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Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Sun. Dec. 22, 2013 10:06 am
by StokerDon
Many thanks Wood'nCoal for the info on the timer. Since the first part of this project is an experiment, I will ues the S400 timer. I don't think I will be running it this summer for DHW. When it goes in the basement in the fall, maybe I will look into controling the whole system with a micro-controler and software.

Thank you,

-Don

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Sun. Dec. 22, 2013 10:14 am
by coalkirk
StokerDon wrote:
coalkirk wrote:I don't know a thing about Yellow Flame stokers but someone here does and will help you. Glad to hear I'm partially responsible for you getting the stoker boiler bug. I'm sure once you get it up and running you will never look back. Congrats!!
Thanks coalkirk,

I will invite you over when I get it running. Woodhog wants to come over to see it while its still in pieces. I tried to talk him into the boiler thing, but he went with hot air and he's happy with it.

-Don
Can't wait to see it in action. I'm bringing the beer!

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Sun. Dec. 22, 2013 10:19 am
by CoalHeat
Rob R. wrote:
Wood'nCoal wrote:PM with timer instructions sent.
I would be suspect of the other controls, particularly the aquastat, but if the timer works properly why not use it? Save a little $$$. I installed a new aquastat on the EFM, but my timer was new old stock so I went with it.
30 minute timers don't mix well with inclined bed stokers. Good coal and draft are must haves if a 30 minute cycle is used, and you can forget burning buck in the summer with a 30 minute cycle.
Good point!
Forgot it was an inclined bed stoker.

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Sun. Dec. 22, 2013 10:32 am
by StokerDon
Wood'nCoal wrote:
Rob R. wrote: 30 minute timers don't mix well with inclined bed stokers. Good coal and draft are must haves if a 30 minute cycle is used, and you can forget burning buck in the summer with a 30 minute cycle.
Good point!
Forgot it was an inclined bed stoker.
Well, That may be the case, but the guy I bought this from said he used the S400 in the summer burning rice coal. In the winter, he un hooked the S400 and burned buck coal. He ran it this way for 30 years. I'm planning on burning rice, I don't think buck is available from my coal guy, I will find out though.

-Don

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Sun. Dec. 22, 2013 11:52 am
by Hambden Bob
Don,at least you can't call me a liar on this one! :lol: I had a feeling you were going to get some Great Help with your Yellow Flame Project,and man,is it starting to snowball in your favor! I'm seeing the excitement come right out of the woodwork on this one. I knew the Coalburner Alliance was going to show ! Keep posting,and as a Wise Old Sage here once said:"As you Burn,So You Shall Learn" ! :up: :yes:

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Sun. Dec. 22, 2013 1:44 pm
by StokerDon
You are right Bob,

I went out yearlier and picked up some wirewheels for the grinder and some paint. I wirewheeled off the top of the boiler and sprayed some paint on it, just to see what it will look like. I think after lunch I will do the base and hopfuly get it painted today. Then, I will flip the boiler on it's side and do a scrape and vacum. I don't think I should paint the inside, It will just burn off I think. I will post pics tonite or tomorrow.

I gotta get to work!

-Don

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Sun. Dec. 22, 2013 2:21 pm
by whistlenut
Wire brushes and wire wheels require goggles or safety glasses.......high temp paint is not necessary. Careful on the pusher arms and mounts because they have been stuck in that position for 40 years. DO NOT play gorilla on anything that can break. Penetrating oil and/or heat works the best and burning penetrating oil sure stinks up the shop. Rob is correct about the need for a 15 minute timer cycle. Sure, you could eliminate it in the winter, but much safer to have one hooked up. Depending upon your lifestyle, you may want to get domestic off the boiler.......
I assume you have Joe's number?

I don't know how rugged you are, but how did you load the boiler blank alone???? .......into a pickup bed????? Do you eat lunch with Chuck Norris every day?!!?
Santa will need to be careful not to burn his butt at your house next year......

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Sun. Dec. 22, 2013 9:49 pm
by Rick 386
whistlenut wrote: I don't know how rugged you are, but how did you load the boiler blank alone???? .......into a pickup bed????? Do you eat lunch with Chuck Norris every day?!!?
Santa will need to be careful not to burn his butt at your house next year......
I did notice an engine hoist sitting behind the boiler in the truck.

But maybe he and Chuck do indeed lift weights together.......................

Rick

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Mon. Dec. 23, 2013 5:17 am
by blrman07
I ran a Yellow Flame three grate boiler for almost 5 years in a foreclosed house we bought in Trevorton Pa. I heated a huge 7 bedroom, three bath wind tunnel of a house and burned 8+ tons a year for the first three years. We kept the living room at 74 and the bedrooms at 70 with hot water cast iron radiators in every room in the house. I burned rice coal from Lenig coal. I tried some buck but it didn't really like it so I stuck with rice. I tried the original UAE which was OK but the Lenig coal was cheaper. I also tried some CHEAP rice coal and paid a bigger price as it was so dirty and full of fines I had to screen it before I could use it. I ended up throwing about 1/4 ton in the driveway for non-skid. Beware of cheap coal!!!!

I stripped all the original controls and wiring and redid everything. I put in a new aquastat, had a second high limit trip for the stoker, a rebuilt intermatic 60 minute cycle timer and pump relays. I had to replace at least one grate about every two years due to warping. I had a spare gear box and spare drive couplings from Marks Supply in Shenandoah Pa. The rubber drive couplings and the grates are about the only thing you really can't make yourself. Get a spare and keep it on hand.

I took it apart twice a year for cleaning and maintenance. Over the Fourth of July and over the Thanksgiving weekends. One of the side plates on the burner burned and cracked so I put a strap of 3/4 inch thick steel on the outside of the plate and drilled two holes in the side plates and bolted the strap on the side plate. No problem. This boiler is a tank and will keep burning until it rusts completely away in maybe another 75 years. It's welded steel construction which is repairable. The stoker assembly has a fines cleanout lever right below the grates that you should open about once a month depending on how dirty your coal is.

As I rebuilt and repaired the house I insulated and stopped the air leaks. The house was built on a hill so the front entrance came directly to the main floor and the basement was a walk-in. The biggest one was a part of the basement floor which was wood and up on piers. The fresh air intake for the boiler was a grate in the rear sidewalk that went to a very shallow crawl space that ended at the boiler room with another grate in the base of the boiler room wall. All winter that floor was frigid. I blocked that off and put a fresh air duct from a window right above the boiler. That move alone dropped our usage from 8 tons to 6 tons. By the time we sold the house and moved I had the coal usage down to around 5 1/2 tons. I had a coal bunker room right next to the boiler that held 8 1/2 tons no problem.

We used the boiler 24/7 and always had enough hot water to satisfy Momma and the daughter-in-law and son that also lived with us. I ran the triple aquastat at 140-160-210 during the summer and when it got really cold (teens to single digits) I bumped it to 160-180-210. If we were going to do laundry and do showers during the summer, I would go down and move the aquastat from 140-160 to 160-180 at least an hour before and let it start cranking. No problem.

Enjoy your Yellow Flame. It's not sexy, it isn't really appealing. It was a simple grey box and you aren't required to tend it on a regular basis. Just fill the hopper with rice coal and take out the ashes every two days and it will probably outlive you!

Rev. Larry

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Mon. Dec. 23, 2013 9:05 pm
by StokerDon
Rick 386 wrote:
whistlenut wrote: I don't know how rugged you are, but how did you load the boiler blank alone???? .......into a pickup bed????? Do you eat lunch with Chuck Norris every day?!!?
Santa will need to be careful not to burn his butt at your house next year......
I did notice an engine hoist sitting behind the boiler in the truck.

But maybe he and Chuck do indeed lift weights together.......................

Rick
Darn!,

I was going to tell everyone how I picked this boiler up all by myself and set it in the back of the truck, but Rick ratted me out.
Sharp eyes there Rick. It was a fairly easy pic with the engine hoist. The boiler was at street level under an overhang. I was able to get the engine hoist in behind the boiler, rigged it, picked it up. Then used a pry bar to move the whole thing out into the street. lifted the boiler up nice & high, backed the truck underneath and let it down.
This thing is sireously heavy. after I got home and unloaded, I noticed that the frame of the engine hoist was racked. I'll have to loosen the all the bolts and see if I can straiten it out.

-Don

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Mon. Dec. 23, 2013 9:29 pm
by StokerDon
Here's an update,

The base is cleaned up and painted. Today I cleaned up the inside of the boiler by just scraping for a few hours. I don't like to go down to bear metal on the inside. Steel and cast iron seem to devlope a skin that is tougher than the bear metal.
YellowFlameCleanup 001.JPG
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YellowFlameCleanup 005.JPG

rear baffle

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I didn't do a very good job of scraping up in that rear baffle. I couldn't get anything up there, I got some of the scale off though.

Here it is, ready for paint. I painted all the welds first.
YellowFlameCleanup 013.JPG

ready for paint

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ready for paint

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ready for paint

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-Don

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Mon. Dec. 23, 2013 9:36 pm
by CoalHeat
Progress!!!
:D :)

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Mon. Dec. 23, 2013 11:19 pm
by Hambden Bob
You're on it ! Carry On,Santa ! :clap:

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Wed. Dec. 25, 2013 8:04 pm
by Vampiro
Congrats and good luck on your boiler. The best feeling is a successful light off.

Re: Yellow Flame, A Christmas Stoker Boiler

Posted: Wed. Dec. 25, 2013 9:47 pm
by StokerDon
I hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas.

OK, as of now, I have the base cleaned and painted and the boiler cleaned and painted. Tomrorrow will be cleaning and painting of the doors, frames and the hopper. After that, the stoker mech. The next big thing looming is the plumbing. I have a good idea how to plum this thing , but I need help with some of the details.
For now the boiler will be in the garage. I plan to run insulated PEX up into the garage attic, then down into the basement to a heat exchanger that I will put in the hot air duct. Also I will have a Modine type heat exchanger with a blower hanging in the garage. Now the questions.

1) The boiler is about 100KBTU or so, if I put a 100KBTU exchanger in the duct and a 50KBTU in the garage, will the boiler handle it? Can I put a 100KBTU in the garage?

2) PEX sizing. The supply on this boiler looks like 1.25" and the return is 1.5", can I run 2x1.25" PEX through the attic? Or do I need 2x1.5"?

3) Can I run 1 circ pump at the boiler return? Or do I need 2?

4) Do I need check valve or valves?

5) Do I need to run a boiler bypass?

6) What would be a good place for air bleeds in this crazy system that goes up through the attic?

Thank you all for your help. I need to figure this out so I can order parts tomorrow. I would very much like to get this boiler fired in the next week and a half. After the painting is done I will post more pics.

Thank you,

Don