The Bairmatic - Van Wert Project

I think we are going to have low coal usage for at least the next week. Weather Underground is showing highs of about 50 degrees every day for the foreseeable future.

What the heck happened to Winter?

-Don

These are the readings as of yesterday. My internet service was knocked out for a couple days, again.

Meter reading yesterday was, 2815.9 - 2775.8 = 40.1 hours, 5.7 hours per day over the past 7 days. 63 pounds per day average.
I turned the feed rate up one half a turn, via the motor split pulley. this is in between 11 pounds and 12.5 pounds per hour. We'll call it 12 pounds per hour just to make it easy. I turned the air up to 6 yesterday. When I got home tonight there was a lot of black, unburnt coal on top of the pot. I turned the air up to 8. We'll see how that goes. Raked the coal bin. Looks like this will be an every 2 week thing. -Don

Meter reading today was, 2843.9 - 2815.9 = 28.0 hours, 4.0 hours per day over the past 7 days. 48 pounds per day average.
Idle fire. After some adjustments over the week, we ended up with an air setting of 7.5. This gives a 1 to 2 inch ash ring on long heat calls. With the stoker only running about 4 hours a day, I think we got it right! Gofer action. Still no need to dig into the reserve bin. -Don

Hey Don. How are you liking the heat from the radiators? You are all radiator powered now right? How does that type of heat compare to the heat from the air handler?

The radiators and radiant floor in the bathroom are awesome! I won't be going back to the coil in the ductwork thing.

Radiators look awesome to! -Don

Wasn't the big radiator in your garage capable of keeping it warm or did you fire the garage boiler just to hear it run too ??

Don, if I ever decide that I want radiators, I'm coming to your house. There seem to be a few spares in that inventory.

windyhill4.2 wrote:Wasn't the big radiator in your garage capable of keeping it warm or did you fire the garage boiler just to hear it run too ??

Sure it's capable of heating the garage and it is. The GJ/EFM is just helping a little!

lsayre wrote:Don, if I ever decide that I want radiators, I'm coming to your house. There seem to be a few spares in that inventory.

I have a little problem with hobbies. Once I get one thing, I feel the need to get another, and another, ect...

Good thing cars aren't my hobby anymore, they took up a LOT more space!

-Don

StokerDon wrote:The radiators and radiant floor in the bathroom are awesome! I won't be going back to the coil in the ductwork thing.

There is nothing else in the world quite like setting your tushy on a warm (hot) radiator on a miserable cold day, that's one thing ya can't do with a stove...

Meter reading today was, 2881.9 - 2843.9 = 38.0 hours, 5.4 hours per day over the past 7 days. 65 pounds per day average.
It's been 2 weeks, time to rake the coal bin! At this point I'm pretty sure this coal will last through March without dipping into the reserve bin. I think that would be very good coal consumption, July to April on 5.5 to 6.0 tons of rice coal.

-Don

Meter reading today was, 2918.4 - 2881.9 = 36.5 hours, 5.2 hours per day over the past 7 days. 62.6 pounds per day average.
Thursday night I changed the aquastat from LO = 140, HI = 160 to LO = 160, HI = 180. Just to see what would happen. The only thing that I have noticed is the basement is a little warmer. Used about 2.4 pound per day less than last week but that could have been due to the weather.

I just changed it back to LO = 140, HI = 160 again.

-Don

Meter reading today was, 2954.8 - 2918.4 = 36.4 hours, 5.2 hours per day over the past 7 days. 62.6 pounds per day average. Very mild weather this weekend, earlier in the week there were lows in the mid 20's
I did some bin raking. We're raking up hill now. In about a month I think it will be time to put the barrel back in. -Don

Did ya dampen the coal a bit before taking it? I've noticed a big difference.

Olllotj wrote:Did ya dampen the coal a bit before taking it? I've noticed a big difference.

No, I didn't. One of my future projects will be to install a hose bib in the basement by the bin. After that, I will install the "Beer Opener" option like you have on yours!

-Don

Meter reading today was, 2980.4 - 2954.8 = 25.6 hours, 3.7 hours per day over the past 7 days. 43.9 pounds per day average.

Very mild weather this week, A lot of hi temps in the 50's and 60's with a couple 70's. We even had a big thunderstorm with some big hail. About 25 mile north of here there was a tornado!!! Today, it chilled back to normal, but that won't last long. Coal bin raking is now a once a week thing. I pulled the cross support chains out today so I can get in there. -Don