Box Stove to Base Heater Conversion Adventure

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Mon. Dec. 01, 2014 12:17 pm

i might add that while monitoring from the stove body on days like this, OAT 28F, wind 10-20mph NNW, i'm running the stove at -.005 in the trough of the gusts and it's going to .01/ .0125 at the tops.

heat exchange is excellent, coal consumption is very low.

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Wed. Dec. 03, 2014 6:46 pm

my wedding anniversary is Nov. 26, there's Thanksgiving,we do a once annual inventory at work the last Sat. of Nov. and finally my wives birthday 12 -1.

by today we have done all the books, covered the variance report and locked in the numbers for the yr. we posted decent profit, counted 1M in product on hand and had a shrink/ loss of $3100.00. that's all good but........................

with all the yammerin' around here about the glories of "coal easy street" I got to tell ya, now that I live there, i'm really bored !!

i guess i'm going to have to build a "white sheet" base burner just to keep from repainting rooms in the house.

stay tuned.

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Thu. Dec. 18, 2014 1:06 pm

having put some of this info in other peoples threads as side margin notes I thought i'd put it here with the rest of the operating experience related to the conversion.

i've found that I have 2 distinct "gears" of operation kind of like an old GM PowerGlide transmission.

this was brought further into focus by installing the in stove body / above fire pot draft sensor port. that move showed that I had been operating at a much lower Mano. measurement than I had suspected. basically -.015 LOWER than I was measuring in the exhaust stack below the damper closest to the stove body. so, when the Mano. was showing -.02 at the base of the stack, the fire was actually experiencing -.005.

what's interesting about this is that I can run the stove at that -.005 over fire draft and control the heat out put with the bi metal control of the primary up to about 450*. this has the primary air flap standing open about 3/4 - 1 inch all the time. I can also set the primary to be just a sliver at this draft and have it just simmer at about 150* for ever. at this draft even at 450* the stove is using very little fuel.

now for 2nd gear. I can also run with -.01 / -.015 / -.02 etc. etc. of over fire draft and go thru the whole process again, progressively opening the primary till that particular draft setting "tops out" and then continue to move on up to higher and higher temps. as I give it more and more draft.

it's not been cold enough to find out where it will stop making more heat. so far I had a 700* hot spot at -.035 over fire draft with the flap open 3/4 inch. the flap is capable of opening a full 3.75 inch spout.

at that point the wife was threatening to spread sand over the carpet beyond the hearth.

wsherrick · Post by **wsherrick** » Thu. Dec. 18, 2014 5:58 pm

I know having all of that new found efficiency might be boring, but; you should be counting the pennies saved in your change jar.

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Thu. Dec. 18, 2014 6:19 pm

bored ? i'm never bored.

my mother taught me to read before I was 5 using the 1957 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia as text. you can probably imagine my problems in school when exposed to tripe like "look, look, see spot. see spot run" and ADULTS acting like it was great literary prose.

I have always wanted to know all I could about anything I saw or touched.

i waited very impatiently for the advent of the digital age and the internet without even knowing what it would ever be. I only knew there needed to be a way to access more info much faster and easier.

yep I have a project pot going constantly.

wsherrick · Post by **wsherrick** » Thu. Dec. 18, 2014 6:35 pm

i just responding to what you said a few posts ago. I know it was tongue in cheek. If you are like me there is only 6 lifetimes to do everything you need plus want to do .

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Thu. Dec. 18, 2014 6:43 pm

gotcha, the "glories of coal easy street" comment. yeah, that was kind of sarcastic and disingenuous, sorry.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Sun. Dec. 21, 2014 4:29 pm

Any solid idea regarding how much gain you are getting from the conversion yet?

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Sun. Dec. 21, 2014 5:26 pm

no sir, Oct.- Dec. is VERY busy for my employer and if you look at wunderground for 46550 you'll see that the history around here has been pretty unstable with some times 2 rises and drops in one week.

i also started designing an altogether new stove and as a result have just been burning coal.

steve

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Wed. Dec. 31, 2014 7:18 am

1st 24 hrs. of reckoning for the conversion.

11* F impact on the house over night and not to make 20* today. so far had to turn the bi metal from 425 to 450 and move the draft from -.005 over fire to -.01

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Wed. Dec. 31, 2014 3:55 pm

Easy does it, or you'll have to put a couple more pieces of coal in to make it to tomorrow morning.

Paul

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Wed. Dec. 31, 2014 5:08 pm

you don't really think so do you ?

OMG what was I thinking, more primary and more draft BOTH at once ?

now what..........................well, I guess I can start bringing coal to the house in a shoe box instead of the marble bag I've been using.

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Sun. Jan. 04, 2015 9:20 am

a few of us around here are getting ready for a blast off the arctic this week................................

Wed. night is forecast to be -11 / -12* F air temp. with 20 -30- mph wind for a total effect of -34 * plus snow

2 days before and after are going to be real rough at work.

maybe i'll stay home in some shorts and a T shirt and giggle incoherently.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Sun. Jan. 04, 2015 9:56 am

KingCoal wrote:a few of us around here are getting ready for a blast off the arctic this week................................

Wed. night is forecast to be -11 / -12* F air temp. with 20 -30- mph wind for a total effect of -34 * plus snow

2 days before and after are going to be real rough at work.

maybe i'll stay home in some shorts and a T shirt and giggle incoherently.

When a cold snap comes you generally get hit well worse than we do in these parts of Ohio. Our lowest low is only supposed to be -2* here Wednesday night. This next week will be frigid though, with plenty of snow to add to the (ahem) fun. Interestingly though, your overall annualized HDD's are quite similar to ours. We get the same general amount of cold, but we get it differently.

Our mean overall temperature for Monday through Friday should be about +12.4 degrees here. Over the span of those 5 days I anticipate burning 368 lbs. to heat the house and an additional 23 lbs. to provide for DHW. That will average out to 78 lbs. per day.

Glad to hear that the conversion is working out well for you.

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Jan. 04, 2015 10:28 am

Wed. night is forecast to be -11 / -12* F air temp. with 20 -30- mph wind for a total effect of -34 * plus snow

That's the stuff that separates the men from the boys. Stay warm.