Trouble heating with AHS WOC55

steamup wrote:Also, the coal from the power plant... Do you know where it comes from? Could it be from the Powder River Basin brought in by train? This coal is lignite and is very low in btu's per lb.

Always thought Power River basin was sub-bit coal.

do you have this on your load door. I put a S-hook on and attached a 29"(get a little longer for more adjusting) link chain to the hook on the bottom ash pan door. When using the natural draft I use the "wood" switch that operates/opens the over air draft and opens the ash pan draft door with chain also. In the pic. you can see the chain attached to the linkage that goes to the lower door
EDIT: also in the pic. you can see the linkage bar that has orange on it,remove it from the orange(fixed closed spot) to the top hole and make sure and adjust the flapper so it's open 1/4" for over air when the controls/aquastat turn off

NJJoe wrote:

steamup wrote:Also, the coal from the power plant... Do you know where it comes from? Could it be from the Powder River Basin brought in by train? This coal is lignite and is very low in btu's per lb.

Always thought Power River basin was sub-bit coal.

Yes, you are correct. It is sub-bit. I confused it with lignite because of the low btu/lb content.

My load door has the same damper motor on it and is set up the same way but I don't have a natural draft on the ash pan door. I talked to AHS on Monday and was told that the soft coal linkage kit was the shaker linkage and the blower should work fine for bit coal.

I lose only 3* on my water temp with the insulated, buried pipes that are underground for 120 feet
You want the pipes to be not only insulated, but enclosed in a WATERTIGHT tube, Ground Water will conduct heat away from the pipes better than any loss of insulation.

Hot water baseboard systems [finned tubing] are designed to work at 190* water, if your water temp is only 140-150* you will not keep your house warm

Between the heat loss in your underground pipes, and significant load on the system, I think you need a bigger boiler, or ??
What is the coal boiler rated at for BTU ??

Greg L

Boiler is rated at 180,000 for wood, 225,000 for both coal and oil.

Have you been able to get any more heat or figure the problems out

There is no way a 55 can put out that much. My 70 could not put out that much. First thing is get a grip on the heat loss in ground. My 70 on wood could not keep pace with a 102,000 oil boiler. With bit coal it could. With stove sized anthracite it had no problems matching the oil boiler. IN MY OPPINION AHS HAS OVERATED THE OUTPUT SPECS.

****UPDATE*****

I came across this article while surfing around on the forum :
http://books.google.com/books?id=S9YDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA116&ots=nHVqwtOi8Q&dq=home%20furnace%20grate%20area&pg=PA120#v=onepage&q=home%20furnace%20grate%20area&f=true

I tried the methods described in the article and wouldn't you know it worked. The house has stayed warm all day without having to feed the fire every 2 or 3 hours. I fixed the fire last night at 2245hrs and at 0430hrs when I got up to go milk cows the house was at 70* and boiler was recovering nicely with a good hot fire still burning. With temps not getting out of the teens and wind chill close to zero or below I think I'm getting closer to getting this thing to work for me. Now I know I still have piping and insulation issues but as far as keeping a fire going all night I may be winning that battle.

good to hear your gaining on it.There are many threads in the bit. section that may help you to learn to burn bit coal
Using Bituminous Coal