The Epoch of the Axeman
- Lightning
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 14669
- Joined: Wed. Nov. 16, 2011 9:51 am
- Location: Olean, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Modified AA 130
- Coal Size/Type: Pea Size - Anthracite
I did a very "unscientific" measurement of coal consumption today. I measured the size of the cone that has formed in the coal bin. After applying the equation for finding the volume of a cone, I found that approximately 26.25 cubic ft of coal has been displaced so far. Multiply that by 51 pounds per cubic foot for pea size (if I recall that figure correctly), the poundage used is 1338 pounds across 40 days. This turns out to be 33 pounds per day of usage since I fired up around Sept 22. Surprisingly, that figure of 33 pounds per day is pretty dam accurate as compared to measured usage in the past for shoulder month heat and DHW.
I just wanted to pass that along as a way to roughly estimate some coal usage. Of course this will only work before tampering with the cone formed in the bin lol
I just wanted to pass that along as a way to roughly estimate some coal usage. Of course this will only work before tampering with the cone formed in the bin lol
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- joeq
- Member
- Posts: 5743
- Joined: Sat. Feb. 11, 2012 11:53 am
- Location: Northern CT
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: G111, Southard Robertson
33lbs sounds pretty efficient to me Lee. I'm assuming you're not burning too hot right now, cause the temps are still elevated. At least, here in the south of NE, our daytime highs are around 60ish. I know you're a bit further up than me, but still clayton is holding its own. Nice. (good job on the math. I can't check it, cause I didn't get past math 101).
- Lightning
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 14669
- Joined: Wed. Nov. 16, 2011 9:51 am
- Location: Olean, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Modified AA 130
- Coal Size/Type: Pea Size - Anthracite
Well here is something new and exciting! I can start measuring again... Got the barrel bin installed and the exciting part is that I wired in an hour meter to measure combustion fan run time. It'll be really interesting to see if coal used per hour of fan run time is consistent. I'll have some usable data in about 10 days
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- StokerDon
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 7496
- 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
SWEET!
At least one of us will know how much coal they are using.
Let us know what you find out.
-Don
At least one of us will know how much coal they are using.
Let us know what you find out.
-Don
- Lightning
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 14669
- Joined: Wed. Nov. 16, 2011 9:51 am
- Location: Olean, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Modified AA 130
- Coal Size/Type: Pea Size - Anthracite
I'm excited to get some numbers so here are some preliminary findings. I added 84 pounds to the barrel (2 full level buckets weighing 42 pounds each) but I feel it could take another 15 pounds to bring back to full level. So we'll say roughly 99 pounds for exactly 9.4 hours of fan run time. This is 8 hours shy of 2 full days worth of data. A longer time period will give more accurate numbers but I believe this to be pretty close to what I'll see later on. I'll measure exact to a full level barrel bin once I generate 2 full ash tubs of ash, then I can run all my numbers. HDDs, coal vs ash percentage, usage per hour fan run ECT...
10.5 pounds of coal used per hour of combustion fan run time. This equates to 131,250 BTUs input. Neato lol
Next up, the variable speed fan motor. Not sure when though
- Retro_Origin
- Member
- Posts: 927
- Joined: Sun. Feb. 21, 2021 7:46 pm
- Location: Schuylkill county
- Stoker Coal Boiler: 1957 Axeman Anderson 130
- Coal Size/Type: Buckwheat / Pea
11 lbs per hour is what they label as typical in the bureau report. Also my findings. Good experiment I will be following!
- Lightning
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- Joined: Wed. Nov. 16, 2011 9:51 am
- Location: Olean, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Modified AA 130
- Coal Size/Type: Pea Size - Anthracite
Righto.. I believe the 11 pounds in the report is for max usage at full burn. In the real world our Axemans don't reach full burn very often and a relatively good portion of fan run time is ramping up to full burn. So it's my best guess that we will see normal usage rates underneath 11 pounds per hour.
- Lightning
- Site Moderator
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- Joined: Wed. Nov. 16, 2011 9:51 am
- Location: Olean, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Modified AA 130
- Coal Size/Type: Pea Size - Anthracite
I topped off the barrel bin tonight. 252 pounds in 4 days with 25.9 hours of combustion fan run. Works out to 9.73 pounds per hour of fan run. Averaged 63 pounds per day.
- Idlorah
- Member
- Posts: 520
- Joined: Wed. Nov. 18, 2020 6:31 pm
- Location: New Ringgold, PA
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Allen 700 stoker
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: Gibralter MCC
- Coal Size/Type: Buck in the Allen and anything goes in the MCC, Anthracite
- Other Heating: None, maybe some wood in the MCC in the shoulder season
That's not so bad, I'd love to try this with my Allen because I feel like it goes through coal like crazy. Sadly i dont have the time or patience to do this I think it burns about 1/2 a barrel a day when i put the barrel in.
- Lightning
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- Joined: Wed. Nov. 16, 2011 9:51 am
- Location: Olean, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Modified AA 130
- Coal Size/Type: Pea Size - Anthracite
Hey Shane, you could put timer on your combustion fan also. Then see how many running hours it takes to burn up a full 1 ton sack. Once you get a good average, you can estimate pretty accurate coal usage based on fan run time anytime you want. As long as you don't change settings. I think changing settings would upset the poundage per hour but that remains to be fully worked out.