Yellow Flame to Tri-Burner Conversion. What Do You Think?

 
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Scottscoaled
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Post by Scottscoaled » Sat. Apr. 25, 2015 9:27 pm

StokerDon wrote:Is that what this is? Never been here before, I feel funny.

-Don
That right there is one of the funniest things I ever read on this forum. Don, you are killing me! Hahahahaha :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


 
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StokerDon
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Post by StokerDon » Sun. Apr. 26, 2015 9:12 am

I still don't believe it! Somebody pinch me!

That would be great if I finaly have the old Yellow Flame all the way down in the 10 to 15 pound per day club. If this is true, I have a very good excuse to burn year round!

-Don

 
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StokerDon
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
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Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. Apr. 26, 2015 9:32 am

Now that I think about it, the old 1960's aquastat that I had been using until this January may have caused me to use more coal. In the Fall, runing the Tri-Burner, during a heat call, the pump and blower would cycle on and off. The last 3 days here have been cold, and when there is a heat call, blower and pump just keep going until the call is met.
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This is very interesting, my earlier attempts at coal conservation may have been in vein because of my crappy old aquastat!

Also, in the Fall I declared that the Tri-Burner was not keeping up when temps reached about 30 degrees. Yesterday morning it was 28 degrees, morning before was 30 degrees and today was about 35 degrees. The little Tri-Burner has had NO problem keeping up!

-Don

 
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StokerDon
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Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. Apr. 26, 2015 7:16 pm

The stoker ran for 14.3 hours today. Thats 17.9 pounds of coal over the passed day. I removed 12.5 pounds of ash. Something isn't right, that would be 70% ash. Humm,,,.
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I guess I will be doing another feed rate test.

-Don

 
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StokerDon
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. Apr. 26, 2015 9:00 pm

For 12.5 pounds of ash at 20% ash content, that would be 62 pounds of coal not 17.9 pounds.

-Don

 
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
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Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Mon. Apr. 27, 2015 7:50 pm

That would also mean the feed rate is about 3.5 pounds per hour not 1.25 pound per hour. I wonder what went wrong with my feed rate tests?

-Don

 
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Post by lsayre » Mon. Apr. 27, 2015 7:59 pm

Are you saying that the brief nirvana of excellent efficiency was merely an illusion?


 
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StokerDon
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
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Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Mon. Apr. 27, 2015 8:05 pm

I believe the 3.5 pounds per hour and 20% ash, even though its an estimate.

I don't believe the 1.25 pounds per hour and 70% ash.

That was the "Pinch" that woke me up!

-Don

 
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StokerDon
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Tue. Apr. 28, 2015 7:44 pm

I removed 18.5 pounds of ash today. The meter reading was 744.1, the stoker ran for 29.2 hours over the past 2 days, 102.2 pounds. 51.1 pounds per day.

-Don

 
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Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Fri. May. 01, 2015 7:29 pm

The stoker ran for 26.3 hours over the past 3 days. Thats 92 pounds and 30.7 pound of coal per day. Removed 21.5 pounds of ash.
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I like the sound of 30 pounds a day!

It's going to get very warm here Sun, Mon, and Tus. I should be able to get under 30 pounds a day.

-Don

 
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Post by Lightning » Fri. May. 01, 2015 7:53 pm

Nice!! I ran a few days at around 30 pounds per day with the hand fed. Sounds like yer really tuning her in!

 
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StokerDon
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. May. 03, 2015 8:10 pm

I hope so Lee!

The stoker ran for 19.9 hours over the passed 2 days. That's 69.7 pounds, 34.8 pounds per day.
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Removed 16.5 pounds of ash.
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I don't know how much longer I will run it. I guess it all depends on if my garage gets too hot or I run out of coal. At that point I can turn the electric water heater on (YUK!).
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I would guess that's about 400 pounds there. If so, that's about 12 days from now. When this is gone, that would be 9 ton burned since Sept 14, 2014. That's a lot of coal!

-Don

 
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Post by McGiever » Tue. May. 05, 2015 8:37 am

Some thinking for over the off season...

How many million BTU is 9 ton?

How many BTU per square foot for entire season?

Any ideas on lowering stack temps?

 
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StokerDon
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Tue. May. 05, 2015 7:37 pm

McGiever wrote:Some thinking for over the off season...

How many million BTU is 9 ton?

How many BTU per square foot for entire season?

Any ideas on lowering stack temps?
I'm think'in 13,500BTU per pound times 9 ton (18,000 pound) = 243,000,000 BTU.

If I include the garage and breeze way, it's about 2300 sq ft. I need to include them as I am heating them weather I want to or not.

243,000,000 / 2,300 = 105,652 BTU per sq ft, if I did it right. Of corse the DHW load is in that calculation to.

Other than designing a new boiler and base, I can't think of anything to lower the stack temps. But i'm not done think'in yet.

-Don

 
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StokerDon
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Wed. May. 06, 2015 7:15 pm

The stoker ran for 18.9 hours over the past 3 days. That's 66.15 pounds of coal, 22.05 pounds per day. WOW!!! Now we are into the low 20's per day! That's also right about $2.37 per day to heat DHW. I could live with that.

The only problem is the garage is in the upper 80's to low 90's when I get home from work!

I didn't remove the ash today, the pan was only about half full! Maybe I'm getting close to that mythical 1WEEK tending time?
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The coal bin is getting mighty low!
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I have some pretty funky bagged coal I need to get rid of. Maybe I'll try runn'in that through?

-Don


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