My New Toy, Losch Stoker Boiler

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
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 » Thu. Feb. 26, 2015 7:35 pm

lsayre wrote:The cat seems to be enjoying the coal heat.
You bet Larry! That cat has only ever known coal and wood heat.
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This is the first time she has had 2 boilers though.

-Don


 
User avatar
StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
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 » Fri. Feb. 27, 2015 8:24 pm

##########!!!!!!!!!!SWITCH!!!!!!!!!!##########

Today the meter reading was 283.6 - 276.0 = 7.6 hours over the past 24.

7.6hrs x 11 pound/hr = 83.6 pounds of coal over the last day.

Removed 18 pounds of ash.
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This afternoon I switched back over to the Yellow Flame. I want to get a few more days data on it before the realy cold weather leaves us.

Gave it a cleaning.
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Checked the feed rate. Feed rate 3 is 10 pounds per hour, feed rate 4 is 13 pounds per hour. Currently running on feed rate 3.
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Switched over the stovepipe and the aquastat.
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And fired it up!!!
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After 2 hours of running the stack temp is a mere 240 degrees? I thought it was higher then that under these conditions. The continuous Keystoker blower is off, I wonder if that has something to do with it?
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The grates have the first three holes furnace cemented shut.

Current settings;

Feed rate= 3 (Third lowest, 10 pounds per hour)

Air= Only one flap, closed most of the way.

Timer= 20 minute cycle, 5%, 60 seconds ON

Aquastat= 155/175, 10 degree dif

Draft= -.02 at idle, Baro opening point -.04

Boiler Bypass= open

-Don

 
User avatar
StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
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. Mar. 01, 2015 2:55 pm

Since the Losch is shut down at the moment, I decided to verify the feed rate I have been running. I did two, 1 hour runs, strait into the bucket. The bucket weighs 2 pounds. The two runs came out about 1/4 pound different, 12.75 pound and 13 pound, minus the 2 pound bucket is 10.75 and 11 pounds of coal.
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I did this just to be sure of what we have been measuring over the past weeks and months. I was a little worried it might not be accurate. We've been calling it 11 pounds per hour and it looks like that is right on the money with a 10.75 and 11 pound per hour measurment.

I will do the same with the Yellow Flame when I shut it down. Last night I didn't get home in time for the measurement of the hour meter. I decided I will just do it today at 1800 hours and divide by 2 to get coal usage for the past two days with the Yellow Flame. It looks like it's going to be another WOW!!! So far it's at 249 pounds since I fired it up Friday and It hasn't been very cold or windy, Well, it's been cold but not windy anyway.

-Don

 
User avatar
StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
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. Mar. 01, 2015 7:25 pm

Today the meter reading was 310.1 - 283.6 = 26.5 hours over the past 48.

26.5hrs x 10 pound/hr = 265 pounds of coal over the last two days. 123.5 pounds over the past day.

Removed 50 pounds of ash from the last 48 hrs.

123.5 pounds per day is more then what the Losch Yellowtail would have used with the same weather. I may be switching back soon.
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It is possible that feed rate 3 is a bit too high. I have seen some lit coal about to go over the edge.
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The coal bed is very deep, at the back, it is almost to the top of the side rail. I don't remember it being that deep before?
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I changed the feed rate to 2. We will see if that makes the stoker run more or less. Crap!, I didn't measure how much coal feed rate 2 delivers per hour. I'll have to figure that one out later.

I got the auger unjammed, finaly. Basicly I had to hand crank about a whole tube full of coal before it started getting easier!
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So now the auger is auto feeding the hopper. I hope it can keep up with this Hungry, Hungry Coal Hog!

-Don

 
Dave 1234
Member
Posts: 788
Joined: Tue. Nov. 13, 2012 9:05 am
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1948 International boiler, EFM S-20 stoker
Coal Size/Type: Buck,

Post by Dave 1234 » Sun. Mar. 01, 2015 9:03 pm

SD ,
Great job on both of your boiler restorations. I like following your progress with the pictures too.
It's interesting that your fire-tube boiler seams to be coal friendly. I saw a large Louch boiler at Dave's shop in NY last year. Very nicely built, as yours is too.
Thanks for all your time posting this experiment.

Dave

 
User avatar
StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
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 » Mon. Mar. 02, 2015 9:20 am

Thanks Dave!

I love this website, I get great feedback and informed suggestions on how to do all this stuff just by posting it on here. Also, if I post it on here, I don't have to rmember it! I just log on and look it up. Then I can see excactly how I put something together.

-Don

 
User avatar
StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
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 » Mon. Mar. 02, 2015 7:31 pm

Today the meter reading was 325.6 - 310.1 = 15.5 hours over the past 24.

15.5hrs x were going to call it 8 pound/hr = 124 pounds of coal over the last day.

Removed 19 pounds of ash from the last 24 hrs.

That's pretty good on the ash content, 15.3%. A bit heavy on the coal usage though.
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We are auto feeding the Yellow Flame with the auger. I think it would be a good idea to switch back to the Losch but, I think I will enjoy the auto feed for a few days. Coal bin is getting a bit low again.
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-Don


 
User avatar
StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
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. Mar. 03, 2015 7:38 pm

Today the meter reading was 343.4 - 325.6 = 17.8 hours over the past 24.

17.8hrs x were going to call it 8 pound/hr = 142.4 pounds of coal over the last day. WOW!!!

Removed 20 pounds of ash from the last 24 hrs.

That's pretty good on the ash content, 14%. Quite heavy on the coal usage though. This is making me think that my estimate of 8 pounds per hour might be high. When I shut it down I will measure it again.
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MAN, 17.8 hours run time in a day! Im going to switch it back to feed rate 3 to see if we can get this thing to take a brake during the day!

The coal bin is to the point that it is tough to keep coal on top of the auger.
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-Don

 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Tue. Mar. 03, 2015 8:02 pm

That does seem high on the coal usage.

I didn't think it got all that cold last night....we bottomed out at about 25*... Don, what was your low, about 20*? We have been hanging around 30* all day.

While running a good bit at night, our stoker has only had a few calls for heat through the day yesterday and today and has been mostly running in pilot mode. I'm thinking it has been about 75lbs in the last 24 hours here.

 
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StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
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. Mar. 03, 2015 9:04 pm

I didn't think it was that cold here today, 0530 it was 25*. I think it got warmer as the day went on. 142 pound is a lot of coal for a day like today!

In the next day or so I will switch back over to the Losch. Then I will measure the Yellow Flame feed rates again.

-Don

 
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StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
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. Mar. 04, 2015 7:43 pm

Today the meter reading was 354.9 - 343.4 = 11.5 hours over the past 24.

11.5hrs x 10 pound/hr = 115 pounds of coal over the last day. That is another WOW!!!, it was in the mid 40's here today.

Removed 20 pounds of ash from the last 24 hrs.

17.4% ash. When I increaced the feed rate to 3, I increaced the air too. I thnik that made the ash a bit heavier.
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Maybe I will crank the air back a bit.

-Don

 
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StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
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 » Thu. Mar. 05, 2015 3:51 pm

The Wooly Mammoth Lives Again!!!
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The coal is finaly dry enough to feed over to it with the auger!
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I shut down the Yellow Flame before going out to do the first round of plowing. Looks like you guys up north are getting a break from this storm, more of a down south thing. Came back in an hour and a half later, switched over the stovepipe/aquastat and fired it up!
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I love to see those roast'in boiler tubes!
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This storm is going to blow out of here by this evening. Then it's going down into the single digits by morning. I will take a reading at 1800 hours so tomorrow we will know how much this one used over the day.

-Don

 
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StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
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 » Thu. Mar. 05, 2015 6:48 pm

Today the meter reading was 364.1 - 354.9 = 9.2 hours over 18 hours of run time. At 1300 I shut down the Yellow Flame. Two hours later, I fired up the Losch.

9.2hrs x 10 pound/hr = 92 pounds of coal over the last day.

Removed 17 pounds of ash from 19 hrs of running.

18.5% ash

This weekend I will run feed rate tests on the Yellow Flame to see if I was using the correct feed rate numbers.
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-Don

 
User avatar
StokerDon
Site Moderator
Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
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 » Fri. Mar. 06, 2015 7:38 pm

Today the meter reading was 372.7 - 364.1 = 8.6 hours over 24 hours.

8.6hrs x 11 pound/hr = 94.6 pounds of coal over the last day.

Removed 25 pounds of ash.

26.4% ash. That's a lot of ash!
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In an effort to reduce ash percentage I reduced the air a bit.
From this.
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To this.
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94.6 pounds is light for the past day. Record braking cold here this morning, -7 in York. Looks like the Losch is better at getting the heat into the water.

-Don

 
Mikeeg02
Member
Posts: 244
Joined: Sat. Mar. 09, 2013 7:28 am
Location: Milroy, PA
Stoker Coal Boiler: Axeman Anderson 130
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Old Alaska Kodiak Stoker II
Coal Size/Type: Rice/Pea

Post by Mikeeg02 » Fri. Mar. 06, 2015 10:48 pm

Is the valve still open on the heat exchanger loop? Did the house keep up?


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