The Van Wert VA600 Project

StokerDon wrote: ↑

Sat. Jul. 08, 2023 9:08 am

What's an HP drain?

The condensate from the heat pump.

5 days running in "Heat Pump" mode. Time to switch out the condensate bucket!

For what it's worth, looks like about 3 gallons in 5 days. Interestingly, the manual shows that "Heat Pump" mode is NOT the most efficient. Apparently "Energy Saver" mode is more efficient and recovers faster. I don't even know how that is possible. I guess i'm gunna have to figure out how to test this. For now we're done taking ashes out of the basement until October. But now we have to carry out buckets of water.

-Don

So sad you've had to put the axe to bed for a few months. I'm sure you wipe its tears every night and give it the friendly wave every time you come in the garage. No one else could understand. Every other brand is just a servant, the axeman is a twoo fwend who never has bad intention or ill will, like a faithful hound dog

Like rob said I was just talking about the condensate drain, HP drain ie, Heat Pump drain.

Your controller doesn’t monitor Kw usage?I thought they all did.

Per the info on that page you provided, energy saver mode is more efficient because it turns on the one heating element if required, the other modes probably use the heating elements regardless.

hotblast1357 wrote: ↑

Mon. Jul. 10, 2023 6:02 am

Your controller doesn’t monitor Kw usage?I thought they all did.

The controller display is surprisingly limited. It doesn't even show the water temp, just the set point. There is probably more features available in the app if you connect it to the internet. That's not really an option here. The last thing I want is my water heater hogging up my limited bandwidth and data.

hotblast1357 wrote: ↑

Mon. Jul. 10, 2023 6:02 am

Per the info on that page you provided, energy saver mode is more efficient because it turns on the one heating element if required, the other modes probably use the heating elements regardless.

Yah, I saw that. I have a hard time believing that using the electric elements makes it cheaper to use.

First Electric Bill Is In!!!

Billing cycle 5/31 through 6/29 = 81898 kWh.
Billing cycle 6/29 through 7/31 = 82924 kWh.
We fired this unit up on 7/4. We used 1,311 kWh this billing cycle and 1,026 kWh last billing cycle. The bill was about $52 more this time. 285 more kWh this time.

This is not a very accurate way of measuring water heat usage since we're looking at the whole house usage, but it does give us and ideal. Keep in mind that July was hotter than June and it looks like this water heater is costing me less than $50 a month to run.

Early on I lowered the set point from 120 to 115. The water was actually a little too hot at 120. One thing that will kill the efficiency of this type of water heater is dust and dirt collecting on the condenser fins. My temporary solution to prevent this is adding a paper filter with some tape to help the internal filter. Eventually I would like to make something more permanent. In other news...

I replace the old, rusted out BoilerMate with the newer BoilerMate. Just the hot and cold lines for now. We'll do the boiler piping and the controller later. -Don

Sorry for the delay. Here are the results from August.

August - 793kWh used, $151.32
July - 1,311kWh used, $250.33
June (coal HW) - 1,026kWh used, $198.64

I should have the September bill in a week or so. As you can see from the numbers, we can't even tell that this HP water heater is even running. The AC load is by far the biggest factor in these readings and makes it impossible to pull water heater data out of them.

One thing is for sure, this is WAY better than my old electric water heater. Whenever I used the old electric water heater my bill would go up the whole time I used it.

-Don

Finished getting the Van Wert cleaned up and ready to fire. I pulled the rings out and had to wire brush some of them to get caked ash off of them. Cleaned out the pot and stuck the rings back in. Cleaned up the ash ring and high temp silicone a new rope gasket to it. Wire wheeled the three bolts that hold the ash ring on so the nuts turn nice and smooth. Installed them with lots of antiseize. Blew what little crap that was in there out the blow hole. Fitted some stove pipe to it and now it's ready! It will get fired sometime in the next few weeks once it cools off outside.

-Don

Last night it was time to fire it up!

It finally got cold enough for coal heat down here. I torched up the sticks and charcoal the have been sitting in the pot for over a week now. Turned the fan on. And watched the pretty fire. Still running Low & Slow settings. It took about 4 hours for it to get everything up to temp and finally shut down.

-Don

Nice! That's real purty! I love the glass door!

Thanks!

Time to start measuring some stuff. 1604.3 hours on the clock. A lot of ash and it's pretty heavy for 3 days worth. I think we're probably using a lot of coal heating the garage. Pushing heat to the little GJ boiler is driving the garage temp up to about 70. I have to figure out a way to thermostatically control the temp out there. Air set at 7.5. Gofer action. Current settings,

Feed Rate = 5.75 pounds per hour. (Rice coal, 2.0" drive pulley, 25 tooth auger sprocket).
Air = 7.5
Aquastat = LO = 160, HI = 190, DIFF = 10.
Timer = About 15 seconds every hour.

-Don

First week of running is in the books.

Pretty fire. 1667.8 - 1604.3 = 63.5 hours, 9.1 hours per day.
63.5 x 5.75 pounds per hour = 365.1 pounds, 52.2 pounds per day over the passed 7 days. 3 Pretty dern full ashpans for the past 10 days.
This is the worst part have the boiler in the basement. That Gofer has already put a big dent in the coal pile! Air at 7.5. Current settings,

Feed Rate = 5.75 pounds per hour. (Rice coal, 2.0" drive pulley, 25 tooth auger sprocket).
Air = 7.5
Aquastat = LO = 160, HI = 190, DIFF = 10.
Timer = About 15 seconds every hour.

-Don

:But Don, think of how much you are saving by not needing a gym membership.

7 more days in the book. 1735.3 - 1667.8 = 67.5 hours, 9.6 hours per day.
67.5 x 5.75 pounds per hour = 388.1 pounds, 55.4 pounds per day over the passed 7 days. More than 50 pounds per day is a bit high for this time of year and the ash has a bit more black in it than it should. I'll double check but I'm sure these are the same settings we ran for the past 2 years. And, It's Heavy! That Dern Gofer sure is Hungry! Current settings,

Feed Rate = 5.75 pounds per hour. (Rice coal, 2.0" drive pulley, 25 tooth auger sprocket).
Air = 7.5
Aquastat = LO = 160, HI = 190, DIFF = 10.
Timer = About 15 seconds every hour.

-Don

I checked back over the last 2 years of running the 2" motor pulley and the 25 tooth auger sprocket. We've run the Air setting at everything from 3.5 to 11.0. In the past, this type of weather we've had a little less stoker run time and a LOT LESS ash. Usually 1 pan per week, we are currently at 3 pans per week.

Something is not right. The air is the only setting we have played with over the past 2 years. Once we fire up the GJ out in the garage we'll open up the Van Wert and check things out. 1814.4 - 1735.3 = 79.1 hours, 11.3 hours per day.
79.1 x 5.75 pounds per hour = 454.8 pounds, 65.0 pounds per day over the passed 7 days. 80.5 pounds of ash, Wow!
17.7% Gofer action. Current settings,

Feed Rate = 5.75 pounds per hour. (Rice coal, 2.0" drive pulley, 25 tooth auger sprocket).
Air = 10.5
Aquastat = LO = 160, HI = 190, DIFF = 10.
Timer = About 15 seconds every hour.

-Don

I bet heating that GJ in the garage accounts for 1 of those buckets of ash...

I had 3 buckets of ash last week (Thursday night to Thursday night) but I am 100 or so miles north of you. It was cold and windy last week!