Ahs 260 online

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Wed. Jan. 13, 2021 3:27 pm

If the draft is strong enough to hold the fire view door closed, you might see the boiler temperature creep up. If the boiler temperature stays stable without the baro you should be fine.


 
Jkohanski
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Post by Jkohanski » Wed. Jan. 13, 2021 4:08 pm

Ok, so since Nov 8th, here is what I have been seeing. Ash pan is about 2/3 full every 2 to 3 days. Last 2 days were the coldest yet at 18deg night 32 day. Ash pan over these 1 day filled a 5 gal bucket. Weighed the ash and it came to 20lbs. Ash looks like 15% so 20/.15=133.3lbs per day. House set at 71deg, with coal also supplying part of dhw. Last year on oil I would have used 12 gal for a similar day house set at 68. Comparing usage by BTU's, Oil- 138,690 btu per/gal*12=1,664280btu's, Coal 12,200 btu per/lb*133.3= 1,626,260. I am pretty close, with the coal being more efficient. The big diff is the savings. Coal cost 200.00 a ton, so thats .10 cent per/lb, so $13.33 per day vs 12 gal oil at current to day quote $2.75 per/gal = $33.00. With money saved Now i can begin to tighten up the house some, or have more fun improving the radiator system. Here are some pics of the ASH, and the total ash pile year to date. I put the chair in there for scale, just shy of a full loader bucket. Also the coal gopher pic.
ash.jpg

Ash pan

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gopher.jpg

Gopher

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pile.jpg

Ash Pile

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swyman
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Post by swyman » Wed. Jan. 13, 2021 4:55 pm

Your ash looks better than mine. I have a little more rocky texture but we have been unseasonably warm in my area. I expect my ash to break down more like yours if it ever gets cold here and the boiler gets to run more.

 
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StokerDon
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Post by StokerDon » Wed. Jan. 13, 2021 7:08 pm

Nice Gofer!

The Cats will love your ash pile. Just don't let them get in the coal bin. :lol:
Jkohanski wrote:
Wed. Jan. 13, 2021 3:23 pm
With a big wind it pulls about -.05 to .06.
A wind gust is only a few seconds so, no big deal. You can leave the baro out of the equation as long as the draft isn't holding the fire door shut.

You should connect an hour meter, or if you have a mechanical electric clock, connect it to your fan motor. Once you know how long it is running you can figure out if you need to reduce the fan speed to get a more complete burn. It looks like your 260 has the belt drive fan. Changing speed is a simple matter of changing pulleys.

-Don

 
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Post by Jkohanski » Wed. Jan. 13, 2021 7:31 pm

Rob R. wrote:
Wed. Jan. 13, 2021 3:27 pm
If the draft is strong enough to hold the fire view door closed, you might see the boiler temperature creep up. If the boiler temperature stays stable without the baro you should be fine.
Rob, no the draft has never shut the door,even when we had 40mph gusts last month. Never would have thought of that. Guess its good,so I Will redo stack at shutdown.

 
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Post by Jkohanski » Wed. Jan. 13, 2021 7:39 pm

Ok, will get a meter,or clock on it. Based upon your research I would like to see what its doing. I am running factory settings, 130 ash, 1deg hyst, love controller. In early november, had ash at 125, as fire looked low,but went back to 130 in early december.

 
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Post by Jkohanski » Wed. Jan. 13, 2021 7:41 pm

swyman wrote:
Wed. Jan. 13, 2021 4:55 pm
Your ash looks better than mine. I have a little more rocky texture but we have been unseasonably warm in my area. I expect my ash to break down more like yours if it ever gets cold here and the boiler gets to run more.
Good to know. Looks like we have about same load on similar boilers.


 
Jkohanski
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Post by Jkohanski » Wed. Jan. 20, 2021 10:42 pm

well I lowered house temp to 69 from 71. Tightened up some windows with great stuff foam, what a difference. Last few days 40 high, 32 low. fire looked low, set ash to 125 from 130, now looks good. 2 day burn was 23 lbs ash, at 15% ash so 23/.15=153.33 / 2days=76.66lbs per/day. Big diff from before. Waiting on my rasberry pi computer parts to hook up monitor system. hope to log ash temp, stack temp,outside temp, inside temp, fan run time, ash runtime, auger run time, and more.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Thu. Jan. 21, 2021 6:40 am

Keep it up. :yes:

Your data logging project sounds interesting.

 
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StokerDon
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Post by StokerDon » Thu. Jan. 21, 2021 6:47 pm

Jkohanski wrote:
Wed. Jan. 20, 2021 10:42 pm
Waiting on my rasberry pi computer parts to hook up monitor system. hope to log ash temp, stack temp,outside temp, inside temp, fan run time, ash runtime, auger run time, and more.
That is pretty interesting! If it all works out, hopefully you can share it with us.

-Don

 
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Post by Jkohanski » Mon. Feb. 01, 2021 5:58 pm

ok, till today things were Great. I had my baro sealed with silicone, and life was good. Only a short quick wind blow would close the flapper, burning great. Today is the bad ass noreaster, blowing like a hurricane, giving me constant 20 mph blow even though im 50 miles inland. Fire started to creep up into hopper. The flapper door was closed pretty much of the time in a 1 minute time that I watched. I cut silicone to baro, and got it back working. For me I guess I need to incorporate baro, the wind can cause me problems.

 
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Post by nepacoal » Mon. Feb. 01, 2021 6:11 pm

You can just use aluminum foil to cover the baro if ever needed again... Easy on, easy off!

 
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Post by Jkohanski » Tue. Feb. 02, 2021 5:55 am

Good idea, ill give that a try until I can maybe think of something else. The wind gusts from this storm have been crazy.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Tue. Feb. 02, 2021 7:39 am

Do you have a lid on the hopper?

 
Jkohanski
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Post by Jkohanski » Tue. Feb. 02, 2021 2:37 pm

Rob, yes I have it all sealed up, including the auger connection. The wind guests were just right and of such long duration, that the flap would close, and pull the fire up. once I got baro working again things went back to normal. I will build a nice t set up like axeman instuctions when I shut down for spring.


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