New Boiler Temps

I don't know how cold it was when you gobbled the 1 ton, but that is only 200 lbs a day in the coldest time of the year. I understand your frustration, and my vote says: Call the factory; talk to 'THE MAN', and see where that leads you.

Go past the dealer, you gave him more than one chance. Call the factory directly. I only hope they are better with customer service than Harman.

The 200 lbs was heating the stove itself the majority of the time. I live in central Pa and we had temps in the 40-60s the majority of last week.I can see burning 200lbs a day if the boiler could run at 160* and transfer the heat to my baseboard. Running baseboard heat with 120* water is not very effective . I called the factory last week was told to confirm the draft and call the dealer . I called the dealer Wed. my wife picked up 2 f t more of double wall flue pipe they said the draft was probably my issue. Installed the pipe Thursday no change called the dealer no return call since. Got the manometer confirmed the draft , here we are again the third week no change the prevoius week I was gathering coal from several dealers. I had to order 300 gallons of oil to keep the wife and daughter warm if I hear nothing by three today I think it is time to move forward on something else. I am not looking forward to draining the water out of the pex or the boiler not to mention how nice all the plumbing work turned out. Heck the stack is all double wall SS . I should have purchased everything used and threw it together instead of spending so much time in the details. I think the system is the Cadilac built on a Friday afternoon in the 80s. It is like when they attemted to mix electronics with carbs before fuel injection. How many Ford EXPs do you see?

Mac

Wow, those were warm outside temps; I was thinking of 0 at night and 15 degree days.
I have the same talk with the hand fired group....yes you can heat with 110 degree water, but unless you quadruple the number of feet of baseboard, it won't make the owners happy....especially the pets...oops, must be a wife someplace in this equation.
I'd get the factory to make an appearance, because a few negative posts here will sure not help sales or reputation.
Leisure Line is successful because they ACTUALLY care about their customers, and will go the extra mile to make sure your questions are answered and issue resolved. You will also be well treated at AA, AHS, EFM, Keystoker, CoalJack, and other factory folks that I have dealt with. Whatever goes well is reported, and whatever goes badly is MORE WELL represented.
I hope this resolves itself soon, good luck.

I budgeted for a AHS coal gun boiler for this project I chose this boiler for the fact I could heat with wood also. I have some acreage with fallen oaks all the time and several cords of wood already cut. I was informed that this unit worked best with coal as the major source and could burn wood in the colder months. I liked the simplicty of the unit along with the fact that it looks like it was built like a tank and would last a lifetime.. I want to heat with coal for the long burn times since I travel during the day leaving my wife to tend to the stove with a shovel instead of lifting logs ,she also hates bugs..

Mac

Should you go with a coal only heating appliance you can always sell the oak. Lots of folks still think heating with wood is easy (and cheap)work.

Sorry, I read the whole post a couple days ago and must have missed that you'd tried other brands of coal.

I agree it's time for the manufacturer to $hit or get off the pot on this boiler since it doesn't seem to do what it's advertised to do.

Your chimney has plenty of draft, and it should be able to generate a nice coal fire with enough coal and air. What happens if you open the inlet damper a couple inches?

Give the factory a chance, but if they can't make it perform it is time to break out the wrenches and tell them to come get it. Your oil boiler has less rated capacity and it does the job, so something is not right.

I budgeted for a AHS coal gun boiler for this project I chose this boiler for the fact I could heat with wood also. I have some acreage with fallen oaks all the time and several cords of wood already cut.

My recommendation to those with firewood is to sell the firewood and burn coal at home. Anything made to burn wood AND coal is always a compromise, one way or the other. My wood/coal hand-fed boiler burned anthracite pretty well, but I always struggled with overheating on warm days, big clinkers on cold days, and occasionally a dead fire at 6 am if the boiler had been run hard all night. It has since been replaced with an EFM DF520, and it has been a tremendous upgrade. If I had to do it over again I would have yanked the hand-fed boiler out the same day I closed on the house.

Sorry if I sound like a stoker salesman (I'm not), but I have been down the hand-fired boiler road and I really don't think you will ever be happy with your current setup. There is a reason companies like EFM started out making conversion stokers for hand-fed's. If you can get a full or even partial refund on the hand-fed, I would go stoker shopping. AHS, AA, Keystoker, EFM, Van Wert, etc etc.

-Rob

I called the dealer first thing and it is already 2 in the afternoon and no one has called me back. I checked on the boiler at lunch and nothing has changed it is chugging at 120* and nothing is calling for heat. The draft readings our the same and the coal is burned half way down so I loaded it again . It can chug all day at 120* with nothing calling for heat I will give it that.

Mac

So whats left to cause this problem

bad Coal???

Sting wrote:So whats left to cause this problem

bad Coal???

From the previous page:

"I am on my third source for coal and the results have all been the same as far as output temp. "

I am out of options, I bet tires would burn good... My wife and daughter are out tonight I think I will sit with a six pack and look for the solution.. My buddy said maybe the instructions are taped on the bottom of the boiler. All kidding aside What is disappointing is no return calls from the dealer or the factory today.

Mac

If you have the time to sit there and monitor the gauges, give that draft control a twist and open the inlet damper a couple inches...open a cold one and watch the temperature.

cabinover wrote:

Sting wrote:So whats left to cause this problem

bad Coal???

From the previous page:

"I am on my third source for coal and the results have all been the same as far as output temp. "

Yes I recall that this is the third batch

I have never been wrong twice or three times in a row -- Ill bet no one else has either

or

is the the third batch of black rock from the same source??

Just down to thinking here of possibilities vs posting the obvious

Can you measure the flue gas temp INSIDE the flue somehow?

If you're getting 120 degree boiler temps but your flue gas is 500 or more (heck, even 350), you'll know exactly where your coal is going.

Repeat experiment with wood instead.

Hadn't thought about the possibility that it could all be from the same hole.