Water temp on my sf 360.

I have a harmon sf 360. I started the fire about 2 weeks ago. it was about 65 degrees during the day, and about 40 during the night. Still the same. I have hot water radiator/baseboard heat that runs through the harmon stove. When I first fired up the stove the water temp on the guage would go to whatever I had the electronic draft set to. I kept it at 170. Now for some reason my water temperature barely goes above 110. Its been this way for about a week now. I called a plumber, and he said it was something about the air not being cold enough, but it sounded like a crock of *censored* to me. Any ideas? Any help would be great.

The first thing I would do is shake the hell out of the grates. You might have a buildup of ash that is preventing the coal from burning correctly.

Your plumber was probably thinking that the warm temperatures were not allowing the chimney to draft properly...and that is probably true to some extent. If your draft is less than ideal, the ash buildup I just described will cause more of a problem.

Lastly, make sure you are putting enough coal in the boiler...you need a bed of coal at least 6" deep, and more is better.

It's all about the draft.....assuming you have a proper fire burning. Something with the draft control is not allowing enough air to enter the unit, OR you don't have an adequate fire burning. Nut coal I assume, how deep is the burn chamber, and how much coal do you have in it? Are you experienced in coal burning or is this your first boiler? That is a big unit, and should be easily controlled. We need more info, please.

I saw Rob's post....and to add to that, short rapid strokes with the ash lever, otherwise long strokes might allow unburned or clinkered coal to jam the grates. If that happens you might have to dump the fire and start again.............

Is the combustion air regulator working correctly, meaning is it closing or staying open trying to make the fire hotter?

Is there a build up of ash in the heat exchanger area or in the stack preventing proper draft?

I have an excellent fire. I just had the chimney cleaned last month, and they ran an 8" brush through. What I am talking about is the water temp is not building up. Used to be if I left the bottom door open the water would get so hot it would dump out the overflow. Now I can leave the bottom door open, and it will only get to about 140. Are you sure it's draft?

It's staying open cause it is not getting up to temperature.

Short Bus wrote:Is the combustion air regulator working correctly, meaning is it closing or staying open trying to make the fire hotter?

Is there a build up of ash in the heat exchanger area or in the stack preventing proper draft?

Unless you have a draft gauge, we can only guess about that. If the fire appears to be burning correct, and you are sure it isn't choked with ash...is there any chance the boiler is overloaded?

One more idea, make sure the chimney clean-out door is tightly closed. More than one person has had a small explosion of coal gas that knocked the cleanout door open.

I filled that fire box up with coal, I mean filled that sucker and seems to have come up quite a bit. Also I think I'm gonna try a hundred pounds or so of diffferent coal to see if that may have anything to do with it since I forgot to mention I got from a dtfferent coal yard. Thanks for all the input, and the help. I'll keep you posted.

It seems that you have addressed a few questions, and since the chimney seems to draw fine, the baro is working, and the controls move appropriately, the firebox if full, your shakedown technique is OK,
that leaves one other issue: THE FUEL you are trying to burn.

Did you by chance pick up that pipe of Newport Coal Stoker Scott dropped in an abandoned driveway off Rt361? Just kidding, but you may be 'flattening out the learning curve' if the answer is this simple.

That boiler should be easy to run and keep perfect temps. It is one of the best hand feds out there. Remember this: a stoker eliminates all this part of the curve, but we all learn as we burn.

I Just refurbed a Crane Coal Cooker #44 and fired it up yesterday. Small but well built for a purpose: making heat!!!!!