Changing from buck to rice

klim1972 · Post by **klim1972** » Tue. Oct. 22, 2019 5:53 am

So I’ve had my leisure line 110 boiler for 8 years now with no problems and was thinking of trying rice instead of buck since I heard it’s easier to control and runs better in stokers , is there any ups or downs before I bite the bullet on this

freetown fred · Post by **freetown fred** » Tue. Oct. 22, 2019 6:04 am

I take you've heard the old theory----------------- "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" ?????????????

ben · Post by **ben** » Tue. Oct. 22, 2019 7:04 am

Try a few bags of rice before you order a delivery.

Pacowy · Post by **Pacowy** » Tue. Oct. 22, 2019 7:38 am

x2 and x2.

Mike

lzaharis · Post by **lzaharis** » Tue. Oct. 22, 2019 7:39 pm

I would pass on that idea UNLESS; you mix 1/3 buck and 2/3 rice together in 3 gallon buckets and try burning 2 dozen bags of the mixture through the stoker on a weekend when you are home all weekend to see how well it does as it will need to run more often to maintain a hold fire and you may end up with more outfires UNLESS you add more pins for increased hold fire time to the hold fire timer.

Post by **Rob R.** » Tue. Oct. 22, 2019 8:00 pm

The stoker will work fine with either size. It comes down to personal preference, and your specific operating conditions. Some guys like rice because it tends to hold a fire better in low-load conditions, others like buck because it "breathes better" and has when running the stoker really hard. If you have not experience any issues with buck I don't think you will see any benefit from rice, but it is easy to get a few bags and experiment.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Wed. Oct. 23, 2019 8:23 am

i have burned buck already in my stokers and efm and i prefer rice.
the buck used to grind a lot in the efm auger and larger pieces of buck (closer to pea) would jam the auger and break the shear pin.
i also noticed more unburnt coal in the alaska stoker.

either will work fine in a leisure line tho. just a matter of preference. get a few bags and try it before you order a few tons.

Post by **Richard S.** » Wed. Oct. 23, 2019 12:09 pm

klim1972 wrote: ↑
Tue. Oct. 22, 2019 5:53 am
So I’ve had my leisure line 110 boiler for 8 years now with no problems and was thinking of trying rice instead of buck since I heard it’s easier to control and runs better in stokers , is there any ups or downs before I bite the bullet on this

Buck is larger and less "controllable" because there is more air, you can actually burn it in hand fired stove if the grates are small enough. Unless you were having problems with the fire getting pushed off the end of the stoker bed I wouldn't switch. Another reason you might want to switch is because it may put out the heat faster so you could possibly increase the BTU output slightly if it wasn't keeping up with demand but that would require some tinkering.

One issue with the buck is a safety problem, the fire is more likely to creep into the hopper. Does LL even recommend buck?

Post by **Richard S.** » Wed. Oct. 23, 2019 12:18 pm

lincolnmania wrote: ↑
Wed. Oct. 23, 2019 8:23 am
i have burned buck already in my stokers and efm and i prefer rice.
the buck used to grind a lot in the efm auger and larger pieces of buck (closer to pea) would jam the auger and break the shear pin.

That's a different animal than the bed stokers, the Van Wert is similar in design but likes buck. I believe the augers are larger. I had customers that used barley in EFM's which is like a coarse sand. You should also be able to use buck in AHS units, the AA's because of the auger design like large size coal otherwise they would burn it without any issue.

For bed stoker I wouldn't use anything but rice for the safety issue alone.

lincolnmania · Post by **lincolnmania** » Wed. Oct. 23, 2019 3:23 pm

pretty sure you can safely burn buck in a leisure line, matt is the one that got me to switch to buck many yrs ago. this was before he bought leisure line.

swyman · Post by **swyman** » Thu. Oct. 24, 2019 12:12 am

lincolnmania wrote: ↑
Wed. Oct. 23, 2019 3:23 pm
pretty sure you can safely burn buck in a leisure line, matt is the one that got me to switch to buck many yrs ago. this was before he bought leisure line.

I have the LL 220 boiler which I believe we have the same stoker, I just have 2. It is rated for rice or buck which I burned buck all last season. I have switched back and forth between rice and buck but this year I went back to rice just for handling purposes. I have a vacuum transfer system and it is faster to for my system to transfer rice. Took me around 8 minutes to fill a 30 gallon drum with buck but only 4 minutes with rice. Both types burn well, I get a little more "caking" with rice but doesn't really bother me.