Koker Lite - Coal Consumption

 
Vas0000j
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Post by Vas0000j » Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 4:57 pm

Let me open with an apology as I am 2 weeks new to a coal stoker so sorry for the beginner questions. I am heating a 2400 sf house with a 1200 sf unfinished basement. House was built in 1998 and has 2x6 construction. I am located in Western PA and the recent days have had lows in the 10's, highs in the high 20's low 30's. I am interested to see what everyone is consuming as it comes to coal. I am burning anywhere from 50 to 120 lbs of coal. The consumption is in align with the temps. As the temps drop the coal increases but 120 lbs seems high to me. I have a direct vent system and the draft is between -.02 and -.03 measured on a digital manometer. I have the combustion air increased to improve burn. I am burning Reading bagged coal.

Thanks in advance for the help.


 
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WNY
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Post by WNY » Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 8:46 pm

Welcome,
Is your stove in the basement? or living area?

If you do a search on here, coal consumption varies in every heating situation. How warm you keep your house, insulation, etc... You really can't compare different stoves, different houses, different heating situations and how much we all use. What works for one, may or may not for another. Sounds like you have your stove dialed in with the correct setup. That's about average with these colder temps. I can easily go thru 75-100#'s+ per day.

There's a lot of good information on here, just search or ask. most of us have "been there, done that" . LOL :)

Here;s one thread, there are many more on coal usage, consumption, etc...
Post by Rick W - Coal Consumption

 
Vas0000j
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Post by Vas0000j » Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 9:17 pm

Thanks for the reply. I have the stove in the basement ducted into the current propane forced air ductwork thru two eight inch supply lines. I am pulling return air from the basement. Thermostat is set at 70 and holding temp no problem. Basement is roughly 71 as well on the opposite side from the stove. Basement is not insulated but complete buried underground with the exception of about one to two feet depending on the location.

I was not expecting the 120 pound days but still cheaper than propane. It been roughly 2 weeks and burning on average 500 pounds per week with no propane consumption!!!!! I have been contemplating the purchase for 2 years until the recent cold spell in January where I ran out of propane for 5 days when outside temps were in single digits waiting on a delivery. I was lucky to have a wood burning fireplace that was able to keep house around 68 during that time. Unfortunately I was slave to the fireplace every 2 hours until delivery. Very happy with the purchase and love the warm floors on first level.
I have been reading on the forum for days trying to educate myself but did not see anything about consumption.

Thanks again
THE NEWBIE

 
Jfreethy
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Post by Jfreethy » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 6:27 am

i have a koker lite with a 70's bi-level in NEPA 2x4 walls about 1500sf. I will normally burn about 80lbs + when it gets down to that temp. I have a semi-finished basement. My unit has its own ductwork and i pull air from the basement.

 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 6:39 am

I burn about 70 lbs. of coal at a mean temperature of 15 degrees over a 24 hour period. This represents 1.4 lbs. of coal burned per HDD (Heating Degree Day).

A high of 20 degrees and a low of 10 degrees is a mean of 15 degrees.

A days total of HDD's is calculated as follows:

65 - (Days High + Days Low)/2 = HDD's

or : 65 - days mean temperature = HDD's

*** When you see the word "estimated" on your heat bill, your utility company has used a months worth of HDD's in conjunction with your historical average of energy used per HDD to compute your "estimated" bill. ***

*** I use this method in conjunction with the local weather forecast to predict my future coal usage. ***

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 7:36 am

I am pulling return air from the basement. Thermostat is set at 70 and holding temp no problem. Basement is roughly 71 as well on the opposite side from the stove. Basement is not insulated but complete buried underground with the exception of about one to two feet depending on the location.
Welcome to the coal forum.

By pulling the return air from the basement, you have added the basement to your main heating load. Uninsulated basements tend to be btu hogs, so this will add a noticeable amount to your heating load.

If you want to burn less coal, hook the Koker return into the existing hot air system. The radiant heat from the Koker should still be enough to keep your floors warm, but the basement won't be quite as warm.

Long term, look at the areas in the basement that would benefit the most from insulation. Air leaks at the sill are the biggest offenders, followed by leaky basement windows, and ice cold concrete from the frost line to the sill plate.

 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 7:43 am

If you find the windows to be the culprit, Rob R has a sure cure design to remedy that. :)


 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 7:59 am

Welcome to the forum! Its good you are able to keep the house up to temp without having the propane kick on, you are off to a great start! :yes:

From your description of the amount of sqft being heated and as Rob said pulling return air from an un-insulated basement I don't think your consumption is too far out of whack at those temps. If you are in a windy location it will also have a big effect.

You can definitely improve on the coal usage by tying in the return air as mentioned and by sealing up any air leaks / insulating where you can. In the basement insulating the sill plate cavities is important. Also insulating the block wall at least 2' to 3' down from the ceiling with foam board will help a good bit. I think the tighter you make the house you will want to consider an outside air pipe for combustion air if you don't already have it.

 
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Post by leoman584 » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 8:45 am

I also live in Western PA.
My house is 1700 sq ft. build in 1987.
It took me a while to get everything dialed in, but I am averaging a bag and a half to 2 bags a day depending on temperature.

I actually recently just turned down the thermostat and the MIN/MAX setting a point because it was getting too hot in the house. It was 73 this morning. That's a little too warm for me. I'll most likely burn a little less now that I am running on a lower setting. The goal is to average a bag a day.

My barro is right at -.04.

I have a cold air return running directly to my blower as well.

I just bought some pipe wrap insulation, so I'm going to be installing that this weekend. That should further help with efficiency.

PM me if you need any help or have questions. I'm happy to give some assistance. You're most likely close to where I live.

 
Benny
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Post by Benny » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 11:47 am

Swpa also,1900 sq ft 2story half basement half crawl space 2x6 second story,100# in single digits 74 degrees,cold air return makes a big difference!

 
xmanjeff
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Post by xmanjeff » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 2:45 pm

there was a very good post a while ago about the btu sucked thru the concrete in a basement . it was very eye opening
I think it would benefit you to look up or search out the post \article . I would say that you would hugely benefit from insulation board on the walls
I am using about 50# a day with mean temps of about 20, out of a keystker 90 in my basement in a 1200 sq ft home

 
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Post by McGiever » Tue. Feb. 06, 2018 4:01 pm

Cold air returning from living space= 68 degrees.
Cold air retuning from basement space = 48 degrees.
That 20 degree difference in the duct work is one hungry monster your feeding there 24/7.

Plus, besides the temp difference there still remains all those BTU losses absorbed by foundation mass and around the sill plate perimeter.
Some left over heat ends up underfloor for up stairs foot comfort...more is better. :)

 
Vas0000j
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Post by Vas0000j » Thu. Feb. 08, 2018 10:40 pm

Thanks for all the replys. Return air will be ducted over the weekend. Do you all just duct with 8" pipe into both sides of the blower leaving the 10x10 filters inplace or remove filters and filter when coming off the return duct? I was planning to come off return air with a trunk line and filter there with a more ready available filter size and then go into two 8" duct to feed blower and remove existing filters.

Foam board is in the plans for this coming summer.

 
Benny
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Post by Benny » Fri. Feb. 09, 2018 6:25 am

I boxed in one side 6in to cold air return,I use 10x20 filters cut in half,I’m sure both sides would be better.

 
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2biz
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Post by 2biz » Sat. Feb. 10, 2018 7:25 am

Something to consider, they make return air registers that swing out and hold a filter. If you can incorporate them, it helps keep your cold air return duct clean. It doesn't take very many years for a return duct to collect dust and dirt....With only 1 or two returns, it would be easy to incorporate these registers and not have to filter at the stove/furnace. The tilt out registers makes it super easy to change filters....Just another way to do the same thing only different.

Looking at my avatar, I have a 24" x 24" register just on the other side of the wall attached to the 20" round cold air return duct. The register houses the filter and makes it very easy to replace while keeping the duct dust free....


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