Outfire

Ive been having a hard time keeping my fire going in my AA130 seams to be putting its self out ,how low from the inspection door should the fire be when you start it ? when it goies out it is filled up to the door (and would be passedit if I don't turn it off ,I unload the coal ,i take about a bucket of coal out and put in my charcoal and start the fire ,it seam to be going good bet in 3 days she goies out ,should the fire be down farther in the burn pot ? I think its to thin and before she has a good fire with ash under it she puts herself out with coal ,every time I get her started she cycles from 160 to 180,she turns her self off at 180 and everything seams fine she comes back on at 160 or 165 and then off at 180 looks like three pins in timer set at 25 mins should be good draft at .04 to .06 just cant keep her going will run for about 3 or 4 days and then she will be out ?It ashies and I think she good a little coal in ash but not to bad . If she goies out again im going to unload the hole burn pot and put some ash on the bottom and start it like that to see if it will make a thicker fire ?

BigFoot wrote:If she goes out again I'm going to unload the hole burn pot and put some ash on the bottom and start it like that to see if it will make a thicker fire ?

First off my disclaimer, I don't run my AA year round...so take this for what it's worth.

I think you're on the right path if you go this route as stated above. I like to save smaller hand picked clinkers to use as a ash base for my next new start-up. It seems to help establish the fire a lot better than ash that has a bunch of powdery ash mixed in.

I've wondered about what builds up on those AA grates running 24/7 year round...imagined some coals do better and some do worse for diminishing the effectiveness of the ashing cycle or more so the ability for combustion air to be as designed.
Also, I found out the fire doesn't like too many bottom of the bin fines getting loaded on a fire...that messes the whole fire-pot up.

What does 3 pins mean? Is that draft number before the timer is running or right after? Also, where is the pea coal from? What is the ashing temp set at? After reading your post I have always dumped the entire pot and poured in about 2 full shovels of ashes before relighting. Factory setting is 190hi 165 low diff 10

There are two pins in the clock counter (I guess they are to make the boiler start up so it doesn't go out) ,I think my ash is at 3 clicks ,the coal is from casey koasta and there is some bone in it but I have burned it before with no problem ? I just when down and it has a nice glow on the coal like it should maybe 3rt time is a charm ( one thought if I take the pulley off the feed and just use the fan it should get me a thicker fire ? If the fire is on top of unburned coal this should work?

How many minutes does the timer run and how many times an hour? What is the anthrastat set at?

BigFoot wrote:I just when down and it has a nice glow on the coal like it should maybe 3rt time is a charm ( one thought if I take the pulley off the feed and just use the fan it should get me a thicker fire ? If the fire is on top of unburned coal this should work?

You can get the same thickening effect by manually working the ratchet lever a dozen or so times...that will add fresh additional coal on top and dump ash from bottom at the same time.
This works better during when the fan is running.

Thanks for your help Ill see how things go and post it!

Just found out my timer isnt working (the clock is broke the gear isnt working Daton 2E357 looks like 177.00 for a new one )but that is what is giving me outfires ,at least I found the problem !

Yup, that'll do that.

Don't know if you're into newer tech or not, but there are timers today without a clock motor.

They are digital without any moving parts what so ever...not even mechanical switches. (I use a digital LOGO timer)

And if you wanted, I could sell you a mercury switched Honeywell Timer that was the AA Standard Timer until the were discontinued by Honeywell.

I was going to say the one "with" moving parts that often works decades is the S400.

mozz wrote:I was going to say the one "with" moving parts that often works decades is the S400.

Yep, that's the mercury switched Honeywell...I have 2 of them sitting on the shelf while I run a digital LOGO...I don't run boiler for only DHW thru summer so any timer doesn't see a lot of use anyway.