Another outfire.

Things have been going smoothly for about 4-5 weeks with my summer settings, 3 teeth, 4 air, timer set at 1.5 minutes on the half hour and .5 on the 15 minutes. My oil unit is in series with the EFM so there was some gravity feed going on between the two units. I have one flow check valve on the first floor zone that sometimes doesn't stop the gravity feed. Yesterday my first floor radiators were warm (gravity feeding again) Last night I closed the valves for the zones and one in the piping between the two boilers. Stopped all of the gravity feeding but left a path for any make up water to get between both boilers. This afternoon my son called me at work to tell me we didn't have any hot water. The fire was out.

My guess is with all of the water circulation between boilers and zones the EFM was running on more than just the timer. When I cut off all of the flow there wasn't enough timer to keep the boiler lit. Here's my question (finally), Is it better to add more run time on the timer or add more air? I'm concerned adding more air will make the fire burn lower in the pot and damage the worm. I just re-lit the boiler and moved the timer up to 2 minutes on the half hour. It's burning more coal that way but I'm not sure if adding more air will solve the problem. Thanks for any advice.

How is your draft? Remember in the summer your chimney is drawing less. I had to move the weight on mine. Hooking up a manometer permanently is good (if you like gadgets and more meters and such). Also, your brand of coal may be the cause of outfires.

billw wrote:Things have been going smoothly for about 4-5 weeks with my summer settings, 3 teeth, 4 air, timer set at 1.5 minutes on the half hour and .5 on the 15 minutes. My oil unit is in series with the EFM so there was some gravity feed going on between the two units. I have one flow check valve on the first floor zone that sometimes doesn't stop the gravity feed. Yesterday my first floor radiators were warm (gravity feeding again) Last night I closed the valves for the zones and one in the piping between the two boilers. Stopped all of the gravity feeding but left a path for any make up water to get between both boilers. This afternoon my son called me at work to tell me we didn't have any hot water. The fire was out.

My guess is with all of the water circulation between boilers and zones the EFM was running on more than just the timer. When I cut off all of the flow there wasn't enough timer to keep the boiler lit. Here's my question (finally), Is it better to add more run time on the timer or add more air? I'm concerned adding more air will make the fire burn lower in the pot and damage the worm. I just re-lit the boiler and moved the timer up to 2 minutes on the half hour. It's burning more coal that way but I'm not sure if adding more air will solve the problem. Thanks for any advice.

bill set the timer to come on for 2.5 to 3 minutes for every 30 minutes or even 4 minutes every 30 minute. It is the hot summer time with alot of humindity and heavy air outside. You will not have a strong draft in your chimney so you will
have more chances of outfires. Plus the efm relys on the timer more to keep the fire going during long Summer idle time. More then it does with a good drafty chimney so bump up the timer. Your other setting should be fine 3 teeth and 4 air is good you my want to turn up the air to 5 or 5.5 if you start to see unburnt coal in the ash. More air will burn up the coal more completely it will not help hold the fire longer. The timer setting will do that .

I moved the weight on my damper. I borrowed the magnehelic from the loan program here so I don't have one permanently connected. I'll have to buy one but it needs to wait for a couple of months. I made the mistake of going to work for the state of PA a couple of years ago. I'm working and not getting paid until the politicians are done playing who's dick is bigger and pass a budget.

I bumped my timer up to 2.25 minutes per half hour. So far, so good. Running a stoker is quite the art. I'm really enjoying it even when I have to empty an ashpan full of coal.

Thanks Mozz and JC.

billw wrote:I moved the weight on my damper. I borrowed the magnehelic from the loan program here so I don't have one permanently connected. I'll have to buy one but it needs to wait for a couple of months. I made the mistake of going to work for the state of PA a couple of years ago. I'm working and not getting paid until the politicians are done playing who's dick is bigger and pass a budget.

I bumped my timer up to 2.25 minutes per half hour. So far, so good. Running a stoker is quite the art. I'm really enjoying it even when I have to empty an ashpan full of coal.

Thanks Mozz and JC.

bill put on a Honeywell L6006C or A model outfire control you will not have any more freash coal in your ash tub .
Bill you mean a Manometer you borrowed . If so you need this model look on ebay . Or a Draft Rite Gauge also can be found on ebay.

http://www.dwyer-inst.com/PDF_files/mark2_iom.pdf

http://www.drillspot.com/products/75811 ... raft_Gauge

Yeah JC when I installed my system last year I was going to keep the oil burner on in case the coal ever went out so I never installed a 6006 because the boiler water was never going to get cold. I'm to cheap to burn oil so the oil unit is turned off. Having to unload an ash tub full of coal once a year is a small price to pay for not using any oil.

I know it's a manometer but this is the one I borrowed. It says magnehelic on the face of the gauge and the name stuck with me. yeah, I know I'm a little weird.

Spending any money right now is out of the question. I got my last paycheck two weeks ago. Until the politicians are done pissing on each other's shoes and pass a budget I have to live on my savings or borrow money to pay my bills. I've been through worse but I hope they get off their asses and get their job done. Sounds like I won't get another paycheck until after labor day so until then I'll live like a pauper. I keep telling my wife that we both wanted to lose weight anyway so this is an opportunity to do it. At least I still have 7-8 tons of coal left.

billw wrote:Yeah JC when I installed my system last year I was going to keep the oil burner on in case the coal ever went out so I never installed a 6006 because the boiler water was never going to get cold. I'm to cheap to burn oil so the oil unit is turned off. Having to unload an ash tub full of coal once a year is a small price to pay for not using any oil.

I know it's a manometer but this is the one I borrowed. It says magnehelic on the face of the gauge and the name stuck with me. yeah, I know I'm a little weird.

Spending any money right now is out of the question. I got my last paycheck two weeks ago. Until the politicians are done pissing on each other's shoes and pass a budget I have to live on my savings or borrow money to pay my bills. I've been through worse but I hope they get off their asses and get their job done. Sounds like I won't get another paycheck until after labor day so until then I'll live like a pauper. I keep telling my wife that we both wanted to lose weight anyway so this is an opportunity to do it. At least I still have 7-8 tons of coal left.

I never installed a 6006 because the boiler water was never going to get cold. It only gets cold when the fire goes out
Put a L6006C or A on it when you can