Adjusting Settings

Ok....I have been running on 4 minutes every HOUR today to see what happens. My temperatures haven't been flirting with the high limit near as much which feels like a small victory over what I've been going through the past how many days. I did check after dinner tonight though and I can tell there is no way it will make it through the night. I went downstairs just as it ended a 4 minute cycle and glowing coals were just starting to peak though. After another hour of waiting for the timer again it probably would have been out.

So I just set it now to run 5.5 minutes every how to see what that does. I set my thermostats back enough that the stoker shouldn't run for heat for the rest of the night. I will have to see before I go to bed if it looks like it will survive the night. It seems like a ridiculously long time to be running on the timer but all the conventional methods don't appear to be working with this new batch of coal.

Does anybody else run their timers on the hour and if so what kind of settings do you use during the fall/winter time?

rocketjeremy wrote:Ok....I have been running on 4 minutes every HOUR today to see what happens. My temperatures haven't been flirting with the high limit near as much which feels like a small victory over what I've been going through the past how many days. I did check after dinner tonight though and I can tell there is no way it will make it through the night. I went downstairs just as it ended a 4 minute cycle and glowing coals were just starting to peak though. After another hour of waiting for the timer again it probably would have been out.

So I just set it now to run 5.5 minutes every how to see what that does. I set my thermostats back enough that the stoker shouldn't run for heat for the rest of the night. I will have to see before I go to bed if it looks like it will survive the night. It seems like a ridiculously long time to be running on the timer but all the conventional methods don't appear to be working with this new batch of coal.

Does anybody else run their timers on the hour and if so what kind of settings do you use during the fall/winter time?

2.5 minutes every hr Summer setting 1.5 minutes Winter setting 150 L 200 H summer 10diff 160 L 190 H 10diff
boiler temps stay 160 to 180 Summer 170 to 180 winter

Mine's set at 2 minutes every hour, 130 low, 170 high, 10 differential. 4 teeth feed, 5 air. Fire never goes out as long as there is coal in the bin. This is a year round setting for hot water as well as heat. Draft is very good which keeps the fire going during idle times. If you have a poor draft you will need more timer minutes and/or more often running.

What's the latest update, Jeremy?

Sounds like there may be a coal quality problem. I use Blaschak. I have accidentally turned the boiler off for over 12 hours (a couple of times) and not lost the "fire". I would try a sample of coal from a different mine and see if that solves your problem.

Stoker....I did finally find a "magic" solution that has me running I believe close to a month now without an outfire. At present I am questioning whether or not I'm battling with a worn auger. It would honestly surprise me because I pull the cleanout lever several times a day. I have checked that it's opening and closing correctly etc. However, I do not know the maintenance history of this stoker when I bought the house 3 years ago. Sometimes when I look in at the fire it is only burning in the back half of the pot and sometimes it looks perfect with ash ring, dark spot, etc. However it seems to be keeping good temperature and keeping the house toasty warm. I'm even wrapping up a great deal on some modine heaters that I'm going to plumb into the garage for the winter.

If the edges of the auger flights at the bottom of the pot are sharp, the auger is worn out. If you can move the auger shaft up/down/sideways if you grab it outside the pot, the worm/pot bushing is worn out. In those cases, it's pay now or pay more later.

It's only necessary to pull the cleanout lever once a day, when the stoker is running.

What was the magic bullet?