What Have You Learned This Year?

As this is my 4th season burning coal, I'm still learning new things about it. Mainly, the limits of my stove along with alterations to my tending routine along with drafting tricks and secondary air. One big step for me has been the use of stove size coal for the colder part of the season. I enjoy how much faster it recovers after a new load is put in and how I can command a hotter burn from it at will.

As far as limits are concerned, I've pretty well nailed down a tending schedule based on outdoor temperatures. For example, during shoulder months, anything over a 30 degree average for a 24 hour period, I can get 24 hour burn times. Under that down to about a 15 degree average for 24 hours I can do 18 hour burns and anything under that can be handled with 12 hour intervals.

Feel free to add a significant learning experience about your coal burning here..

During this real cold weather the last week or so, I learned to squeeze a few more degrees out of the stoker by increasing the feed rate which gets the burning coal right to the very edge of the grates. I didn't increase the combustion air at all, just the feed rate. High temps on the sides went from 650* to 710*

I learned that in this kinda sub weather my usage jumps around 5-7 lbs more per tending & that cabin fever kicks in around mid Feb.

I also learned that if you don't leave enough time to unload all the wet coal from the trailer you will have a coal iceberg the next morning.

But then I learned that if you park the trailer in the bright sun for an hour or so it will thaw out the top 2" - 3" of the pile even on a day where the air temp doesn't hit 20* and you can get it off the trailer. After a couple days of doing that most of the coal will be thawed and off the trailer.

But the tarp on the bed of the trailer that absorbed the water draining from the coal and froze solid to the floor boards has no shot of moving until the middle of March probably!

I've learned at least these five things:

1) Stockton coal works great when its cold outside but is not a good warm weather coal. Blaschak burns year round.
2) My DPBV is actually doing its job, and doing it well. So well that I've abandoned plans to upgrade to a variable speed circulator.
3) I can leave my circulator on low speed and it will not affect the warmth of the house, even at -13 to -15 degrees outside.
4) Those who told me that you can't maintain a Delta-T that holds near the ideal of 20 degrees unless you use zone circulators instead of zone valves are wrong.
5) I've learned that my boilers system efficiency goes up 5.5% to 6% by stopping my circulator when my boilers temperature falls below 160 degrees.

This is my first full season, but I burned most of last year, got my stove in November.

This year I learned a lot about coal storage. I got a 4 ton delivery put into 4 super sacks, then I had 46 5 gal buckets I kept stored under my porch, right outside my stove room. The supersacks were ok, but not ideal. As they emptied it got harder and harder to shovel because the bag slouches and the internal supports get in the way. Having a ton of full buckets ready to go was perfect. I'll probably get a few more for next year. It's really nice having weeks worth of coal in buckets, dry and ready to go. I'll either build a bin or get some plastic pallet boxes for next year.

I also learned I need a better ash plan. I have one metal trash can that gets harder to empty as the snow builds up around where I empty it. Either a few more cans or a better place to dispose ashes for next year.

I learned my next door neighbor gets really upset every time he opens the gate for the oil truck and sees my window cracked open a bit

Paulie

I learned that there is not enough radiation in my living room to overcome -10 air with 20 mph winds.

My VC 2310 rated at 50K will handle the entire 985 sq ft house until it gets to 5 or below. Then it just can't keep up anymore.
Nope not getting a bigger stove. If it can handle the load except for a week or two during the winter, it's a keeper.

I've learned that every winter seems to be the "coldest" haha I've learned don't buy bagged reading coal, And that if people aren't open to trying coal, even after seein your stoves in operation, too just give up cuz there is no hope for them, and yes cabin fever sets in about the start of feb!

I've only been burning coal exclusively to heat my home since the first of January this year so I have learned way to much to write it all out here but honestly, the most important thing that I've learned is...when it's going to snow 12" of snow overnight - cover your trailer full of coal with a tarp... Yep, dumbass here had two or three days of coal stored in buckets inside and just never even considered tarping the trailer before it snowed...DUHHH!!!
But, the good news is, when it snows a foot and it's only 15 degrees out, you can use a leaf blower and in about 20 minutes you can blow all the snow off of a coal trailer that some dumbass forgot to cover...

Good thing you didn't get rain that turned into ice at 15 degrees and froze your coal supply into a real mess.

lsayre wrote:Good thing you didn't get rain that turned into ice at 15 degrees and froze your coal supply into a real mess.

I know RIGHT! I was so proud of myself for bringing in a couple of days of coal ahead of time... I shook down the stove and walked out to dump the ash...saw the trailer and my mouth fell open. I walked around with my ears down and my tail tucked between my legs for the rest of the day... Lol

I learned that I can burn the fine coal (although it's more work) with the front bypass air blocked on this Clayton furnace..

I learned a lot about using secondary air.

I also learned that I don't ever want another European made stove with their shallow coal beds. Even though mine had done good compared to most of the other euro stoves, its just so much easier to run with a 10-12" bed.