Coalpail.com Forum

It's been a while since we did anything with the Van Wert. Since it is very cool and rainy, this morning I decided to fire it up to dry things out.

This will also give it some much needed exercise! The draft came right up to -.03 quickly. Everything still works perfectly. Still about 2 ton in the bin. We'll leave it run for now. Will probably shut it down tomorrow evening.

-Don

Today we shut down the Van Wert. The Axeman Anderson 130M in the garage is taking over DHW duty for this week. Looks like a little less than 2 ton left in the bin. 4116.0 - 4105.1 = 10.9 hours over the passed 7 days. 1.56 hours per day times 12.25 pounds per hour is 19.1 pounds per day.

Next week we will compare this 19.1 pounds per day for DHW only, to the Axeman 130M.

-Don

We've been working on the Axeman Anderson in the garage so last week I fired up the Van Wert for DHW duty. Still got quite a bit of rice coal to use. We will keep the Van Wert going until I get the Axeman plumbed back in.

-Don

Well it's been a little over a year since we installed this VA-600 and it has done everything we have asked of it. One thing that I never got around to doing was measuring the over fire draft (fire box draft). It has always maintained a chimney draft but it stays pretty low in the Summer, about -.03 after a long run.

Yesterday I finally got a piece of copper tubing, drilled a hole in the fire door and connected a hose to it. What I found is not good. The fire box goes positive when the stoker is running. I turned the air down to 3.5 from 5.5 to help things out a little. Over fire draft during a long period of idle, -.01. Not bad. Over fire draft after a few minutes of run time, +.01. Not good. After the stack temp gets to 300 degrees things improve a bit, .00. Eh, better than positive! Chimney draft with stack temp of 300 degrees, -.025. As we have stated before, the Van Wert does a little better job of taking the heat out of the chimney than the BairMatic boiler that was here before.

This is good for efficiency, but not good for chimney draft if you have a short chimney like mine. I have talked to a local mason about putting another 4 feet on top of this chimney.

He said he can do it but, he also said than my chimney is just a pile of bricks with a clay liner. There are no concrete blocks, just bricks so it might not be strong enough to hold an extra 4 feet. I think we will go for it, if it falls over, then we can build another one.

Meter reading, 4141.7 hours. Last reading was 4130.1. 11.6 hours over 10 days (I think?), 14.2 pounds per day. -Don

Don, the 100+ year old chimney in my house is just bricks and a clay liner...and it has an offset in the attic with 3" past the roofline. If your mason is worried about how high the chimney extends unsupported, add a brace.

Yes, he did suggest a brace. We were having a new roof put on at the time so the roofer built in a loop at the peak to connect guy wires.

Your 100 year old chimney is probably a bit thicker than this one. It is literally, only one brick deep.

-Don

Your 100 year old chimney is probably a bit thicker than this one. It is literally, only one brick deep.

Mine is the same.

Rob R. wrote: ↑

Mon. Jul. 16, 2018 5:38 am

Mine is the same.

OK, we will go with the 4 foot extension. Maybe we'll go 6 foot.




Meter reading, 4152.6 hours. Last reading was 4141.7, 10.9 hours over 6 days, 22.25 pounds per day. That's a bit high. The ashes are a bit un-burnt looking since we dropped the air to 3. Today I bumped it up to 4. I raked the coal up into a hump in the middle of the bin so the auger can chew on it for another week or so. -Don

It's been 10 days since we last looked at the Van Wert.

Meter reading, 4170.5 hours. Last reading was 4152.6, 17.9 hours over 10 days, 21.9 pounds per day. Still a bit high. Overfire draft is still on the positive side. I am hoping that the chimney extension will solve that problem. I raked some more coal over the auger. We should be good for a week or so. -Don

Don, is that 312 degrees I'm seeing on that gauge?

That's about right, a little over 310. About 5 minutes into the heat call.

-Don

StokerDon wrote: ↑

Tue. Jul. 31, 2018 8:43 pm

That's about right, a little over 310. About 5 minutes into the heat call.

-Don

Wow!

Isn't that gauge a barbeque gauge?????

Don, do you have a good rear mount triple gauge to replace it???

Guys, the gauge is on the flue pipe....not the boiler.

Lmao common guys...

I’m sure Larry was just suprised how hot the flue gasses are!