Axeman Anderson 1959 130M

Thank for the update. Wonder what the slow ashing speed will do.
i feel better now as i probably went through at least 150lbs per 24 hours. Will post a pic on my thread of how the gopher made a sinkhole in the coal bin. Will weigh it out tomorrow. Been cold here at 2deg last night.

Jkohanski wrote: ↑

Sun. Jan. 16, 2022 11:35 pm

Thanks for the update. Wonder what the slow ashing speed will do.

Probably just bring the amount of ashing hours closer to the amount of fan hours. Ashing has been a very consistent 51% to 52% for as long as we have been running these settings.

Let's find out! Over the past 7 days;
Fan reading, 1623.2 - 1568.4 = 54.8 hours of fan run time, 7.83 hours per day.
Ash reading, 912.3 - 881.9 = 30.4 hours of ashing, 4.34 hours per day, 55.5% of fan run time.
Hummm,, I thought the ashing would have gone up to 65% or 70%, I guess not! 43.5 pounds of ash. The Gofer is getting down pretty close to the auger now!
54.8 hours X 6.8? per hour = 372.64 pounds and 11.7% ash. That's pretty good! We're getting close to the point where we will see how well this partly sloped bin will work. Current settings,

Fan RPM = 1460 RPM (Stock AHS is 1725 RPM)
Auger speed = 4.31 RPM (Stock is 8.05 RPM)
Grate cycles per hour = 11.33 (Stock AHS is 34.18)
Pounds per hour = Estimated 6.8
Aquastat = 170*F (Inkbird), ON/OFF, Hysteresis = 5*
Anthrastat = 120*F (Inkbird), Hysteresis = 0.3*
Low flue temperature cut off = 160*F, Hysteresis = 0.1*

-Don

Is your fan speed the actual speed of the fan? Or is it the speed of the motor..

Lightning wrote: ↑

Sun. Jan. 23, 2022 7:35 pm

Is your fan speed the actual speed of the fan? Or is it the speed of the motor..

The Fan speed = 1460 RPM. The motor speed is the same as all 4 pole, 60Hz motors, 1725 RPM.

I still don't know how it equates to the Axeman fan. The AHS fan is the same dimensions but it has one more blade than the Axeman fan. I am guessing it moves more are than the Axeman fan. How much, who knows?

-Don

wow,that ash looks great. what a complete burn.

Today I added a new toy to my heating system. I was using an old Honeywell single aquastat to control the temperature in my heating loop. This controls the heat that gets to the radiators and radiant floor system. I run it at 110 to 120 degrees. The boiler system and DHW are separate and run at 170 degrees.

I pulled the aquastat and popped in one of my spare Inkbird digital temperature controllers. We'll see how well it works. The only advantage I can think of right now is the adjustable differential. The Honeywell was fixed at 10 degrees. I have the Inkbird set at 4 degrees.

Been Cold and Windy this week! Over the past 7 days;
Fan reading, 1688.2 - 1623.2 = 65.0 hours of fan run time, 9.29 hours per day.
Ash reading, 946.4 - 912.3 = 34.1 hours of ashing, 4.78 hours per day, 52.4% of fan run time. 49 pounds of ash. That Gofer has been VERY hungry this week.
65.0 hours X 6.8? per hour = 442.0 pounds and 11.1% ash.
The natural gravity feed down to the mouth of the auger needs a little help these days. That's the top of the Doghouse there. I shoveled the coal pile over from the left side. Current settings,

Fan RPM = 1460 RPM (Stock AHS is 1725 RPM)
Auger speed = 4.31 RPM (Stock is 8.05 RPM)
Grate cycles per hour = 11.33 (Stock AHS is 34.18)
Pounds per hour = Estimated 6.8
Aquastat = 170*F (Inkbird), ON/OFF, Hysteresis = 5*
Anthrastat = 120*F (Inkbird), Hysteresis = 0.3*
Low flue temperature cut off = 160*F, Hysteresis = 0.1*

-Don

You must be burning some very clean coal. My ash pan on the right side looks like you poured a giant jar of black pepper on top from all the fines. You know maybe that is not a horrible thing as the brilliant design of these Axeman's, my heat exchanger should be extremely clean!

I think that Don runs his fan slower which contributes to not so much pepper in his ash tub.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Mon. Jan. 31, 2022 3:40 pm

I think that Don runs his fan slower which contributes to not so much pepper in his ash tub.

Definitely a possibility!!
It may be a smart move to do an occasional high speed fan cycle to expel some fines. If they go in but not far enough to come out did the fines get burned up or settle out in the double pass somewhere?

McGiever wrote: ↑

Mon. Jan. 31, 2022 6:23 pm

It may be a smart move to do an occasional high speed fan cycle to expel some fines.

I agree, once I have the variable speed motor installed I already thought about running it fast occasionally for just that reason

swyman wrote: ↑

Mon. Jan. 31, 2022 7:04 am

You must be burning some very clean coal. My ash pan on the right side looks like you poured a giant jar of black pepper on top from all the fines. You know maybe that is not a horrible thing as the brilliant design of these Axeman's, my heat exchanger should be extremely clean!

Yah, I guess this load is pretty clean, no pepper here. Over at the Axeman Heats Wood Boiler project there is some pepper on top of the ash. We get our coal from the same place, I guess his load has more fines.

-Don

With all this talk on the forum lately about Van Werts I decided this afternoon to shut down the Axeman and run the Van Wert in the basement for a while. Over the past 5 days;
Fan reading, 1730.6 - 1688.2 = 42.4 hours of fan run time, 8.48 hours per day.
Ash reading, 969.2 - 946.4 = 22.8 hours of ashing, 4.56 hours per day, 53.8% of fan run time. 30 pounds of ash with just a little bit of Pepper on the side. I heard the Gofer packing up today. I guess he's moving to the basment.
42.4 hours X 6.8? per hour = 288.3 pounds and 10.4% ash. Current settings,

Fan RPM = 1460 RPM (Stock AHS is 1725 RPM)
Auger speed = 4.31 RPM (Stock is 8.05 RPM)
Grate cycles per hour = 11.33 (Stock AHS is 34.18)
Pounds per hour = Estimated 6.8
Aquastat = 170*F (Inkbird), ON/OFF, Hysteresis = 5*
Anthrastat = 120*F (Inkbird), Hysteresis = 0.3*
Low flue temperature cut off = 160*F, Hysteresis = 0.1*

Moving over to the Van Wert VA-600 thread!
-Don

Oh, I forgot. Here's the Video!

Well, I guess I'll never figure out these Axeman's.

I shut this one down yesterday morning. Blocked the chimney with an old shirt after I thought it went out. This morning while I was in the garage I faintly smelled coal gas. Later in the afternoon, I smelled it again. I put my hand on the transfer head and it was very warm! Turns out we still have a fire going in there! This evening It still smelled so I took the block off shirt out and ran the fan. After about 5 minutes we had flames.

I don't know when this thing is going to really go out.
-Don

Good fire depth there SD!