EFM 520 Only half pot burning

I have an EFM 520 and only front half of the pot is burning. Stoker unit on right. New worm and bushings have been installed and it still burns the same way. The grates look ok no cracks. Could they be warped and would this cause the problem.The coal is clean not much dirt. When I pull the ash tub out the front has more ash than the back half, but the coal is burned eqaully front and back just different quantity. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks....

pac-rat wrote:I have an EFM 520 and only front half of the pot is burning.

pac-rat wrote:When I pull the ash tub out the front has more ash than the back half, but the coal is burned eqaully front and back just different quantity.

How can only half the pot be burning and not fill half the ash tub with unburned coal?

If the worm and bushings are new, I would look for warped burn plates and/or air leaks. Make sure the air chamber doesn't have a buildup of fines, and also check to see if the pot is close to level.

What are you using for a coal size, feed rate, and air setting?

I know it sounds weird about the amount of ash from front to back, what goes in must come out. 4 feed,5 air, and buck coal and pot is level. Fines emptied every day.It did the same thing with rice coal. Maybe I should have said the back half is slow burning, its not all unburnt. I can take pics later of fire and ash tub. Thanks for the fast reply.

Pictures of the fire and ashes would be great. It may be as simple as bumping the air up a little more...when I burned some Reading buck in my 520 I got quite a bit of unburned coal in the ashes with anything less than 5.5/6 on the air (with 4 teeth of feed).

But before you crank the air up...I will caution you to make sure the auger tube doesn't get hot where it comes out of the base, and it is still important to thoroughly check the pot and plates for air leaks.

Is this stoker new to you?

One more thing, you said the stoker did the same thing with rice coal...was that also with 4 teeth and 5 air?

Thanks again for the fast response. When I switched to rice to buck I changed the settings. I just spoke to a dealer in my area and he asked if the fan was spinning in the right direction. Because sometimes the motors are reversable. And it hit me this problem seemed to start when I replaced the motor last year. It is a cheap oa smith rebuilt not reversable but that is all he had in stock and I could not wait for the better motor, I have 3 women in the house and they were cold as they always are. I did buy a spare dayton. I will replace the motor later this afternoon and let you know any change.

Thanks....

And no this stoker is not new to me. Its been around almost as long as my wife, but the stoker is still warmer than my wife.... just sayin.

Some women don't fire "red hot", They sorta just simmer

Ok replaced motor with the new Dayton and the Dayton was reversed. The AO Smith was rotating correctly and it was reversable (but only if removed) access cover was on the inside. Any way bumped up the air to 7 and it is burning a full pot now, but seems that more than likely I have a bad gasket between the grates and gooseneck requiring more air to compensate for the loss there. I have the older style pot with the naked gooseneck. When I changed the bushing in the gooseneck I may let the gasket slip or something. I will just replace all the gaskets later in the week. Thanks for all the advise and input. I will post the results ofter I replace the gaskets.

Thanks again.......

I hear ya stokerscot.

Glad it's fixed. Just got electric back again.

Good to hear you got your power back. You don't think about it when you have it. And you can't stop thinkin about when you don't. Especially the kids. It's like Daddy what did you do before electricity ? Whoah I aint that old. 41 aint that old now. But it was when we were kids.....

While on the topics of motor, I have a 520 with the original motor. It has to die someday but i cant read the data plate. Can someone give me the details a proper motor replacment frame number rpm amperage and all other info needed to acquire a stand by motor. How much do they usually cost

It's a Dayton 4MA10 available from Grainger for about $80 ???