Newbie and Need Help

Didn't some one ask????

Sting wrote:Is there still unused coal in the bin?

I am Shameless

Everyhing has Bern fine. Getting nice consistent heat in the house. I check my coal bin everyday so we are nice and toasty. So now my two new issues are :
1. My bins are heavier than before and I am noticing black coal that has not been burned. No idea what that is about.
2. Today came Ini the house and it smelled like rotten eggs. It smelled upstairs because I havehole in my floor so I know the smell was coming up from there because in my tower on the third floor has no smell. I went into thecoal bin and noticed that where the coal was tunneling in the Hopper there was a small puddle of water. No water leaking anywhere else. (The past owners said that they have had floods before from coal being delivered wet. ) I have never smelled this as it has always been dry in there. We have had alot of snow and the last day or two has bbem nice so we have melting around the house. I feel that some water got in the room and it is pitched to flow in the Hopper. I am getting a co2 today. Should I be concerned. The draft thing is functioning good so I do not feel it is a draft problem but I am officially moving in tomorrow and do not want to get sick or worse.

Don't move in untill you have at least 2 funtioning Carbon Monoxide detectors.. [it's CO, not CO2, co2 is not poisonous, CO is very deadly]..

Water alone should not cause the smell.. take a look at the burning fire, and compare to some the photos on the forum of an EFM's fire..

When the stoker is running, you should see a red ring of hot coals, with an outer ring of burnt up coal or ashes.. and you might see as slightly darker
red center .

It sounds like you really need to read up on the operation of the EFM, or hire a GOOD EFM serviceman to help you out and get you set up correctly..

Once set up, it is a very good unit, with only a few things to do every few days to keep it running correctly..


Maybe one of the EFM owners can talk you through some of the possible causes of the smell and unburnt coal..

Greg L

You may want to poke around on the EFM manufacturers forum. Also I will repeat what LS said get detectors before moving in! Even if you already have one in the house they do have a finite life span.

e-f-m Heating

PAQueen wrote:
2. Today came Ini the house and it smelled like rotten eggs.

sniped

The draft thing is functioning good so I do not feel it is a draft problem but I am officially moving in tomorrow and do not want to get sick or worse.

You say the "draft thing" is functioning good. Just because it flaps around a bit does not mean that it is set correctly. I'm no expert, but even though prehaps millions of folks do without one, I would never want to be without a manometer. Simply put, it measures the amount of suction in the flue pipe. It can save coal [too much draft signal = wasted heat up the flue], but more importantly, it will tell you if the fume problem is due to too little draft signal.

A manmometer is not expensive, nor hard to install. Here is a thread you can study if the subjects interests you. I like the Dwyer model 25. Common on ebay.

manometer install

This all may seem somewhat overwelming to a coal newbie. You are at a disadvantage, but after the learning curve, I bet that that you can be comfy with it. Really, once you understand how the device works, and how to make the few simple adjustments when needed, it will be easy and fulfilling.

Dave

You do need someone who is familiar with an EFM to stop in and check everything over, especially the draft, feed and combustion air settings. The manual will have information in it on these items.

You might get it burning good but don't forget to take out the ashes. If you don't it causes all kinds of problems. With coal consumption for a 4500 sq. ft. house, you would need to empty the ashes everyday.

If you're getting smell, it could be from insufficient draft, draft regulator set wrong, too much air compared to coal feed, a short pipe to a 55 gallon drum not covered, or half full. I admit I didn't read all the posts in this thread.

Steve called me the other day and asked about a dealer for you. I recommended Aerni and Hitzel. Brad knows what he's doing with stokers. If you call again, tell Joe that Chris from efm recommended Aernie/Hitzel and maybe he could spare Brad to come out and look, even if they don't want new customers.

I bought two CO detectors before going back to the house. Got the Kidde with history and another Kidde with voice commands. When I got back to the house no smell at all. Everything was buring good. Put in the detector and waited about an hour. Checked the history and it was zero. Went back this morning before movers came and it checked the history which told me highest reading 56. Reset and checked 4 hours later and it was 0. When I got to the house the other day and had the smell the ash bin was really full. I have been trying to come to the house twice a day and this was the fullest I had ever seen the ash bin. The weather was also very nice and the thermostat was high (trying to dry my floors). I think it was just to full however I am diligently investigating companies to get a contract because I know I need a service call and cleaning.

My fire been burning now going on three days!

I am finding that my coal bin is not as full so it requires me to have to shovel coal over the bin at least three times a day. This morning the fire was real low and I had a high CO reading from history (it never went off). Off course when I went in the coal room I had a tunnelled hole and the ash bin was full. I raked some coal on top and added some fresh coal to the fire. Poked around alittle and it lit right up again. Opened a window, Reset and check the CO in a half and it went down to under 50. I changed the bin before I went to sleep at around 11pm and it was totally full at 8:30am. So now I have to figure out how to keep the coal feeding into the bin when the room is not really full. Fun times.

A plastic 55 gal barrel will keep the auger covered...
just needs to be filled often...
Or build a bin within the bin out of wood to hold more coal than the barrel...
Others will offer pictures or you can do a search on this site...