Combustioneer Model 77 Stoker pics etc.

This is the model 77 stoker i picked up in louisville. I have now piped it into the forced air system in my home. (bear in mind that i only spent about 3-4 hours on the install, so some of the sheet metal work is a bit sloppy) It manages to heat the house quite well. couple issues i had with it: the stoker/fan drive motor went bad, thus causing the pully/fan combo which was made out of alluminum to deform where the motor shaft went into it, i have ordered another one. in the meantime i have rigged another motor i had to run the stoker and a separate tiny fan to force the air into the tuyers. this stoker being so small is VERY picky about the air setting, too much, the fire goes out on startup, too little and the firebox fills with unburned coal, however, i was lucky as the little fan that i installed has EXACTLY the right amount of air flow so that it has been burning well for a few days now, without going out. the baro setting is critical as well, it basically has to be right at .04, no more, no less. I took out the small fan that blew air over the heat exhcanger and replaced it with a variable speed squirrel cage fan to get more air flow, the stoker, although small keeps up with heat demand quite well, using at most two 5 gallon pails per day.
One other issue i have run into is that my coal is such good bituminous, i cannot get much of a clinker at all to form. so once in the morning and once in the evening i shevol out the firebox around the burn pot, but not too much, it likes about 3" of ash to be left or the fire may go out. much of my coal is also too large for this stoker, so i set up a screen and sift out all pieces larger than 1". shevoling out the ash isn't that bad at all, and no dust is created due to the design of the stove, you open the fire door and right under it is a built in ash can with lid, so as you shevol in the ash, any dust gets sucked right into the firebox and NONE goes into the home, otherwise i wouldn't be burning it. even with my high vol coal, i get no soot in the firebox and only a light black/grey haze coming out of the chimney, yes i do have it piped right into the same chimney as my gas furnace and water heater.

Thanks, Berlin, for the update! I was wondering how you made out with it.

I asked Dan at Will-Burt if they had any intention of bringing back the Combustioneer line, at least the Mk IV furnace, and he said they had been getting a lot of calls this year about them, but no plans yet. But, he certainly left it open ended as to if demand becomes high enough, they might bring it back.

They do indeed burn bituminous coal well, and appear to be a pretty ingenious design. Your separate fan setup is just like the Mk IV furnace where they went to a separate fan and different gearbox.

Hopefully they will bring them back as I'd be the first in line. I got the perfect coal out here for one.

Chris

they burn coal pretty well, but there are a lot of improvements that could be made with little or no additional mfg. cost to them that would make bituminous coal burning extreemly convienient. there are a few flaws in their design, that they should have seen upon first firing of a prototype and changed, but because it does work ok, they must have decided it wasn't worth it; what i hope they realize is that the reason it never "cought on" was because of thier "minor" design flaws reducing the ease with which their furnaced could be used by the general public.

with the exception of the combo stoker/blower motor setup, i prefer this design to that of the mark IV, heavier gearbox, more convienient ash disposal with the ash can that allows all dust to be sucked back into the firebox because of the little enclave in which it's located; i assume however that should i have lousier coal, i would only have to remove a clinker, and not shevol ash.

Berlin wrote: what i hope they realize is that the reason it never "cought on" was because of thier "minor" design flaws reducing the ease with which their furnaced could be used by the general public.

Care to expand upon your thoughts about the design flaws? Just interested to know from your perspective on what you'd improve.

Chris

1. better heat exchanger fan. the one that was on it was pathetic.
2. larger auger tube/tuyers to allow more common coal sizes
3. hopper design creates a bottle neck where coal flows to auger, thus causing occasional coal jams where coal stops falling and fire goes out.
4. separate combustion fan/auger motor controls/ allow independence from the other.
5. better ash disposal/ larger ash/clinker removal door.
6. more user friendly controll of the fire, everyone shouldn't have to be vastly knowlegeable about coal/combustion to operate one.
7. i'm not sure of all the sensors/electronics that are currently on it, but it should have a switch that trips if the fire goes out so as not to fill the box with unburned coal.
8. *censored* brown? really? i know it was made in '72, but c'mon, if they're brought back into production today, better have something a little less drab, how about bright red, royal blue, something nice (no don't even think about "furnace green")

europachris wrote:I asked Dan at Will-Burt if they had any intention of bringing back the Combustioneer line, at least the Mk IV furnace, and he said they had been getting a lot of calls this year about them, but no plans yet. But, he certainly left it open ended as to if demand becomes high enough, they might bring it back.

Chris,

What would be the best way for those interested to contact Will-burt and request they, once again, manufacture the Combustioneer line?

Randy

I'd assume just go to http://www.willburt.com and call the main number and ask for someone involved with the stoker products in sales and just mention your interest. Dan is the person I dealt with on some information requests, but I did not speak to him directly, only via e-mail.