Axeman Anderson 1959 130M

Were into September now. The 1959 Axeman has run strait through Summer with no problems at all for the first time! Over the past 7 days;
Fan reading, 2528.9 - 2512.5 = 16.4 hours of fan run time, 2.34 hours per day. Less ash this week. Where did all the coal go? 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 = 15.11 (Stock AHS is 34.18)
Pounds per hour = Estimated ??
Aquastat = 165*F (Inkbird), ON/OFF, Hysteresis = 5*
Anthrastat = 110*F (Inkbird), Hysteresis = 0.3*
Low flue temperature cut off = 150*F, Hysteresis = 0.1*

-Don

Not felling the Fall Weather yet. We're probably 4 weeks away from it. Over the past 7 days;
Fan reading, 2546.4 - 2528.9 = 17.5 hours of fan run time, 2.50 hours per day. Still got some coal left. 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 = 15.11 (Stock AHS is 34.18)
Pounds per hour = Estimated ??
Aquastat = 165*F (Inkbird), ON/OFF, Hysteresis = 5*
Anthrastat = 110*F (Inkbird), Hysteresis = 0.3*
Low flue temperature cut off = 150*F, Hysteresis = 0.1*

-Don

COAL DELIVERY!!! We had 2.2 to 2.5 ton left in the bin. We managed to stuff 3.2 ton more in there so we should be good for the Winter. Got it for $345 a ton because I ordered it 2.5 moths ago. It's $380 and ton now.

Here is some coal delivery action!


-Don

Fall officially starts in the coming week and we are ready! Over the past 7 days;
Fan reading, 2565.1 - 2546.4 = 18.7 hours of fan run time, 2.64 hours per day. Ash doesn't look as bad as it did the past few weeks and there doesn't seem to be as much of it. We are full up to the top of the bin! That's close to 8 feet high.
I don't see him but I know that Gofer is in there somewhere! 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 = 15.11 (Stock AHS is 34.18)
Pounds per hour = Estimated ??
Aquastat = 165*F (Inkbird), ON/OFF, Hysteresis = 5*
Anthrastat = 110*F (Inkbird), Hysteresis = 0.3*
Low flue temperature cut off = 150*F, Hysteresis = 0.1*

-Don

Could you control the ashing solely based off flue temp?

hotblast1357 wrote: ↑

Sun. Sep. 18, 2022 8:53 pm

Could you control the ashing solely based off flue temp?

In my opinion no. Ashing will halt if it gets too warm underneath the boiler. If it's only cued from exhaust temp, the fire would be allowed to burn right down to the ash sled, if the ashing speed was set fast enough.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Sun. Sep. 18, 2022 9:35 pm

In my opinion no. Ashing will halt if it gets too warm underneath the boiler. If it's only cued from exhaust temp, the fire would be allowed to burn right down to the ash sled, if the ashing speed was set fast enough.

I don’t have a ashing speed variable, just on or off.. I am doing some rewiring before the season and was thinking about adding a flue temp controller, but don’t know if it’s worth it, your all just wired before your ashing power so that it can NOT ash unit you see secondary gasses burning correct?

Actually, I use 2 sensors for ashing. The sensor on the ash area keeps the ashing halted if it's too warm underneath the boiler. This is needed for long runs when the grate gets hot, it will halt ashing. The other sensor is in the exhaust stream, it keeps ashing halted until the flue gasses reach a particular temperature, I have it set at 220. This prevents it from dumping fresh coal on if while the fire is weak, until it gets burning a little. A side benefit of the exhaust sensor is that if the fire goes out it won't keep dumping raw coal into the ash tub. I think this what Don uses his exhaust sensor for. IIRC, he sets his around 160.

I just have one sensor to initiate the ashing, mine has never stopped ashing during a aquastat run, but it’s probably because my boiler is way oversized.

I've only seen mine halt ashing during a combination run under extreme circumstances, like filling the hot tub for example..

hotblast1357 wrote: ↑

Sun. Sep. 18, 2022 8:53 pm

Could you control the ashing solely based off flue temp?

With the controls that this Axeman has on it right now, yes. But why would you want too? The flue temp is not related to how much ash is on the bottom of the fire.

-Don

Well, after 10 months of running we ran into a problem last Sunday night. I was out in the kitchen just before bed time and I could hear the Axeman running. Normally I can't.

I went into the garage to see what was going on and I could hear the fan brushing against something. I shut it off and went to bed. The next day after work I pulled the fan assembly off to have a good look.

I found that the pillow block bearing closest to the fan had a little bit of play in it. That is very strange because I put new pillow block bearings on it earlier this year to try to cure a rattling noise. So I pulled them off to have a look at the shaft.

As it turns out, the rattling noise was the worn out shaft rattling inside the bearing. I don't know why I didn't notice this when I replaced the bearings. I've always had trouble keeping the set screws in that rear bearing tight. I guess the vibration was rattling them loose.

After all that I quickly slapped together an Axeman fan, combination mount and motor assembly. Did a quick swirled chamber clean out, put it together and fired it up. I called AHS yesterday and ordered a new fan shaft. It should be here next week sometime.

-Don

Very nice Don! Love that coal bin and the loading video. Those delivery guys seem to definitely go the extra mile, climbing into the dump body etc.

Looking forward to see how the shaft replacement goes.

Townsend wrote: ↑

Sun. Sep. 25, 2022 9:43 am

Very nice Don! Love that coal bin and the loading video.

Thanks!

Here is a video of the fan shaft dilemma.


I shut down the Axeman yesterday. Then fired up the Van Wert in the basement. The plan is to run the Van Wert until it gets really cold, then switch over to the Axeman. That way we can use some of the 4 ton of Rice coal in the basement and save the Pea coal in the garage to run through Winter into Spring.

-Don

Don I've got to say the video of the coal delivery was great, in fast forward like that it was comical!

Don, why does your AA have pillow blocks??
That’s not stock!!!