The burner pot dark spot has been photographed

stoker-man,

I checked the settings last night, and here is what I found.

Low limit is 140 degrees
High setting is 205 degrees
The differential is 15 degrees.
My coal feed is set at 4 teeth.
The air is set at 5 1/2.
My timer runs twice an hour for about 80 seconds.

I've never seen the boiler temperature more than 170. I guess I have kids and a wife who "love thier hot water".

Do you feel the air is set too high? I see the manual reccomends an air setting of 4 with 4 teeth, and too much air can cause what I am experiencing (more clinkers, larger ash ring, and no "black spot" in the center). Why do you feel the plumber would have set it this way? Is there a reason he would have wanted to do that?

I am not experiencing any out fires, and the coal feed pipe is cool to the touch.

Should I turn down the air?

Thoughts.

The goal is to achieve a good ash ring of about 2 inches. If it works at 5 air, then so be it. Try 4 air, you can always go back to 5.

stoker-man,

Just to let you know I turned my air down to 4. It seems to be running fine and I think my ash ring has "shrunk" down a bit. I would say I'm near the 2" ring now. It's really difficult to tell unless the furnace has been running a bit. The small amount of time it runs every 1/2 hour dosen't seem to give a true indication. When my wife is running the washer and the furnace is calling for heat, the fire looks OK to me. I can't really say I see the "dark spot", but the center looks somewhat darker and my feed pipe is cool, so I guess I must be OK.

Thanks for all your help.

IceDog

I would try each movement for a full day to get a good idea if it works.