Fire went out twice in 2 weeks

I have my 520 for 3 years now and never had a fire go out. In the last 2 weeks it has gone out 2 times. Any hints on why I may be having this new problem? I always used the same coal and work the fines lever everyday. It is running just for dhw right now.
Thanks
Dennis

Did you check the outfire timer? Is it working properly?

Did the outfires occur on a warm and humid day after a cool night? I have outfire issues here when that happens, the chimney retains the cold and the draft disappears.

Hi,
What and where is the outfire timer? I just checked the device in the back and it is set at 200 hi and 160 lo and 10 on the diff.
Thanks
Dennis

I would suggest 200 is too high for any season. I don't have an EFM but similar Van Wert. Winter settings are at 180/160. Summer setting at 160/140.


What is probably happening is you're getting a call for heat early in the morning, it gets all fired up and then goes out because it never runs in time.

If it has been running well for years and you haven't changed any of the settings, my first thought is that the boiler/smokepipe/chimney may need to be cleaned. Another possibility is that the characteristics of this coal are different than previous years...even if you get it from the same source the quality can change from vein to vein, etc. I recently switched to a different kind of coal and had my first outfire in two years. In my case the new coal produces more heat, and the boiler was hitting the high limit setting (200) and skipping timer cycles. I reduced the timer setting, and it is running fine once again.

Follow the wires connect to the aquastat (the device you found with the 160/200/10 settings)...one of them should lead to a repeat-cycle timer. Make sure that is working, and let us know what it is set at. 2 minutes every half hour is pretty standard for rice coal, but you may need to cut that back a little if the boiler runs too warm.

Also, what are you using for feed and air settings?

Richard S. wrote:I don't have an EFM but similar Van Wert. Winter settings are at 180/160. Summer setting at 160/140.

EFM recommends a 40-50 degree spread between the low and high limit settings to reduce the chance that a timer cycle get skipped. The larger Van Werts have a deep firepot and are much less sensitive to timer settings than a 520 EFM. The Van Wert manual I have doesn't even list a timer setting for anything larger than a VA600.

I cleaned out the stack and chimney on Sunday and today Wed. I had a out fire again,
I did check the timer and it is running. Though I do not know if it is shutting the boiler on and off. That will take an hour of sitting in the baSEMENT AND RIGHT NOW i JUST DONT HAVE THAT HOUR. Any suggestions ? My feed is at 6 and air set at 4 1/2" I burn superior coal only.
Thanks
Dennis From Newtown

Dennis, I would reduce the feed to 4 teeth. Try setting the air at 4 and adjust as necessary to get a proper burn. With the feed rate set on 6 teeth there is a good chance the boiler is reaching 200F and skipping timer cycles.

When the fire is out dig out the coal from in the burn-pot to see how the burn plates look. They may be less than what they once where.

Something has changed from what it once was when all was good.

Fire out again tonight!! Burn plates look good. I have the feed setting at 4 and air 4 1/2. Aquastat at 200 hi 160 lo and 10 on the dif. I guess Ill see if it runs ok through the night and try again tomorrow. I did not check the micro on the timer yet. I know the timer runs but I dont know if the micro transfers voltage. Thanks,
Dennis

I had three of the same issue last year. Every thing was set right, all the settings, the timer was working, was the same coal. What it came down to in all three instances was the draft. Two out of three times it was the barometric damper being warm and turning inside out. Running past the stop. The third time it was the baro wasn't reset to level/plumb after a cleaning. For my two cents I would go right to the barometric , and check it out and see if there's something wrong. Hope it helps

Rather than sitting by the timer to see if it cycles, you could try this...
If you cannot manually advance the timer to *trip* the micro switches, you could wire a cheap 120 volt bedroom alarm clock in the circuit and set the hands at 12:00.
If it cycles/powers the clock motor it will advance the clock hands accordingly.

McGiever

Hey Dennis, did you get this figured out?

Hi,
I did not figure out what was wrong but it has not happened in 2 weeks now. I can only suppose it was a combination of the settings and the weather and the stack cleaning. Right now I keep my fingers crossed every moring that it keeps burning. I would like to thank you and all that the folks that helped with this problem.
Dennis from Newtown!!

See that, sometimes a little finger crossing works just fine.