Any AA-220 Boiler Operators Here?

Don't know how I missed this section of the forum? Anyway I'm 2 weeks into burning my new system and has been very frustrating to say the least. I have burned 2080lbs in two weeks with fairly mild temps. I may have started to figure things out, will find out when I get home. Just would like to hear what your settings are, I am also running the direct vent supplied by LL. Currently running one burner, my system is constantly circulating with boiler temps set at 160* on 170* goes to idle fire. Circuit has 440' 1" pex and 244' of 1" copper. My temp differential when everything is running is around 35-40*. I'm mainly just interested in boiler settings at the moment, just wanted to give a little visualization. Do you change adjustments for outside temps or heat load?

swyman wrote:Don't know how I missed this section of the forum? Anyway I'm 2 weeks into burning my new system and has been very frustrating to say the least. I have burned 2080lbs in two weeks with fairly mild temps. I may have started to figure things out, will find out when I get home. Just would like to hear what your settings are, I am also running the direct vent supplied by LL. Currently running one burner, my system is constantly circulating with boiler temps set at 160* on 170* goes to idle fire. Circuit has 440' 1" pex and 244' of 1" copper. My temp differential when everything is running is around 35-40*. I'm mainly just interested in boiler settings at the moment, just wanted to give a little visualization. Do you change adjustments for outside temps or heat load?

Uhhh Swyman you have 8 pages of information in your other thread. Why are you starting a new thread? Suggest you type Leisure Line AA 220 in the search box at the top of the page and get some coffee. There is a ton of information already out there on these units.

Still scrambling to find another 220 owner or possibly someone from LL would pipe in?

From the other thread and talking to you on the phone you are losing heat somewhere. If you are burning the coal you are making BTUs . They are being lost someplace.

Between the outside install and the power vent running wide open all the time, I think your heat loss from the boiler itself is probably quite a bit more than most of us are used to.

Even 1-2 degrees lost in a piping run adds up over 24 hours. I suggest shutting the pumps off and just letting the boiler run off the timer for 8-12 hrs. Top off the hopper before and after to get an idea of consumption during the idle period.

Flyer5 wrote:From the other thread and talking to you on the phone you are losing heat somewhere. If you are burning the coal you are making BTUs . They are being lost someplace.

I think most of it was going out the chimney. I have slowed everything down and am setting my vent off the firebox trying to maintain .015. My flue temps have dropped from 170 to 108 while maintaining boiler temp. Still running off 1 stoker and can't really fire up the other one till it gets colder. I'm running the blower at a petty slow speed which is good but I guess we'll see what happens when I need more heat. I have went from 3-4 40# bags a day to just 2 the last 2 days with these reduced settings. I wish I was only burning 1 like you said I should as I don't think I can tweak it much more and stay at temp. I just can't get it setup like you recommend, if I opened both stokers to 2/3rds open I just don't see how the direct vent will keep up. I did however move the fan about 3/8" closer to the housing like you instructed but haven't done a 2 burner test yet. I ran out of your starter bags so I will need to get them before I can fire up other side, thought I could scoop some coals from the lit side and start the other but didn't work.

Rob R. wrote:Between the outside install and the power vent running wide open all the time, I think your heat loss from the boiler itself is probably quite a bit more than most of us are used to.

Even 1-2 degrees lost in a piping run adds up over 24 hours. I suggest shutting the pumps off and just letting the boiler run off the timer for 8-12 hrs. Top off the hopper before and after to get an idea of consumption during the idle period.

I shut off the loop inside the house to just do domestic hot water and nothing else...boiler was in idle fire for 4 1/2hrs straight and temp was slowly rising the whole time. It's when I turn on the furnace coil that messes everything up but not sure on options. I did have a guy suggest putting that on a separate zone from a manifold inside the house and just circulate when the furnace calls for heat. The house thermostat just runs the furnace blower when it calls for heat. I just can't believe I lose that much heat just cycling it thorough the coil with no air going over it but there is nothing else it could be?

Is the warm coil overheating your house?

Rob R. wrote:Is the warm coil overheating your house?

That is the key question right there. If the exchanger coil is constantly shedding heat into an area being heated ,but is not over heating the area,then how can it be considered lost btu's??? Obviously it is not overheating the house or the exchanger fan would never run,the t-stat would always be satisfied.

i believe that it depends where the BTU's from the coil are going when there is no heat call? Are they going into drafty unheated basement, uninsulated duct work? not good. OR are the btus gravity flowing up through the duct work into the home without a heat call? That would be ok in my book.

How about the furnace duct work, Can you show these guys photos to make sure the cold air is returning properly?

The bottom line is still.... how many things in the heat handling system have been changed since conversion from the OWB to the coal boiler?? If any changes were made ,those are the ones that need looking at.Otherwise it goes back to the boiler set-up & how it burns the coal.If all else is the same,you are not going to burn more coal than you did wood.

Wood is easy to mis count. Just keep piling it in, it's free!

windyhill4.2 wrote:The bottom line is still.... how many things in the heat handling system have been changed since conversion from the OWB to the coal boiler?? If any changes were made ,those are the ones that need looking at.Otherwise it goes back to the boiler set-up & how it burns the coal.If all else is the same,you are not going to burn more coal than you did wood.

NO changes

swyman wrote:

windyhill4.2 wrote:The bottom line is still.... how many things in the heat handling system have been changed since conversion from the OWB to the coal boiler?? If any changes were made ,those are the ones that need looking at.Otherwise it goes back to the boiler set-up & how it burns the coal.If all else is the same,you are not going to burn more coal than you did wood.

NO changes

So, we need to focus on the only change made,the boiler. It does sound as tho you have made significant progress with that issue too.

Using the propane burned figures you gave of 1500 to 1800 gallons and using BTU figures from the calculator on this forum of 12,000 BTU per pound of coal and 91,333 per gallon of propane that translates out to:

5.7 tons of coal equaling 1500 gallons.

6.84 tons of coal equaling 1800 gallons.

If you burn 80 pounds of coal per day for 6 months that is 7.2 tons. Not too bad since you are also heating the garage and waste heat to the barn and distribution losses to the ground. I don't know if your hot water was heated by the propane so could not factor that in for the coal, and I made no allowance for differences in efficiency between the propane burner and coal boiler.

Of course to average 80 pounds per day you will have to burn less than that in mild weather. Also is the house temperature being maintained at the same temperature for both fuels? Also you will probably need some heat for 8 months which would bring it up to 9.6 tons.