Just installed ds3200 Aquagem

 
scottybk
Member
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat. Nov. 12, 2011 10:09 pm

Post by scottybk » Sun. Dec. 29, 2019 6:29 pm

Jlinde, how is the ds3200 working out? Any updates? How much coal per month (on average) are you using in it to maintain 170 to 180 degree boiler water?

I'm really interested in getting a ds3200, I have about 3800 square feet to heat in north NJ, I want to run fin tube baseboards and some kickspace heaters. I want to run the H1 element slant fin high output and run the circulation 24/7 sice my old farmhouse has heat loss similar to a screened-in porch lol.

 
Jlinde37
Member
Posts: 89
Joined: Sat. Jan. 06, 2018 9:40 am
Location: Ellicottville, Ny
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: DS Aquagem 3200
Coal Size/Type: Nut/Pea

Post by Jlinde37 » Sat. Jan. 25, 2020 4:36 pm

Scotty, sorry I havnt been on here in a while.
I love it. I will NEVER burn wood again. It's so easy to maintain and minimal mess. I only tend it once a day, when I get home from work. So far I have been burning roughly between 30-40lbs per day. I started a log book as to how much coal I put in my coal hopper for easy hand feeding. It will help me determine the amount of coal to purchase for next year. So far since October 10th I've burned roughly 2.5 ton. With only 2 days of shut downs for cleaning.

 
Jlinde37
Member
Posts: 89
Joined: Sat. Jan. 06, 2018 9:40 am
Location: Ellicottville, Ny
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: DS Aquagem 3200
Coal Size/Type: Nut/Pea

Post by Jlinde37 » Sat. Jan. 25, 2020 4:40 pm

Just make sure you do a heat loss calc to make sure you have enough fin tube. I added an old CI rad to my living room and split upstairs into 2 zones. So far cold temps around 0°f and windy are no match for this unit. However I'm only heating around 1800 sqft. But I also am 1/3 firebox reduced.


 
scottybk
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Posts: 52
Joined: Sat. Nov. 12, 2011 10:09 pm

Post by scottybk » Sun. Jan. 26, 2020 6:24 am

Jlinde, thanks for the reply. Couple more questions:

Does your circulator pump run 24 hours a day? If so, does the boiler ever have any trouble keeping the water at 180 to 190 degrees even with a slow fire? Another poster here a few years ago had a DS boiler and complained he could never get water temps above 150 in his DS boiler.

On the other hand, does a hot, full fire ever make this boiler run-away and overheat to 200+ ?

Glad to hear you're loving it, I see from your profile that you're located in upstate NY near Buffalo, where your average winter outdoor temps are way lower than mine here in New Jersey. Here in northwest NJ, most winters the teens (at night) are about as low as we get, sometimes a few days here and there in single digits but that's pretty rare.

 
Jlinde37
Member
Posts: 89
Joined: Sat. Jan. 06, 2018 9:40 am
Location: Ellicottville, Ny
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: DS Aquagem 3200
Coal Size/Type: Nut/Pea

Post by Jlinde37 » Mon. Jan. 27, 2020 3:40 pm

Yes, it is piped primary secondary with primary (3 speed grundfos on low)running 24/7. The boiler has absolutely no trouble maintaining 185° all day long. If there is a high demand and you just shook it down and added 40lbs of fresh it yes it does plummet for about an hour until the fresh coal load gets going good. The thing with coal that I gathered is everything is slow. Slow burning and slow recovery..

..on the other hand I have never had a runaway fire. I've even had my power go out for a few hours without me being home and it still did not boil over. The samson draft controller does and excellent job regulating intake air and maintaing a low idle. Yes it temps will creep up on a warm day and it dump into my 1000sq ft concrete pad. It only takes a few mins with 60 degree water from the floor to cool down the boiler significantly. I had many runaways with my wood boiler. 0 with coal so far. Much easier to control.

I believe I read that very lengthy post about the guy with the ds giving up on it. Like some 20+ pages. Not sure what the issue was there.

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