EFM: 520 Highboy going out

Have had the EFM 520 Highboy going now for a little over a month and everything was just running fine until yesterday when it went out. I have not changed the feed settings or air settings and whala no fire. I checked the ash and it looked the same as always. I relit and it ran great for 10 hours or so and then it went out again. I know the settings that work for one guy wont work for another but what do you guys have your EFM's set at for summer burning? Also does anyone shut these down over the summer? I know conventional thinking is that it is much better to keep them running because of them sweating but what about cleaning them and spraying the insides with a rust inhibitor or just rustolium paint?

Thanks,
Glenn

I just had to go into the basement and look at mine. 150/200 for a low/high, differential is at 10. 1.5 minutes every 30 minutes on the timer, and 4 teeth/4.25 air has been working great for me.

What settings are you using on the Highboy?

When your fire goes out on nice warm days you may want to consider checking your draft. Draft issues arise during warm weather, especially if you have a newer house or an older one that has been insulated and “tightened”. They just don’t breathe like the old houses do.

Hummmmm... Very simular to my settings... I thought it may be a draft issue as well. It is in a very very old house and can breth just fine, however the chimney has a 6 foot flue and we have 25 feet of pipe before it goes into the chimney. What about shutting the unit down for the summer and using the rust inhibitor like I had asked about? Has anyone tried this? As far as my settings I had it on 4 teeth and 4 air but cut it back to 3.2 air. Water temp is at 150 - 170 with 10F over/under. Timer is set for 2.5min every 30min.

Thanks,
Glenn

Don't bother spraying the insides with anything. Block off all the firebox openings (flue, pot, etc) and put a small electric heater in there (I use 60w). Works great in my Keystoker.

grobinson2 wrote:however the chimney has a 6 foot flue and we have 25 feet of pipe before it goes into the chimney.

I can't possibly see how a chimney that short would perform adequately...especially with that long of a horizontal run.

grobinson2 wrote:Very simular to my settings...Water temp is at 150 - 170 with 10F over/under. Timer is set for 2.5min every 30min

Similar, but very different at the same time. Your low/high limits are too close together, and the timer cycle may be longer than necessary. Start by changing the low/high to 150/200…just like the EFM manual recommends. If the boiler hits the high limit from the timer cycle, cut the timer cycle back to 2 minutes.

With poor draft, you will often be on the edge of overheating the boiler with timer cycles. Solution: Build a tall chimney.

I have changed the settings on the aquistat. As for the chimney that won't be changing. It is a 5 story stone chimney that is 6 feet scross with the out side stone being 4 to 7 feet thick. It is unlined and all six fire places that feed into it have been sealed off. From the stoker to the stone chimney is 8" galvinized with snap wrap insulation around it for about 20+ feet. It comes out the back of the stoker and strat up for about 8 feet. Then it makes a 45 and goes up through the floor and continues up to the crock in the stone chimney.

Thanks,
Glenn

What is the draft reading on your manometer? and what do you have your barometric damper set to control the maximum draft at??

Double check that the flue pipe is clean, expecially at the elbows and any long stretches that are not vertical.. yes including that long 45* stretch.. fly ash will not slide down a 45* angle inside a flue pipe..

So:
Draft
Baro setting
Clean pipes and elbows.

next make sure the door to the base of the EFM is closing tight.

With an EFM, the chimney draft must pull through the idling fire to get it's air to go up the chimney,, if any other air is available, the fire won't get
enough air pulled through the fire between timer runs, and the fire will go out.

What is the temp setting for the high limit aquastat that will interupt the timer's run? if it's too low, it will stop the timer from running for several
normal times, and the fire will go out due to lack of fuel and air..

Greg L

I do not have a magnomitor hooked up so I just set the baro when we had a normal day and it would start to come open when a gust would come along. Either way it is a draft issue. Growing up in that house we always had chimney issues so I am not suprised we are having issues now. The thing worked great until we got this hot humid weather so I am not worried about it this coming winter. I think we will just shut it down, seal it up and put a small heater in there so it does not rust or sweat. Mom and Dad use very little hot water now that the kids are no longer living at home so not a big deal. When the wife and I take over the farm then we will have to address the summer time chimney issue but until then we are good. As a side note, I did make sure that everything was sealed up very tight (ash pan door, loading door, exaust pipe ect). I will empty the unit, clean it out and have it ready for the fall.
Has anyone tried a draft inducer on an EFM?
Thanks again,
Glenn

Hi Glenn, you really should get a manometer so you can properly set the draft. If you have too much draft, you will be wasting coal, because a lot of heat will be going up the chimney.

And, with the instrument, you would be able to KNOW if low draft is the problem causing your 'out fires'..

Greg L

Hey guys,
About 56 F here today and low and behold the EFM or more precicley the chimney are working just great! I fired up the unit this morning and no draft issues. I am sure I will have to put a liner in the chimney to get a good enough draft over the summer months so for now anyway we are just going to shut it down over the summer. I have heard through the grapevine that a hamster heater will work just fine for keeping the rust off of the inside of the unit for the summer.

Thanks again,
Glenn

EDIT- Greg L, I agree with you on the magnomitor. I have one here but I was going to use it on my set up that is going in this summer. That said I guess my parents could use one too...

It doesn't take a lot of draft to keep the fire alive...but with low amounts of draft the timer cycles are critical. Like Greg said, a draft gauge would help you troubleshoot.