Max Setting

Yesterday I shut the stove down Emptyed the hopper and cleaned the grates vavuumed under them there was a fair amount of fines there .Some ot the holes in the grate were cloged but not many.Cleaned the pipes not to much fly ash.Started it back up and it was running fine,got home at 1 AM feed 99 max still at 30 and still pushing hot coals off grate.I put max to 28 and this morning I do have 1 inch ash at end off grate and it is at setpoint 68 and stove is at 500 degrees.I just don't under stand how the max was set at 42 before and running perfect and now it is at 28.I am still concerned because the maxis 45 now and when it goes back to 99 it will most likely push hot coals off.

Maybe your control upgraded itself to Vista !
There is a bug somewhere.

This is a very odd problem. I'd like you to run some tests.

1) Go to Test Mode and make sure each motor cycles on and off as indicated by the thermostat readout. To get to the test mode: press and hold menu button for 5 seconds, until the word "FEED" appears. Tap the menu button until the word "TEST" appears. Tap either the up or down button to start the test cycle. The thermostat will repeatedly cycle through the outputs until you tap one of the buttons again. In particular make sure the stoker motor is on only when the readout says STOKER.

2) If the test mode checks out correctly, then try this. Go to the MAX item in the SETUP menu and leave it there. Using a timer or watch with a seconds indication, time how long the stoker motor is on and off. Make sure this jives with the MAX setting readout. If MAX is set to 28, then the stoker motor should be on for 28 seconds out of every 100.

3) If that checks out, put the thermostat back into normal mode and get the FR to read 99 (set the setpoint 10 degrees above current room temp and wait 30 minutes if necessary). Once the FR reads 99, time the stoker motor again. If MAX is set to 28, it should be 28 seconds on and 72 seconds off (maybe 1 second plus or minus on either on or off time).

Once you get the results please give us a call a 315-299-3589 to discuss things. Can also PM me on the forums or report back in this thread, however troubleshooting these things typically is much easier over a phone.

Here are the results of the tests
First test was ok
Second 28 seconds out of 90 seconds
Third FR 99 max at 28
28 seconds on 90 seconds off

Right now the stove is at 500 degrees max at 28 fr 99 and it is pushing hot coals of grate.I will call you tomorrow.

Thank You

What;s your thermostat Room Setpoint in relation to the Actual Room Temperature? How far apart or close are they?

Something is not functioning right with those settings....

Have you switched coal? Like running Buckwheat instead of Rice? That pushes much faster and can burn better? maybe something is jammed or out of alignment on the stoker motor/pusher plate?

The setpoint 69 and room temp. 67.I did get 2 1/2 ton of coal last week but this started before that.This coal seems to have more fine pieces of coal mixed in.I shut it down Saturday and cleaned everthing from grates ,pusher plates,moters and flu pipes

Does it ever reach the setpoint? does it take a long time? if so, you are not getting the heat upstairs to the thermostat or the stove is not big enough to heat.

How far away is the thermostat from the Heat Source/Duct.? Is the thermostat on an inside wall?

But it still should not be dumping hot coals off, the MAX is still too high.

Can you keep bringing down the max a couple points.

Maybe put the Setpoint at the room temp and let it settle out for a while and see if the FR goes down.

Weird that it was working fine previously....

Yes it does reach the set point.The thermostat is about 4 feet from the duck and it is on an inside wall.When it reaches the setpoint the fr does drop and works fine.I could keep droping the max rate and try to get the right amount of ash at the end of the grate.I just can't understand why it's doing this.

With those test results it is clear this is not a coal-trol malfunction causing the problem. The stoker on times match up with the FR's and MAX setting.

Need to be looking at the combustion blower, air holes in the grate, the change in coal (smaller coal will result in incomplete burns since the air has a harder time getting through the bed), might want to take a sample of the coal to a different supplier and compare against their rice coal to see if there is a significant difference. If there is, you may need to buy some buck sized coal to mix in with your smaller sized, which will open up more air passages and allow for complete burns.

I understand you said this started before the new coal load, but it is possible the bottom of your previous load was comprised of the smaller size or that the smaller sized stuff had settled to the bottom over time.

So:
1) Does your combustion blower have a restriction plate on it? Has the position of it changed? Try opening it up.
2) If no restriction plate, is the motor turning at full blast, unobstructed, and the blower/cage blades aren't plugged up? Clean it thoroughly if needed.
3) You cleaned out the grate and air chamber beneath it, are you sure you poked out all the fines from all the holes?
4) Coal size. Compare against the sizing of a different load of rice coal from another supplier. If it seems to be sized significantly smaller, buy 40-80lbs of buck to test some mixes. Start off with 1:3 buck to rice, move to 1:2, and then 1:1 after trying to burn each mix.

I think it is the new coal I got.After looking at the coal it has a lot of real fine pieces of coal almost like sand.I will have to deal with it and maybe mix in some other coal like you suggested.Hopefully that it it I tried everthing else.

That could make it slide too much on the grate or something., therefore making it fall off faster...try some other stuff and see what happens.

If it is really fine compared to the rice sized pieces then you could make a screen sifter to run the stuff through.

I am going to have to do that because there is a lot of fine stuff in there or just burn it the way it is.I always got good coal from this dealer.Next time I will look at it first.2 1/2 ton is a lot to sift threw.

If it really is an obnoxious amount of fines, you should take a sample to the coal dealer and ask for a partial refund or maybe ask them to give you a break on the next load. Might not get anywhere with the request, but you won't find out until you ask.

I will try and do that.Thank you and the others on this site for trying to help me with this problem.I am glad i found this forum i have really learned alot from the people here.Thank You