New (to Me) Axeman 260

 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Sat. Jan. 14, 2012 8:08 pm

Hey Steve, how has the house been with the cold weather lately? Have you figured out how much coal you are burning per day or week?
I usually burn around 100-150# per day when the temps are in the 20's, sometimes more than 200# per day if it is really cold.

Greg L


 
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Townsend
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Post by Townsend » Sun. Jan. 15, 2012 2:04 am

Greg, their is simply no comparison as to how my house stays now as opposed to before with just the Hitzer or with the oil burner. It is 15 degrees out tonight and I took the dogs out for around 10 minutes at around 1:00 AM. What a treat when you walk in the door. Each room nice and warm!

I think I'm using around 80-90 pounds a day so far.

 
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Post by LsFarm » Sun. Jan. 15, 2012 11:16 am

Steve, you need to post a photo of your house, I had one you sent years ago, but can't find it, so post a photo of that big ol' place so we can see what 80-90# of anthracite per day is heating, once it is propery processed through your AA and superb steam system !!.

Once you did the 'skim' and blow down, has the boiler water stayed clear ? Are you going to do another skim and blow down?

Keep us in the loop of what it takes to maintain and properly administer your steam system, it's a bit 'foreign' to many of us.

Greg L

 
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Townsend
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Post by Townsend » Mon. Jan. 16, 2012 10:12 am

Greg, here are a few pics of the house. The pics are a few years old but suffice to show the size of the 161 year old Victorian. Keep in mind that the very rear of the structure is a one car garage and a mud room that are both currently unheated. That will soon change in that I am planning a hot water leg off the Axeman to take the chill out of them. The estimate of the 80-90lbs is just that, an estimate. But I think it is somewhat close from marking the level on the interior of the coal bin and filling it back up to that mark while counting bags. Whatever it is I'm very happy with it!

Like we talked about, I think I owe the efficiency to a combination of things, namely the well sized and designed header, properly sized main pipe vents and the fact that the coal, while sitting in idle, keeps the boiler water near steaming temps. Also the fact that an AA has an uncanny ability to go from a dead idle to, as Coaledsweat puts it "the flaming gates of hell" rather quickly. It has been very cold here lately and I am amazed at the short run time to satisfy my thermostat. Even my good friend who is a steam guru was here over the weekend and he commented on how quickly the rads warmed up and the nice short run time. Greg, you brought up a good point in that unlike hot water a steam system does not have that drastic of a temp drop for return water, in steam's case meaning the returning condensate.

I will explain further along about the particularities about steam as I post more pics of skimming and blow down. But to answer your question, yes, after that first skimming I noticed a much cleaner sight glass and less surging while steaming.

I also installed the new gauge that reads from 0 to 3 lbs pressure. Thanks to the proper venting, especially those big Gorton main vents, the pressure on my system to run until the TT is satisfied has not gone over 4 to 5 ounces!!!!! I think that helps tremendously for efficiency. Also, the nice big cast iron steam radiators stay warm for a good amount of time and with steam they are 212 degrees not 180 or so as with hot water, so they put out some heat. Just think about that steam easing through the piping without the boiler having to break a sweat. And it was down to 11 degrees last night! I have posted some pics of the new gauge, as well as a corresponding view of the much larger older gauge. Talk about building them right. The thing was dead on when compared to the new gauge. That nice big hand stayed right at the quarter pound mark as the newer showed 4 ounces. Unreal. My friend who gave that to me, the steam guru I mentioned above, told me how the old gauge has a spring to take up the back lash in the gearing mechanism to aid accuracy. He said it looks like a watch in there.

Like I mentioned before, I'll probably do one more skim soon to make sure all the oils from the new piping job have cleared out and I will post pic and explain accordingly.

I appreciate the interest in steam boilers and I hope that what I have learned (and am still learning) on steam systems can help others who have this fine old method of heating.

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Post by Townsend » Mon. Jan. 16, 2012 10:16 am

Here are the gauges. Both are shown approximately 15 minutes into a burn cycle whereupon the boiler soon thereafter shut off due to TT being satisfied. I have a round style Honeywell thermostat that I normally keep at 72.

The picture of the digital read out at 73 degrees is my old TT that I disconnected and placed on a bookshelf in the kitchen just to keep and eye on temps in there. (The 62 degree setting was my night setting when I had oil being delivered at the rate of 250 gallons every three weeks. Never again!!!) My round TT is well away in a front room. The kitchen was always notoriously difficult to keep warm, it has a 12 foot ceiling and has a unheated pantry attached to it. I keep the pantry shut off with only a simple curtain hanging on a rod over the door. That pantry has an old window that needs to be addressed as well. But, as you can see from the digital readout, the Axeman handles it quite well. I had actually kicked up the TT to 74 to get it warmed up to that point. The second pic is the round TT after I had it set for 74, got it up to temp and then turned it back down to 72 or so. Its a balmy 20 degrees here at the moment outside. My kitchen leads to the mudroom which I use to bring the dogs in and out. I've never been so welcomed by heat as I have when entering that door now that the coal fired 260 is residing here.

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Post by Townsend » Mon. Jan. 16, 2012 12:09 pm

Here is that wreck of an oil burner I took out that was "going through oil like Grant took Richmond" as I like to previously say. I'm sure a properly sized and installed new one with good piping would have saved fuel, but no where near what I'm saving with coal now.

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Post by SteveZee » Mon. Jan. 16, 2012 1:01 pm

Beautiful home Steve,

Amazing you had a winter of heating with just a Hitzer 50-93! That's a big place for one stove.
My two have been running flat out the past 3 days as it's been zero or below each morning. It's been amazingly comfy too for these low temps. I set the steamer fer 58 (Therms in the kitchen) and it only ran for about 3 hours night before last 3am-6am. I was lazy and didn't want to get up at midnight to shake and refill the kitchen cookstove. It was pretty low in that morn. Heat wave right now at 13, but headed into 30s!
I still have the same 180-200 gal of oil I started the winter with and I was traveling for week. Must be 2/3s left still so that should see me out. I think a larger stove on my middle chimney where the Herald is would eliminate using any oil. Looking for a Glenwood #6 baseheater or the like for that duty. Some day when I hit lotto or have some extra, be nice to have a locomotive like yours.


 
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Post by Townsend » Mon. Jan. 16, 2012 1:16 pm

Steve, nice job on conserving that oil! Sounds like you have a good game planing going.

Thanks for the comment on the house. It is a work in progress. Here is a pic of my home back in the days Mr. Veazey owned it. I found it in a book that was published called, "Long ago and not far away" dealing with some of the older homes here in Middlesex County. I had it framed and mounted in my living room. The balusters of the fence you see in the foreground were used in the deck that is now on the second floor of the house. They are really cool, solid turned hardwood. I also have two sections of a heavy gate that was used in that fence.

I think Hiram would be proud of how warm his house is!

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Post by SteveZee » Mon. Jan. 16, 2012 1:24 pm

How cool it that! Mr Hiram would be proud! I love the pix Steve. The beauty of these old places is the history that comes with them. My house is 226 years old this year and has quite a history too. It was owned by a few Sea Captains and by a Boston Doctor who used it as a summer home until he retired here in 1912. The Doc was one of the first nutritionists and was a respiratory pioneer. After he retired, he was an amateur magician. I found allot of flyers for magic shows etc.. I looked up a good bit of the history at the Historical (Histerical ;) ) Society down the road from me. Found some cool pix and a pre-projector type of card deal that is archived at the Uni of Maine. It's shows Doc Benedict giving a little garden tour around the grounds of "The Gables". It's done with a deck of card pictures and a light projector. They flick the cards to show the motion! Had to be right around the turn the 20th century. Pretty cool stuff to be found. Mine is also the "work in progress" for sure.

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Post by tsb » Mon. Jan. 16, 2012 3:04 pm

Not to be picky, but the Battle of Richmond was a Confederate victory. Grant went
through a lot of places, but Richmond wasn't one of them. I think he ended up near
Richmond.
Nice job on the steam heat. I look forward to the explanation of a steam system.
I understand the physics, but not the mechanics. Vents ? Is the circulation natural ?
Nice house too.

 
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Post by Townsend » Mon. Jan. 16, 2012 5:42 pm

Dang!!! I've been using that one for a while. Gotta change it to something more correct. Any recomendations for an appropriate town or city using Grant?

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Mon. Jan. 16, 2012 6:11 pm

Use Sherman to Atlanta.

 
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Post by LsFarm » Mon. Jan. 16, 2012 7:51 pm

I would LOVE to have an old photo of my place from 50,100,150 years ago !! When was photography first in use? around the 1860's ??

Steve, that was [and still is] a grand old house !! Any Idea how long ago the trees were cut down? Maybe when the road was paved?

Greg L

 
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Post by Dennis » Mon. Jan. 16, 2012 8:09 pm

Beautiful house. It's nice to see it wasn't all choped apart thru the years. I have never seen those balisters used as a yard fence,they certianly had style back in the day.

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Mon. Jan. 16, 2012 8:33 pm

LsFarm wrote:I would LOVE to have an old photo of my place from 50,100,150 years ago !! When was photography first in use? around the 1860's ??
IIRC in the late 1820s, 1850s it was common.


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