AK-110, Is It for Me?

[2biz]

Nice to be prepared!!! I am impressed by the 15 hrs / gal fuel use!

I have to retract.... I don't know where I got 15 hours run time?

I just looked it up and it has a 1.2 gallon tank. Its supposed to run 10.75 hours at 25% load which is about what the furnace pulls....Still not too shabby ....

[2biz]

Winter here in Southern Ohio has finally given in to Spring, so I finally shut the AK110 down. Here are some stats after running for the first year.

Heating 2500 sq ft living space and 1008 sq ft insulated garage (Radiant heat keeps garage at 63° no matter how cold out)
5 Months run time with only 1 day off to clean chimney.
8 min and 30 max Coal Trol Settings, (Min 8 to maintain draft on warmer days, 30 max yields 2" ash at end of grate)
It was a cold winter here with the coldest night -7°, feed rate did get to 99 but maintained setpoint temp, no add'l heat.
In 5 months the AK110 burned 8400 LBS Blaschak Bagged Rice, 1680# a month average, $240 a month, $1200 Total!

Needless to say I am more than happy with the Performance and how economical this furnace is to run. Also more than happy with how much less work it is and cleaner compared to wood.

Here are a few pics of how clean the grate was after burning 8400# and also how little dust there was under the grate. Very surprised! So now she is all cleaned up and ready for next season...BTW, I'm trying a gun safe 12" heat rod that only consumes 8w to help control moisture. Pretty cheap to protect the investment!

[coalnewbie]

Welcome to easy street. I found that at a high max on rice the fire was not as hot. When I had my 110 I burned about 6-7 tons from Sept 15 to May 15. I start early and finish late, I'll be damned if I am burning any HO.

7 tons at $150 ton was about $1000. Very efficient then and my 180 is very efficient now, I am still burning but I am North of 15 tons. Still fabulous value.

[2biz]

CN....I payed $283 a ton for Blaschak bagged rice here in Southern Ohio....Still a good deal for what I'm heating and total cost!

Have you found a good way to clean the fly ash out in the heat exchange tube area? If there is any downside to this furnace, I think this would be it. There is no really good way to get a vac hose/crevice tool/brush in and around the tubes to clean them really good. If the top door was just a little taller, cleaning would be a piece of cake!

[2biz]

Giving the 'ol thread some life!

Thought I'd stop, browse through some threads, and give an update on the AK110....Last week we had -8° here in Southern Ohio and the AK110 kept up like a champ! Even though it was maxed at 99% feed @ 30 max on the coal troll at that temp, the house temp didn't drop below setpoint! With 30 max on the coal trol, I still have at least an inch left on the grate where I can increase max if needed. Currently 99% is about 2" left....

Couldn't be happier with this furnace! Love it!

[Mitch]

I'm getting ready to install my 110 here in the next few weeks. I really like your battery backup system. I was thinking about doing the same thing. Nothing worse than the electric going out when its below freezing...

[Mitch]

It would be great if you could do a thread just on the battery backup.

[2biz]

Pretty simple. I bought the AIMS PICOGLF15W12V120VR 1500 Watt 12 VDC Input to 120VAC Output Pure Sine Inverter Charger Backup Power which has plenty of capacity for the furnace. If I remember, running watts is around 300w or less at low fan speed. I used (4) Interstate 242ah (6v) golf cart deep cycle batteries wired 2s2p to give roughly 484 ah @ 12v. I've calculated 6-8 hours run time and actually did a 3hrs run with a lot of capacity left. More than enough if electric goes out, I don't have to relight when I get home. Don't forget to vent your box when doing the install. I put a small computer 12v case fan in the vent pipe that I switch on when charging. I also have (2) 12v digital readouts tied in to batteries to monitor voltage and balance. Still running original batteries. If they ever die, I'll be looking in to 12v lithium as prices have come way down since doing this project. Easy peasy!

[Mitch]

Nice, I'll definitely look into a similar setup. When I was running the old add on wood furnace and the power would go out I would just have to turn it down. It was hard wired and I didnt want to put any work into it knowing that I was going to change it out soon.

The new 110 will get the Cadillac treatment...

[2biz]

I originally had a Fire Chief wood furnace. The electric went out once when I was at work. Luckily I was notified and came home to check on it and to plug it in to the generator. When I got home, it was smokin' hot without the furnace blower running. The front was glowing red! It was then I set out to find a safe backup....Now that I have the coal furnace, its not a matter of safety, but a matter of not having to relight or coming home to a cool house!! You won't regret putting in a similar system!

[Mitch]

All that I have to wait on is My HVAC guy to install my plenum and cold air return. Then I'll be good to go...

[2biz]

Thought I would update the old thread I started 6 years ago "Ak-110, Is it for me"...Well, it seemed to be "For Me" at the time, I got bagged rice here in Southern Ohio for about $250 a ton, so doable in total cost with a pretty stable cost history...4-5 ton a winter has been about my average usage. Since then, Coal prices has gone up every year and almost doabled last year, North of $500 a ton. At this cost, its not feasible to heat with it all winter long. At minimum feed rate it takes a bag a day, or about $12 a day.

With the new Biomass tax credit, I decided to install a Harman Pellet insert, taking out the gas logs I used for backup heat. I was able to source pellets for $200 a ton very close to where I live, so I don't have to travel 2 hours one way to get coal...The Harman insert self ignites and keeps the living space within 3° of set point...Which is not too bad, it doesn't short cycle...

So far I have ran the insert for 3 weeks and it uses less than 1/2 a bag a day, 7 bags in 21 days ($28) . At this rate, the cost of the insert will be paid for in less than 2 years by switching to pellets. I have about 6 tons of Rice I had bought ahead of the huge price increase. I plan on using it if needed in Jan-Feb till it runs out....Maybe prices will come back down to where I can use it more in the future. I don't see it happening! 

I hate to admitt it, but now I'm thinking I should have went this route in the beginning. But who would have thought!

[lincolnmania]

That's sad. I know the feeling. Wish we would have spent the extra for a heat pump in 2021 when we had the central a/c unit replaced.

[2biz]

Have you researched Mini Splits? I installed a 12,000 BTU 220v one in place of a failed 1.5 ton heat pump that we had to heat/cool a master bedroom/bathroom/walk in closet room addition. It is awsome and I was able to do the install myself. With the 30% High Efficiency tax credit, it makes it even more attractive. Final cost after tax credit was about $600. A freind of mine installed 2 of the exact same brand (Ductless Aire) in a ranch layout, one on each end. He say's they heat the entire house here in Southern Ohio with ease. Cooling is even better. Mine puts out 39° air in the summer which gets the job done quickly! With DC Inverter technology, it is infinetly variable (On its own) and doesn't use much electric at all.