Yellow Flame Grate Experiment

When I got home from work today I pulled the ashpan out to have a look. It's only half full but it seemed a bit heavy.

This is what is mainly in there, granola and partly burnt rocks. Looks pretty red so I guess this is red ash coal.
I don't know if this will help, but, I opened up one side of the combustion blower all the way.
After this hopper load I will likely switch from the medium Buck back to the Rice.

Changed 1 setting, Combustion Blower = 1/2 open.

-Don

I pulled the ashpan out and weighed it. 36 pounds minus 2.5 pounds for the ashpan = 33.5 pounds of ash for the meduim Buck. The Rice was 24.5 pounds with the air closed down.

So that's 9 pounds more ash than the Rice, that's a BIG difference!

I just filled up with 4.5 buckets, about 157.5 pounds. That's about 78.75 pounds over the passed 2 days.
I'm going to leave the air and feed where they are for tonight. I will have a look at it tomorrow and then most likely go back to Feed=2 and Air=closed down.
-Don

More ash and still using about the same amount per day. The buck doesn't seem to be solving anything.

Larry,

I realy don't like the heavier ash part of this. I think to burn the medium Buck I need to close down the combustion air even more, if I can. The fire was very deffinetly hotter. I don't know if it translated into more heat into the house though, maybe it just went up the chimney?

A reminder of the settings we are using;

Current settings;

Feed rate= 3 (third from lowest out of 6)

Air= Closed down to about as much as it can be.

Keystoker continuous blower= about 1/2 opened.

Timer= 15 minute cycle, 8%, 72 seconds ON

Aquastat= 155/175 10 degree dif

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

Boiler Bypass= Full open

-Don

I just filled up with 5 buckets of the Medium Buckwheat. Thats about 175 pounds for the passed 2 days (Rice), thats 87.5 pound per day.

I am going to adjust the air down as far as it will go, then bring it up until I just start seeing orange flames. We will see what kind of ash that gives. I will keep playing with the air and feed until I get the lightest ash with the Buck.

It's Winter now so I think I will be burning the Medium Buck for the duration.

-Don

Have you computed any ash/coal percentages with the different sizes you've tried?

Lee,

That is what I should do, I need to get a scale I can keep in the garage! I still have the last two ash buckets. Hopefuly I will remember to weigh them tomorrow.

I'm headed out on the road tomorrow to pick up a new toy that will totaly screw up my ablity to weigh the coal going in.

More on that tomorrow night.

-Don

Well, here's the next problem. How am I going to weigh the coal going into the hopper when it's being fed by this?
It's a 4" dia X 11' long Westfeild grain auger. For $295, I couldn't resist! That's what they cost NEW. It doesn't come with the motor. I have a few laying around so that was no problem.

Hopefuly I can get it running this weekend.

-Don

PS,

The Losch boiler went to the welder today. That's why only the Losch base is in the one picture.

You got to use a 1725 rpm motor, and even then it is a might fast for moving rice coal.

Guess you'll see what I mean this weekend.

And corrosion will do it's darnedest to ruin that inside paint. Could be a good experiment for Fluid Film???

I started a new thread about the auger install, Westfield Grain Auger.

Yes, most of the motors I have lying around are 1725 RPM. It will be tricky to get the flight speed down to 60-120 RPM without using a gearbox, I think that's about where I want it.

-Don

Filled up with 4 buckets. Thats about 140 pounds, 70 pounds per day over the passed 2 days.

I changed the feed rate back to 2 (second lowest). On 3, when there was a very long heat call, the fire was a bit to close to the end of the grate.

The auger project is having it's up's and down's.

-Don

Feed rate 2 doesn't seem to feed the coal fast enough for the boiler to power through a heat call. Last night I decided to try feed rate 4 (forth from lowest). This did something interesting, on a long heat call, once there was a full grate of burning coal, the boiler was actualy increasing temp while the HVAC blower was blowing!

That doesn't normaly happen. What happens normaly is there are 2 or 3 ON and OFF cycles as the aquastat turns the pump ON and OFF to let the boiler temp catch up. I'm going to leave it there for now. It will likely raise the coal consumption a bit.

Stovepipe temp gets up to 300 degees on feed rate 4. It would be nice to keep some of that in the boiler somehow.

Current settings;

Feed rate= 4 (forth from lowest out of 6)

Air= Closed down to about as much as it can be.

Keystoker continuous blower= about 1/2 opened.

Timer= 15 minute cycle, 8%, 72 seconds ON

Aquastat= 155/175 10 degree dif

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

Boiler Bypass= Full open

-Don

OK, now I've got myself a coal and ash weighing rig.
I have some measurements from the last week of coal burn'in.

On 12/14 a 157.5 pound fill up of Buck. 12/16, 32 pound of ash removed.
On 12/16 a 157.5 pound fill up of Rice. 12/18, 26 pound of ash removed.
On 12/18 a 175 pound fill up of Buck. 12/20, 34 pound of ash removed.

The Buckwheat is making some very heavy ash compared to the Rice. The Rice was making heavier ash before I did a big air reduction. I will try the same thing with the Buckwheat.

-Don

StokerDon wrote:
On 12/14 a 157.5 pound fill up of Buck. 12/16, 32 pound of ash removed.
On 12/16 a 157.5 pound fill up of Rice. 12/18, 26 pound of ash removed.
On 12/18 a 175 pound fill up of Buck. 12/20, 34 pound of ash removed.
-Don

Cool based on those,
12/16 Coal/ash comparison is 20.3% with buck
12/18 Coal/ash comparison is 16.5% with rice
12/20 Coal/ash comparison is 19.4% with the buck again

It seems you get a more complete burn with the rice,
loosing only 6% unburned coal based on 10% ash.
I would say that is very good.

Thank's Lee, I was to lazy last night to do the percent conversion.

I just filled up with a whoping 201 pounds of Buck, 6 buckets, all weighed. That's 100.5 pounds per day over the last 2 days. Somewhere around 95 or so pounds per day is the turning point where it turns to every day feedings and every day ash removal. Once I get here, labor wise, there is NO advantage to the stoker over the hand fired. I need to figure out how to curb this things appitite.

I will keep playing with it. So far, it looks like the Hard Rice uses less coal and make less ash. Using the Medium Buck on feed rate 4 is going to use 100 poiund per day or more it looks like. I still have the Hard Barley to try out.

The last fill up was 140 pounds of Buck. Tonight I pulled 40 pound of ash out.

The hopper got so far down today that it uncovered a large pocket of the Rice coal. This has made a mess of the fire. I have turned the feed rate back down to 2 to get through this Rice pocket.

-Don