emf 520 boiler coal not burning up all the way

We have a efm 520 boiler and are using to much coal it looks to me like it isn't all burning, we have the feed set at 4 the air set about 4 1/2 water temp 180 not sure where to go with this, time is 1 1/2 min. every 15 min.

How wide is the ash ring after it's been burning for 45 minutes straight?

What is the diameter of the dark spot in the center after it's been burning for 45 minutes straight?

Did this problem start with a delivery of new coal?

Does the pot glow completely orange when it's stoking and then turn to salt and pepper in the ash ring?

1 1/2 ash ring not realy any dark ring in center ash does look salt and pepper this has been going on since we installed it

When it's running are the flames licking the top of the boiler,is there unburnt coal in the ashes ,maybe bad coal.






ry

Does the burning coal in the pot glow completely orange?

we checke the draft and the best we could get was about 3 coming out of boiler with the air at about 3 1/2 but with it like that we had alot of unburnt coal in ash, we bumped the air back to about 4 1/2 could this be some of our problem

I have a list of questions to try and help narrow this down. Here goes:

What size coal are you burning? Rice? Buck?

Do you know the source of the coal?

Does it have a lot of small pieces or fines?

Are you sure the "unburned" coal you are seeing isn't shale/bone?

How did you end up with the timer set to run the stoker every 15 minutes?

How much coal are you burning per day and what kind of load are you putting on the boiler?

-Rob

Rice coal
Not sure of source
not alot of fines
burning at feed on 4 and air on 4 1/2 ash looks pretty good kinda klinky
Not sure my brother got that info
When it is in the teens we burn at least 4 five gallon buckets a day/the house is about 3000 sq ft well insulated good windows, but the boiler is in the garage about 40ft from house and lines anr undergound in pvc not sure how deep

If 4.5 air gives you a good burn, leave it there. As for the draft, as long as you have negative draft at the firedoor -0.03 at the flue will work. I also would change the timer to run the stoker for 2 minutes every 30 minutes, that is EFM's recommended starting point.

More questions.

Where do you live?
Does your EFM have an insulated jacket around the boiler?
Is the garage heated?
How well insulated are the lines?
Do you constantly circulate between the EFM and the house?

My thoughts are that if you have an uninsulated boiler running in an unheated garage, and you are losing some heat underground, 160 lbs per day is not impossible for heating a 3,000 sq. ft home in cold weather. As a means for comparison, do you know how much fuel/propane/wood/whatever it took the heat the house previously?

-Rob

When did you last clean the inside of flyash? Flyash is one of the best insulators. If you don't clean the ash off once or twice a year your effeciency suffers. Mine was using way too much coal also. After I cleaned it , it cut my usage considerably.

I think Rob has asked a lot of good questions, and I agree the usage rate doesn't look that bad under the circumstances. I also agree with Rob that the timer settings may have been contributing to the incomplete burn.

Mike

markviii wrote:If 4.5 air gives you a good burn, leave it there. As for the draft, as long as you have negative draft at the firedoor -0.03 at the flue will work. I also would change the timer to run the stoker for 2 minutes every 30 minutes, that is EFM's recommended starting point.

More questions.

Where do you live?
Does your EFM have an insulated jacket around the boiler?
Is the garage heated?
How well insulated are the lines?
Do you constantly circulate between the EFM and the house?

My thoughts are that if you have an uninsulated boiler running in an unheated garage, and you are losing some heat underground, 160 lbs per day is not impossible for heating a 3,000 sq. ft home in cold weather. As a means for comparison, do you know how much fuel/propane/wood/whatever it took the heat the house previously?

-Rob