Axeman Anderson 1959 130M

Off the top of my head it sounds like you burn less coal than I do in my hand fired Chubby cranking to heat about 1800sqft. The Axeman seems very efficient. How does it compare to the Ven Wert?

ASea wrote: ↑

Mon. Feb. 18, 2019 12:25 pm

How does it compare to the Ven Wert?

Amazingly, in my house, IF my math and ash weight vs coal estimates are all correct, There is no comparison!

I have run a few different types of boilers in my house and this one is using half the coal of any of the others. I'm still having a hard time believing this.

My working theory of why this is working so well is the fact that the way the Axeman is designed, you can significantly lower the BTUH output of the boiler without running into problems with the fire. This one is currently putting out in the 45,000 to 60,000 BTUH range. Less than half of the advertised output. -Don

The auger motor ran for 21.9 hours over the past 4 days. We'll do the ashes in a couple days. 21.9 hours times 5 pounds per hour is 109.5 pounds of coal in 4 days, 27.375 pounds per day.

That 27.375 pounds per day is a little deceiving. Since the Axeman has been running so well, it has become a bit boring. Over the weekend I fired up the Harman furnace. On wood at first, I wasn't THAT bored, so I switched it over to coal for the rest of the weekend.
Post by StokerDon - Harman SF3500 Bricked Down
This little diversion significantly reduced the run time on the Axeman over 3 of the 4 days.

Current settings, no changes.

Anthrastat = 135
Fan RPM = 1725 (Stock is 2875 RPM)
Ashing = 3 Teeth
Auger speed = 1.725 RPM (Stock is 8.05 RPM)
6.21 grate cycles per hour, about 5 pounds per hour
Aquastat = 170

-Don

I shot some more video of the Axeman and went over the the fuel mileage, how well it's currently running and a brief description of what we learned to get where we are now.


-Don

Don, I think you have me beat for boiler efficiency now. Great work!!!

Perhaps I should think about trying to slow down my fan.

lsayre wrote: ↑

Thu. Feb. 21, 2019 7:40 pm

Don, I think you have me beat for boiler efficiency now. Great work!!!

Perhaps I should think about trying to slow down my fan.

Thanks Larry. Your fuel mileage figures are one of the main things that kept me on this journey. Now that I finally have our coal usage down close to what we were when using my hand fired furnace, I'm pretty happy.

Do you know what speed your fan currently runs at?

-Don

StokerDon wrote: ↑

Thu. Feb. 21, 2019 7:56 pm

Do you know what speed your fan currently runs at?

-Don

I know my motor is 1725 RPM, but I don't know my pulley sizes, since they are under a protective shroud. Next time I do a tear down and cleaning I will need to check this. All it needs for 1725 is for both pulleys to be the same size, right?

Yup! Probably 3" each.

Another 6 days has past, time to weigh some ash. 32.5 pounds. The auger motor ran for 34.9 hours over 6 days, 174.5 pounds, 5.8 hours per day, 29.08 pounds per day.

32.5 pounds of ash at 18% is 180.555 pounds, 30.09 pounds per day.

174.5 vs. 180.555 is less than 4% off. Not bad. Current settings, no changes.

Anthrastat = 135
Fan RPM = 1725 (Stock is 2875 RPM)
Ashing = 3 Teeth
Auger speed = 1.725 RPM (Stock is 8.05 RPM)
6.21 grate cycles per hour, about 5 pounds per hour
Aquastat = 170

-Don

OK, enough of the clock! This 6 day tending cycle is reeking havoc with our run time measurements because the clock only covers 12 hours. Then I have to keep track of how many times it went around. Since we are not going to fire up a basement boiler this year, I moved the hour meter to the Axeman. Now it will be easy to measure run time.

-Don

Good move Don!

OK, we are going to try 7 day tending. Now that the hour meter is installed it will be a simple task to calculate auger run time and coal used.

Start reading is 4314.4 with a fresh ash pan. I shoved the coal over from the right side of the bin to make a good sized mound over the auger. This morning, I came out to a large Gofer hole and I could see the shiny end of the auger down at the bottom! Hopefully that will keep the beast fed for a couple weeks.

-Don

I switch out ash tubs with roughly every 285 to 300 lbs. of coal burned. I could push then further, but then they get too heavy. As it is, I'd call them roughly 2/3 full on average.

Well,,,, It doesn't look like we will make it 7 days. That pan is just about full. We will change it tomorrow. That will make it 6 days, not bad. It ran for 41.1 hours so far. We'll do the ash and math tomorrow.

-Don

We made it 6 days instead of 7 like we had hoped. Time to see how much coal we used and how much ash we spit out. 4363.5 on the meter. That's one full ash pan. The pan and the chain weigh 9.5 pounds so that's 45 pounds of ash. The auger motor ran for 49.0 hours over 6 days, 245.0 pounds, 8.17 hours per day, 40.85 pounds per day.

45 pounds of ash at 18% is 250.0 pounds, 41.67 pounds per day.

245.0 vs. 250.0 is less than 2% off. Pretty dern good!

Current settings, no changes.

Anthrastat = 135
Fan RPM = 1725 (Stock is 2875 RPM)
Ashing = 3 Teeth
Auger speed = 1.725 RPM (Stock is 8.05 RPM)
6.21 grate cycles per hour, about 5 pounds per hour
Aquastat = 170

-Don