The Epoch of the Axeman

Lightning wrote: ↑

Fri. May. 13, 2022 5:02 pm

Cause of the outfire - Either it was an odd coincidence, or maybe my shutting off of the circulator had something to do with it.

I have had problems with outfires in warm weather when the pump doesn't run much. If I run the pump constantly, I have far less problems but use more coal.

-Don

I circulate 24/7, never had an outfire, I only burnt 4 tons this last heating season.

hotblast1357 wrote: ↑

Sun. May. 15, 2022 9:01 am

I circulate 24/7, never had an outfire, I only burnt 4 tons this last heating season.

That's amazing usage, especially since your boiler is oversized by at least a factor of 4 lol. But I know you have more plans for it I used 6 tons over the cold months which is better than I expected.

StokerDon wrote: ↑

Sat. May. 14, 2022 8:58 am

If I run the pump constantly, I have far less problems but use more coal.

That makes sense.. I think I have the outfire ordeal figured out to a set of circumstances. It seems to be about the overshoots.... and I'll explain. So since I've set the boiler to 1 degree differential, it will run often for just very short periods attempting to maintain that small differential, only overshooting 5-10 degrees. This works great, boiler runs once or twice an hour. Then, one of the kids comes along and takes a 20+ minute shower and gets the fire raging. After that, it overshoots 20-30 degrees. Then it takes 2 or 3 hours for the boiler to lose that heat and run again. During that time, if the fire is too thin or maybe it loses draft, not sure which or both, it will go out. I sped up the ashing to help keep the fire thicker.

I'm hoping the buck size will make it a little more forgiving, we're gonna find out!

It's been 2 days since filling the mini bin with buck size. The pea size has worked thru and buck is now in the burn pot. So, today we can start tracking. I dumped the ash tubs and leveled the bin. Also, I measured a full level bucket of buck to be exactly 42 pounds net. This way I can easily count level buckets going in. Since 2 days ago it only took about 1 bucket to level the bin again. This puts it in the 20-25 pounds per day range that I was looking for with only heating DHW.

Counting HDDs any further into the warm season is futile at this point, so no need for doing that till the cold weather returns in the fall. Although, I did see a few nights in the forecast that might need a little home heating yet this month.

Also, unrelated but felt the impulse to add , a pic at last night's gig..

Facebook video here -
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=32758 ... 1320204441

After 48 hours I added 42 pounds which brought the mini bin nearly back to full and level. The convection blower has been running a little for some home heating. Also, I'm just starting to see some buck size pieces fall into the ash tub. Took 4 days to clear the feed tube and fill the burn pot.

Now that you’ve been on buck for a minute, have you had any noticeable observations?

CDF_USAF wrote: ↑

Wed. May. 18, 2022 7:41 pm

Now that you’ve been on buck for a minute, have you had any noticeable observations?

Yeah, a couple noticeable things right off the bat. The feed tube is quite a bit quieter. It takes longer for the fire to ramp up to full output so the over shoots haven't been quite as severe or as often. The appearance of the ash seems that the coal is burning more completely, but this remains to be proven by the numbers. I'll be able to figure that in about 10 days.

Holy heatwave Batman.. It'll be very interesting to see how the Axe handles this weather. There will be no home heating required and the draft may be prone to failing.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Wed. May. 18, 2022 8:03 pm

It takes longer for the fire to ramp up to full output so the over shoots haven't been quite as severe or as often.

To elaborate a little - this in conjunction with the 1 degree differential should get the boiler to run more often. This should aid with preventing outfires.

That was a good read and educational! Thank you for posting Rob

Rob R. wrote: ↑

Fri. May. 20, 2022 6:47 am

Your observations echo those in the Bureau of Mines report. Years ago another member on here switched to buck year-round and also eliminated the baro at the same time. Unless you need the full output of an AA130 or AA260 buck seems like the better choice.

Post by mikeandgerry - Just Lit up Buckwheat in the AA130 for the Season

Crap I just got 3 tons of buck for the KA6 last weekend and then got 1.5 tons of Pea for the future AA...I could have just gone all buck! Thanks for the insight

Retro_Origin wrote: ↑

Sat. May. 21, 2022 5:25 pm

Crap I just got 3 tons of buck for the KA6 last weekend and then got 1.5 tons of Pea for the future AA...I could have just gone all buck! Thanks for the insight

No problem, whatever buck you have leftover (I assume the KA6 will be decommissioned?) you can mix in with the pea size for the Axe..

We got thru that 3 day warm spell without any out fire issues which looks promising for the buckwheat size. Also, this is the 7th day with this ash tub, it'll take a couple more days worth to fill it. I may decide to take the measuring period down to one full ash tub instead of two so that I can compare results more often. Otherwise it'll take 14 to 18 days to fill both tubs.

I see two more nights in the forecast going forward that may still require a small amount of home heating.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Sun. May. 22, 2022 3:54 pm

(I assume the KA6 will be decommissioned?)

Not totally sure on that actually, the KA6 is growing on me as far as it's epic simplicity and few moving parts. I'm actually considering doing a dual install so I can have both for a while and see which one I actually like more and if there really is any substantial efficiency difference, then sell one. I am glad I didn't go with the EFM my friend had because I bulk haul all my coal in truck and trailer and then shovel it into my shed and then later into buckets to take to the basement, too much opportunity for wood and foreign matter to get mixed in, with the small EFM auger I think I'd have to be a lot more careful keeping it clean.

Either way, still working on the AA, getting pretty close to firing it but need to do some soldering and replace the gearbox shaft...pretty impressive you are on the 7th day with the ash tub.

Pouring transfer buckets thru screen/grate will prevent issues with debris jamming even smaller augers.