First Out Fire

franpipeman · Post by **franpipeman** » Sat. Dec. 31, 2011 11:00 am

Well on this blusterous freezing late December winter morning(joke), I decided to go out and dig some holes for a sloped coal bin /chute. I kept hearing the birds chirping as I scrounged around looking for metal stakes to hammer some expoloratory holes. I went to check on the boiler that has been running dependable for some time and.........................out fire. I having been pushing the envelope running on two minutes per hour, a very small heating load. The boiler is jacketed with allnew aluminum faced insulation , the piping header, which I let circulate by gravity, is fully insulated and the room it is in is insulated.I am using the two minutes per hours as a "pilot" so I can simply go into the workshop area flick on the stat and get heat. I kept thinking I need to raise the temp of the outfire control as the insulation and no load keeps the boiler really warm for hours without load or refire. . I went down to boiler and of course temp is 110 , and I have a full pot of coal . Luckily last night I emptied the ash pan and now I have a full bushel of coal, Luckily the out fire switch opened . I think it is set a 140 but I likely should move it to 150 for the way Im using it . I am using this heating season as a tutorial as I have to conserve coal as I wont have bin ready till spring and it is all non essential as the house is warmed by hand feds. I was lucky by the skin of my teeth . experimentaion and empirical data. Back to bin design and Ill wait till next cool spell to refire. I did feel a small amount of heat in the pot yet,

Post by **Rob R.** » Tue. Jan. 03, 2012 2:17 pm

What is the high limit setting?

Perhaps 2 minutes per hour isn't enough, but there is also the possibility that your well-insulated boiler reached the high limit and skipped timer cycles.

franpipeman · Post by **franpipeman** » Wed. Jan. 04, 2012 10:14 am

WE had a very warm day in pa. when the out fire happened. I beleive draft was reduced and the out fire temp sensor was set too low . The warm weather came on suddenly and I should have went to tburn cycles per hour as I don't alway have the stat calling for heat.

Post by **Rob R.** » Wed. Jan. 04, 2012 10:35 am

If you have marginal draft, you may find that running the timer on a 30 minute cycle rather than 60 will help. 1 to 1.5 minutes every 30 is where I would start. A well insulated boiler with poor draft will always be right on the line between overheating and having outfires.

What are you using for aquastat and feed settings?

franpipeman · Post by **franpipeman** » Wed. Jan. 04, 2012 12:44 pm

200 high limiit 160 and 4 feed 4.5 air

franpipeman · Post by **franpipeman** » Wed. Jan. 04, 2012 12:45 pm

i have the out fire aquastat at 125