AHS S130 : Coal Consumption During Summer Months?

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2011 8:06 pm

If it will require that I burn 50-60 lbs. coal per day just to idle it and provide DHW,

Some of us burn that amount for heating on cold winter days. I can't see using that much during the summer.
My boiler will be running 365 days a year, I'll let you know in a few months.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2011 8:12 pm

Many thanks Wood'nCoal. It will be very interesting to see how it turns out for you.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2011 8:17 pm

whistlenut wrote:I understand the situation, and it becomes a personal choice, however if the stove pipe and baro rust up, you will be out some cash anyway, and it the boiler is not cleaned and treated, the shorter life expectancy of the equipment has to weigh in. It is more than saving every cent.....you aren't an accountant are you???

It could become a 'Penny wise and pound foolish' issue. I'm not saying it would, but it sure could. I'll bet Toyota wishes they had used a more rust resistant steel in the pickup frames.....

Either way it will work, I'm just trying to extend the life of the system; they are expensive enough the first time!

Not an accountant, but sometimes I think I might as well be one. I'm a buyer/planner (a purchasing agent who has to plan and manage plant inventory as well as seek out the best material prices).

rangaller · Post by **rangaller** » Thu. Jan. 27, 2011 8:48 pm

lsayre wrote:Many thanks Wood'nCoal. It will be very interesting to see how it turns out for you.

I really think that you would be using much less than the 40 lbs that I used. I never fine tuned for summer running as I really am still moving along the AHS/Coal burning learning curve. But recent findings indicate that my burn/dump temp was set at 140F. This can be set to 120F for low demand periods (summer) and this should maximize effieciency of burn for summer and probably cut coal consumption sharply.

For me, even at 4o pounds per day coal is still 1/2 the price of what oil would cost me.

Stephen

brckwlt · Post by **brckwlt** » Fri. Jan. 28, 2011 12:04 am

i have an aa-13o which is similar to your ahs 130 and I burned on average about 20lbs a day over the summer

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Fri. Jan. 28, 2011 5:59 am

Thanks brckwlt! Based on all of the testimony here, I'm resolved to running year round, sans for a brief outage for tube cleaning and maintenance.

lew · Post by **lew** » Fri. Jan. 28, 2011 7:14 am

I just installed an AHS S130 this December. On average I would say that we are going through 60 lbs. a day heating 2,000 squaare ft. and DHW. I have my thermo ash control set at 120 and have had 0 problems. I have been slowly dropping the temp. setting from 140. Would like to set it lower and see where it takes me. I too, am thinking of running it all summer, but am concernend about the cost versus benefits. I will be trying it for some time just to see where that takes me.

Tull · Post by **Tull** » Tue. Feb. 01, 2011 2:46 pm

Isayre:

Do a search under "low load capabilities of the coal gun". You will find that Yanche says he was consuming 17-18 lb per day; you probably won't get much lower than that. I have been using my S130 year-round since mid 2009 and am quite satisfied. I did not measure summer coal consumption, though. Perhaps next summer. Good luck, anyway!

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Tue. Feb. 01, 2011 2:48 pm

Thanks! Others have suggested that about 20 lbs./day is the low limit, so Yanche's 17-18 is probably the absolute minimum for daily summer consumption. Some of the heating cost that I gain during the winter will be lost during the summer, but apparently such is the price to be paid to keep the system from corroding or rusting and giving up the ghost prematurely.

Tull · Post by **Tull** » Tue. Feb. 01, 2011 3:06 pm

Isayre:

I generally agree with your statement, but perhaps rather than saying "Some of the heating cost that I gain during the winter will be lost during the summer" it may be that you will be basically breaking even during the summer, while saving big in the winter. Depends on oil prices, coal prices, amount of DHW use, etc. I will try to measure my consumption his summer and see what it really is. Hope things go as well for you as they have for me.

homecomfort · Post by **homecomfort** » Thu. Mar. 10, 2011 9:31 pm

I installed an electric heat pump water heater in my cellar. It uses the free, renewable heat energy from the basement floor area. also the humidity contains energy which it removes and uses for heating water, along with dehumidifying the air, so mold is reduced. Unit gives 4 times the hot water as electric it consumes. %350 to 400 efficient. domestic hot water only requires 1/10 of the BTU capacity of heating the house. coal stove heat in basement is also recycled with it.

Yanche · Post by **Yanche** » Thu. Mar. 10, 2011 9:39 pm

homecomfort wrote:I installed an electric heat pump water heater in my cellar. It uses the free, renewable heat energy from the basement floor area. also the humidity contains energy which it removes and uses for heating water, along with dehumidifying the air, so mold is reduced. Unit gives 4 times the hot water as electric it consumes. %350 to 400 efficient. domestic hot water only requires 1/10 of the BTU capacity of heating the house. coal stove heat in basement is also recycled with it.

What brand and model number? Does the domestic hot water production capability vary winter vs. summer when the coal stove is not being used?

Tull · Post by **Tull** » Tue. Jun. 07, 2011 6:36 pm

I just measured my coal consumption for the week ending last Sunday (6/5/2011). My AHS S130 consumed 100 lb of pea coal in 7 days and produced 19 lb of ashes. This is for DHW for a family of 6. Comes out to 14.3 lb/day. I measured both the coal and ash by weight, not volume, and I would say my numbers are accurate to within +/- 5%. My unit has the thermocouple-controlled grate. Your mileage may vary.

coalnewbie · Post by **coalnewbie** » Tue. Jun. 07, 2011 8:40 pm

.. and if you put a Kilowatt ($30 Lowes) on the AHS how many KWH does it consume per month to give you that DHW?

cabinover · Post by **cabinover** » Wed. Jun. 08, 2011 3:22 pm

Here's what I found with my AA130. I was having no problem keeping a fire with the coal StokerScot brought me last winter. When I ran out of that I bought some from a local guy with Cornwall as the source. It was out last night after running fine on the other coal. I have had to bump up the time to a minute and a half every half hour.

The UAE coal would do about 10-11 days on 300#, this other stuff fills the ash pan and barely does 7 days on the same charge.

At this rate I might as well go back to propane with a more efficient water heater, keeping my garage cooler in the process.