Spring Outfires

Ah the springtime....when the love I have for my 520 and all it's winter warmth turns to frustration as outfires plague me for the second year in a row. I thought I learned enough from this board last year....after the first warm day/outfire I turned my settings to L140 and H180 so there was enough spread for it to travel down and just run on the timer. But, now I've been on just domestic water for 2 weeks I've tried getting the settings as low as L120 H160 but I'm still getting outfires. I had the timer set at 2 mins per 30 and then 2.5 mins per 30 and no luck yet.

When I get home from work the temp is down low enough that it will run on the timer but the fire has burned itself out. I'm running on 4feed and 4air which has worked fine for last summer and this winter as well (a week or two I had to bump the feed up but that's because we had sub zero temps).

Any suggestions....what am I missing? I wanted to be a 1 match man!

The low limit setting on the aquastat has nothing to do with the timer. I would leave the aquastat at 140 or 160 on the low and 190 or 200 on the high and the feed and air settings the same.

Are you sure the timer is turning on the burner?

What is your draft at the door and flue pipe?

Thanks for the advice stoker man. I had put the settings so low because I thought it was drifting up to the timer cutoff because my high was too close to 180/190. The timer is definitely coming on and operating everything at the proper times. Is there any way to get a basic idea of draft without having a manometer? It was out again this morning and I haven't restarted yet so I might pull the flue pipe off and make sure there is no blockage or buildup. Anything else I should be checking?

If you would make your hand damp and put it in the draft regulator, you'd feel the draft.

Is the cleanout cover fully closed? Are all the cracks sealed up in the base? Can you feel the air coming from the burner plates? Try turning the air up to 5.

Thanks stoker-man....there wasn't a draft regulator on my system when I bought the house. Just some elbows and straight pipe coming from the back of the stoker to my thimble. I took the pipe out and cleaned out some fly ash this afternoon and definitely felt draft when I pulled the pipe out of the thimble. I'd double check when it's hot again to see if I can detect any places where it's drawing in air it shouldn't.