The Epoch of the Axeman

And then I filled my hot tub with coal heated water.. what's better than a hot tub on a cool summer evening? Nothin lol

If you're not starving I would recommend leaving your AA running all summer. You're way too addicted to that thing to shut it down and 'save money'. What about your sanity!? You'll drive your wife bonkers and waste so much time and money doing new projects! Staring into your blazing inferno everynight is a great way to keep yourself sane and entertained!!

Retro_Origin wrote: ↑

Fri. Jun. 17, 2022 5:35 pm

Point me in the right direction!

It can be a big project, or a small project, depending on how much time and money you want to put into it. The fastest payback is to reduce drafts. This includes gaps in the foundation, windows, doors, etc, but also gaps that allow heated air to enter the attic. If you want to discuss it further, we can take it to private message or a new thread.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Sat. Jun. 18, 2022 8:15 pm

And then I filled my hot tub with coal heated water.. what's better than a hot tub on a cool summer evening? Nothin lol

You know, that axeman will keep that at that temp 24/7. And it feels good! I am using an inkbird to control the pump to the exchanger for my pool this year.

CDF_USAF wrote: ↑

Sun. Jun. 19, 2022 11:55 am

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You know, that axeman will keep that at that temp 24/7. And it feels good! I am using an inkbird to control the pump to the exchanger for my pool this year.

Where is your sensor?

hotblast1357 wrote: ↑

Sun. Jun. 19, 2022 3:20 pm

Where is your sensor?

As a trial it’s hanging over the edge of the pool about 16 inches below the surface stuck to the side with its suction cup.

Retro_Origin wrote: ↑

Sat. Jun. 18, 2022 8:56 pm

If you're not starving I would recommend leaving your AA running all summer. You're way too addicted to that thing to shut it down and 'save money'. What about your sanity!? You'll drive your wife bonkers and waste so much time and money doing new projects! Staring into your blazing inferno everynight is a great way to keep yourself sane and entertained!!

Lee’s wife was most likely thinking the same thing a bought him some extra coal, he failed to tell us that part lol

Awww. Dam.. I witnessed an outfire tonight. It was trying to come back but after 20 minutes of fan run the exhaust temp started to plummet. All done, cut power. The pea size just doesn't wanna cater to the low heat demand like buckwheat did.

Not to sound like a bonehead here...but doesn't your fire stay lit for a longer time than other boilers? Has anyone tried running it for a few minutes every hour, or maybe every several hours? Keeping the limits at like 150-190? It seems the forgiveness of the fire would allow you to do this? I'm sure I'm missing something here but my KA6 HAS to be run every <1 hr or it will go out, but people have posted tales of the AA's holding out for over a day, as many of you run without a timer all together. So in my limited understanding it would seem like you have more to play with, unless of course you can't shed the heat.

It seems to me that there are many factors for the amount of time it will keep a fire during idle. Firstly, just the overall health of the fuel bed. If the fire is thick it'll idle longer. If it's thin, it gets unstable and is prone to dead spots and becomes weak. Many similarities with a batch fed stove. A tell tale sign of a thin fire is observing the ashing temperature. If the ashing temperature starts progressively running lower, the fire is getting thinner. This happens during times of very low heat demand. A way to combat this is to speed up the ashing (increase the clicks on the ratchet). This is mentioned in the Bureau of Mines Report. Secondly, is draft. From what I've seen, the outfires generally happen on a hot steamy day like yesterday was when my chimney draft fails. Even though the Axe has a draft break plate, fresh oxygen can still flow thru the burn chamber and mingle with the burning coal. But if the draft fails, that can't happen. Then thirdly, it also seems to me that the buckwheat size kept the fire in more of a healthy state for a longer period of time. Speaking of time, the buckwheat also didn't overshoot the boiler temp as much as the pea size. Lower overshoots promote shorter durations of idle time.

I'm asking because next summer I hope to have my AA in place and doing everything! It's too bad you can't somehow reduce the cubic area that the bed takes up (add rocks in with your coal! ) I think there is where the pot style would be best since the firebed shrinks in diameter and reduces the surface area more than linearly, allowing for a small hot fire instead of a large "try to be not so hot" fire.

Retro_Origin wrote: ↑

Thu. Jun. 23, 2022 5:08 pm

I'm asking because next summer I hope to have my AA in place and doing everything! It's too bad you can't somehow reduce the cubic area that the bed takes up (add rocks in with your coal! ) I think there is where the pot style would be best since the firebed shrinks in diameter and reduces the surface area more than linearly, allowing for a small hot fire instead of a large "try to be not so hot" fire.

A theory I tried with my Surdiac many years back. The grating was split in two, and I tried running on one side in the off season, but it didn't work very well. As Lee mentioned, drafting is critical, and hot weather doesn't promote this. Of course, the Surdiac I had was such a small firebed, it was tough to keep running, even with a great draft. Needed tending every few hrs.

Welcome to heating season 2022-2023.. This will be my 11th year using coal as a home heating fuel.

I fired up the Axe about a week ago. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing. We had low 40s at night and the wife was filing complaints about it being cool in the house. Long story short I didn't get to do the cleaning I had intended to do before firing it up. I just put the pipe back on and shoved some charcoal into the side of the fuel bed and hit it with the heat gun. An hour later we had a nice healthy fire and everyone was happy.

Upon it heating up for the first time this season I could hear the fan blade grinding up scale that likely flaked off the inside of the vessel walls. It made me aware that there could again be a problem with blockage at the base of the cyclonic seperator where the cone is located. I watched the ash tub for the tell tale evidence of black coal dust on the cone side which indicates it's working properly and guess what.... No black coal dust. This evening I pulled the pipe off the breech and found that the seperator was filling up. It certainly had a blockage at the bottom of the cone. It was 3-4 inches deep with coal dust/sand. I shoved the shop vac hose down into it and cleared it all out. We should be good to go now, but I still wanna get into the swirl chamber here soon and give it a good brushing.

Congrats Lee, on probably being the 1st with the black rocks this season. Glad you got the axe working, and by the way...those two photos above, side by side? I'm sorry, but they show me a "totally" different picture. But maybe it's just me.

joeq wrote: ↑

Thu. Sep. 29, 2022 10:19 pm

I'm sorry, but they show me a "totally" different picture. But maybe it's just me.

I'm sure it's me being thick headed but I don't follow and may need an explanation