How Do I Tune up a Multifuel Furnace?

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coolpop
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Post by coolpop » Thu. Oct. 09, 2008 11:26 pm

I just installed a Yukon Husky oil/wood/coal furnace and am learning to use it. My installer was my local plumber / chief of police (I live in a small town!) who did a nice neat job on the plenums and piping but did not have the instruments to adjust for maximum efficiency. I want to learn to do it myself. A standard combustion analyzer kit seems to contain a draft manometer (I have one), a thermocouple type probe thermometer (ditto), a smoke tester (don't have one yet) and a CO2 tester (too expensive).

I want to tune the air shutter and smoke pipe draft for best efficiency on the oil side first and then the wood side. Does anybody know how/where I can learn to do this, and which instruments I really need?

 
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Post by TimV » Thu. Oct. 09, 2008 11:45 pm

Having burned wood for more years than I want to remember..I wouldnt worry too much about tuned up the wood draft is but rather how much to open or close them so you don't have yourself running around opening the windows when the temps are in the 20's n 30's.
I would suggest that you might want to use coal instead of wood as you find it a lot less work than wood and much more controlable as to how much heat you put out. Besides if you buy your wood coal is usually a better deal $ 4 $
One thing for sure is you will love not being tied to the Arab oil cartel..I better be quiet ...they are buying ever business worth owning near us and I may be working for them sooner than I think :D

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Fri. Oct. 10, 2008 9:12 am

I think your only going to be able to tune the oil side with those instruments.

 
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Post by myjerry » Mon. Dec. 22, 2008 9:00 pm

coolpop

I have a Yukon Eagle I this year and have been burning coal for about 6 weeks. I got it pretty much down. Here is what you need to tune your furnace to the max. I ordered from yukon a manometer see link below. It will measure you flue draft continuously and the setting for wood and coal are different and should be adjusted when you switch, you want it set to .03 . It is one of the most important functions to get you furnace running efficiently, the other is fresh air vent. The instruction with the unit or on the yukon web site gives you no information on how to attach the unit. The instruction the come with it, has no idea it being used on a furnace.

So this is what you need to do. Install it on a wall near the furnace about 2 to 3 feet from the flue, make sure it is level (on the unit has a level bubble), you will need to get a small metal pipe to attach the white hose that comes with the unit, yep there is no instructions on this, but you will melt the plastic hose if you install it into the flue, as someone said on a forum you could do. I used an ice maker cooper pipe from home depot sells for $19 or I also heard brake liner pipe will work. Place one metal pipe inside the flue 3 foot straight shot (6 inches should be extended outside the flue so the heat doesn't burn the rubber hose) the pipe is placed near the exit but runs toward the furnace is a (outside | inside (pipe ----> 3 feet) toward the furnace. Hook up the rubber tube to the copper pipe. Attach the hose to the low side manometer (do not hook up the high side). You need to adjust the dye in the manometer according to the instructions. Once you hook it up and the furnace is running normal about 15 min, you should see a measurement of the flue. If you are burning coal and have just started it, well it is too hot, wait to the furnace is running normal. I ended up setting my Barometric Draft Regulator to full open on cold days, it reads perfect for my system. The pipe is hot up to the Barometric Draft Regulator, and warm up the flue. Make sure you have installed a carbon monoxide detector as a safety backup. So you can't get it more efficient than this, unless you are not familiar with how to burn coal in the furnace.

Hope this help, it a must setup for this furnace or you throwing heat up your chimney.

http://www.yukon-eagle.com/FURNACES/FURNACEACCESS ... fault.aspx

 
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Post by Poconoeagle » Mon. Dec. 22, 2008 9:13 pm

looking thru the sight hole if you adjust the air shutter to the point of slight black wisp tips when the oil gun is screamin that should get ya close. I back off a bit myself and run it a bit lean. but it is best when the oil stays in the tank for emergency and the coal is burning...http://forum.doityourself.com/boilers-steam-hot-w ... ester.html


 
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Post by Duengeon master » Tue. Dec. 23, 2008 9:00 pm

Hey guys, how well does a Yukon Eagle work. I wanted to buy one 8 years ago as my old furnace was on it's way out. Three days before CHRISTmas in 2000 I was delivering a load to Witchita Ks. when the old furnace died. Three days before CHRISTmas, a wife who gets cold at 79 degrees, and being 1500 mi. from home is no time to wait :eek2: I needed a furnace now as I was not burning coal yet. Back then a Yukon Eagle oil coal was $3400.00 + 100.00 for a coal grate. I know they are much more now. :( How well does one work. The oil burner I bought cost me $1100 last spring when the (fire box) went out. I paid the money to fix it with the hope that I can get a few more years out of it. I like the 25 year warranty the Yukon comes with, and I like the idea of not heating the whole basement with coal and having a small amount of that heat going thru the floor to the upstairs. P.S. It is not yet illegal to wish everyone and their families a very merry CHRISTmas. so I will MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! :)

 
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Post by farok » Mon. Dec. 29, 2008 1:10 pm

Just saw this post, and since I've been burning coal more successfully this year in my Yukon Eagle, I thought I would post some info for anyone who may have one of these. I'm no expert, but I hope my experiences help others out there! There is also some more info in this thread as well: Yukon Husky Multifuel Furnace

Well, I found out as some others did that the air inlets don't really get under the coal very well, so I ended up drilling five 5/16" holes in my ash pan door. With the air inlet built into the stove closed, there is still enough air to pull into the bottom of the fire to keep it going. Speaking of the built-in air inlet, it is controlled by a solenoid with a mechanical linkage to a butterfly door. Because it's a solenoid, it's either open or closed -- no in-between. The linkage on mine broke recently (the furnace is going on 27 years old now), which was a blessing in disguise. I never liked using the thermostat, since when the door was wide open, the coal would sometimes burn hot enough that the firebox door would expand and be harder to open. This wasn't much of a problem when you had the thermostat at a constant temperature, but if you lowered it and then were trying to bring the temp back up later, this would happen. I don't know if this was unsafe or not (no damage or warping anywhere), but I didn't like it when it happened anyway. Now I can always keep this air inlet closed, regardless of what the thermostat is doing, or manually crack it for more air if needed.

As for burning in it, I found you really need to load the firebox all the way to the top of the lowest row of firebrick -- about 6 inches thick. Any less and you get short burn times and a lot of unburned coal. When it comes time to shake the ashes, I open the ashpan door for 5-10 minutes to revive the fire (could be different timing depending on when through the burn you decide to shake). Then I found I need to shake vigorously, sometimes 10-20 shakes back and forth or more, as the grates don't always let down as much ash as I would like. I keep going until there are burning coals in all parts of the ash pan, not just the back (the front burns quicker, and typically has a thinner fire by the time it's time to shake the grates). If I don't do this, the ash builds too thick and I can't get a good burn for long (or the front of the firebox doesn't always catch when I reload).

One of my biggest complaints is in emptying the ashes. The ash pan seems undersized, doesn't hold enough from a single good shaking when needed, and doesn't catch all the ashes. You need to do a lot of shaking, too. In addition, you need to have the firebox door open to reach the shaker grates. It is a messy, hot, and annoying process. From what I've read, none of the other coal furnaces or stoves have this issue.

After shaking, I leave the ash pan door open again for 5 minutes or so to make sure the vigorous shaking doesn't hurt the fire if I had let it go a little too long before shaking. Then, I load the firebox up, completely covering the fire, and close all the drafts (except the drilled holes of course). Takes an hour or two, but it then starts throwing a lot of heat again. Since I normally shake right before bed or before going to work, I don't mind that it cools off a few degrees before the fire really starts going again. With this process, I can typically burn 12-16 hours between shaking the grates. A little less if I crack the draft for those cold days down in the teens or below.

Regarding fresh air, I needed to crack a nearby window for a fresh air supply, or there is a vacuum that builds up inside the house. I was considering running a fresh air inlet to the draft, but considering I may get a stoker stove and just keep this for backup, I decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

My last area for comment is the electricity issue. I don't mind paying the electric bill for the blower motor. A 5.8 Amp motor doesn't use that much juice, especially when it's not on constantly. However, when the power goes out, you have the chance for this thing to overheat. That happened to me once, and within an hour, the fire was hot enough that the air filter melted, filling the house with smoke. Needless to say I thought I was going to burn the house down, but at least I was home to deal with it. Well, the power came on, and I blocked all air inlets to the furnace, and recovered without any more issues (and no permanent damage to the stove, either). It turns out the blower is needed to keep pulling the heat off the heat exchanger, or this situation can occur. Yukon recommends burning half the normal amount of coal in a power outage, but what do you do when you have a deep bed of coal already? How do you keep a 3" bed of coal burning, as well? I don't like that recommendation, as it's just not practical. In the end, I bought a battery backup system. The fuel savings of burning coal in the first year alone paid for the backup system (not to mention the peace of mind!), so I had no concerns with this. I check this backup system regularly to ensure it's working well.

My overall impression of this furnace is that with work/modifications and some learning, it can burn coal well. I am able to keep my 1200 sq. ft. ranch over 70 degrees without trying unless it's well below 25 degrees (which thankfully in NJ doesn't happen too much for long periods of time), and with the drafts closed. On the warmer days (upper 30s and 40s), I'm usually up near 80 degrees and have windows cracked. It's also nice to have the oil backup in case I need to leave for a few days. So far this season I've burned maybe 1-2 gallons of oil when it was really cold and I needed a quick blast of heat once when I let the fire go out (also helped get a good draft when starting the coal fire). I've been burning about 40-50 pounds of nut coal a days.

I would not, however, recommend this furnace, as it doesn't seem to really be designed for coal as it needs some modifications, and for me at least doesn't burn well using the supplied thermostats. In the end, I'm pretty much sold on getting a stoker stove for the living room and relegating this beast to back-up service only, in part due to its age, in part due to the real mess, in part for peace of mind, and in part to be able to get a more controllable burn.

Chris

 
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Post by rockwood » Mon. Dec. 29, 2008 1:47 pm

the fire was hot enough that the air filter melted, filling the house with smoke
:shock: Is the filter above the heat exchanger?

 
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Post by farok » Mon. Dec. 29, 2008 2:36 pm

rockwood wrote: Is the filter above the heat exchanger?
The way mine is set up, yes, about six inches above the exchanger. Since there are no cold air return ducts, the filter has always just sat on top of where the cold air return plenum would connect, which is just above the exchanger. Not sure if this is good or bad, but evidently it's been like this for 27 years.

Chris

 
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Post by myjerry » Tue. Dec. 30, 2008 11:10 pm

Chris

Enjoyed your post... I made no modification to my furnace and had no problem with burning coal. I do fill the fire box but if you read the recommendation is to slope the coal from back to front. I fill the back with about 9 inches and the front about 4 inches. The front only burns when it gets really cold and it regulates the temp nicely. I can control the temp to the degree using the thermostat. Also just a few weeks ago had the power go out for 15 hours, I was here and did what the recommendation remove the filter and door and because I slope the coal as stated above, it had no impact at all and the temp stayed 70 degree.

I shake the coal once every 12 hours like you, I find shaking the coal about 20 times with short fast and steady shakes, I then load the new coal and shake again, I find the weight to the new coal allows the ash to come down until I see hot coals in the ash pan.

I never seen or used another coal furnace or stove so have nothing to compare it with, it just works great for me...


 
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Post by realsquare » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 6:24 pm

farok wrote:Just saw this post, and since I've been burning coal more successfully this year in my Yukon Eagle, I thought I would post some info for anyone who may have one of these. I'm no expert, but I hope my experiences help others out there! There is also some more info in this thread as well: Yukon Husky Multifuel Furnace

Well, I found out as some others did that the air inlets don't really get under the coal very well, so I ended up drilling five 5/16" holes in my ash pan door.

Snip

However, when the power goes out, you have the chance for this thing to overheat. That happened to me once, and within an hour, the fire was hot enough that the air filter melted, filling the house with smoke. Needless to say I thought I was going to burn the house down, but at least I was home to deal with it. Well, the power came on, and I blocked all air inlets to the furnace, and recovered without any more issues (and no permanent damage to the stove, either). It turns out the blower is needed to keep pulling the heat off the heat exchanger, or this situation can occur. Yukon recommends burning half the normal amount of coal in a power outage, but what do you do when you have a deep bed of coal already?
snip

Chris
I have one of these furnaces. If you leave open the ash drawer (or drill holes in it), you will have this problem during a power outage.

When the electricity fails, the solenoid is supposed shut the air damper - shutting off the oxygen to the fire.

I burn wood in mine and will sometimes open the ash drawer to speed up the fire lighting process. (They warn against this). The previous owners electrician installed a electrical cut off switch shut where you want to turn off the lights when you leave the furnace room. Whoops. No fan and an open ash drawer heats up the furnace real fast.

 
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Post by realsquare » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 6:40 pm

myjerry wrote:Chris

Enjoyed your post... I made no modification to my furnace and had no problem with burning coal. I do fill the fire box but if you read the recommendation is to slope the coal from back to front. I fill the back with about 9 inches and the front about 4 inches. The front only burns when it gets really cold and it regulates the temp nicely. I can control the temp to the degree using the thermostat. Also just a few weeks ago had the power go out for 15 hours, I was here and did what the recommendation remove the filter and door and because I slope the coal as stated above, it had no impact at all and the temp stayed 70 degree.

I shake the coal once every 12 hours like you, I find shaking the coal about 20 times with short fast and steady shakes, I then load the new coal and shake again, I find the weight to the new coal allows the ash to come down until I see hot coals in the ash pan.

I never seen or used another coal furnace or stove so have nothing to compare it with, it just works great for me...
Thanks for your post

I'm having trouble getting my Yukon to burn coal overnight. I guess I'm doing everything wrong and will try to do it your way. I have never really filled it up with coal, but instead add a little bit at a time until I get a big red mound of burning coal that I'm too afraid to add any more too. I've never burned coal before.

Do you mostly start the coals in the front or do you make a small mound in the middle when you first start off? When this is mound is well lighted do you really just shovel more coal in, slanted, all the way to to the top of the bricks? I use bagged coal and it seems I would use about a bag and 1/2 (40lbs + 20 lbs) to fill the stove.

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Mon. Jan. 05, 2009 6:51 pm

realsquare wrote: I'm having trouble getting my Yukon to burn coal overnight. I guess I'm doing everything wrong and will try to do it your way. I have never really filled it up with coal, but instead add a little bit at a time until I get a big red mound of burning coal that I'm too afraid to add any more too. I've never burned coal before.

Do you mostly start the coals in the front or do you make a small mound in the middle when you first start off? When this is mound is well lighted do you really just shovel more coal in, slanted, all the way to to the top of the bricks? I use bagged coal and it seems I would use about a bag and 1/2 (40lbs + 20 lbs) to fill the stove.
You need to fill it all the way up (YES, ALL THE WAY UP!), right now you are looking at burning coal on top, this is not what you want to see. It is the end of a coal fire. You want to have plenty black coal in there that hasn't even started to burn, that way there will be plenty of fresh fuel to keep your fire going well and make a lot of heat. It must be full or you are just buying yourself a lot of trouble.

 
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Post by farok » Tue. Jan. 06, 2009 10:43 pm

Coaledsweat is right -- this is the same mistake I made. It seems that once you have a good amount of coal glowing well, you can fill it up and as long as it's getting a little oxygen, or the solenoid is opening the draft door as needed, it will eventually spread to the whole firebox. It will take a few hours if the house is already warm and the draft is closed most of the time, but will output heat consistently and burn a long time.

As for those that got their furnace working without drilling holes (which was actually recommended to me by the Yukon guys over the phone - go figure), excellent! I would have preferred to leave it as-is, but seeing I was having issues and the thing was long off warranty (27+ years old now), I figured I had nothing to lose. I've actually been experimenting and found that only two 5/16 holes works better for me; I plugged up the other three with a 1/4" bolt. It keeps from over firing and gives a consistent heat. Since my draft door is busted, I crack it open a little if I need a hotter burn.

My guess is that the newer Yukon furnaces may be a bit better given that myjerry can burn coal consistently with no modifications, and that mine overheated with the draft door shut and NO holes yet in the ashpan door. They don't even make the replacement draft door for mine anymore, which tells me it's a bit outdated. Well, at least I got the one I have burning consistently now!

Glad we are all able to share and learn from our experiences here!

Chris

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