DHW Coal Consumption

For those of you who burn year round to heat DHW, how much are you burning? I'm burning about 26 lbs per day, to me that seems real high.

I'm not burning anywhere near that amount. I'm estimating somewhere between 5 to 10 pounds/day for DHW only.

plumber wrote:For those of you who burn year round to heat DHW, how much are you burning? I'm burning about 26 lbs per day, to me that seems real high.

It does seem like a lot. What are your feed, air and timer settings? Do you have a barometric damper? Insulation on boiler head? No air infiltration to base?

Mike

Wow! I've got to figure out what's up then. I figured I'm burning 12 lbs per day just off the timer alone.

I'm at 4 teeth 4.5 air. Timer set at 90 seconds every half hour. I do have a barometric damper and I maintain .04-.05 in WC before the baro. The base is tight as a drum, but I don't have the jacket on yet.

If you don't have a jacket on your trying to heat the universe so 25 pounds is not that bad , to heat the whole universe

Are you sure your coal measurements are accurate? Any ghost flow through the DHW piping?

I am positive about my consumption. I have the tankless piped in to a storage tank. I currently have my low limit set at 150. The boiler seems to stay at 145, at least when I'm looking at it.

I'm curious as well if the mystery coal I was burning has anything to do with it? The coal very inconsistent with ashes and sizing. Both in the EFM and the Leisure Line. I secured a new source for coal that looks a lot better. Nice hard shiny and uniform sizing. Now to see how it burns.

Coal quality can certainly play a big part.

Insulate the boiler and piping for additional savings.

Rob R. wrote:Coal quality can certainly play a big part.

Insulate the boiler and piping for additional savings.

Definitely need to insulate the boiler. I'm trying to find a source for the material. The piping I definitely need to insulate. At least my primary loop, it's always at boiler temperature.

i generally burn an average of 14.5 to 16.5 lbs. per day for DHW only, and it seems to be coal dependent, as well as boiler clean-out dependent.

Teenagers have a large impact on dhw consumption.

As for the insulation, I have used loose fiberglass, and foil-faced foam. The foam was the most effective, by far. Sealing the seams of the insulation with foil tape also helps a lot; it stops any air currents from coming up through the insulation. My brother's 520 has 1/2" foam on it, taped seams, and sheetmetal jackets. It maintains about 180 degrees just from the timer cycles.

I turned mine down to 145° max, which maintains between 122° or so to 135°. On the 10th at 1am, I took out the ashes and added 80 lbs (2 bags) of coal. Just tossed 40 lbs. in there now, & definitely couldn't fit another bag in the hopper .... so my unscientific visual analysis says I'm burning roughly 18-19 pounds of coal per 24 hour period. Also noted there's half an ashpan of ash - normally after 48 hours, it's pretty full, so that's a great sign there.

I'm going to let this thing fly all summer. I don't think I could heat hot water cheaper with oil. As an added bonus, I don't have to go through a huge rustproofing ordeal, only to have it rot away anyway.

Rob R. wrote:Teenagers have a large impact on dhw consumption.

As for the insulation, I have used loose fiberglass, and foil-faced foam. The foam was the most effective, by far. Sealing the seams of the insulation with foil tape also helps a lot; it stops any air currents from coming up through the insulation. My brother's 520 has 1/2" foam on it, taped seams, and sheetmetal jackets. It maintains about 180 degrees just from the timer cycles.

Foam? As in the blue foam board? I'd think that would have issues with the temps? If that works, I can pick that up at Lowes. I was looking for foil faced fiberglass board. That I'm having a problem finding locally.