EFM 350

That ash looks like it's H A R M O N Y coal. Real good stuff, it the first time I have used it and seems to be little ash for me compared to others. Is it harmony ???

I don't know how much coal I have used since I lit the boiler, I could track it if I install an elapsed-time meter on the stoker.
Yes, it is UAE Harmony, in my opinion the best coal out there right now.

It has probably been idling the last couple days.

Yep, other then firing during DHW use and running on the timer it has been idle.

Wood'nCoal wrote:I don't know how much coal I have used since I lit the boiler, I could track it if I install an elapsed-time meter on the stoker.

They are easy to find on ebay. I put a digital one on my oil burner...although reading it irritates me.

I put a digital one on my oil burner...although reading it irritates me.

Broke the shear pin today, by the time I found it the fire was out. The thermostat must have been calling for heat, with no coal feeding and the blower running I don't think it took long to burn up the coal in the pot. I suspect an oversized piece of coal is the culprit. I cranked the manual feed and could feel the auger binding up. It seems to be ok now, it either broke up or worked it's way up to the pot.

You need an auto pager/dialer for your EFM...
Help I am getting cold...
Come save me...

Exactly. I was thinking about that last night.

John, throw a piece of hardware mesh screening over your hopper to catch those stray pieces of nut. remove it again after hopper is full. Since you have 2 different sizes of coal for 2 different burners, that'll probably happen again.

I think it was caused by the cold weather. At UAE Harmony everyone is loaded by the same skid steer and the bins are side by side. I can see how a little of the wrong size coal can find it's way into my truck, most likely a few pieces stock in the bucket.

Don't have a hopper, Chris. The coal is in a bin and the auger feeds out of the bin. Buck size only in the cellar. The nut size for the Harman is outside.

Don't feel bad John, I almost lost the fire in the AA last Thursday,, similar problem,, a piece of concrete from the blocks the coal bin is made of got shoveled into a bucket and into the AA's hopper.. it was just big enough to start to feed up the auger, then stopped, blocking the flow.. I discovered it when the fire was WAY down in the firepot.. It took about 35# of coal [almost a whole 5-gallon pail] of coal to fill up the firepot..

I used a 10' long piece of steel tubing to slide down the center of the auger [AA has a hollow flight auger] and knocked the piece of concrete around enough that it started to feed up the auger..

Soon the auger was making 'music' again, and the AA has been doing fine since.

I guess I need to put a piece of chicken wire over my 5 gallon buckets when I'm filling them..


Greg L

Ever notice that these kind of things always happen when you don't have time to fix them?

Today I emptied the bin that the EFM feeds from, one bucket at a time. I suspected that the pot auger pipe and the extension pipe were not meeting inside the coupler.
Reasons for the pin shearing on efm drive mechanisms

Are the bin feed pipe and burner end pipe tight against each other in the pipe coupler? If they are not butted together tightly, coal fines will start to fill any gap and start grinding up the coal as it passes by. The steel pipe can be rusted with pinholes inside the coupling or anywhere along its length. This will also create a packed zone of fine coal that binds up the worm. Split couplings are available instead of the standard pipe coupling. They are two halves which are bolted together.

Unfortunately the coupler is inside the bin. Soon I was inside the bin as well. I was right, there was a gap. It's back together now and the bin's refilled.

Wood'nCoal wrote:Today I emptied the bin that the EFM feeds from, one bucket at a time. I suspected that the pot auger pipe and the extension pipe were not meeting inside the coupler.
Reasons for the pin shearing on efm drive mechanisms

Are the bin feed pipe and burner end pipe tight against each other in the pipe coupler? If they are not butted together tightly, coal fines will start to fill any gap and start grinding up the coal as it passes by. The steel pipe can be rusted with pinholes inside the coupling or anywhere along its length. This will also create a packed zone of fine coal that binds up the worm. Split couplings are available instead of the standard pipe coupling. They are two halves which are bolted together.

Unfortunately the coupler is inside the bin. Soon I was inside the bin as well. I was right, there was a gap. It's back together now and the bin's refilled.

Operator error not the efm's fault I believe someone told you to make sure you had them all the way in the coupler
when your were putting them together did you make the set screws/ bolts tight this time

Someone probably did. Everything is tight.