Temp fluctuation on Pioneer

Ok, I have posted on here about the Coal-trol feedrate at 99 even when the room temp is 10 degrees above what the coal-trol is set for, this was mostly happening when I tried increasing the day or night temp by 2 degrees as it started getting colder outside. I have been patient with that, although I do see it as an issue, if the temp was 10 degrees above the setting but the feed rate was 0 that would be fine, I under stand about radiant heat. Now what I have happening, is the temp is set at 82 for both day and night but my temp actual temp on the coal-trol is going from 77-91, it just goes up and down all day/night long and I have had it hit 96 or above and it causes a high temp alarm. I had the coaltrol mounted on a wall near a corner, room is a U shaped room, out in front of the stove, I though maybe it was getting a daft from doors opening causing the temp to go low and the stove trying to boost the temp up. I have since moved the coal-trol to the wall on the side of the stove, the stove sits in a corner at a 45degree angle, and continue to have the same issue.

Example I just come home and the coal-trol is set for 82 and the room temp was 82, with in a half hour the room temp is now 92. Also every so often it will sound like the coal-trol has been unplugged, the fans slow down then come back up to speed. I have replaced the cable from the stove to the coal-trol unit with a brand new computer network cable as I though maybe the cable was bad, and that was the reason why it sounded as if the cable was unplugged and plugged back in.

I have been trying to be patient with this and get as much information about what is going on and also see if anyone else is experiencing this same issue.

Thank you for any info you may have.

An update to the example, it has been an hour since the room reached it high of 92 and the room temp is now down to 79, yet the coal-trol night setting is 82. Also, before my wife left this evening about 6:30 the room temp was 96. Not sure what the temps were between 6:30 and 10:00 but it was 82 when we all got home at 10pm. Since then the room temp has went from 82 to 92 to 79 all within 2 hours. I really thought this coal-trol was suppose to keep the temp stable.

Has this issue been going on since day one, or did it start one day out of the blue? Sounds to me like your theory on a loose connection is a good one since the control monitors the error and makes a correction, or also possible the unit has a malfunction. Give us a call at 570-752-1811 and we will go through some troubleshooting steps with you. If we cannot figure it out we will enlist the help of the good folks at Automation Correct.

Hang in there we will figure this out.

I own Poconos and AnthraKings and other coal stuff and I think you need to temper your expectations here.

All coal appliances generally can't react as quickly as say a gas/oil central hydronic heaters. Before the coal hydronic boys pipe up let me tell you that reacting to quick temperature changes by zones/creating dump zone is not a solution. If your dumping somewhere in the house then you have not solved the overheat issue and if you are dumping into a garage away from the house you are wasting energy on many fronts. The cost and complexity is just not worth it.

So back to your Pioneer, if the coal-trol reacted faster than that then you would get silly temperature oscillations and Automation Direct must have thought carefully about this one. Now you may have a mechanical issue but I just think this is coal. I try to anticipate weather and temperature fluctuations. There are two types of out of control issues. Under estimating the heating needs, where the house gets too cold and you play catch up. Not good at all if the temperature really nose dives and look at Rob R.s posts (he lives upstate) where he says - never again. Overestimating, where the house is too hot and you can't shut the heaters (whatever you are using) down fast enough. In return for me saving 80% on energy costs, I always go for the latter and tell my wife (miss superpicky with Reynauds disease and real temp. fluctuation problems) if he does not like it open the window as it's the best I can do. In an age when everybody is over insulating this seems wasteful and counterintuitive but fresh air is nice and this much cheaper heating system is wonderful. Once you get used to it, there is no alternative, in fact nothing else even comes close in the cozyness dept and my wife now agrees. Windowlaters/windowstats are referred to all over this board. let me give you instructions on how to use them. Find handle on window, turn, push and breath. The secret of life is getting 90% of the utility for 10% of the cost.

In short, learn to deal with it, stop being a being a baby, a stove manufacturer can't tell you that - but I can. Wow, that felt good, I think I could be sting.

CN, The e-coffee is on me this morning bud.

I think he really may have a issue, I have seen my stove/coaltrol do some weird stuff but nothing like that.

CP, are you trying to change the temp on the coaltrol when all this is happening? or is it doing this all alone? If you are trying to bring the temp up in the house and change the coaltrol up 5 deg. I could see this happening, then it gets to hot and you back the CT off 5 or 6 deg and the temp takes a dive. CT only likes 1 0r 2 deg changes at a time.

If you are not changing settings, its time to call LL/automation.

cperkins wrote:An update to the example, it has been an hour since the room reached it high of 92 and the room temp is now down to 79, yet the coal-trol night setting is 82. Also, before my wife left this evening about 6:30 the room temp was 96. Not sure what the temps were between 6:30 and 10:00 but it was 82 when we all got home at 10pm. Since then the room temp has went from 82 to 92 to 79 all within 2 hours. I really thought this coal-trol was suppose to keep the temp stable.

Are you losing heat that quickly in the home that you are seeing 82* to 92* then back down to 79* all within 2hrs. That has me puzzled.

Puzzled is an interesting word, I don't think it is possible, however, I have drunk some ecoffee, taken a deep breath and now I am reallllly crabby.

Ok so I'll throw out the ramblings of Coalnewbie which made no since at all. What should I learn to deal with? the temp fluctuations from 78* to 98* as it did this morning and shut down with a high temp error causing no heat at all? just checking

Flyer- My house is on a slab so the first floor gets cold rather quickly, I replaced my wood pellet stove with the Pioneer set in the same place, I know that coal reacts slower than wood, it seems like the coal-trol has a timer that causes it to run for a certain period of time even if the room temp is 10-12* more than what the day/night setting.

Baddawg- I started off trying to have the day/night temps set different, did work with may wood pellet stove and it doesn't work good with the coal stove. I have them both set for 84*, and I have not been changing the settings/override when this problem occurs.

Thanks Matthaus I'll give you call.

I mostly wanted to post this in case someone else was experiencing the same thing and could get some direction on what to do.

Was the cable you replaced a straight through cable? Computer network cables
are crossover not straight through.

tsb wrote:Was the cable you replaced a straight through cable? Computer network cables
are crossover not straight through.

It is straight through, as most network cables are actually straight through. It is much harder to find crossover network cables.

cperkins wrote:

tsb wrote:Was the cable you replaced a straight through cable? Computer network cables
are crossover not straight through.

It is straight through, as most network cables are actually straight through. It is much harder to find crossover network cables.

Yea but you would be amazed at the amount of people who have found em. Well anyway I just got off the phone with Neil from AC he or Paul will be contacting you. Thanks, Dave

Oh yea! Coalnewbie lay off the egg Nog

Thanks Dave, after the changes you suggested, the temp got up to 93* but the feed rate was only 55 and with in a couple mins, the FR is 17, now I'm waiting to see how cool it gets before the FR goes up.

Hello cperkins, Neil here from Automation Correct. What you are experiencing is not normal.

Is your Coal-trol thermostat mounted on a wall in a conventional manner? The thermostat has two small holes on top and bottom which must be free and clear to sense the room air. If the thermostat is resting on a shelf or on it's belly it will not work.

Feel free to call me at 315 299-3589. I bet we can figure it out.

UPDATES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, here is an update, After talking with Neil at Automation Correct, he thinks that the area where the stove is, is holding too much of the radiant heat from the stove which is causing the coal-trol to function sporadically. I have placed a couple fans on each side of the stove to help move the hot air out of this area and around to corner and eventually upstairs. My downstairs is U shaped, with the stove at the tip on one side of the U and my front door and stairs going up on the other tip. When I had my wood pellet stove in the same spot as my coal stove I didn't have any problem with over heating in this area, because my wood pellet stove didn't radiate as much heat as the coal stove. Most of the heat on the wood pellet stove came from the convection fan/tubes at the top of the stove. By adding the fan to temp. test this operation I have noticed that my downstairs is very evenly heated. The temp for day/night are set for 84 and the fluctuation has been between 82-87. After running low on coal one day it dropped to 73 and when it came back up to temp the highest it hit was 94, but the FR was only 36 not 99 as in the past. I will be doing some remodeling here so I will be looking into putting some heat runs upstairs so I can move more warm air around the house.