Coal Usage. How much is too much

Ash Bucket · Post by **Ash Bucket** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 10:01 pm

Hello everyone, ive been tinkering around with my EFM 700 for the past few months trying to get a good feed setting going. In this last cold snap at the beginning of January, I burned a ton in one week. Im heating about 2000 SQ ft. Its a duplex house, one side has less than stellar insulation (R board and vinyl siding over original wood siding) The windows are cheap MI junk that leak at an expected rate. In fact as i sit here typing this on my couch, i can feel a slight breeze from the window that is 12 inches behind my head. The other side has zero insulation with the exception of the bathroom i remodeled last Spring. The thermostat on the insulated side is set for 66 degrees all the time, the other side that is not used for hardly anything except the bathroom is set to 64 degrees. I started out burning a mix of buck and rice and i was just burning through it like crazy. This past week wasn't so bad as i was able to get 2 full weeks out of this load. I decided to switch over to just buck this time. my setting are currently 6 teeth and 4 air with a good pot of coal and ashes. Im just trying to get an idea of how much coal everyone else is burning. Im using my parents 2500 Sq Ft. house as a comparison. They have the thermostats set to 71 degrees year round and have only burned 5 ton since the end of October. Compared to my 4 ton since the beginning of December. There house is newer (built in 91') and is insulated well and sporting some Anderson windows. Let me know how much you guys are burning through and any suggestions/feedback you might have as far as helping me cut usage.

P.S. Im already planning on having insulation blown into the whole house this coming spring to hopefully prevent this next year.

freetown fred · Post by **freetown fred** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 10:11 pm

After reading that. I got nothing. Hopefully you'll have a warmer NEXT winter. Sorry.

Ash Bucket · Post by **Ash Bucket** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 10:23 pm

That was the answer i was hoping to not get. Im almost convinced that nothing will change until this house is better insulated. Tonight's supposed to be a cold one and its my first night burning the straight buck. 55 Gallon drum was filled at 7:00 P.M. Im curious to see what it will look like in the morning.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 10:39 pm

what is the feed rate set at?
the efm 700 can burn up to 30 pounds of coal an hour.
are there enough radiators in the house?
that 700 should be able to heat the outdoors.

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 10:40 pm

I heat 2 houses & DHW for both houses + heat a 30 x 40 block wall repair shop with an EFM520 in a truck box ..
I burn 20-22 tons/yr.

My house has what i believe are the same windows as yours....

Vinyl windows that leak something awful.... nothing to have a 5 mph breeze thru my kitchen.

BUT....

You are only heating your house enough to keep the pipes from freezing..... 64-66*

My house is @ 75*,as is the rental house, my shop is @ 70-72*

Post by **Lightning** » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 5:42 am

Ash Bucket wrote: ↑
Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 10:01 pm
In this last cold snap at the beginning of January, I burned a ton in one week. Im heating about 2000 SQ ft.

In my mind that is an obscene amount of coal for the amount of space you are heating. I weigh my coal and track it. At quick glance I used 650 pounds for that week heating 2400 square ft to 72 degrees with a hand fed furnace. My house is quite leaky too, I can feel cold spots from infiltration whenever it's below 20 degrees outside. Your are losing heat somewhere (were all the windows open?) or most of your ash bucket is unburned coal. That's all I got.

Freddy · Post by **Freddy** » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 6:01 am

Man-O-Man! That's a lot of coal. Before the sun sets I'd be getting plastic over the windows.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 6:01 am

i have burned a ton of coal in a week but i was heating a leaky 6,000 square foot old commercial building with a efm f-150 a alaska stoker and warm morning and kenmore hand feds. to 70 degrees......that was an expensive paint job!

Post by **coaledsweat** » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 7:03 am

Dat's a lotta coal!

Dave 1234 · Post by **Dave 1234** » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 7:09 am

AB, I have a slightly smaller EFM S-20 stoker under a boiler about the size of your 700. That said, I really like the 700's.

My house is very old , no insulation , two story, 3500 sq ft. And no protection from the wind.

During the cold snap it was -13 and steady wind for 6 days. I was burning about 150 lbs a day. at 70 deg.

........Are all the possible leaks sealed on the base to boiler and ash door ? Do you run a draft gauge hooked up 24-7 ?

Good luck
Dave

Ash Bucket · Post by **Ash Bucket** » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 2:22 pm

Thanks for all the replies. The feed rate is currently set at 6 teeth 4 air. I'm running steel element convectors. One in each room. No doubt it's comfortable when they are on. Draft is right at -.04 over the fire and holds consistent. It's a monoflow system with 1-1/4 headers around the basement. The boiler is currently not insulated but will be this weekend. A big concern of mine is that I've never been able to get a complete burn on the buck coal. I always end up having partially burnt coal in my Ash. When I try to compensate with either air or lowering the feed, my fire becomes too week and runs 24/7 to try to keep the place warm. Any ideas on that? And I also end up with a huge amount of fines when I run rice/buck mix. At this point I'm open to anything. Thanks again

Post by **Lightning** » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 3:34 pm

The only thing I could suggest to see where yer at with the unburned coal is to start weighing your coal in and ash out. Coal averages roughly 10% ash by weight.

Other than that, hopefully the EFM guys can help you get her tuned in.

Qtown1835 · Post by **Qtown1835** » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 3:41 pm

Ash Bucket wrote: ↑
Thu. Feb. 01, 2018 10:01 pm
In this last cold snap at the beginning of January, I burned a ton in one week. Im heating about 2000 SQ ft.

Yikes, is that a guesstmated 1 ton, or actual ton? At 285#/day that is a tremendous amount of BTU loss ~3,705,000BTU /day. Thankfully it wasnt #2
My guess is the boiler is not working properly. I would be interested to see what the supply and return temps are for your loop. EFM guys will be around shortly.

Post by **Rob R.** » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 3:55 pm

Welcome back.

That is a lot of coal for a house that size in PA. You will certainly burn more than a lot of other people if the house is as drafty as described, but I think there are some simple things to check that might help.

Draft is right at -.04 over the fire and holds consistent.

1. The draft should be -0.05" at the flue outlet. Check it in the first section of smoke pipe after the flue collar. The over-fire draft should be -0.01" to -0.02".

2. Make sure your baro is level, and does not stick open or closed.

3. Make sure your auger pipes are setup correctly. A gap between two pipes, or between the bin pipe and transfer head can cause grinding. Also, you should not have more than 2-3 flights of auger into the coal, and the inside of the bin pipe can not be excessively rusty or pitted.

4. If your 700 is a tube boiler, make sure the cast iron baffle is hanging in the top of the boiler.

5. Make sure you do not have any big air leaks in the base.

6. When the stoker runs for 20+ minutes, the fire should barely touch the inside of the ring around the pot. If it is larger than that, increase the air slightly. Make small adjustments, such as 1/2 a number, and give the fire a few hours to adjust before you repeat the evaluation.

coalnewbie · Post by **coalnewbie** » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 4:22 pm

I will burn about 22 tons this winter too. This farm is a mix of ag. buildings and old leaky houses. If I was aggressive in insulating perhaps I may take it down to 15 tons. So I would save $1000 a year. Nice savings that is for sure. I cost money at 10% and I prefer a ROI of 3-5 years. Just replacing the windows in the main house would cost me three times that. Don't become a solar type inductee and sign on for a 20 year payback - it will never happen. So make sure you stove is giving you all that it can, wind up the thermostat and burn baby burn.