The Bairmatic - Van Wert Project

Olllotj wrote:Just when I start bragging about it chugging along, I let it run out of coal, and had to relight for the first time since September !

I guess that kicks you out of the one match club!

I think I have made all of the bone-head mistakes you can make, Forgetting to feed it coal, leaving the fire door open, forgetting to flip the stoker kill switch back on, leaving the fines cleanout door open. Any one of these will knock you out of the one match club.

-Don

Meter reading today was, 3200.7 - 3183.8 = 16.9 hours, 2.41 hours per day over the past 7 days, 24.1 pound per day. This has been the first week in a long time that has actually been a little chilly, thank goodness!
We might just have enough coal to get to the end of this month before we have to throw the barrel in. I pulled another Bonehead move, I shut the stoker off to empty the ash pan. Then I forgot to turn it back on! I just noticed it now. It was off for a few hours, no outfire though! It will take a little while for it to recover.

-Don

Meter reading today was, 3219.8 - 3200.7 = 19.1 hours, 2.73 hours per day over the past 7 days, 27.3 pound per day. It's been chilly and rainy all week so there were quite a few heat calls. Yesterday it was cold and rainy.
A bit more ash than there has been in the past few weeks. I pulled another Bone Head move, yesterday it ran out of coal! I came down stairs and happened to look in the bin and I could see the auger gasping for coal! I shoveled some over the mouth of the auger and put a couple shovels in the pot because the fire was burning down pretty low. It took about an hour to fill the feed pipe up again.

We're down pretty low now. That's the feed pipe on the right. I don't know if that pile will last to next Sunday. I think soon it will be barrel time. -Don

Meter reading today was, 3232.3 - 3219.8 = 12.5 hours, 1.79 hours per day over the past 7 days, 17.9 pound per day. WOW! I think that might be the lowest I have ever recorded. This is just for DHW, the heat has been off for a week now.
This might be the last week of raking. I've been raking twice a week for the passed couple weeks. Tonight I cleaned up the old barrel. I used heavy duty tape to cover up the auger hole. I used a 4" hole saw to make an opening in the bottom of the barrel. The mouth of the auger is surrounded by 4x8x16 blocks. The barrel will sit on top of the blocks and the coal will fall through the opening as the auger eats the coal between the blocks. -Don

17.9 pounds per day is excellent. Nice work Don!!!

Do you think the Van Wert 600 will be able to better this?

lsayre wrote:Do you think the Van Wert 600 will be able to better this?

I hope so, but it's all speculation now. The Van Wert will have some insulation on it, that should help. I don't know what the internal boiler surface area of the BairMatic is but I would bet it's a little less than the VA-600 at 24.5 sq ft.

-Don

Meter reading today was, 3244.2 - 3232.3 = 11.9 hours, 1.70 hours per day over the past 7 days, 17.0 pound per day. Even lower than last week, slightly.
A weeks worth of ashes. I piled the coal up on the mouth of the auger one more time, there's not much in there. This has been lasting about 5 days. Maybe we will put the barrel in next weekend. -Don

Meter reading today was, 3255.7 - 3244.2 = 11.5 hours, 1.64 hours per day over the past 7 days, 16.4 pound per day. Wow, We never broke into the 16's before!
The gofer hole looks more like a crater. We are very near the bottom now, look at all the fines and undersized pieces. I used a hoe to mound it up again. It's not much of a mound, I wonder how many days it will last? A weeks worth of ashes. -Don

Rob R. wrote:Did you start showering less often? 17 lbs per day is very good for an uninsulated boiler.

Let me take a whiff...

Sniff, Sniff.

No, I smell OK!

Not sure what's up but we are using 2 or 3 pounds per day less than last year.

-Don

StokerDon wrote: Not sure what's up but we are using 2 or 3 pounds per day less than last year.

-Don

Different/better coal?

Have you ever actually gone thru the entire meter read poundage & added it up to see if it equals all the coal used from the bin ??

windyhill4.2 wrote:Have you ever actually gone thru the entire meter read poundage & added it up to see if it equals all the coal used from the bin ??

Yes!!!!! Hahahaha! Great question.

lsayre wrote:Different/better coal?

Same coal. I got this load last July, been burning it ever since.

windyhill4.2 wrote:Have you ever actually gone thru the entire meter read poundage & added it up to see if it equals all the coal used from the bin ??

I have not, this time around. That is a good question though. Once we start getting under about 30 pounds a day, any inaccuracies in measurements start to get magnified. Tallying all those pounds per day measurements and comparing them to the weight slip from the delivery would be the best way to back check.

I just take these readings with a grain or two if salt.

-Don

Have you put your usage against degree days to see if was right for your area? It might not be a good idea to tally your total as you might have gotten more than you paid for.