First Time Succuess! I Owe All of You. but

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wnyjim
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Post by wnyjim » Thu. Nov. 13, 2008 5:19 am

Thanks to this message board I had first time succuess burning anthricite in my Hot blast 1500 combination furnace. I did alot of reading and went from knowing nothing of what seems to be a lost art (Burning coal) to running my own furnace. Thank you all.

BUT I still have questions.

1) My furnace was installed when I bought my house. I had to re do the chimney to seperate flues for the oil furnace and coal wood furnace. The baro damper was in good shape but the Manual damper was installed below the baro. Is that ok? Most of what I have seen here and in the manual I have with the furnace shows Manual over baro.

2) Controlling the burn. How does eash control effect the furnace? For example Closing the manual damper vs closing the screw vent on the ash door?
I assume the damper would slow the burn and the fire? or keep heat in the furnace? Closing the ash door vent partially also slows the burn?
I guess what Im asking is. Now I have my fire burning for 12 hrs at a time now how do I tweak it to get all the heat out of my furnace.
Seems the manual gives no info on this.

Thanks again to everyone.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Thu. Nov. 13, 2008 7:04 am

The manual damper MUST be located between the baro and the stove, otherwise you could close the manual damper and cause smoke to spill out through the baro; yours should work fine the way it is.

I have had good luck with manual dampers in the past on woodstoves and a non air-tight coal stove, but discovered that a manual damper doesn't do much on an airtight coal stove. You will have to experiment to see what kind of effect it has on your furnace.

Closing the manual damper is supposed to keep more heat in the stove, but only to the point that it reduces the amount of air passing through the coal bed and the fire starts to die down. The ash pan door vent is your primary method of controlling the fire, as you said closing the vent will slow the burn.

Good to hear you got your hotblast burning good, lots of people struggle with them.

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Thu. Nov. 13, 2008 11:41 am

The Hotblast stoves usually need a lot of draft to burn well,, so I'd leave the Manual damper open untill you get some experience with the stove. If you are getting 12 hour burns with it, you are doing well..

If you want to fine tune the furnace, you need to get a manometer to measure the chimney draft, and a thermometer or two to measure what is going on in the stove and in the flue.. otherwise you are pretty much guessing at what happens when you make a change, and wait to see if there is any difference in heat or draft..

I assume you are filling the firebox as full as possible, and you need to close off any air vents above the fire, use only the air vent in the ashpan door. If you are able to get the fire to burn for 12 hours, you are doing well.

Once you get a draft guage, [manometer] you can set your baro so that you have a max draft of about .07", and then you can monitor your temps with a few thermometers..

Greg L


 
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Post by BIG BEAM » Thu. Nov. 13, 2008 7:05 pm

Yeah I wouldn't go much under .07 with the draft..08 or .09 isn't even to high with these less than perfect designs.What size coal are you burnning,if it's nut keep the draft high if it's stove you can get away with less draft(.06-.07).Good luck .This is my 3rd season with mine.When you learn all the little ins and outs of this furnace it'l make a lot of heat.
DON

 
wnyjim
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Post by wnyjim » Fri. Nov. 14, 2008 4:33 pm

I am using nut size anthricite in bags. Do you think stove size would work better? I am still experimenting and buy a few bags to try.

I also have a manometer on order should be here soon.

I have 2 mag thermometers. 1 on the furnace face and 1 on the pipe about 18" up from the outlet of the furnace.
Warm days here so I let it go out. Looking foreward to cold weather for once in my life now.
When I refire it I will be checking around the loading door to make sure it is sealed up tight. Gasket looks a little flat along the bottom of the door.

 
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North Candlewood
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Post by North Candlewood » Fri. Nov. 14, 2008 5:03 pm

12 hours on a full load in that unit tells me, to much draft . Open the baro up somemore. When you get it fired again and hot get the cool side of the baro(after it) to the point you can touch it. You'll find the hot side to hot to touch. You should get 16 plus hours from a load in that stove. That is without tending it.


 
wnyjim
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Post by wnyjim » Tue. Nov. 18, 2008 9:32 pm

Ok its cold out now and I am trying to regulate the heat. My surface thermometer reads 450 deg. Is that too hot? If so what is a good temp. It is a magnetic thermometer mounted to the front of the furnace just over the loading door.

 
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jimbo
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Post by jimbo » Wed. Nov. 19, 2008 6:02 am

I do not want to hijack the post but I have question about the draft setting.
I assume this is with the ash pan door closed and normal draft settings.
When you get it fired again and hot get the cool side of the baro(after it) to the point you can touch it. You'll find the hot side to hot to touch.
My pipe is cool to touch as you explained when I am under normal draft conditons but when I open up ash pan door the pipe gets a lot hotter. Not hot enough that you will fry your skin but you won't hold your hand on it . I only have 1 magnetic thermo and moved it to front of furnace to assure I am not over firing.

 
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North Candlewood
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Post by North Candlewood » Wed. Nov. 19, 2008 6:26 pm

WNYJIM
450 sounds about right and your stack temp around 200. I go by feel I'll have to check it sometime .

Jimbo
I would think your running something much the same as these units, yes to your assumtion with a normal fire.
Sounds like you have control of your fire.

Charles

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