The Epoch of the Axeman

 
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Lightning
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Coal Size/Type: Pea Size - Anthracite

Post by Lightning » Sun. Apr. 09, 2023 11:51 am

I decided to take out the barrel bin and install the bin mini. The top is lower and makes it easier to lift buckets to fill. Since I had 6 tons of pea on top of 2 tons of buckwheat, I'm down to a mix of pretty much 90% buck and 10% pea. I'll have to discard data for the last 5 days and start over with a new data set period today. Going forward the period length will be measured by 1 full ash tub instead of 2 since coal consumption is going to be significantly cut by warmer weather. Perfect timing to be getting into the buckwheat.

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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Fri. Apr. 14, 2023 5:23 pm

So far so good, no outfires.. Highs last 4 days 72,77,86,87.. Just a few moments of home heating during the nighttime. Coal usage over the last 5 days averaged 34 pounds per day.

 
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nepacoal
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Post by nepacoal » Fri. Apr. 14, 2023 5:44 pm

Wow, them things are efficient in the winter, but definitely not in the summer... I burn about 12 lbs per day or a little less during these hot spells (and all summer).

 
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Retro_Origin
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Post by Retro_Origin » Fri. Apr. 14, 2023 6:42 pm

nepacoal wrote:
Fri. Apr. 14, 2023 5:44 pm
Wow, them things are efficient in the winter, but definitely not in the summer... I burn about 12 lbs per day or a little less during these hot spells (and all summer).
You misunderstood. That's production not consumption.

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Fri. Apr. 14, 2023 7:49 pm

nepacoal wrote:
Fri. Apr. 14, 2023 5:44 pm
Wow, them things are efficient in the winter, but definitely not in the summer... I burn about 12 lbs per day or a little less during these hot spells (and all summer).
I'll get her down lower without any home heating but 12 pounds probably is not achievable. Might be able to get it a hair under 20 pounds per day, I don't expect much better than that.

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Mon. Apr. 17, 2023 4:53 pm

Time for another run of the numbers. This period was measured by 1 full ash tub instead of 2. It was 8 days long and produced 29 pounds of ash. Total coal used was 250 pounds. This works out to a little over 31 pounds per day average. Not very many HDDs with only 53 for the whole 8 days. For 5 of those days we saw highs ranging 77 to 87 degrees. 3 of those days had 0 HDDs but there was still some home heating at night. It's reflected in the high amount of coal used per HDD at 3.89 pounds when normally it's in the 1.70 - 1.80 pounds per HDD.

Ash vs coal percentage still looking real good at 11.8%.

We have a couple cool days currently but then it's forecasted to moderate into the upper 50s and 60s, with a couple days of 70s with a possibility of reaching 80 this week. Spring is in the air lol.

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Retro_Origin
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Post by Retro_Origin » Mon. Apr. 17, 2023 7:59 pm

Wow that's some impressive data! What's your typical runtime without domestic usage and how far apart? I find the fire gets a little lazy without some stimulant. (Talking about stokers, not contractions lol)


 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Wed. May. 03, 2023 7:57 pm

We finally got 2 full ash tubs which took 16 days, so time to run some numbers. From here forward into warmer weather figuring HDDs vs coal used doesn't produce anything useful. Since there are too many instances where home heating isn't needed.

This period I didn't see anything unusual. We have 10% ash and about 12.7 pounds of coal used per hour of fan run time. There was a mix a warm and cold days. No outfires using the buck size. We averaged a little under 40 pounds per day so almost 1 full bucket per day.
Retro_Origin wrote:
Mon. Apr. 17, 2023 7:59 pm
What's your typical runtime without domestic usage and how far apart?
Lemme rephrase your question since I'm not sure I understand what yer asking. "How long are the idle periods while no heat demand is needed?" Burn cycles usually have a 3 to 4 hour span of idle time between them while there is no home heating or DHW demand. My circulator pumps water thru the water to air heat exchanger 24/7 so it does contribute to slowly bringing down the boiler temperature even if the living room thermostat isn't calling for heat. Once we don't need any home heating at all I'll shut that valve off.

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lzaharis
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Post by lzaharis » Thu. May. 04, 2023 10:28 am

If the damp clammies keep up Lee we may be burning until 1, June 2023.

I am starting on my 3rd day for the same 4 gallon ash bucket so I am not
making a great deal of heavy ash and fly ash.

 
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Retro_Origin
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Post by Retro_Origin » Fri. May. 05, 2023 9:39 am

Nice! I gotta say, I absolutely love the tight differential for this boiler. I do think having digital anthra and stack temp limit would only improve it. Now that I've been running this boiler for a few months I don't believe it truly can "short cycle " in the traditional means of the word, even for heating I think the tight diff just keep you from having a massive overshoot. Just my observations. I'm about on the same target as you, one bucket a day until the heating season is over. So far I don't see an excessive difference between this and my keystinker, other than the basement is cooler and the stack temp is hotter. Although the three times an hour timer cycle is something I don't miss at all! I actually contemplated disengaging the ashing and feed and let the combustion fan run as needed and just be sure to ash it every morning and evening, basically to keep the noise down and prevent excessive unburnt. I do think this would be very hard without a better visual on the fire and would probably cause lots of outfires until I got the hang of how many clicks per day, plus would have to hand feed the transfer head. But it would be kind of fun, like keeping that tight relationship with my stoker during the warm months ;)

 
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StokerDon
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Post by StokerDon » Sun. May. 07, 2023 8:02 am

Retro_Origin wrote:
Fri. May. 05, 2023 9:39 am
I actually contemplated disengaging the ashing and feed and let the combustion fan run as needed and just be sure to ash it every morning and evening, basically to keep the noise down and prevent excessive unburnt.
Ashing once or twice a day is and interesting idea. Be careful though, adding fresh coal all at once instead of adding it gradually can lead to a BIG BOOM! :o

-Don

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Sun. May. 07, 2023 9:53 am

Yeah, I was thinking the same as Don about making conditions good for a massive puffback by doing that.. If anything, you could stall the ashing for a bit by using another Inkbird that measures exhaust temperature in series with the ashing control. This is how I do it. The ashing is set at 110 and the exhaust is set at 230. The grate won't move unless both conditions are met (ashing temp under 110 and exhaust above 230) This gives the fire some time to get healthy before ashing can occur.

During times of extremely low heat demand (shoulder months and summer) the ashing temp will be met much sooner than the exhaust temp. The exhaust Inkbird stalls the grate for a few more minutes during each fan run.

 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Wed. May. 24, 2023 6:49 pm

Had a long stretch of days to fill 2 ash tubs. This period was 19 days. I got busy around the time that the first ash tub was full so I just swapped it for an empty instead of running the numbers. Over the nearly 3 weeks we've averaged 33 pounds per day, still some home heating on cold nights. We even still have a couple nights of 30s looking forward. But after Memorial Day we shouldn't need any more heating. Interestingly, the pounds per hour of fan run dropped about a pound. Was averaging 12.5.. This period is showing 11.7 pounds per hour of combustion fan run time. I imagine there are days that the fire thins a bit especially during very little heat demand that causes that variation.

Other than that, the Axe has been running like an ol swiss watch. No problems.. I just keep the bin mini full and take out the ashes. I'm getting low on buck size, might be under a ton left. I have 6 tons of pea size in a box outside, but that's for next winter! It'll be interesting to see how I move it to the basement lol

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Post by Lightning » Fri. Jul. 07, 2023 1:59 pm

This period took 24 days to fill 2 ash tubs. Total coal used was 504 pounds which works out to 21 pounds per day. Ash vs coal used came in at 12.3%.

My daughter got an apartment last month which seems to have curbed our total DHW usage quite a bit. Plus it being summer I think we tend to run showers a little cooler, at least I do. Plus, we got a new washer and dryer set that might be more efficient. Between those mentioned conditions our DHW usage was only about 40 gallons per day for this 24 day period. In contrast, when I look at a period in March our DHW was 70 gallons per day.

With that in mind, the boiler only needed 60 out of the total 504 pounds to heat DHW. This equates into it only being 12% efficient to heat DHW without a demand for home heating. Unless, my DHW meter went buggy. I should probably draw a couple gallons and make sure it's accurate..

Pounds per hour of fan run time seems to be consistent with my last measurement at 11.4 pounds per hour.

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Post by davidmcbeth3 » Fri. Jul. 07, 2023 2:45 pm

Lightning wrote:
Fri. Jul. 07, 2023 1:59 pm

<SNIP>
My daughter got an apartment last month which seems to have curbed our total DHW usage quite a bit.

LOL these greenies should demand that girls can only use 20 gal. a month and then, after these greenies' houses are burned down and they are drawn and quartered by all the girls who need to wash their hair 4x a day, then these liberal greenies will be gone.


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