Theres Somethin Happenin Here, What It Is Ain't Xactly Clear

 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Sun. Feb. 08, 2015 9:12 am

On February 1st I made a settings change to my Coal Gun whereby post the change my single circulator will not come on and put heat into my homes 4 zones if the boilers internal temperature falls below 160 degrees. This was done to see if I could get consistently warmer showers from the boilers internal DHW coil, and that seems to have pretty much failed, but in the mean time a very unexpected consequence may be emerging.

With this being only one full week post the settings change I realize that it's way to early to get my hopes up too high, but suddenly I'm burning less coal per HDD. I've gone from 1.417 lbs./HDD in December to 1.418 lbs./HDD in January, to only 1.339 lbs./HDD so far this month. Weather seems to have little to do with it, as so far the mean temperature for February is just about identical to the mean for January. But my coal consumption vs. HDD's is suddenly down a very noticeable 5.5%.


 
franco b
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Post by franco b » Sun. Feb. 08, 2015 9:21 am

I think it goes to show that higher heat in the boiler will result in better more efficient and complete combustion.

 
JeepinPete
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Post by JeepinPete » Sun. Feb. 08, 2015 3:57 pm

The weather here is milder than what you have. I generally keep the set points on the EFM at 180f when the highs are going to be 25-35f. When they are going to be in the teens, I crank it up to 200f since 180f will not keep the temps up in the house. The reason I bother with this is I am getting less ash running harder at 200 than running lighter at 180. I have not seen that behavior before, granted with limited experience. I switched to Lehigh coal this year, and it definitely burns differently that old Harmony or Direnzo. Ultimately, the EFM is way oversized for my house.

Pete

 
troyaa130
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Post by troyaa130 » Sun. Feb. 08, 2015 10:51 pm

If you are in search of a more consistent water temp when getting a shower you can install a tempering valve. When we installed our axeman with domestic coil one minute it would be fine the next it would be too hot or cold. After installing the tempering valve we no longer have that issue.

 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Mon. Feb. 09, 2015 5:36 am

troyaa130 wrote:If you are in search of a more consistent water temp when getting a shower you can install a tempering valve. When we installed our axeman with domestic coil one minute it would be fine the next it would be too hot or cold. After installing the tempering valve we no longer have that issue.
I've had a mixing valve installed on mine from day one.

 
Mikeeg02
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Post by Mikeeg02 » Mon. Feb. 09, 2015 8:35 am

I would like to see the longer term results of this change. If I am reading what you said correctly, you basically are stopping circulation below 160* boiler temp. Similar to how a triple aquastat works. Is that correct?

 
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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Mon. Feb. 09, 2015 9:28 am

And what are your high and low setpoints?


 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Mon. Feb. 09, 2015 12:14 pm

coaledsweat wrote:And what are your high and low setpoints?
Low limit is 180, with a 10 degree differential. Fan starts up (boiler fires) at 170 degrees, and shuts off at 180 degrees.

High limit is set at 200 degrees. Boiler is operating off of the low limit, and the high limit is there as a safety.

 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Mon. Feb. 09, 2015 12:16 pm

Mikeeg02 wrote:I would like to see the longer term results of this change. If I am reading what you said correctly, you basically are stopping circulation below 160* boiler temp. Similar to how a triple aquastat works. Is that correct?
Yes!

 
Mikeeg02
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Post by Mikeeg02 » Sat. Feb. 14, 2015 11:02 pm

Almost another week has gone by. What do you have to report on the subject? I'm intrigued.

 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Sun. Feb. 15, 2015 5:56 am

Mikeeg02 wrote:Almost another week has gone by. What do you have to report on the subject? I'm intrigued.
I'll know more after I load this evening, but so far it appears that an ~5.6% reduction in coal consumption is very real.

 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Sun. Feb. 15, 2015 5:16 pm

After todays loading (only a few minutes ago) it appears that our overall February consumption to date is best fitting to a 1.33 lbs. per HDD profile. That as opposed to a 1.417 lbs. per HDD profile for December/January. That is a reduction of about 6.1%. Once again I owe thanks to McGiever, Pacowy and Rob for leading me down the path of making adjustments to cut off the circulator at a higher (low) temperature in order to keep heat in the boiler and improve shower temperatures. It has had this effect as a tremendous side benefit.

 
bobok
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Post by bobok » Sun. Feb. 15, 2015 5:41 pm

Some of the EFM literature mentioned the possibility of running the stoker constantly and actually burning less coal than firing at a higher rate. I have a 700 and so does my friend. we both have them set at 5 teeth. his runs 10 to 11 hrs in this cold and mine runs 8-10 hrs. He gets less ash from his burning longer, than mine burning less time. His cycles every 15-20 minutes and mine every 30 -45 mins. We get our buckwheat from the same Hazleton shaft. Any Ideas??? BoboK

 
franco b
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Post by franco b » Sun. Feb. 15, 2015 7:12 pm

bobok wrote:Some of the EFM literature mentioned the possibility of running the stoker constantly and actually burning less coal than firing at a higher rate. I have a 700 and so does my friend. we both have them set at 5 teeth. his runs 10 to 11 hrs in this cold and mine runs 8-10 hrs. He gets less ash from his burning longer, than mine burning less time. His cycles every 15-20 minutes and mine every 30 -45 mins. We get our buckwheat from the same Hazleton shaft. Any Ideas??? BoboK
The longer run time of your friend is probably more efficient by generating less CO.

 
Mikeeg02
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Post by Mikeeg02 » Sun. Feb. 15, 2015 8:24 pm

6% is significant IMO. I would like to see the longer term results too.

I cant remember or find the thread of yours which this came about, but did your boiler temperature settings change at all? Or did you just stop circulation below 160?


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