AHS-130 Flapper Problem

Hi Gizmo, I was not getting the btu,s out of the son's house like I was getting out of mine, thats a given. Mybe the fix will improve this but won't know untill we get some of that you know what outside. I can tell you that getting a -1.0 draft test today should improve the output but would like to see -2.0 I get out of mine. Last 2 seasons I was hardly getting a reading at all on his. Induced blower fan (which it should be called) to these stokers appear to be key for the proper operation to these stokers, but what is it. Both stokers never ran away or had to dump, only over rides 15 to 20 deg. on shutdown at 180 sometimes up to 35 at low loads. I burn 8 tons from Oct 21, to april 21, he burns 7 and we both keep the stat. on 70 but his runs forever before sutting down if ever on cold days. Looking for a procedure to do an efficency test and ajustments on these antratubes. If they are UL and ASME approved there has to be a procedure.

Mazzy

The one thing I learned with any heat system is you have to have more
going into the house than you have leaking out to be warm.I think everyone
questions the amount of fuel we burn,but when we convert that to what
oil or gas cost,we still have one up on them.

Thanks Yanche, I,ll review it tomorrow hopefully more likely over the weekend and be back.

gizmo wrote:The one thing I learned with any heat system is you have to have more
going into the house than you have leaking out to be warm.I think everyone
questions the amount of fuel we burn,but when we convert that to what
oil or gas cost,we still have one up on them.

You got that right Gizmo, Most people think that the cold coming from the glass in the window is always a draft (yes if you have bad windows) but its the heat that migrates to cold not the other way around.

Mazzy

You might be interested in what Berlin had to say about my questions.
Burn Efficency, Dollars in, BTU Out

Short Bus wrote, How can we measure the BTU yield out of our coal burning apliances

I am not an oil burner man, but in my career done many startups and fine tuned burners on startup but always had an oil burner tech. do the final and tag the unit. He will know what the efficency of the burner should be because he will have the data and experance and ajust, and most times do better. This should corrospond to the manfactures specifictions for total imput and net output of the boiler for which that burner was selceted for, the efficency test. Thats what we are looking for to ajust the burner and get the most efficency out of our units. Just because we are saving doesn't mean we have to waste.

Mazzy

I didn't read every post here....but have you checked draft & taken a look to see if the chimney is partially clogged?

I would never claim to be a professional at heating but have made some observations
from running my boiler for a few years now.The heating guy who helped me did heat loss
calculations and a design temp that figured I needed 75,000 BTU to be most efficent.That
would mean the boiler would run 24-7 at -30 deg for me to maintain warmth.I wanted a
stoker boiler of this style so I ended up with 130,000 btu.The boiler runs,catches up and
shuts off.Sometimes for a long time.I think while its running it converts coal into very
efficent energy but when it sits it still burns coal to stay lit.This doesn't happen on an oil
or gas boiler.This takes my boiler efficency down in my book but because the boiler is in one of the
buidings I am heating, its not going to waste unless you have to open a window to keep from
getting to warm.Idle time with any solid fule boiler is a waste if you can't enjoy it.This is
why we put our boilers in areas we heat and not outside.This only has to make sense in my
diluted little world to me,but it's really nice and warm here.

jmmazzy wrote:Done the draft test on son's stoker, -1.0 inches of mercury and seems fine, fan set 1/8" from back plate.
Done the draft test on my stoker, -2.0 inches of mercury and never had a problem. fan set 5/8" from back plate direct from AHS.

Being that the blower fan is actualy an induced draft fan at the fire pot any problem would have to be at the fire pot, the opening at the antratube, hopper, cone, or the fan itself.

The fan to back plate dimension is useless to you. The fan blade to vessel clearance inside the boiler is critical for the fan to operate efficiently. The difference between a hovercraft flying or sitting on the ground is 1/64" extra clearance between the fan and cowl. Those AHS & AA fans should slam the flapper shut when set properly and it should do so promptly at the fan's start.

Freddy wrote:I didn't read every post here....but have you checked draft & taken a look to see if the chimney is partially clogged?

Yes Freddy I did, took breaching off also.

coaledsweat wrote:

jmmazzy wrote:Done the draft test on son's stoker, -1.0 inches of mercury and seems fine, fan set 1/8" from back plate.
Done the draft test on my stoker, -2.0 inches of mercury and never had a problem. fan set 5/8" from back plate direct from AHS.

Being that the blower fan is actualy an induced draft fan at the fire pot any problem would have to be at the fire pot, the opening at the antratube, hopper, cone, or the fan itself.

The fan to back plate dimension is useless to you. The fan blade to vessel clearance inside the boiler is critical for the fan to operate efficiently. The difference between a hovercraft flying or sitting on the ground is 1/64" extra clearance between the fan and cowl. Those AHS & AA fans should slam the flapper shut when set properly and it should do so promptly at the fan's start.

Thanks Coaledsweat, I can relate to that, followed AHS's recommodiations. So what you are saying is the fan should be pushed forward closer to the cowl (antratube) and not backwards to the plate to acheive max.draft, is that correct?

I like the hovercraft thing.

Mazzy

jmmazzy wrote:So what you are saying is the fan should be pushed forward closer to the cowl (antratube) and not backwards to the plate to acheive max.draft, is that correct?

I like the hovercraft thing.

Correct, to get maximum suction, it needs to be close to whatever is fixed in front of it. As the fan blades get more clearance, the loss of suction would be exponential.

Got the hovercraft thing from Mythbusters.

I have posted before on this problem. Search (jmmazzy). I'm still having a draft problem on my son's ahs. After cleaning in the spring I had noticed that the swirl tube that penatrates the boiler is 1 1/2" on top and 2" on the bottom. Yes, that 12" pipe was cut crooked, so that meams my fan is not square or level with the antratube inside the boiler. Being that the fan blades are fixes would this have a tumbling affect on the draft it is trying to pull. I bought 2 ahs's at the same time, the other one is mine and never had a problem but my swirl tube is cut square.

jmmazzy

jmmazzy wrote:I have posted before on this problem. Search (jmmazzy). I'm still having a draft problem on my son's ahs. After cleaning in the spring I had noticed that the swirl tube that penatrates the boiler is 1 1/2" on top and 2" on the bottom. Yes, that 12" pipe was cut crooked, so that meams my fan is not square or level with the antratube inside the boiler. Being that the fan blades are fixes would this have a tumbling affect on the draft it is trying to pull. I bought 2 ahs's at the same time, the other one is mine and never had a problem but my swirl tube is cut square.

jmmazzy

Post this to the AHS forum, and someone from AHS will likely be able to assist you.

I will but I'm not expecting much from them. Spent a lot of time on the phone back then with jeff and it was put a bigger pully on the motor for more rpm, that didn't work. I was hopping some of you guys with stoker experence could give some of there experences to me in this area, if not I will take a torch to this problem. Why not done everything else.

jmmazzy

So, are you saying that do not have proper draft when fan is running?