheostats set about 5 oclock, seems to hold it's own, ash is about a inch from end of grate now I had not got the max fire as high as I could have it's actually keeping up with my teenage daughters hot water use, and the wife is washing clothes too, dhw is tempered art about 130. boiler is holding it's own at 160 , it actually isnt hardly cycling. I hit the sweet spot! I even transferred a big brew I was working on and use allot of water to clean/sterilize equipment. my old owb would have went into overtime to keep up. I'm impressed, and still have allot to pickup on as well. thanks to everyone on this forum, never would have went the coal route otherwise.

Hats off to flyer5 and matthaus, one or both of you must be an engineer? But allot of research went into this lil wl110 boiler of mine, as it is evident from the stoker to the economizer plate, all the way up to the hinged cleanout.
I did have an issue with it since firing it up, hi fire is setup, draft etc, and I've turned down aquastat settings until the real cold comes to the north country, also, I'm running like 10min off 50 seconds on on idle seems to work out. But I mentioned it was boring as there is practically nothing to tend to! mentioned within ear shot of my "better half". (thats an issue)So now I have a honey do list as long as my arm. Kinda missing the old Outdoor wood boiler ,choking , smoke smell on me at work,and will miss getting up at nite during cold spells to fill in my shorts too, ya right. I'm pushing the idle fire as much as I can, just for something to do. Wonder what a "normal" setting would be?
Extremely happy with this lil blue boiler, and to think I almost went to a pellet boiler.
Thanks again, to all on this forum.
If there is a web cruiser reading this post that is wondering I like my coal. I love my boiler
:punk:

Every install is different, but after two years I found my sweet spot for the idle circuit. 6 1/2 minutes off 28 seconds on. I haven't lost the fire on these settings in warm weather nor have I tripped my dump zone.
Nice install by the way.

plumber wrote:Every install is different, but after two years I found my sweet spot for the idle circuit. 6 1/2 minutes off 28 seconds on. I haven't lost the fire on these settings in warm weather nor have I tripped my dump zone.
Nice install by the way.

Ohhhh that's just friggin great , You got one too *censored* just sitting back relaxing and Plumber too! I cant even read this thread anymore cause I'm getting to jealous

dcrane wrote:

plumber wrote:Every install is different, but after two years I found my sweet spot for the idle circuit. 6 1/2 minutes off 28 seconds on. I haven't lost the fire on these settings in warm weather nor have I tripped my dump zone.
Nice install by the way.

Ohhhh that's just friggin great , You got one too *censored* just sitting back relaxing and Plumber too! I cant even read this thread anymore cause I'm getting to jealous

Well jeez, if it bothers you that bad, just think of all the other guys with Axeman Anderson's, EFM's, Keystoker's, LL 220's, and Van Wert's.

Coal is actually scarey using it in a stoker, you put black stuff in one end it leaves you with driveway fill and heats in the meanwhile. But the scarey part, real scarey part is it does it silently! I find myself looking to make sure its running all the time.
I'm just not used to this way of life, no wonder folks in NE PA tend to be calm, cool & collected, they're well rested! :discuss: