The Bairmatic - Van Wert Project

Meter reading today, 1731.4 - 1726.6 = 4.8 hours x 12.5 = 60.0 pounds today. 4 hours and 46 minutes by the clock. Not bad, mid 40's for high today, no wind.
This 3 ton a coal ain't gonna last til Spring! No clinker today. The ash ring was looking big so I lower the air setting to 7. I noticed my over fire draft had dropped to 0. I checked the chimney draft and it reads about -.025 at full fire. I don't know what happened, we seem to be back were we started chimney draft wise. Maybe there's snow stuck in it?

-Don

Don,

Didn't you add some ash or sand to your flu to improve it?

I wonder if something moved, or if your pipe needs to be cleaned already?

I looked in it last night, I didn't see anything wrong. Tonight the draft is a little better, -.01 overfire and -.03 chimney. Strange.

-Don

StokerDon wrote:I looked in it last night, I didn't see anything wrong. Tonight the draft is a little better, -.01 overfire and -.03 chimney. Strange.

-Don

Had snow drifted a few feet deep near the chimney ? Maybe the snow cooled the chimney enough to slow the draft ? Wind direction from the north & northeast affect your draft negatively?

You may be the winner W.H.!

I didn't think of that one. Yes, the chimney had more snow around it yesterday than today. There was a lot of snow melt down here today. It is very possible the chimney was cooled by the snow and now the snow is melting away allowing the chimney to get warmer!

I can dig it!

-Don

Outside air temp ?

High of about 40 today, mostly sunny.

-Don

Meter reading today, 1742.1 - 1731.4 = 10.7 hours x 12.5 = 133.75 pounds for the past 2 days, 66.9 pounds per day. 10 hours and 27 minutes by the clock. The clock is about 15 minutes less than the hour meter, the first real discrepancy between the meter and the clock. Mid 40's for high today, no wind.
One small clinker today. I was checking the draft and I decided to check zero. It turns out the zero reading had drifted about .01 to the plus side. After re-zeroing, chimney draft is -.03, overfire is -.025. Not as much chimney draft as I had a week ago but, enough.

Outside, the snow has now receded from the chimney.

-Don

Meter reading today, 1750.8 - 1742.1 = 8.7 hours x 12.5 = 108.75 pounds for the past 2 days, 53.4 pounds per day. 8 hours and 42 minutes by the clock. Highs in the low 40's.
Hour meter and clock are 100% in agreement today! Time to fill the barrel! The bin is getting very low on one side. -Don

Your coal consumption figures are sounding mighty good for the BairMatic - Van Wert.

lsayre wrote:Your coal consumption figures are sounding mighty good for the BairMatic - Van Wert.

Thanks' Larry. Yes they are. Don't forget, to get the whole picture we still have to include the GJ/EFM in the garage. If I just let that idle on the LO limit of 150, it uses about 22 to 28 pounds per day. Even with that, I still stay out of the 100 pound per day club most of the time!

-Don

Sd, I too have a problem with my ash clinkering in front of the door and blame it on not enough clearance around the ring of the pot.
What is the average consumption of coal? per month at least for all on board? I use 3000lb per 30 days, are here guys burning alot less?? I use buck in my VW and I got a load of rice yesterday to try starting tonight to see if there will be a difference in the amount consumed.
I like to watch all your projects come together, good documentation man!!!

PatT15 wrote:Sd, I too have a problem with my ash clinkering in front of the door and blame it on not enough clearance around the ring of the pot.
What is the average consumption of coal? per month at least for all on board? I use 3000lb per 30 days, are here guys burning alot less?? I use buck in my VW and I got a load of rice yesterday to try starting tonight to see if there will be a difference in the amount consumed.
I like to watch all your projects come together, good documentation man!!!

Pat,

So far I've been burning 60 to 95 pounds per day in the BairMatic/Van Wert. The 95 pound number was when I had the feed rate lower. It looks like the 12.5 pounds per hour I now have it set for is more like the right setting. The stoker is running for less than 6 hours per day now.

I wish you luck with your Buck/Rice experiment. I don't know if it will help, to me 3,000 pounds of coal is 3,000 pounds or coal. Your coal consumption has more to do with the load you have attached to the boiler than anything.

If I were you, I would try a higher feed rate. You have a VA400? If so, you could swap out the 21 tooth pot auger sprocket with the VA600 18 tooth sprocket. Should be easy to do, it's just standard bicycle chain parts.

-Don

Don, are you going to eventually open that up to heating the garage along with the house and let the fire in the garage go out??

PatT15 wrote:Don, are you going to eventually open that up to heating the garage along with the house and let the fire in the garage go out??

That was part of the original plan. I have a lot going on right now so it won't happen soon. I do hope to try some of the "other modes of operation" that I have built into this system. But Winter is is coming to a close fast down here. Priority one right now is get the radiators in!

-Don