October 2018 tale of the tape

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lsayre
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Stoker Coal Boiler: AHS S130 Coal Gun
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Other Heating: Resistance Boiler (13.5 KW), ComfortMax 75

Post by lsayre » Thu. Nov. 01, 2018 5:27 pm

672 lbs. burned for October. (~138 lbs. of this burned prior to turning the T-Stats on.)

T-Stats turned on: 10/12 @ ~6:00 AM

397 HDD's from 10/12 through 10/31 (~20 HDD's per day)

 
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StokerDon
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Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Thu. Nov. 01, 2018 6:58 pm

Yah I get it. You didn't want to make me feel bad by saying you averaged 21.68 pounds per day for October.

I'm at closer to 40 pounds a day in a milder climate. I hope to get down to near your numbers soon!

-Don

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Thu. Nov. 01, 2018 7:29 pm

StokerDon wrote:
Thu. Nov. 01, 2018 6:58 pm

I'm at closer to 40 pounds a day in a milder climate. I hope to get down to near your numbers soon!

-Don
You could probably get there with the Van Wert if it was insulated.

Edit - I went back and looked at your VA600 thread and see that you put insulation under the covers, just not the piping. Also saw a few days you reported 18 lbs per day consumption. Probably not much room for improvement.


 
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StokerDon
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Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Thu. Nov. 01, 2018 7:39 pm

Yes, the Van Wert is very well insulated and made it down to 18 pounds per hour heating DHW only. The BairMatic / Van Wert was down in the 14 to 16 pound per day range without any insulation.

If I can't get the Axeman down to something like 30 pounds per day in this weather I will begin to question my sanity,,,, again.

-Don

 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Thu. Nov. 01, 2018 9:18 pm

I burned 1,152 pounds, 37 pounds per day.

According to that site you posted, about 600 HDD’s.

 
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hotblast1357
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Post by hotblast1357 » Thu. Nov. 01, 2018 9:20 pm

StokerDon wrote:
Thu. Nov. 01, 2018 7:39 pm
Yes, the Van Wert is very well insulated and made it down to 18 pounds per hour heating DHW only. The BairMatic / Van Wert was down in the 14 to 16 pound per day range without any insulation.

If I can't get the Axeman down to something like 30 pounds per day in this weather I will begin to question my sanity,,,, again.

-Don
Do you heat the garage to the same temp when you are running the van wert or bairmatic?


 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Thu. Nov. 01, 2018 10:53 pm

hotblast1357 wrote:
Thu. Nov. 01, 2018 9:18 pm
I burned 1,152 pounds, 37 pounds per day.

According to that site you posted, about 600 HDD’s.
Good enough for a ballpark, but for precision you must use actual current monthly HDD's to compute pounds burned per HDD per month, not long term averages for HDD's.

 
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StokerDon
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Posts: 7486
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 11:17 am
Location: PA, Southern York County!
Stoker Coal Boiler: Gentleman Janitor GJ-5, Van Wert VA-600, Axeman Anderson130 X3.
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Harman SF3500 reduced down to 3 grates connected to its own plenum
Coal Size/Type: Rice, Chestnut and whatever will fit through the door on the Harman
Other Heating: Noth'in but COAL! Well, Maybe a little tiny bit of wood

Post by StokerDon » Fri. Nov. 02, 2018 1:10 pm

hotblast1357 wrote:
Thu. Nov. 01, 2018 9:20 pm
Do you heat the garage to the same temp when you are running the van wert or bairmatic?
There is no real need to heat the garage in Spring, Summer and Fall, only Winter. That being said, in the Fall I usually have a boiler plumbed in the garage for entertainment purposes. This Fall, we're pretty much just heating DHW from the garage boiler.

I suppose it is possible that heating DHW from the garage boiler is just gonna use a lot more coal than running the basement boiler. It shouldn't be twice as much though.

-Don

 
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lsayre
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Post by lsayre » Fri. Nov. 02, 2018 1:25 pm

Using a coal boiler for "DHW only" is the most inefficient use of a boiler. Mine needs to burn ~12 lbs. per day, but only about 3 lbs. of that goes to heating DHW. If coal wasn't 3 times less expensive than electricity I wouldn't do it. As it is, it still costs me more to heat DHW (only) via coal than via electricity.

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