Gentleman Janitor GJ-51??? Project

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Mon. Jan. 04, 2016 9:59 am

Scottscoaled wrote:They quiet right down if you use 80 wt.

80w in the pan ? I thought thick oil like that would possibly prevent the pawls from clicking at all.

Post by **Rob R.** » Mon. Jan. 04, 2016 10:07 am

Depending on the exact oil one might be thicker than the other, but generally SAE 30 engine oil and SAE 80 gear oil are pretty much the same viscosity at room temperature.

If you don't believe me, Google "sae oil viscosity chart".

Some gear oils have tackifiers added, which makes them climb the gears. These oils will quiet the ratchet drive down compared to engine oil.

I run a "tacky" 80w-90 gear oil in mine.

northernmainecoal · Post by **northernmainecoal** » Mon. Jan. 04, 2016 10:07 am

windyhill4.2 wrote:
Scottscoaled wrote:They quiet right down if you use 80 wt.
80w in the pan ? I thought thick oil like that would possibly prevent the pawls from clicking at all.

I can't remember what exactly I have in my pan but it's heavy enough you can barely hear any clicks at all

Post by **StokerDon** » Thu. Jan. 14, 2016 8:13 pm

OK, this is getting a little crazy. It's been 12 days since I filled this thing. It's just sitting out here in the garage on the timer and the LO limit of 150 degrees. It keeps the garage at 60 degrees or so, the same temp as when it was heating the house and DHW in milder weather.

.JPG | 139.1KB | BMtoVW GJtoEFM 004.JPG

I thought for sure it would need to be filled today.

Nope! It will go for at least another day.

.JPG | 150.9KB | BMtoVW GJtoEFM 006.JPG

Before this, the lowest coal consumption I had recorded was about 28 pounds per day back in Sept/Oct in very mild weather only heating DHW. IF it needs coal tomorrow that will be 23 pounds of coal per day for the past 13 days.

.JPG | 136.6KB | BMtoVW GJtoEFM 007.JPG

So since I had nothing better to do I cleaned up the glass with some steel wool. It was pretty bad. Now I can see again.

Gotta love that Fire View Door!

.JPG | 76.8KB | BMtoVW GJtoEFM 005.JPG

.JPG | 95.4KB | BMtoVW GJtoEFM 009.JPG

Maybe we'll put some coal in it tomorrow?

-Don

Scottscoaled · Post by **Scottscoaled** » Thu. Jan. 14, 2016 9:15 pm

You actually have the opportunity to do something that most of us really don't do. That's pushing the limits of the timer. During summertime DHW use, it's a little different because you are more likely to go out on a high limit if there is no one there using hot water. Now, you actually have a bit of a load on it so it will fire more often to maintain the load. Will it go as low as 2 minutes per hour? I think I had mine down to 1.5 minutes every 45 minutes was the best I could get. That was with Harmony coal. What say you?

Dave 1234 · Post by **Dave 1234** » Thu. Jan. 14, 2016 9:54 pm

A year plus here and ,..... no timer.

Efm S-20 stoker with a 35' chimney .

Dave

Post by **StokerDon** » Fri. Jan. 15, 2016 8:39 am

Scottscoaled wrote:You actually have the opportunity to do something that most of us really don't do. That's pushing the limits of the timer. During summertime DHW use, it's a little different because you are more likely to go out on a high limit if there is no one there using hot water. Now, you actually have a bit of a load on it so it will fire more often to maintain the load. Will it go as low as 2 minutes per hour? I think I had mine down to 1.5 minutes every 45 minutes was the best I could get. That was with Harmony coal. What say you?

YES!

When I fired up the BairMatic I changed the timer from = 2 hours, 1 minute 15 seconds to 1 hour, 1minute 45 seconds. Its been running that way for 2 weeks now. Haven't lost a fire yet.

That is one of the many things I like about this timer. I have a lot of settings to choose from.

-Don

Post by **Rob R.** » Fri. Jan. 15, 2016 9:43 am

Dave 1234 wrote:A year plus here and ,..... no timer.

Efm S-20 stoker with a 35' chimney .

Dave

Chimney draft must be perfect. Most are not that lucky.

Is your boiler and piping insulated? If not, the occasional heat calls to maintain boiler Temp are helping keep the fire alive.

Scottscoaled · Post by **Scottscoaled** » Fri. Jan. 15, 2016 7:40 pm

Dave 1234 wrote:A year plus here and ,..... no timer.

Efm S-20 stoker with a 35' chimney .

Dave

You ran it all summer for DHW with no timer?

Dave 1234 · Post by **Dave 1234** » Fri. Jan. 15, 2016 10:18 pm

Scottscoaled wrote:
Dave 1234 wrote:A year plus here and ,..... no timer.

Efm S-20 stoker with a 35' chimney .

Dave
You ran it all summer for DHW with no timer?

Yup , No trouble.

Dave

Scottscoaled · Post by **Scottscoaled** » Sat. Jan. 16, 2016 12:14 pm

You have a barometric damper installed? We should have pictures of your setup. Seems like your situation is really rare.

Dave 1234 · Post by **Dave 1234** » Sat. Jan. 16, 2016 4:58 pm

Scottscoaled wrote:You have a barometric damper installed? We should have pictures of your setup. Seems like your situation is really rare.

Scott, I think it's a couple of things that were changed when I installed a International boiler over my EFM base.

I changed the baro to a type ''M'' ( very sensitive). I took lots of time to super tight seal all of the possible spots that the draft could have sneaked past. I burn buck ( lets in air better to the idling fire). And I keep the air shudder low while the stoker is on.

The boiler is very large for such a small stoker and my heat load. I love this set-up. If I can get someone to help me post a few pics I know you would love to see this old iron. I had help from a few veterans here and my local friends on the second build. Nobody around these parts burns coal so it's a lot of fun to watch ppls eyes pop out when they see how effortless it is to heat this big drafty old farmhouse.

Dave

Post by **StokerDon** » Sat. Jan. 16, 2016 8:44 pm

Dave 1234 wrote:
Scottscoaled wrote:You have a barometric damper installed? We should have pictures of your setup. Seems like your situation is really rare.
If I can get someone to help me post a few pics I know you would love to see this old iron. I had help from a few veterans here and my local friends on the second build. Nobody around these parts burns coal so it's a lot of fun to watch ppls eyes pop out when they see how effortless it is to heat this big drafty old farmhouse.

Dave

Heck Dave, where do you live? If it's not to far I'll come over and take pics. I would love to see an Iron Coal Stoker Boiler!

I filled up this morning. That's 13.5 days on 300 pounds = 22.22 pounds per day. That means even the very cold days this week were the BairMatic used 75 pounds, we were still under 100 pounds per day at 97.22 pounds!!!

.JPG | 134.5KB | GJtoEFM-VA600 001.JPG

.JPG | 141.4KB | GJtoEFM-VA600 002.JPG

.JPG | 121.4KB | GJtoEFM-VA600 003.JPG

-Don

Dave 1234 · Post by **Dave 1234** » Sun. Jan. 17, 2016 9:06 am

Dave[/quote]
Heck Dave, where do you live? If it's not to far I'll come over and take pics. I would love to see an Iron Coal Stoker Boiler.

-Don[/quote]

Morning Don,
First of all , super job sequencing your stoker creations. Love the step by step progress.
Second, I'm past Hartford Ct. so we will have to wait for you to visit Mystic seaport or something and get a few pics of this system at my house.

The International boiler is a 1948 water tube steel plate 3 pass construction. I miss lead you a bit by using the slang word of ''iron''. I call all my old machines that name.

Please keep up your fine work. And thank-you for sharing with us.

Dave

Post by **StokerDon** » Sun. Jan. 17, 2016 12:25 pm

Dave,

I guess I won't get to see your setup anytime soon then.

I thank you and everyone else for tuning in. If I wasn't on this forum, I would probably be doing the same thing. But, since I am reporting my progress here I have to keep everything "honest", or our sharp eyed forum members will call me out on it!

-Don