Stove Pipe

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DeanP
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Post by DeanP » Tue. Sep. 02, 2008 10:17 pm

I put a deposit on an AHS s130 that is supposed to be delivered mid October. I was wondering if black stove pipe holds up well used with a coal unit. I priced out 24 gauge 316L stainless and it cost 3 times more than 22 gauge black pipe. I do not know if I will run the boiler in the warm season for domestic hot water. I plan on installing a water meter to measure my hot water consumption this winter so I can calculate if it is cheaper to use coal rather than electric in the summer. The boiler may be idle 6 months a year.

What has proven to be durable stove pipe for coal stokers (running part-time, full-time)?

Thanks,
Dean

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Tue. Sep. 02, 2008 10:30 pm

Hello DeanP, welcome to the forum..

Regular black pipe will last many seasons if you do spring time, end of season maintenance on it.. this is just vacuuming out the fly ash, wash or wipe it out with a baking soda solution,, then plug the ends of the flue with wads of newspaper for the summer.

Even SS pipe will corrode if there is no attempt made to clean out the fly ash and limit exposure to ash and humidity.

I use the Black Pipe without any issues..

Greg L.

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rychw
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Post by rychw » Wed. Sep. 03, 2008 11:11 am

I also have a AHS 130 and used galvinized pipe when I installed it 2 years ago. I didn't do the spring cleaning and the pipe rusted through that summer. Last season I replaced the pipe again with galvinized. I cleaned out the fly ash one warm day in January and removed the pipe in the spring. I cleaned the pipe with baking soda and let it hang in my garage over the summer. Yes, it has some surface rust at the joints but it is still solid. I cleaned the boiler and capped it and the chimney in the spring so I'm ready to go as soon as I reinstall my pipe. I also priced stainless but felt that it was not worth the cost in the long run since it would need to be cleaned anyway. Pay particular attention to the recommended stove pipe intallation in the AHS manual when you receive your boiler. They want 90 degree angles at the joints and clean outs. They also want the pipe exiting the boiler top to be flat and not sloped towards the boiler. This all has to do with prventing fly ash build up in the boiler. My horizontal pipe will fill 1/2 way up with fly ash in mid winter!!

I plan on routing my domestic hot water into my electric hot water heater this winter. This will give me unlimited hot water instead of hot/cold/warm/hot that the coil provided my last winter. I will leave the hot water heater on but it will hardly run. Good luck with your boiler, I'm real happy I got off oil 2 years ago. The boiler is paid for already.


 
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Flyer5
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Post by Flyer5 » Wed. Sep. 03, 2008 12:06 pm

You should not use galvanized pipe . It gives off a gas when it burns above a certain temp . Dave

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Wed. Sep. 03, 2008 12:15 pm

It give off POISONOUS gas when burned above a certain temp.. I don't think an AA boiler would have exhaust flue temps high enough to boil off the galvanizing,, but you don't want to risk breathing the fumes.. I have, and had a heck of a time with my asthma for about a month.. I use only black pipe or SS pipe now..

Greg L

 
DeanP
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Post by DeanP » Wed. Sep. 03, 2008 9:10 pm

Thanks for the input. It looks like the key is to not let ash, especially with moisture, sit in any pipe. A 316L set up will cost around $600 for all the components I need. It will have tees with hose clamp style connectors holding the right angles making it easy to divide the piping into three strait sections for cleaning. I think I will go with it.

rychw, thanks for the extra input on hot water and piping layout.

I saw the part in the manual about a straight run out of the stove. I think they said it encourages ash to fall back into the separator . I suppose that means less ash in the horizontal runs. I should have a little over 40 inches straight up from the stove then two horizontal runs with tees exactly like the picture in the manual. I only have 14 inches from the rear motor if I go strait up with one bend into the chimney. I need the second horizontal run for rear clearance. I plan on using the diagram in the AA130 manual for a tee mortared into the chimney entrance with the barometric damper sized for the chimney(8x8 clay) and step down to 5 inches for the rest.

How long are the stages of the hot/warm/cold/hot cycle?

I plan on running cold water from a well into the domestic coil, through a tempering valve then into an electric hot water heater. I hope to set the tempering valve a few degrees above the heater setting. I have been a little worried about the response of the boiler resulting in a transient interval where it fails to maintain the desired temperature at the exit of the tempering valve. I should only need a 80 deg rise. well at 55 + 80 = 135, 5 degrees above my hot water heater. I read the informative testing article on the AA130 posted on this board. I think it claimed with pea coal 1 out of 10 tests failed to keep the desired temp and the transient failure to meet demand was short. The article prompted me to add the domestic coil to my order.

DeanP


 
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Post by franknbaum » Thu. Sep. 04, 2008 12:23 am

DeanP

Put the tempering valve after the hot water heater , after the last step in the heating process. The hotter water from the boiler will keep the water heater warmer turning on less, if at all.

Chris

 
rychw
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Post by rychw » Thu. Sep. 04, 2008 10:20 am

DeanP,

The domestic hot water cycles vary depending on what the boiler is doing at the time of demand. Here is a great example: when the wife wants a full hot bath, I go down to the boiler and move the aquastat to make the boiler fan come on so it can heat the coal. I don't let my wife start running in hot water until the coal is glowing hot and the boiler temp is @ 180 degrees. It is a real pain and that is why I am going to plumb the hot water into the hot water heater. Since it is impossible to predict when someone in the house will need hot water and what the boiler is doing at any particular time, the water heater solution will work. I have seen 15 minute recovery times with my boiler domestic hot water!

 
csstoker
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Post by csstoker » Thu. Sep. 04, 2008 12:13 pm

for the pipe that fills up half way with ash, how long is the horizontal run? Is being half-full of ash avoidable or a problem? or just a spring maintanence issue?

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Thu. Sep. 04, 2008 12:49 pm

You don't want a pipe to get 1/2 full.. every coal instalation should have a mid-season inspection.. if you are new to burning coal, I'd inspect every month or two untill you see the trends/quantities of fly ash accumulation.

Many forum members use and I highly recommend a TEE where an elbow would 'normally' be... this way you just remove the cap and look in with a flashlight.. if the ash accumulation is enough, then use a shop vac with a drywall dust filter and vac out the pipe.. reinstall the cap and you are done..

With my 8' long horizontal run shown below, from the time I climb the stepladder to when I climb down, I take about 10 minutes to uncap, vacuum and recap.

Greg L.

Attachments

installed.jpg

note the TEE at the top of the vertical pipe,, I just remove the cap and vacuum out the horizontal pipe.

.JPG | 201.3KB | installed.jpg

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