smoke coming out of chimney???

hello all , tommy here , my aa130 has been runnin for 11 mnths now , no probs. today i hear her kick on and i saw smoke??? or steam ??? coming out of the chimney,, shes on a timer so when she kicked back on i look again same thing, check boiler pressure ,its right where it should be,, look inside flue pipe threw the damper ,the fly ash is bone dry.... I need to clean that, its a small build up not clogging, that will get done tommorow....but the ash was dry not pasty, so does coal smoke??? i did not think it did.. burnin pea from uae harmony, or i hate to say this but,,did she spring a leak, if so now what??? thanks tommy

Turn off the supply water tomorrow. See if the pressure starts to drop.
If so, maybe small leak. The ash should be dry. With the weather
as muggy as it's been, It might be condensation, but I doubt it.
Keep us informed.

Tom

ok will do , thats what i had thought about to, really hope shes not leakin, only does it when shes runnin , thrn it stops, ok thank you,tommy

Mine does the same thing, on occasion i see smoke coming out the chimney if i happen to be outside. I think it is condensation.

Tommy, what temperature are you keeping the AA at?

I'm seeing something a bit different in my AHS S130 (which is running to provide DHW during the summer). What I'm seeing is a fair amount of water condensation on the inside surface of the hopper lid. Should this be happening or is this a sign of low draft? All of our digital CO monitors are all holding at zero (including the one in the boiler room).

Fran654 wrote:hello all , tommy here , my aa130 has been runnin for 11 mnths now , no probs. today i hear her kick on and i saw smoke??? or steam ??? coming out of the chimney,, shes on a timer so when she kicked back on i look again same thing, check boiler pressure ,its right where it should be,, look inside flue pipe threw the damper ,the fly ash is bone dry.... I need to clean that, its a small build up not clogging, that will get done tommorow....but the ash was dry not pasty, so does coal smoke??? i did not think it did.. burnin pea from uae harmony, or i hate to say this but,,did she spring a leak, if so now what??? thanks tommy

I've seen that with mine at start up. It's very fine flyash, when the blower starts it huffs the loose stuff up the chimney. Axemans run almost no draft in warm weather, when the blower start it creates positive pressure in the chimney for a few seconds and you get the puff.

I know it has been in high numbers relative to the dewpoints lately.Is it possible that the "wetness" imported with the combustion air is returning to atmosphere at the top of your chimney? We need to find a dewpoint vs temperature chart to see if this scenario is possible. In addition,if it is a leaker it will be more likely to leak in a cold boiler than a hot one. Tell us what you learn. Mike

If this is any indication, my windows in my house were COMPLETELY fogged up from the super-saturated air here yesterday morning. First time I've seen that happen in the 9 years we've lived here. Probably set a humidity record.

I read the posts and feel it is normal, also. It's not like a 1880's bit burning locomotive, I'm sure it is a fine dust getting the initial puff when the blower kicks on. I have not seen anthracite from any source 'smoke', and of the dozens of AA's and AHS's I've seen or worked on, not seen a leak in the boiler. Piping perhaps, but that is not sending steam or hot water anywhere except the boiler room. Anything is possible, but I wouldn't lose much sleep over it. Safety is paramount, but that is addressed.
The humidity lately is not fun for man nor beast...or for coal boilers. I did see the OWB guys burning last week, and THAT is a smoke show.....especially at start-up. As was mentioned, if it were a steam issue, it would occur MORE when the boiler were hotter due to increased pressure. A false alarm, but a good topic on a hot, humid day.

Nothing to see here. Carry on ...

SMITTY wrote:Nothing to see here. Carry on ...

Hey was that my cannel coal or where you burning tires AGAIN!

hiello all, thank you for replieng, ok to rob r. my boiler is runnin about 180 -200 degrees timer set 1 min every half hour, as tsb. suggested i will shut of water supply and see if i get a pressure drop, had to work today so the flue did not get cleaned or the water shut off to check for drop, will hopefully do that tommorow and let you know results,, again thank you for your help. FYI >>> i started my boiler last aug 28 2011, has run flawlessly except i had an outfire just after i filled the bin about 6 mnths in due to fines cloggin the auger, and one this spring when the timer was set for 1 min /hr , approx 7 ton of coal for the year, house in winter front thermostat {living room area} set at 72, back stat {office ,bath , bedrooms} 68 , upstairs which is another whole house, same foot print as down stairs, 65 deg, with oil i would have used 900 gal plus at 4.00 gal thats 3600. no way am i going back.... for 3 yrs before this i had a clayton 1600 hand fed , heated the hole house, not as evenly but for domestic hot water only i used a tank a yr, 275 gal. again thank you all will post my findings ,,,tommy

This is for Isayre:

Hopper condensation does happen (to me at least) when I run in warm humid weather. It probably is related to draft also. I don't think its a big deal. I am shut down at the moment, by the way.

Tull wrote:This is for Isayre:

Hopper condensation does happen (to me at least) when I run in warm humid weather. It probably is related to draft also. I don't think its a big deal. I am shut down at the moment, by the way.

I emailed AHS about this and Darren said that humidity is always gathering in the hopper. It's just that in the colder months the blower runs frequently enough to sweep it away, whereas in the heat of the summer it does not. They said it is perfectly normal.