ditto
Scored a Puff Back on Video
- buffalo bob
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- McGiever
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Don, Ya want to be careful when like your coal has been bridged a while and your fire gets real low then you bust up the bridging and it takes awhile for the auger to finally start dropping a bunch of raw coal on top of that fire that now has had a long enough time to get really, really hot.StokerDon wrote: ↑Sun. Jan. 21, 2018 2:10 pmNeat!
Good job catching it on video. And, it's a good video, not like one of those Bigfoot videos. This is one of those things you hear about but never see.
I guess I've been lucky. In all the years I have been burning coal in all kinds of contraptions, I have never had a puff.
-Don
That there is the Makings of the Perfect Storm and a BOOM!!! You made it this time but be careful when playing catch-up. A different coal or some other variable may not let you slide next time.
Your 26 minute video recently might of been a "One UP" compared to Lee's little show today.
- StokerDon
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Hummm, hot fire, lots of new coal equals BOOM!McGiever wrote: ↑Sun. Jan. 21, 2018 9:10 pmDon, Ya want to be careful when like your coal has been bridged a while and your fire gets real low then you bust up the bridging and it takes awhile for the auger to finally start dropping a bunch of raw coal on top of that fire that now has had a long enough time to get really, really hot.
That there is the Makings of the Perfect Storm and a BOOM!!! You made it this time but be careful when playing catch-up. A different coal or some other variable may not let you slide next time.
Your 26 minute video recently might of been a "One UP" compared to Lee's little show today.
I make sure there is always flame in there. That way you are always burning gasses off, instead of all at once.
-Don
- McGiever
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I am talking very low hot fire getting buried in 7-8 inches of raw coal from abnormal situation like today's video.
As you know the BOOM comes when the aquastat shuts off the fan and the "Stage" has been already set.
This is another case for the 2nd ashing motor with a bypass switch in order to control the auger on or off separately from the fan.
If you had flames the whole time while auger dumped that much coal on top of your hot fire you are a very Lucky Man.
But you don't have to take my word for it.
What I would do given your setup is open lid on transfer head and scoop feed some much needed coal in to actively burning and actively ashing fire to build a little thicker fire, all the while waiting for the auger to catch up and take over feeding.
As you know the BOOM comes when the aquastat shuts off the fan and the "Stage" has been already set.
This is another case for the 2nd ashing motor with a bypass switch in order to control the auger on or off separately from the fan.
If you had flames the whole time while auger dumped that much coal on top of your hot fire you are a very Lucky Man.
But you don't have to take my word for it.
What I would do given your setup is open lid on transfer head and scoop feed some much needed coal in to actively burning and actively ashing fire to build a little thicker fire, all the while waiting for the auger to catch up and take over feeding.
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Why was the flame in the ash pit yellow? I don;t think it was a gas explosion, but the force of the puff in the firebox blew minute particles of coal dust through the burning mass which then ignited.
- Lightning
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Oh wow, good point Richard, it was yellow. I think you are right about the dust. It's interesting because in the slower versions of the ignition you see a blue flame start and it seems to head for the topside of the fire box. Unfortunately I didn't have the smoke plate propped up so you can't really see what happened up there. Anyways, it appears to me that a pool of volatile gas up high in the fire box ignited first forcing the pocket of gasses underneath it to take a path down thru the coal bed. On it's way it picked up some coal dust from the top layer of coal and pushed it thru the hottest part of the fire then the dust ignited showing the yellow flame. At the end, the top of the fuel bed finally ignited.
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I can force the Stewart to do the same thing but have never filmed it in the dark.
+1 on the yellow “gasses” ..... on the Crawford #2 I could force a puff back too but the gasses would not come out the ashpit, they would come out of the load door secondary vents, and they were blue. It looked like 4 propane torch jets🤪
+1 on the yellow “gasses” ..... on the Crawford #2 I could force a puff back too but the gasses would not come out the ashpit, they would come out of the load door secondary vents, and they were blue. It looked like 4 propane torch jets🤪
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Meh, I've had bigger farts.
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And to one up that, last week I over did anshake down and pulled a full ash pan out that was half loaded with red. Quickly dumped it into the ash pail and put on lid(don't like extra dust you know). 30 or so seconds later... Lifted the lid to look and PUFF.... Hence the first post about larger farts... But it wasn't all just gas.
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Nice capture Lee! My Amish coal supplier swears by leaving an open red corner when loading to help ignite the gases more easily. I've been doing so since and haven't had any puff backs in my furnace.
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Little bit better.
- freetown fred
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Think I'll sit in front of my HITZER for a few hrs. & try for a puff back & take some pix with my KODAK--BROWNIE. Pix to come. .>)