Suddenly Having Difficulty Maintaining a Fire in the S130

Post by **coaledsweat** » Wed. Oct. 15, 2014 8:44 pm

You should be able to see the fire after it shuts down. I say it is too low, especially showing a glow downstairs. I would stop/slow the ashing until the fire breaks the surface to bring it up.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Wed. Oct. 15, 2014 9:15 pm

coaledsweat wrote:You should be able to see the fire after it shuts down. I say it is too low, especially showing a glow downstairs. I would stop/slow the ashing until the fire breaks the surface to bring it up.

I'm quite leery of having the fire migrate upward and into the hopper due to my not paying attention, or being at work for extended hours, etc... It has happened to at least one forum member who apparently forgot to turn ashing back on.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Wed. Oct. 15, 2014 9:19 pm

There would NOT be any glow downstairs if the fire were built on ash instead of raw coal.

With the all coal start, the fire is expanding upward and downward at the same time.
Now things will reckon soon as the coal on bottom gets completely burned to ash and then only a much thinner fire remains up high where coal supply gets replenished.
Whenever this happens it will be like where Larry was before his shut-down/cleaning began.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Wed. Oct. 15, 2014 9:29 pm

coaledsweat wrote:You should be able to see the fire after it shuts down. I say it is too low, especially showing a glow downstairs. I would stop/slow the ashing until the fire breaks the surface to bring it up.

If it continues to operate this way for another day or two I will drop the SV to 110 degrees, and change the hysteresis from 10 degrees to 5 degrees. These two changes should move the fire up higher in the tube, and cause ashing to happen for less time duration, but perhaps more often. Do either of these potential adjustments sound like things that would be of assistance here?

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Wed. Oct. 15, 2014 9:40 pm

The fire size and position will not and can not continue this way for any more days.

DO NOT TOUCH ANY CONTROLS

See my post above your last one.
A time of reckoning is coming.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Wed. Oct. 15, 2014 9:47 pm

Got it, best to leave it alone!!! Message received loud and clear. I like the idea of Larry being where he was at before the shutdown.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Fri. Oct. 17, 2014 10:00 am

I believe I'm where I was at before I shut down for the annual cleaning. The Stockton coal appears to be behaving just fine now. If anything the Stockton Mine coal (Coal Contractors, Atlantic PLC) is a bit harder to get going, but once its burning well it seems to be just fine.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 9:35 am

Latest (and likely last) update: Ashes now looking like nice powder with no unburned and no clinkers. Recovery from T-Stat calls is back to being as fast as ever. No more orange glow down below after ashing. Didn't check to see if there was any orange glow to be seen through the flapper port after it completed its last fan cycle. No puffs, so I figure the fire height must be OK. No changes were made to the SV or the differential. Ready and loaded for winter now!

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 9:45 am

Good, glad it all worked out on it's own for you.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 9:47 am

McGiever wrote:Good, glad it all worked out on it's own for you.

Just like you said it would!

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Sat. Oct. 18, 2014 11:32 am

Apparently I lied when I said I was done making posts to this thread. One more to say that I just completed another boiler fan cycle, and this time I took off the tombstone cover and swung the flapper to one side and I was greeted with nicely orange coals and dancing blue ladies.

Pa papa · Post by **Pa papa** » Sat. Nov. 01, 2014 12:46 pm

Talking about depth of the fire, I learned something today. The fire depth is a lot deeper than I ever thought.
While attempting to video that fly ash separator in action today, I cleared a little ash from the grate that was blocking my view. Much to my surprise those coals are still glowing brightly at the bottom of the pot and you can see the orange glow in the video
I always assumed they were DOA once they got that far down with a SV of 120 on the controller. Not so!

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Sat. Nov. 01, 2014 1:07 pm

Is that the correct YouTube link?

Pa papa · Post by **Pa papa** » Sat. Nov. 01, 2014 1:21 pm

i guess not. What on earth did I do wrong this time!

cabinover · Post by **cabinover** » Sat. Nov. 01, 2014 2:26 pm

lsayre wrote:
coaledsweat wrote:You should be able to see the fire after it shuts down. I say it is too low, especially showing a glow downstairs. I would stop/slow the ashing until the fire breaks the surface to bring it up.
I'm quite leery of having the fire migrate upward and into the hopper due to my not paying attention, or being at work for extended hours, etc... It has happened to at least one forum member who apparently forgot to turn ashing back on.

A number of times I've started a new fire and had my ashing shut down. My AA, which isn't much different from your AHS with it's hopper, will simply burn the coal in the firepot and promptly die after that. I figure it out the next morning most times.

Unless you are drawing air through the cover I don't understand how it could burn up and into the hopper.