Coal Quality Issues and the efm Stoker

Mahanoy City

All of us are aware of the anthracite coal quality issues of late. One of our experienced senior efm stoker users paid a premium price to get better quality coal from the well-known breaker at Mahanoy City only to find that he could have gotten the same quality coal as at the Southern end of the coal fields.

The coal ash clinkers alot and seems to burn up like sawdust. The coal is still usable in the efm stoker, but check the coal pipe where it enters the stoker to ensure that it is not overly warm, an indicator that the coal is burning too deeply into the bottom of the pot. It may be necessary to add one tooth of feed and alter the air adjustments when using the current coal.

my coal pipe was getting overly warm.....i opened the damper slightly and added some more air, and the pipe is cool now.......i tried keeping the stove on 4 clicks, but 10 lbs an hr is just too costly, and the pipe was still warm......could you do a parts write up on the timer/thermostat assembly? i am running my efm af150 constant

Adding air will make the coal burn faster. I hope you don't have your air on the #10 setting; it's way too much. For a feed setting of 4, you want your air to be about 4 also, but it still has to be fine tuned from there. Another thing to check is for excessive dirt inside the fan housing which might cause you to have a 10 setting, but only a 4 in reality. Only you can determine what's going on.

Your warm air unit should have a maximum heat rise of 70 degrees. This is measured at the air intake and outlet of the ducting. Any more rise than that and you'll ruin the heat exchanger.

Coal has a certain amount of BTU per pound and it takes a certain amount of BTU to heat your house. Cutting back on coal feed will save you dollars but it also won't heat your house. The main consideration should be: What does the ash ring look like and how much heat is NOT being extracted by the heat exchanger and going up the chimney.

http://www.efmheating.com/manuals/Stoke ... urnace.pdf

Here is a link to the AF manual. There is a page near the end with the wiring for the timer relay.

My coal pipe gets a little warmer than I like when the stoker hard at night. By a little I mean it is certainly cool enough to touch but warmer (maybe 105 degrees) than during the day (90 degrees) when it doesn't run as much. Draft is perfect at -.02 overfire and -.045 in the stack. Fire looks good. Feed rate is at 6 teeth and air is at 5.5. Anything to worry about?

I'll let stoker man correct me but I think if the coal is burning into the pipe the pipe will be hot, like so hot that you can't hold your hand on it. Mine gets warm right at where the pipe meets the base, I can hold my hand on it all day and never get burned. I think it's warm because the inside of the boiler is hot and the heat transfers to the pipe in there. An inch away from the base the pipe is stone cold.

i never put the air higher than the feed rate.......also never set the furnace beyond 6 clicks......i have the manual right here at my desk.......been running the air 1/2 a point higher than the manual and it's keeping the feed pipe cool

Sorry, Lincoln. I misread your 10 lbs an hour as 10 air. The important thing for you is to not exceed your heat rise.

My caution about the fire burning down into the pot is only an advisory. It's very rare that this ever happens, but it does happen. I think it's because the quality of coal has dropped in the last few years and the coal is burning up much faster than it ever did in the past. The best bet is when you get a new load of coal, keep an eye on how the fire is burning until you have the settings correct for that new load of coal and then check on it once in awhile.

From the calls I've been getting, we're all in the same boat, but one common problem has been noted: When the fire gets too low in the pot, you may smell a sulfur odor when the fan runs and starts pushing gas down the pipe and into the coal bin.

As for using 10# of coal an hour, if you have a low stack temperature, meaning that the heat exchanger is extracting maximum heat and you are able to keep the house at 72, I guess that's what it takes to do the job. I would try turning back the feed and air and see if it still does the job.

i think it would be a great help if i got the timer, and i need to install the baro damper that a member gave me friday......need to keep the shop warm tho...cant shut it down to install the baro damper yet.....i'm heating a 3200 square foot garage with little insulation, and a high celing.........what is the sq ft rating on the af150? was thinking of putting ducts into the house.....we heat the house with a antique kenmore coal stove, and i heat my 800 sq ft apt with the alaska.......if i put ducts with dampers in, would the efm be able to heat the whole 6,000 square feet in above freezing temps? and shut the dampers in the ducts off when using all 3 stoves.......it's an old furnace but i love it! i have been concerned with he burn.......sometimes smoke was coming out of the barrel...opening the manual damper a tad stopped that, and the feed pipe is cool now......it got really hot two weeks ago when we got a rust hole in the steel feed pipe and a pile of coal on the floor......i have it patched with foil tape and jb weld till i can shut the furnace off and replace the feed pipe.
my next door neighbor has an efm boiler......his coal is not burning correctly......was thinking of burning his ashes lol.......i bet the fines handle hasnt been pulled in 20 yrs, but i cant convince him to let me look at it for him......he's burning rice coal, and i bet 3/4 of it isnt getting burned. we get our coal from the hegins breaker, it always burns consistent.......his coal comes from blaschak in ravine..

I don't think you'll need the timer at this time of year. You're running alot more than 2 1/2 minutes per half hour.

is that all it does?
so if i'm thinking right, i could just hook a thermostat up to the furnace?
fiddling constantly with the feed and air kinda sucks, that's how i have been controlling tempature......i could just set the thermostat at 50 degrees when the shop is not in use and the efm would stay lit?
the garage cannot freeze, the well tank is on my side of the building, and the cold water supply goes over to the house thru the garage.......but i don't need it 65 degrees (67 now) in the garage all the time.
i need a transformer for the thermostat correct?
i need help with this, burning way too much coal here.....last winter i spent 600 a month to heat the building......i have no savings, and this gets tough when i'm slow or sick
scott

The Willburt timer forces the stoker to run for 2 1/2 minutes every half hour to keep the fire from going out. It's mainly used in the moderate temperatures of the Fall and Spring for the furnace when there is low or moderate demand for heat. Otherwise, your thermostat demands will keep the stoker running. A timer would keep the furnace on standby until you turn up the tstat or it would maintain your lower tstat setting.

I am also having these problems, installed a recused af 150 that needs a relay controller so that the thermostat can be wired
Called in a tech and I do not think he knew much more than me

The old efm part number for the relay is 71101, Wilburt timer relay. Should cost around $35 from a dealer.