The Bairmatic - Van Wert Project
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- Member
- Posts: 512
- Joined: Mon. Dec. 27, 2010 1:59 am
- Location: New Zealand
- Stoker Coal Boiler: MK2 #1
that looks like the flames that my coal has.....you didn't have someone get rid of some bit by mixing it in with your hard coal did you?.....
just a thought....that lehigh coal hasn't been oiled has it?
just a thought....that lehigh coal hasn't been oiled has it?
Only time I saw flames that color was when I purposly mixed some bit in with my anthracite on a hand fired stove just to see what would happen. Other than an orange/yellow flame nothing untoward happened.
- StokerDon
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- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
- Location: PA, Southern York County!
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
When I first opened the fire door and saw these flames it struck me that this is what a Bit stoker looks like!
The coal that was in the bin is the same coal I've been burning for the past 5 months. The Lehigh bagged coal is the second half of the 12 bags that I bought when I was up at Lehigh, the other 6 bags were burned in the GJ/EFM with no problems.
-Don
The coal that was in the bin is the same coal I've been burning for the past 5 months. The Lehigh bagged coal is the second half of the 12 bags that I bought when I was up at Lehigh, the other 6 bags were burned in the GJ/EFM with no problems.
-Don
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- Member
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- Joined: Tue. Sep. 04, 2007 10:14 pm
- Location: Dalton, MA
- Stoker Coal Boiler: H.B. Smith 350 Mills boiler/EFM 85R stoker
- Coal Size/Type: Buckwheat/anthracite
Don,
I'd suggest going back to the old aquastat settings. The lower operating temp may be interfering with your draft and going below 140 deg invites condensation (esp. during higher humidity conditions often prevailing in spring and summer).
Mike
I'd suggest going back to the old aquastat settings. The lower operating temp may be interfering with your draft and going below 140 deg invites condensation (esp. during higher humidity conditions often prevailing in spring and summer).
Mike
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7486
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
- Location: PA, Southern York County!
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
OK, I'll give it a try, but my over fire draft has been staying between -.01 and -.025.Pacowy wrote:Don,
I'd suggest going back to the old aquastat settings. The lower operating temp may be interfering with your draft and going below 140 deg invites condensation (esp. during higher humidity conditions often prevailing in spring and summer).
Mike
-Don
- Rob R.
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 17981
- Joined: Fri. Dec. 28, 2007 4:26 pm
- Location: Chazy, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby Jr
One time it did...I had been burning Kimmels all winter and got some of the fines from the bottom of the barrel mixed in with the fresh coal. Some coal will produce orange flames, and when the air is restricted it is even more apparent.
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7486
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
- Location: PA, Southern York County!
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
OK, thanks for that information. I guess bottom of the bin coal and fines burn differently. Since it does seem to be a fines issue, I changed the air setting from 5 to 8. This will put more air through the dense coal bed.
Yesterday, since I didn't know what the heck was going on in there, I pulled the access cover off, pulled the grates and brushed down the inside of the boiler. A look at the pot before I pulled the grates. I didn't see anything wrong. After removing the grates, nothing wrong either. A little fly ash and some fines but nothing that would cause a problem. All cleaned out and re assembled. Fired it up. Flames are still all orange. I took videos of the disassembly, cleaning and reassembly. I'm having problems editing them together. Once I get that figured out I will post them to Youtube.
-Don
Yesterday, since I didn't know what the heck was going on in there, I pulled the access cover off, pulled the grates and brushed down the inside of the boiler. A look at the pot before I pulled the grates. I didn't see anything wrong. After removing the grates, nothing wrong either. A little fly ash and some fines but nothing that would cause a problem. All cleaned out and re assembled. Fired it up. Flames are still all orange. I took videos of the disassembly, cleaning and reassembly. I'm having problems editing them together. Once I get that figured out I will post them to Youtube.
-Don
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7486
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
- Location: PA, Southern York County!
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
This morning I caught it on a long DHW call. With the higher air setting, I noticed there are more blue flames. I played with the air some more. I ended up at 9.5 out of 11 for an air setting. We'll see how that goes.
I also up loaded the first part of the spring cleaning process.
-Don
I also up loaded the first part of the spring cleaning process.
-Don
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7486
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
- Location: PA, Southern York County!
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
Meter reading today, 2136.9 - 2125.0 = 11.9 hours x 12.5 = 148.75 pounds for the past 7 days, 21.25 pounds per day. Just heating DHW now.
It sure don't look like it used 148.75 pounds. That barrel looks like it might go close to 2 more weeks. I set the aquastat back to HI 140, LO 120. I did increase the timer to 2 minutes every hour in an effort to keep this crappy coal moving along. The fire is still on the orange side. There is a bit more blue in it with the higher air setting. I did manage to get the first 3 of the 12 boiler/stoker cleaning videos uploaded. It took all day, the longest one is part 3, brushing out the ash. That seven minute video took 2 hours and 50 minutes to load!
-Don
It sure don't look like it used 148.75 pounds. That barrel looks like it might go close to 2 more weeks. I set the aquastat back to HI 140, LO 120. I did increase the timer to 2 minutes every hour in an effort to keep this crappy coal moving along. The fire is still on the orange side. There is a bit more blue in it with the higher air setting. I did manage to get the first 3 of the 12 boiler/stoker cleaning videos uploaded. It took all day, the longest one is part 3, brushing out the ash. That seven minute video took 2 hours and 50 minutes to load!
-Don
- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7486
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
- Location: PA, Southern York County!
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
- Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
- Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood
So far I have 7 of the 12 BairMatic/Van Wert cleaning vidoes uploaded to Youtube. I put them in a playlist so they could be watched in series.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFU8SaWNbzx_LWi1cpY55HJbf6DlFKTh0
One of the highlights is bushing down the plates. I a few spots we got a lot more fly ash out than I expected.
-Don
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFU8SaWNbzx_LWi1cpY55HJbf6DlFKTh0
One of the highlights is bushing down the plates. I a few spots we got a lot more fly ash out than I expected.
-Don
- McGiever
- Member
- Posts: 10130
- Joined: Sun. May. 02, 2010 11:26 pm
- Location: Junction of PA-OH-WV
- Stoker Coal Boiler: AXEMAN-ANDERSON 130 "1959"
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: BUCKET A DAY water heater
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Warm Morning 414A
- Coal Size/Type: PEA,NUT,STOVE /ANTHRACITE
- Other Heating: Ground Source Heat Pump and some Solar
Is this coal 'crappy' based soley on visual observation, or are there numbers that prove this out?
- nepacoal
- Member
- Posts: 1696
- Joined: Wed. Nov. 21, 2012 7:49 am
- Location: Coal Country
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-4 / "Kelly" and an EFM 520 at my in-laws
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Harman SF-260 - retired
- Coal Size/Type: Buck
Ditto on enjoying the videos! I plan to keep my new KAA-4 running all summer but am still having forum withdrawals. The videos help fill the coal talk void of spring...