Wood/Coal boiler

Loaded boiler heavily and the water temp is at 167f, Outside air temp is 25f. Last week when water temp was at 185 there was a obstruction in the flue that resembled a spider web. Every few days I remove the cap at the clean out tee and I noticed it. When I cleaned the obstruction the water temp did not go above 150f.

Time out!!!

Two into one chimney...there's a big problem...try plugging stove pipe so to only allow only one.

And maybe not a biggie...why is the pressure so high?

The boiler gauge says 180? I can't make out how it is tied into the oil system, but if the hot water from the Itasca is joined to the return from the zones, the oil boiler will see a "mixed temp"...like 160.

And maybe not a biggie...why is the pressure so high?

Not enough expansion, look at the little tiny tank behind them.

I think it is draft related. Put a baro in and leave the flues connected. Find out what the over fire draft should be for that unit.

Kevin

My brother has been running a baro in his wood boiler for about 3 years and has had no issues. It makes the wood fire burn much steadier. Just like coal. And since he has a stainless chimney, not a frigging masonry one, it is not an issue.

My flue is triple wall stainless and runs along the outside of the house thru the roof at the overhang. The roof comes out 3 feet past the exterior walls at the ends. What has me puzzled is it worked perfect when the flue had a obstruction.

The return from the house goes to the return of the coal boiler and the supply of the coal boiler runs to the return of the oil boiler, then the oil boiler supply runs to the fin tube and hydronic pipe manifold.

KLook wrote:

And maybe not a biggie...why is the pressure so high?

Not enough expansion, look at the little tiny tank behind them.

I think it is draft related. Put a baro in and leave the flues connected. Find out what the over fire draft should be for that unit.

Kevin

My brother has been running a baro in his wood boiler for about 3 years and has had no issues. It makes the wood fire burn much steadier. Just like coal. And since he has a stainless chimney, not a frigging masonry one, it is not an issue.

Would not the baro mounted over the oil unit work for the wood/coal unit?...creosote will not foul it where it is.

Does your oil burner keep the house warm and does the oil burner get to 180* and stay there.
What btu rating is the oil burner
have you done a heat loss calculation for all those pipes
is the coal boiler and oil boiler equally sized

This boiler is not some ultra-fancy rig that is hyper sensitive to draft. If you have enough draft to keep the smoke going in the right direction, it should be able to maintain temperature.

I just remembered that when I first started using my Itasca, it would take forever to recover when multiple zones kicked on...turned out the "thermostatic inlet damper control" was faulty and was not opening the inlet damper when the boiler temperature dropped. I replaced the control with a Samson unit from EFM and it worked much better.

If you adjust the damper to be barely open with the boiler at 180, and then the boiler gets drawn down to 160 you should see a visible difference in the damper opening. If that isn't happening, your control is probably faulty.

Rob,

Isnt the water jacket on the oil boiler acting a a giant radiator and sending alot of heat up the chimney? Id turn off the oil burner and disconnect the smoke pipe and stuff it with insulation and see what happens.

Waldo

waldo lemieux wrote:Rob,

Isnt the water jacket on the oil boiler acting a a giant radiator and sending alot of heat up the chimney? Id turn off the oil burner and disconnect the smoke pipe and stuff it with insulation and see what happens.

Waldo

It is sending some up the stack, but hardly enough to keep the Itasca bogged down. I did the same thing with my system, disconnecting the flue from the oil boiler made no measurable difference in output or coal consumption.

Rob R. wrote:This boiler is not some ultra-fancy rig that is hyper sensitive to draft. If you have enough draft to keep the smoke going in the right direction, it should be able to maintain temperature.

I just remembered that when I first started using my Itasca, it would take forever to recover when multiple zones kicked on...turned out the "thermostatic inlet damper control" was faulty and was not opening the inlet damper when the boiler temperature dropped. I replaced the control with a Samson unit from EFM and it worked much better.

If you adjust the damper to be barely open with the boiler at 180, and then the boiler gets drawn down to 160 you should see a visible difference in the damper opening. If that isn't happening, your control is probably faulty.

Could you just prop open the draft door "TEMPERARLY" untill the 180*, then close and see how the boiler reacts

rob,

Re: Wood/Coal boiler

PostBy: Marcuss On: Sun Feb 03, 2013 5:48 pm
My flue is triple wall stainless and runs along the outside of the house thru the roof at the overhang. The roof comes out 3 feet past the exterior walls at the ends. What has me puzzled is it worked perfect when the flue had a obstruction

Doesnt this mean he has too much draft?

After racking my mind over this it seems it turned out to be something as trivial as the door gasket. Yesterday I had no problem maintaining 175f after I cought something out of the corner of my eye when closing the damper in the flue. I noticed a little bit of smoke around the top of the door when I closed the damper. Seems air was diverted from the chain damper and was changing the burn to the top ofthe fire instead of under the fire. I vice gripped the door tight and the temperature began to rise to the correct operating temperature. I ordered door gasket matereal and will replace it soon as I recive it. So far it seems that that has been the problem......I hope itis.

I'm staying out of this............