Testing of Nova Scotia Bituminous
- stoker-man
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Started testing this afternoon just to get an initial feeling for the coal and to see if it will hold fire overnight with the stoker shut down.
This coal produces clinkers and tomorrow will determine if they are problematic. As of now, they don't seem to be. I quickly determined that with the maximum feed of 11 teeth and 4 air, it burns smokeless. My only concern is that this might be too much air.
The coal, as supplied, is oversized.
This picture is the smoke emitted from the chimney. There is no visible smoke with the proper air setting.
This shows the start-up fire.
This shows the fire after burning for an hour or two and when I shut the stoker down for the night to see if the bed would hold a fire without the timer.
The video shows the coal burning with maximum feed and 4 air setting. The fire produces no smoke in the boiler and no smoke outside at this setting.
The fire has been out for 16 hours. The fire did not hold and small clusters of clinkers were all that was left in the morning.
The fire was restarted and after it was established, it was left to rest with no stoking for 2 hours to see what sort of clinker would form. A large clinker had formed in the center of the pot, about 4 inches cubic. The fire was restarted and this clinker burned away and turned into normal spent ash.
The large clinker has burned to normal ash.
The air was turned up to 5 to eliminate any smoke. The fire was smoke-free and very hot. The clinkers glowed red, but it wasn't from unburned coal. The heat was about the same as anthracite.
The testing is complete. The fire can be made to burn virtually smoke-free. The clinkers are not small but create no problem. The fire is very hot, approaching anthracite. Very little flyash is created, compared to some other bituminous tested. There were no worm feeding problems, provided the coal was resized by the Toyota breaker.
The clinkers that fall off the edge are about 2 cubic inches and soft.
This coal produces clinkers and tomorrow will determine if they are problematic. As of now, they don't seem to be. I quickly determined that with the maximum feed of 11 teeth and 4 air, it burns smokeless. My only concern is that this might be too much air.
The coal, as supplied, is oversized.
This picture is the smoke emitted from the chimney. There is no visible smoke with the proper air setting.
This shows the start-up fire.
This shows the fire after burning for an hour or two and when I shut the stoker down for the night to see if the bed would hold a fire without the timer.
The video shows the coal burning with maximum feed and 4 air setting. The fire produces no smoke in the boiler and no smoke outside at this setting.
The fire has been out for 16 hours. The fire did not hold and small clusters of clinkers were all that was left in the morning.
The fire was restarted and after it was established, it was left to rest with no stoking for 2 hours to see what sort of clinker would form. A large clinker had formed in the center of the pot, about 4 inches cubic. The fire was restarted and this clinker burned away and turned into normal spent ash.
The large clinker has burned to normal ash.
The air was turned up to 5 to eliminate any smoke. The fire was smoke-free and very hot. The clinkers glowed red, but it wasn't from unburned coal. The heat was about the same as anthracite.
The testing is complete. The fire can be made to burn virtually smoke-free. The clinkers are not small but create no problem. The fire is very hot, approaching anthracite. Very little flyash is created, compared to some other bituminous tested. There were no worm feeding problems, provided the coal was resized by the Toyota breaker.
The clinkers that fall off the edge are about 2 cubic inches and soft.
Hi smilies, do you have the name of the compagny producing the coal from N.S.? Do you know if they have nut size? Is it bagged? Thanks for the info. Waiting for the video...stoker-man wrote:Started testing this afternoon just to get an initial feeling for the coal and to see if it will hold fire overnight with the stoker shut down.
This coal produces clinkers and tomorrow will determine if they are problematic. As of now, they don't seem to be. I quickly determined that with the maximum feed of 11 teeth and 4 air, it burns smokeless. My only concern is that this might be too much air.
The coal, as supplied, is oversized.
Pictures and video tonight.
Salutations from Canada
- Duengeon master
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Also do they have lump for us hand fired users? I will be in Maine tomorrow. Can I get bit there?
- stoker-man
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You'll have to ask Tamecrow about this coal. I don't have a name or info about it. The forced air is what makes it burn smokeless. Dungeonmaster, there is bit coal right here in PA for hand firing.
- Duengeon master
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- Coal Size/Type: Anthracite pea and nut mix. Bituminous lump
I understand about Pa. bit coal. I like to burn coal from wherever I can get it just to see how it burns. It breaks up the monotony of burning the same thing every day. I have burned coal from Pa, Md, Va. Wva, Ky, Oh. In, and Al. I want to try something new.stoker-man wrote:You'll have to ask Tamecrow about this coal. I don't have a name or info about it. The forced air is what makes it burn smokeless. Dungeonmaster, there is bit coal right here in PA for hand firing.
very nice stokerman. looks like it might burn NS bit ok. Those "clinkers" however, weren't clinkers. they were a good example of bituminous coal fusing together during combustion to form coke. Most bituminous coals are not prone to excessive coke production- if you're getting coke trees (not just little chunks like you showed in the video), you want to do the opposite of what you'd do to fix firepot clinkers - give it more air to burn the carbon.
- stoker-man
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I'm waiting for anybody to send bit from Kentucky, so I can test that too.
- Duengeon master
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I have about 25-30 lbs of Ky bit left. Is that enough for a test? pm me. Rich.
- Coal Guzzler
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After seeing those videos, I realize that I'm fortunate to be living in PA and using PA anthracite.
That coal burns to a flour like ash in my Will-Burt, holds a fire for 12 hours and never produced a clinker all winter. I couldn't get it to clinker. Not comparing it to anthracite, but it aint all that bad either. Keep in mind, the 520 wasn't designed to burn bituminous coal, but I bet with a bit of tinkering, it would do fine. I only sent stoker-man 60 lbs. of coal, but I think it did alright for the little amount of coal he had to play with.Coal Guzzler wrote:After seeing those videos, I realize that I'm fortunate to be living in PA and using PA anthracite.
- Scottscoaled
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I'm didn't get that read right either Tamecrow. From all the tests that Stokerman did it sounds like that EFM 520 would work pretty good in alot of places that have bituminous. We pay 250 and up a ton around here for anthracite. Burning coal that goes for 25% of that would be the BOMB!
- whistlenut
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You getting 'cheap' on us now, Stroker. It still smokes until it gets up to temp....that won't change. 250 a ton will seem cheap if oil goes to $4.00. Diesel is 3.23 now.
I agree. And it burns rice and smaller sized coal which is considered waste in the bituminous world. At least it is here. I can get bit that size for $20.00 a pickup truckload, which is around 2 ton using sideboards with an 8' box. I burn ~ 1 ton a month to heat my home, so that would work out to the whopping sum of $10.00 a month to keep my home heated, including domestic hot water. Hard to beat that.stokerscot wrote:From all the tests that Stokerman did it sounds like that EFM 520 would work pretty good in alot of places that have bituminous.
- stoker-man
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Want me to get one loaded on the truck?