Did I get some poorly processed coal?

Egghead · Post by **Egghead** » Fri. Dec. 06, 2019 9:36 pm

I’ve noticed some amounts of coal dust as I’ll call it for now. Got my new ash pans #2 and made the first fit to this 130m. Well it pushed the other door opened and I thought well I didn’t do that right. Nope it was a mound of what looks to be #5 coal. I was bored today and just watched a YouTube video on one of the modern breakers in this area. I guess or assume it’s light enough to be blown off before it can burn. This isn’t normal is it? I’m almost 3 weeks in and about 1500lbs of this coal burned. They said it came from the tower city area so I don’t know what mine or breaker it’s from.

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McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Fri. Dec. 06, 2019 9:45 pm

It's not good but eveything else burned...this coal would of put any other stoker boiler on it's knees.

Egghead · Post by **Egghead** » Fri. Dec. 06, 2019 9:59 pm

Yes the coal burns. I got a peek of what it did while it picked up some blaschak pea we bought last year when I was gonna getting it going then but didn’t have the time. This 79 130m is a beast! It can do the job easily right now with this buck coal I got for 135 a ton. I can get another 3 ton but should I? I got dust everywhere and I eliminated the damper and it collects outside the ash bin. I’m running approximately 500lbs a week which is so cheap compared to what we had been doing.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Fri. Dec. 06, 2019 10:18 pm

I've had some somewhat dusty coal before and have never had it dropped anywhere but directly below the cone into the ash tub. Also your sizes would never make it that far in my AA-130, it is burnt up. Small powdery dust is easily burnt so never shows up in ash area. I run a type M baro and nothing escapes there. This all leads me to question a few possible defects...
Is the cone in good condition small end whole w/o missing metal and sealed tight at wide end?
Did you have the fan plate off to inspect the dry side inner chambers for any accumulation of dust?
Can you confirm proper motor rpm and also pulley diameters?

Egghead · Post by **Egghead** » Fri. Dec. 06, 2019 10:50 pm

McGiever wrote: ↑
Fri. Dec. 06, 2019 10:18 pm
I've had some somewhat dusty coal before and have never had it dropped anywhere but directly below the cone into the ash tub. Also your sizes would never make it that far in my AA-130, it is burnt up. Small powdery dust is easily burnt so never shows up in ash area. I run a type M baro and nothing escapes there. This all leads me to question a few possible defects...
Is the cone in good condition small end whole w/o missing metal and sealed tight at wide end?
Did you have the fan plate off to inspect the dry side inner chambers for any accumulation of dust?
Can you confirm proper motor rpm and also pulley diameters?

The cone is in real good shape. I checked the pulley sizes and they are correct. I didn’t have the fan plate off at all. It’s a lot of dust.

Post by **Rob R.** » Fri. Dec. 06, 2019 10:56 pm

Good coal is never a bad investment. Get some of the good stuff and watch that 130 lean into the load.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Fri. Dec. 06, 2019 11:01 pm

Egghead wrote: ↑
Fri. Dec. 06, 2019 10:50 pm
The cone is in real good shape. I checked the pulley sizes and they are correct. I didn’t have the fan plate off at all. It’s a lot of dust.

In any event, it may be worth a peek behind that fan plate...you lose a bunch of heat exchanger and cripple the vortex effect...I think you will be surprised. what you find...

Post by **Lightning** » Sat. Dec. 07, 2019 5:12 am

I see that too... I believe what is happening is that as coal comes down the chute into the fire chamber, the fines are sucked right off the top of the burn pile and into the swirl chamber before getting to the fire. Then the cyclonic separator drops them off. It's a minuscule amount relative to the total being burned. I wouldn't be overly concerned..

hotblast1357 · Post by **hotblast1357** » Sat. Dec. 07, 2019 7:14 am

I get it at the back side (side the port hole is on) of the grate falling onto the floor.

Egghead · Post by **Egghead** » Sat. Dec. 07, 2019 8:41 am

Sounds good. I was just curious. I’ll just keep a dust pan and brush handy. It’s looking like I’ll be burning 1-1.5 tons a month right now so I’m leaning towards just getting pea delivered. Heating with coal is already showing to be so much cheaper than my alternatives. We’ve had days where we’d burn 18gallons of oil in about 24hrs before the wood furnace. Last year we ran out of wood and were spending 195$ per cord and a cord lasted 1 week.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sat. Dec. 07, 2019 9:09 am

Lightning wrote: ↑
Sat. Dec. 07, 2019 5:12 am
I see that too... I believe what is happening is that as coal comes down the chute into the fire chamber, the fines are sucked right off the top of the burn pile and into the swirl chamber before getting to the fire. Then the cyclonic separator drops them off. It's a minuscule amount relative to the total being burned. I wouldn't be overly concerned..

Lee, what you see with yours is NOT "dust everywhere" as stated by the OP.
Your pic is what is typical for the AAs and that is NOT a powdery dust either as is displayed by the OP, althoug your DOES containthat very same dust, all be it lesser amount. Yours is more granular than powdery...just saying it is NOT the same. And we all know your double pass chambers are clean.

Amount not burned isn't the issue, what is the issue is reduced heat exchanger and crippled vortex swirl for total effiency.I also realize nobody wants to do a shut down inspection now, and especially if doubts exist as to be necessary.

Post by **Lightning** » Sat. Dec. 07, 2019 9:35 am

At close inspection, I thought his looked like the coal sand I see on the separator side of mine

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sat. Dec. 07, 2019 9:46 am

Lightning wrote: ↑
Sat. Dec. 07, 2019 9:35 am
At close inspection, I thought his looked like the coal sand I see on the separator side of mine

That is not the same size and not "dust everywhere" either. Yours and mine are the same though... A very uniform size of 'sand'...nothing larger, and nothing smaller, and that is no accident that it is consistently sized that way, but is sized by votex and cyclone to that size. Bigger particles and smaller particals are burnt or consumed to ash in the hell fire when properly run. You will come to see this is the case always...even when scraping the bottom of the bin dust into the auger later.

Egghead · Post by **Egghead** » Sat. Dec. 07, 2019 10:07 am

As soon as I get a warmer day I’ll pull the fan. I don’t really want to interrupt it now. I do have the option of running the oil furnace and isolating the coal while I work on it. I just don’t want to waste a lot of money on oil if it’s not a major problem. The 130 is putting out plenty of heat but that room has become a mess.

Post by **Lightning** » Sat. Dec. 07, 2019 10:15 am

Wow... all over the room.. yeah that's something different.

Did I get some poorly processed coal?

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