Pea coal loaded with wood chips and twiggs

Anyone out there that get bulk pea coal notice wood debris scattered through out the pile or bin. I have never dealt with anthracite before and was just wondering. Also how do you know when you have to much ash per pound or 5 gallon bucket of coal. I just got this AHS 260 a week ago and I have been on a steep learning curve. I have been heating with a hand fired bit burner and this is a whole new animal.

A little bit of wood chunks is pretty common. They will burn just fine.

Start by setting your boiler according to the manual's recommended settings and see how it goes. There are some guys on here that will help you fine tune the ashing once you have had everything running for a few days.

Wood: good. Car parts: not good.

I feel I was lucky the 260 was pretty much plug n play. I dumped 7 gallons of ashes in the hopper then a bag of match light charcoal and a 5 gallon bucket of pea coal. Hit it with a hand propane torch for a minute. Started it 10 am and let it burn, ash once at 11, ash again at 12, 1 pm turned the ash control to mode 2 and not touched since. Other than fill he hopper and take out the ashes. Its been running for 8 days now and I made one change. I raised the ash sv setting from 130 to 133 to lower the fire in the pot a little, the red coals were burning real close to the top of the feed opening. Its has a pretty good load on it right now. ( pole barn and the house) The blower never shut off the first 8 hours.
So the wood chips are common in anthracite, OK that no problem.
Ashes? how much ash should I get from (say) 100 pounds of coal? I know The bit coal I use to burn could vary a lot. From almost no ash at all, to the worst 50/50 ash and coal. Needless to say I've been burn a few times. I am just trying to get a feel for the anthracite quality.

Burnedout wrote: ↑

Mon. Jan. 07, 2019 8:33 pm

how much ash should I get from (say) 100 pounds of coal?

Rule of thumb says, 10 percent ash by weight. So 100 pounds of coal, 10 pounds of ash. But I have never actually weighed it.

Really, that's great, but that's not what I am seeing. I need to start weighing some of it the volume of the ash looks like a lot more. and the ash pan pretty heavy to.

If I burn around 300 pounds in a week, I can go that week on my ash pan. If it’s cold out, below 0 every night, I go about 3-4 days on an ash pan.

I wish I only did 300 a week, I don't have the budget right now for insulation in the shop,( the big load) Hopefully next winter. I am doing about 200 a day and its not even cold yet. I have it turned down to the minimums just to keep the frost out.

It’s why we heat with cheap coal lol

Eventually you’ll get everything closed up, it all takes time.

The nice thing is you have something to handle the load.

rberq wrote: ↑

Mon. Jan. 07, 2019 9:41 pm

Rule of thumb says, 10 percent ash by weight. So 100 pounds of coal, 10 pounds of ash. But I have never actually weighed it.

When I was comparing ash to coal with my hand fed it usually scored between 14-17% by weight. If you can keep it under 20% I'd call that a win.

Burnedout wrote: ↑

Tue. Jan. 08, 2019 8:48 am

I wish I only did 300 a week, I don't have the budget right now for insulation in the shop,( the big load) Hopefully next winter. I am doing about 200 a day and its not even cold yet. I have it turned down to the minimums just to keep the frost out.

You are doing fine - those AA and AHS boilers like a big load. Tighten up the drafts in the shop this winter, and insulate it as you can afford it. It is a lot easier to afford insulation if you are heating with coal.

We have had some cold and some mild weather here in WV these last few weeks,,I also have a new install of an s 260 and at 2-3 bags per day,, or in the range of 100 lbs per day,, i have been taking out a full pan every 7 days, rounded numbers would be 700lbs,, and I usually get my employee help me grab the ash pan and load it onto the bed of the side by side,,i would say its about 70 lbs,,, i am burning a mix of pea, nut and rice. it was set at 130 . I have not moved it from the factory setting,, so far so good!!! ,,, cold snap here tonight,, going to be in the teens,, its 74 in the house. the cat found a warm spot in the laundry room where the 1 inch pex comes from the boiler to the manifold,, that's where i can always find him laying!! I also see some wood in the nut coal, but none in the rice.