New Here ...

Mossy Beard · Post by **Mossy Beard** » Thu. Jun. 26, 2008 7:25 am

Greetings,
I've been lurking a little and thought I join in.

I'm not new to burning coal and wood but have not done it in a while. ( fuel prices are going to change that) I currently have an sf 250 Harman.
I'm thinking of changing to a stoker stove and know nothing about them. My Harman did a pretty good job, the few years I used it . however it never would "hold" on like I thought it should . ( about 8-9 hrs for "prodiuctive heat" with nut coal) This could have been operator error ??

Additionally , I still use oil to heat domestic water.

My first question is on combustion air.
I'm a little concerned that I may have to introduce some outside air while burning both ? I've got a realtively tight house and never ran both oil and the Harman at the same time, before.

Thanks ,
Mossy Beard

Devil505 · Post by **Devil505** » Thu. Jun. 26, 2008 7:45 am

Mossy Beard wrote:My Harman did a pretty good job, the few years I used it . however it never would "hold" on like I thought it should . ( about 8-9 hrs for "prodiuctive heat" with nut coal) This could have been operator error ??

It could have been operator error if you hadn't filled the stove completely (to the top of the firebrick) You should be getting a minimum of 12 hours out of virtually any Harman if it's filled properly. (I even added another layer of firebrick to my Harman which allows & even deeper layer of coal & thus longer burns.

traderfjp · Post by **traderfjp** » Thu. Jun. 26, 2008 8:20 am

I love my stoker. Fill the hopper, set the feed rate, and empty the ash pan. Easy as pie.

LsFarm · Post by **LsFarm** » Thu. Jun. 26, 2008 8:27 am

Hello Mossy Beard,, welcome..

If you house is tight, an outside air source is a very good idea.. even with a loose, drafty house it is a good idea.. with a dedicated outside air source, you get to control where the cold outside air comes into the house, and where it goes..

Without a dedicated outside air source,, cold outside air is pulled into the house through every crack, creavase, loose window or door.. So the whole house is getting cold air infiltrating into the rooms.. With the dedicated outside vent,, the cold air comes from the vent to the heating device.. this applies to any burning device,, oil, gas, wood or coal... It is more important with coal and wood, because these heating appliances are very dependant on a good draft to pull combustion air through the fire...

Take a couple of photos of your setup and explain what your burning/shaking/loading technique was, and we'll see if we can help.

Greg L

traderfjp · Post by **traderfjp** » Thu. Jun. 26, 2008 9:23 am

Greg-Are u trying to make work for me (:

pret · Post by **pret** » Thu. Jun. 26, 2008 10:53 am

I have a question regarding outside air as well. I will be setting up the boiler today and tomorrow and would like to have a source for outside air. I will have a boiler room outfitted with an AA - 130 in the basement. The coal will be supplied via a shoot from an overhead coal bin in the garage. The house is a new construction and tight, rated with a heat loss of 50K, (2450 square feet excluding 800 square foot of finished basement). I was thinking of a two inch pvc pipe opening at the ash bin housing near the floor of the boiler. Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Pret

Yanche · Post by **Yanche** » Thu. Jun. 26, 2008 12:05 pm

If that's the only source of combustion air it's much to small to support the A-A 130 at full output. From the 2006 Mechanical Code, "... shall be a minimum of 1 sq. in. per 4,000 Btu/hr. input ..." Also from the code "... shall be two openings, one withing 1 ft. of the ceiling, one within 1 ft. of the floor ..."

Mossy Beard · Post by **Mossy Beard** » Thu. Jun. 26, 2008 12:54 pm

Thanks for the responses.
The "additional air question" always made me curious.
Obviously, I don't want to compromise the safety of my family and deter performance of either the stove or the oil boiler.
I am familar with the codes; outside air dampers could be interlocked with an intermittent firing device but I'm unsure about a constant burning one ?
A couple 12" holes cut in the basement wall wouldn't work out to well....? (re: pretty cold)

About my SF 250 :
Do you know any folks here that would have first hand experience with this stove ? coal size ? performance ? etc. I'd like to strike up a conversation with them.

Many Thanks, Mossy Beard

LsFarm · Post by **LsFarm** » Thu. Jun. 26, 2008 10:55 pm

With an SF250, you should be able to get easily 12+ hours of burn time if you fill the firebox to the top of the firebrick, and mound it up in the middle.. A friend of mine, forum member Greg White, has the smaller SF150, and easily gets 14+ hours heating his shop on on load of coal.. this will vary with how much heat you are trying to get from the stove, but it is a BIG stove.. and makes lots of heat..

When you said you could only get 8-9 hours out of it,, did the coal all burn up, or did the fire go out leaving unburnt or partially burnt coal??

Greg L

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Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Fri. Jun. 27, 2008 7:58 am

My oil boiler is 140,000 BTU. I have a factory made cold air inlet that uses 4" flex pipe. It hooks direct to the fan on the burner. Tha's about 12.5 sq inches. I planned on having that simply dump into the coal boiler room, but it appears I'll need more air?

traderfjp · Post by **traderfjp** » Fri. Jun. 27, 2008 10:31 am

You'll have nice heat this winter. 140,000 BTU is a nice size boiler. Good luck with that setup and let us know how it all works out.

Post by **coaledsweat** » Fri. Jun. 27, 2008 2:35 pm

Freddy wrote:My oil boiler is 140,000 BTU. I have a factory made cold air inlet that uses 4" flex pipe. It hooks direct to the fan on the burner. Tha's about 12.5 sq inches. I planned on having that simply dump into the coal boiler room, but it appears I'll need more air?

I doubt it, 4" should be sufficient unless you start smelting iron with it.