AHS130 Outta Control

Post by **Rob R.** » Wed. Nov. 16, 2011 9:07 pm

dchartt wrote:the hi stat is my operating temp, you really want that set all the way to 200?...not second guessing you just making sure

If the L4006A mounted on your boiler is currently set at a higher temperature than the "HI" control you have set at 160, then yes...the "HI" will control the operation temperature because it is "first in line". The red wire leaving that LO/HI control should go to the L4006A, and from there a yellow wire should go back to your hopper-fire sensor. If that is how your unit is wired, try the settings I posed above. The boiler should shut off at whatever the L4006A is set at (try 180).

What model circulator are you using to circulate through the Coal Gun? It looks like a Taco 011 or something similar, and I bet when it kicks on after being off for a few hours your boiler temperature gets flooded with room temperature water. Keeping the coal boiler at a higher temperature will help the system recover faster, but you may still need to throttle that flow a little.

dchartt · Post by **dchartt** » Wed. Nov. 16, 2011 9:23 pm

yep thats exactly what happens, it'll throw my boiler temp all the way down to 100, its a Taco model 009

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Wed. Nov. 16, 2011 9:28 pm

How does one best throttle down upon the flow. I have a load of different valving options on my system. In situations where no zones have called for heat for many hours on end and then suddenly a zone calls for heat, I've seen a single cold zone loop take my idling boilers internal temp down from 200 degrees to about 145-150 degrees in a hurry. Mine stops falling at 145 degrees only because my circulator is intentionally shut off at that temperature. The circulator then onlt re-starts when the boiler has recovered to 155 degrees.

All thanks go to Sting for convincing me to add a cut-off for the circulator when the boilers internal temp hits 145 degrees. I did provide for an over-ride of this feature so if I want to (as in the case of an out-fire when I don't want my various zones pipes freezing before I can get a fire going again) I can allow for the circulator to run whenever any zone is calling for heat regardless of boiler temp.

gizmo · Post by **gizmo** » Wed. Nov. 16, 2011 9:52 pm

I put my boiler 130ft. away from my house also and didn't
want the boiler to have big temperature swings,so I have
the boiler heating the water in a 80 gallon insulated tank,and
take water out of there to heat the house and shop and
return everything to the tank .I don't have to jam a whole
bunch of BTU's through my pex this way either.

dchartt · Post by **dchartt** » Wed. Nov. 16, 2011 10:10 pm

my boiler started to recover at 130 now instead of 100, boiler temp was 200 temp in lines was 140, kicked thermostat up, temp in boiler stayed the same for a few minutes and lines increased to 150, temp in boiler started to drop and stopped at 130 then started to recover, I have it set at 180

dchartt · Post by **dchartt** » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 12:07 am

I stand corrected...my house quit calling for heat so when I kicked the thermostat up a bit the boiler then dropped to 120 and started to recover

Post by **Rob R.** » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 5:37 am

Ok, so what are the different aquastats set at now?

If you don't mind some manual intervention, try closing that ballvalve on the output side of your circulator about halfway. Repeat your experiment...if the boiler still bottoms out, try closing that valve a little more. You don't want to close it all the way and dead-head the pump, but you should be able to reduce the flow and give the boiler more of a chance at recovery. As the weather cools and your house calls for heat more often, this should be less of a problem. In January you may have to make some adjustments, but you need to make it through November first.

There are other solutions that involve piping changes, but start simple.

dchartt · Post by **dchartt** » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 6:35 am

Ok...I get off work at 7 ill experiment as soon as I get home...thank you very much

Sting · Post by **Sting** » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 7:55 am

Rob R. wrote:Ok, so what are the different aquastats set at now?

If you don't mind some manual intervention, try closing that ballvalve on the output side of your circulator about halfway. Repeat your experiment...if the boiler still bottoms out, try closing that valve a little more. You don't want to close it all the way and dead-head the pump, but you should be able to reduce the flow and give the boiler more of a chance at recovery. As the weather cools and your house calls for heat more often, this should be less of a problem. In January you may have to make some adjustments, but you need to make it through November first.

There are other solutions that involve piping changes, but start simple.

System balance advice --- wow what a concept LOL

P/s I like it

dchartt · Post by **dchartt** » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 8:08 am

the 4006 is set at 180 and the hi control is set at 200

dchartt · Post by **dchartt** » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 9:15 am

Ok 1st run...boiler temp was at 190 when I kicked pump on, pump valve was choked half way, boiler temp never dropped for the 3 minutes I let it circulate, so I was really anxious to see if it heated my radiators up in the house, and they were definitely getting warm, kicked pump off, going to let water cool in lines again and redo this with the pump valve 1/3rd of the way choked, kinda seemed to me half way was a little to much, I know boiler temp not dropping at all was fantastic but at the same time I don't want to overwork my pump correct?

Post by **Rob R.** » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 9:19 am

It won't hurt your circulator one bit. As long as you don't completely close that valve, the circulator is operating somewhere on its pump curve. It may take some more experimenting, but you will eventually get the flow so that it puts a moderate load on the boiler, and still heats the house.

I think you are on the right track.

Sting wrote:
Rob R. wrote:Ok, so what are the different aquastats set at now?

If you don't mind some manual intervention, try closing that ballvalve on the output side of your circulator about halfway. Repeat your experiment...if the boiler still bottoms out, try closing that valve a little more. You don't want to close it all the way and dead-head the pump, but you should be able to reduce the flow and give the boiler more of a chance at recovery. As the weather cools and your house calls for heat more often, this should be less of a problem. In January you may have to make some adjustments, but you need to make it through November first.

There are other solutions that involve piping changes, but start simple.
System balance advice --- wow what a concept LOL

P/s I like it

I'm glad you like it. I first tried it after reading one of your posts on that 15 page "Monoflow thread".

dchartt · Post by **dchartt** » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 9:22 am

thank you so much, im going to continue experimenting, and my manometer is suppose to be here today, cant wait to get this thing tuned in

Sting · Post by **Sting** » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 1:12 pm

Rob R. wrote: 15 page "Monoflow thread".

yeah --- that was a grin

kstills · Post by **kstills** » Thu. Nov. 17, 2011 3:06 pm

Sting wrote:
Rob R. wrote:Ok, so what are the different aquastats set at now?

If you don't mind some manual intervention, try closing that ballvalve on the output side of your circulator about halfway. Repeat your experiment...if the boiler still bottoms out, try closing that valve a little more. You don't want to close it all the way and dead-head the pump, but you should be able to reduce the flow and give the boiler more of a chance at recovery. As the weather cools and your house calls for heat more often, this should be less of a problem. In January you may have to make some adjustments, but you need to make it through November first.

There are other solutions that involve piping changes, but start simple.
System balance advice --- wow what a concept LOL

P/s I like it