EFM DF 520 Outfire

psustoker · Post by **psustoker** » Sat. Sep. 24, 2011 8:52 pm

I have an EFM DF 520 that has worked great for years. I got 5 tons of rice coal on August 31. It is in a coal bin with and auger feed. Since I got the coal, I cannot keep the fire lit. The furnace and chimney are clean and I have tried all sorts of settings for the timer, coal feed rate and air settings. I start a new fire, it catches and burns quickly. Within two hours, the fire is out. I never had this problem before. There seems to be a lot of dirt in the coal. Any suggestions?

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Sat. Sep. 24, 2011 10:17 pm

Welcome to the forum!
Based on your post I'm guessing it's poor quality coal, since you said everything was fine before. You could get some bags of a known good quality coal, dig out around the auger, dump the bagged coal right there and see if anything changes.
Other members will be along to offer there advice.

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Sep. 25, 2011 6:33 am

It could be the coal, or perhaps this coal just requires a different combination of settings that you haven't "landed on" yet. Please post the following:

1. Your aquastat high/low and differential setting.
2. Your feed rate and air setting.
3. Your timer setting.

psustoker · Post by **psustoker** » Sun. Sep. 25, 2011 10:20 am

Current settings:

Aquastat 190/160 differential 20
Feed rate 4
Air setting 4
Timer 2:30

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Sep. 25, 2011 10:27 am

Have you ever monitored the boiler temperature while it was running? Any chance that it runs for a long time to get up to temperature and overshoots enough to hit the high limit?

psustoker · Post by **psustoker** » Sun. Sep. 25, 2011 11:52 am

Ever since I got the coal, once I start the fire the temp rises to 160 then shuts off. After the first timer run of 2:30 the temp go to 170. Thirty minutes later, the temp is still at 170, but the fire is almost out. Thirty minutes later (another 2:30 timer run) the temp is 160 and the fire is out.

Post by **Rob R.** » Sun. Sep. 25, 2011 5:12 pm

Sounds like poor quality coal. Have you talked to your coal dealer about this issue yet? Buy some bagged Blaschak or Kimmel's to experiment and confirm if it is a coal quality issue.

psustoker · Post by **psustoker** » Sun. Sep. 25, 2011 6:41 pm

Thank you for your advise.

Post by **stoker-man** » Sun. Sep. 25, 2011 7:38 pm

It does sound like bad coal.

Have you checked for other non-obvious things, maybe even coincidental, such as a worn out worm, blocked holes in the burner plates, bad draft (should be negative .02 at the door and neg. .04 at the flue)?