The Epoch of the Axeman

 
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joeq
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Post by joeq » Fri. Sep. 30, 2022 4:10 pm

Well, I guess alls I can tell you is something about hidden assets of Rachel Welch. And i'll leave it at that. But like I said, it might be just me. ;)
(damn, TOTP...again) :evil:


 
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Lightning
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Location: Olean, NY
Stoker Coal Boiler: Modified AA 130
Coal Size/Type: Pea Size - Anthracite

Post by Lightning » Mon. Oct. 31, 2022 10:27 pm

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

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joeq
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Post by joeq » Tue. Nov. 01, 2022 5:08 pm

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). ;)

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Fri. Jan. 27, 2023 8:53 pm

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 :D

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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 » Sat. Jan. 28, 2023 10:52 am

SWEET!

At least one of us will know how much coal they are using. :yes:

Let us know what you find out.

-Don

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Sun. Jan. 29, 2023 12:25 pm

StokerDon wrote:
Sat. Jan. 28, 2023 10:52 am
Let us know what you find out.
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 :D

 
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Retro_Origin
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Post by Retro_Origin » Sun. Jan. 29, 2023 1:05 pm

11 lbs per hour is what they label as typical in the bureau report. Also my findings. Good experiment I will be following!


 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Sun. Jan. 29, 2023 2:04 pm

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.

 
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joeq
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Post by joeq » Sun. Jan. 29, 2023 5:00 pm

I'm late to this party, (and might be misunderstanding something) but are you saying your furnace eats over 200 lbs of coal, "a day?" :0

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Sun. Jan. 29, 2023 5:29 pm

No sir, it burns 10.5 pounds per hour of combustion fan run. It might run 5 to 6 hours total per 24 hours.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Jan. 29, 2023 5:35 pm

Lightning wrote:
Sun. Jan. 29, 2023 5:29 pm
No sir, it burns 10.5 pounds per hour of combustion fan run. It might run 5 to 6 hours total per 24 hours.
It just needs 2 or 3 more houses to give it something to pull against. 8-)

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 7:03 pm

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.

 
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Idlorah
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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

Post by Idlorah » Tue. Jan. 31, 2023 7:16 pm

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.

 
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swyman
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Post by swyman » Wed. Feb. 01, 2023 4:00 am

Good stuff Lee!

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Wed. Feb. 01, 2023 10:51 am

swyman wrote:
Wed. Feb. 01, 2023 4:00 am
Good stuff Lee!
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.


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