Do Atmospheric Pressure and Air Quality Affect Burn?

 
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ytseman3
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Post by ytseman3 » Fri. Feb. 13, 2015 9:15 pm

Preemo wrote:
ytseman3 wrote:Today the poor burning has yet again returned. Again I reduced feed and increased air, but didn't do much to help. So I decided to try something new, reduced feed and less air (closed to about 1/4 open). Something funny happened... It started burning better! Could it be it was fusing and not getting proper air causing slow burn and poor performance? Whatever the case it seems to work.... For now.
i'm curious. is your stoker in the basement? and do you have enough air flow for the stove to draw?

i had a burn issue, and one fix was cracking a basement window for enough air flow. simple solution for my issue.

sounds like you're not getting enough air
Yes it's in the basement. Do you mean the stove is burning up too much oxygen and causing poor burn?


 
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Post by Preemo » Fri. Feb. 13, 2015 9:30 pm

yes kinda, i'm curious if you're not getting enough air in for a supply.

i had a problem not enough air flow and my furnace burned like sh*t.

do you have a basement window to crack open?

 
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Post by ytseman3 » Fri. Feb. 13, 2015 9:32 pm

Yes, I could try that. I never realized that could happen.

 
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Post by Doby » Fri. Feb. 13, 2015 9:34 pm

Just skimming thru your thread I noticed your burning blascak, I have been using glen burn witch everybody seems to have problems with so I thought I would try a few bags of blaschak to see if it would be better, it was a mistake. I had similar burn issues and low heat, it was not related to combustion air because as soon as I switched back to glen burn it went away

 
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Post by Preemo » Fri. Feb. 13, 2015 9:43 pm

ytseman3 wrote:Yes, I could try that. I never realized that could happen.
i've only been burning coal for 1 season and I feel I've experienced a greater portion of all possible problems.

I've come to the conclusion there are 2, and only 2, major factors into making your furnace/stove burn properly.

1) air supply. not only adiquate supply air from an existing furnace fan (if ran into existing HVAC), but more importantly air supply from a window to not cut the supply short.

2) 99% of burn issues is draft related. clean your chimney or power vent properly and make sure your draft is set properly.

watch those 2 things and the furnace/stove runs itself. its not rocket science, and you'll laugh once you have this small glitch worked out.

 
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Post by ytseman3 » Fri. Feb. 13, 2015 10:01 pm

Doby wrote:Just skimming thru your thread I noticed your burning blascak, I have been using glen burn witch everybody seems to have problems with so I thought I would try a few bags of blaschak to see if it would be better, it was a mistake. I had similar burn issues and low heat, it was not related to combustion air because as soon as I switched back to glen burn it went away
I have pretty much written it off to the blaschak coal, I never had this problem before and this is my first winter with blaschak. Next winter I'm switching back to jeddo from hazelton.

The problem just comes and goes randomly so I don't think its the stove.

 
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Post by Preemo » Fri. Feb. 13, 2015 10:04 pm

ytseman3 wrote:
Doby wrote:Just skimming thru your thread I noticed your burning blascak, I have been using glen burn witch everybody seems to have problems with so I thought I would try a few bags of blaschak to see if it would be better, it was a mistake. I had similar burn issues and low heat, it was not related to combustion air because as soon as I switched back to glen burn it went away
I have pretty much written it off to the blaschak coal, I never had this problem before and this is my first winter with blaschak. Next winter I'm switching back to jeddo from hazelton.

The problem just comes and goes randomly so I don't think its the stove.
glad you can pinpoint the issue. nothing worse than scratching your head what could be causing a bad burn.


 
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Post by ytseman3 » Tue. Feb. 24, 2015 7:15 pm

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Here is a new pic of how the stove burns now and again. it's been a while but the cockeyed crooked fire pushing off the grate at one side has returned. As you can see some hot coals pushing off. This is at 4 turns out of the feed screw, if I back off on feed I can stop the hot coals from going over but then I don't get enough heat from the stove. I'v pretty much written it off to bad coal every so often, or maybe too many fines mixed in? I just wanted to post the latest weird burn pic for reference. This summer I am resealing the grates, and switching to buckwheat coal for next season.

 
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Post by 2001Sierra » Tue. Feb. 24, 2015 9:43 pm

That is one weird burn. If the fire is that far down the grate, the area back to the feed area should have a deeper burn front to back. I've got to think about this :mad:
Last edited by 2001Sierra on Tue. Feb. 24, 2015 9:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
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Post by KLook » Tue. Feb. 24, 2015 9:51 pm

The only time mine ever looks like that is when the hopper has an obstruction just above the pusher bar and when the holes in the ramp are plugged. Period.

Kevin

 
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Post by Lightning » Tue. Feb. 24, 2015 10:18 pm

Just a guess on my part since I'm not a stoker operator but, it appears that the combustion air flow is uneven. Fines in the grate holes would cause that, wouldn't it?

 
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Post by ytseman3 » Wed. Feb. 25, 2015 7:18 am

That last pic above was last night, now this morning it it burning perfectly fine. Nice even fire across the grates and burning nice and hot.

 
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Post by ytseman3 » Sat. Feb. 28, 2015 6:26 pm

Lightning wrote:Just a guess on my part since I'm not a stoker operator but, it appears that the combustion air flow is uneven. Fines in the grate holes would cause that, wouldn't it?
Thinking about what you said about fines, I realize that my coal bin is designed with a chute door at the BOTTOM of the bin.... don't the fines collect at the bottom of the coal bin? I do notice quite a bit of them sometimes... especially now when I'm getting low on coal and have to reach in the door with a hoe and scratch the coal front to fill my buckets.

 
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Post by Lightning » Sat. Feb. 28, 2015 9:21 pm

ytseman3 wrote:Thinking about what you said about fines, I realize that my coal bin is designed with a chute door at the BOTTOM of the bin.... don't the fines collect at the bottom of the coal bin? I do notice quite a bit of them sometimes... especially now when I'm getting low on coal and have to reach in the door with a hoe and scratch the coal front to fill my buckets.
Yeah sounds right. Even though I'm using a bigger version of coal, I notice the smaller pieces and fines gather underneath where the coal came into the bin AND on the bottom. Its likely you are using some inconsistent sizing along with some fines as you are getting low on coal. I'm thinking its the reason that sometimes you see a nice line across the grate and then sometimes you don't.. :)

 
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Post by ytseman3 » Sat. Feb. 28, 2015 9:35 pm

I think you may have nailed it. I plan on switching to buckwheat for next season, and hoping that alleviates some of this problem with fines. Also with the better airflow through the coal maybe it will help. I want to redesign my coal bin this summer and maybe do away with the chute and go with removeable boards a cross the front as the coal level goes down and just shovel the coal out. I guess I'd still get some fines when I'm at the bottom, but maybe the buck will have less than rice.


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