The Van Wert VA600 Project

 
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hotblast1357
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Stoker Coal Boiler: 1984 Eshland S260 coal gun
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Other Heating: air source heat pump, oil furnace

Post by hotblast1357 » Mon. Nov. 20, 2017 6:24 pm



 
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hotblast1357
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Stoker Coal Boiler: 1984 Eshland S260 coal gun
Coal Size/Type: Lehigh anthracite pea
Other Heating: air source heat pump, oil furnace

Post by hotblast1357 » Mon. Nov. 20, 2017 6:31 pm

Sorry for hijacking the thread don! Should of done this on my thread.

 
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lsayre
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Stoker Coal Boiler: AHS S130 Coal Gun
Coal Size/Type: Lehigh Anthracite Pea
Other Heating: Resistance Boiler (13.5 KW), ComfortMax 75

Post by lsayre » Mon. Nov. 20, 2017 6:31 pm

https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-sta ... 20/mcustom

(65-33.8) x 20 = 624 HDD's

950/624 = 1.52 lbs. per HDD

 
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StokerDon
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Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 9:24 am

hotblast1357 wrote:
Mon. Nov. 20, 2017 6:31 pm
Sorry for hijacking the thread don! Should of done this on my thread.
No problem HB, more information is better in my opinion. Thank's for bringing it up, maybe now I will actually figure out this heating degree day thing!

-Don

 
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hotblast1357
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Stoker Coal Boiler: 1984 Eshland S260 coal gun
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Other Heating: air source heat pump, oil furnace

Post by hotblast1357 » Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 4:56 pm

I still have yet to figure out and understand it! Lol

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 7:01 pm

Basically HDDs are the number of degrees the average outdoor temperature is under 65 degrees. So for example, if the high for the day is 35 and the low for the day is 25, then the average temperature for that day is of course 30 degrees. Then you subtract 30 from 65 to get 35. So the HDDs for that day are 35. You had to add 35 degrees to your house to make it at least 65 degrees. So you can divide your coal usage to see how much coal was required to acquire each one of the heated degrees in your house.

It's good for checking the efficiency of your heating system between low and high heating demands.

Maybe Larry will come along to see if I did that right lol

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 7:04 pm

What's neat about that is you also can factor in square footage of space being heated and see who has the tightest house and most efficient heating system hahaha


 
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windyhill4.2
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Post by windyhill4.2 » Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 7:09 pm

What happens when someone actually heats their house to 75* ? instead of just warming it to 65* ? Does that change the whole formula ?

 
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lsayre
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Other Heating: Resistance Boiler (13.5 KW), ComfortMax 75

Post by lsayre » Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 7:31 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote:
Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 7:09 pm
What happens when someone actually heats their house to 75* ? instead of just warming it to 65* ? Does that change the whole formula ?
No, the formula doesn't change, nor does it need to. The formula does not specify a temperature to keep your house at. It merely implies that it is doubtful that you will need to add heat to it if the average outside temperature for the past 24 hours was 65 degrees.

 
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hotblast1357
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Other Heating: air source heat pump, oil furnace

Post by hotblast1357 » Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 7:35 pm

So then how does that formula mean anything?

If its 30 outside, and I heat my house to 72, but my neighbor heats his house to 80, he is going to burn to burn more coal.

So how can we compare our usages by HDD’s if we don’t all heat our house to the same temperature?

 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 7:43 pm

hotblast1357 wrote:
Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 7:35 pm
So then how does that formula mean anything?

If its 30 outside, and I heat my house to 72, but my neighbor heats his house to 80, he is going to burn to burn more coal.

So how can we compare our usages by HDD’s if we don’t all heat our house to the same temperature?
For apples to apples you have to account for the 8 extra HDD's your neighbor is heating to every day. But the maximum benefit is in being able to predict how many lbs. of coal you will personally burn every 3-4 future days (or even every single day).

 
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StokerDon
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. Nov. 26, 2017 7:29 pm

Meter reading today was, 3617.8 - 3587.3 = 30.5 hours over the passed 7 days, 4.36 hours per day, times 12.25 pound per hour = 53.375 pounds per day. It's been on the cold side this week, coal consumption is creeping up to Winter level.
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Mid-week I did some one armed wiring. I installed a relay to operate the pump. This runs the pump on a heat call regardless of the LO limit on the aquastat. I was just curious to see how this would work. There isn't anything in my system that requires 180 degree water so it's worth a try.
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A couple weeks ago this was sticking out of the ashes in the ash pan. Looks like it is either copper or aluminum tape? I have no idea how it got there, it's pretty burnt up so it must have gone through the firepot.
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The gofer is at it again!
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It's about time for a cleaning. The left side of the fire is always brighter than the right. I think this is caused by ash build up between the rings. When I had those out fires a few months ago, I just reached in and scooped coal and ash out with my gloved hand. This probably forced ash/fines into the gaps.
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-Don

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Nov. 26, 2017 8:08 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote:
Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 7:09 pm
What happens when someone actually heats their house to 75* ? instead of just warming it to 65* ? Does that change the whole formula ?
The equation does not change, but one of the variables does. The difference between the inside and outside temperature if what the degree days # is from. Higher inside temperature = more degree days.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Nov. 26, 2017 8:10 pm

StokerDon wrote:
Sun. Nov. 26, 2017 7:29 pm


Mid-week I did some one armed wiring. I installed a relay to operate the pump. This runs the pump on a heat call regardless of the LO limit on the aquastat. I was just curious to see how this would work. There isn't anything in my system that requires 180 degree water so it's worth a try.
IMG_1804.JPG

-Don
No armored cable, no outlet cover...you are an outlaw.

I run my circulators without regard to the boiler temperature also. Occasionally it may get dragged down to 140 degrees, but it does not stay there long.

 
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StokerDon
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Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Sun. Dec. 03, 2017 6:56 pm

Rob R. wrote:
Sun. Nov. 26, 2017 8:10 pm
I run my circulators without regard to the boiler temperature also. Occasionally it may get dragged down to 140 degrees, but it does not stay there long.
This one seems to be going down to about 125. Then in fairly short order it heads back up to 160.

Meter reading today was, 3646.8 - 3617.8 - = 29.0 hours over the passed 7 days, 4.14 hours per day, times 12.25 pound per hour = 50.75 pounds per day. Still cold this past week.
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Gofer action.
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4 days worth of ash.
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That's it for this week. I finally got my arm out of the sling! Then I found out my ligaments had shrunk. Now I have to work on getting my full range of motion back.

-Don


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