Getting Fustrated

 
AlbanyTurf
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Post by AlbanyTurf » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 7:50 am

Just did a clean out of my grates and cemented them together and have been burning since 8pm last night and if and when the stove warms up enough to turn the blower on it will only last 20-30sec then shut off and stay off for a while.

I should explain my setup a bit. I am exhausting up the same chimney as my oil burner but never have both units on at the same time. I have now adjusted my feed screw all the way out (CC) because the hot coals were up to the edge of the stove grate all night. I have a Mark II manometer hooked up to the ash door with the metal sub sticking inside the stove and it never goes higher than .01. I have a baro, its the RC type. Its all the way to the left and I have added one small washer trying to make some kind of adjustment. I see no change when I do that. stove temp is currently around 250 and never goes above 300.

I need some advice I'm feeling pretty lost at this point


 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 7:56 am

Is this a new installation? Has it always acted like this?

It sounds like lack of combustion air, but your draft is quite low also.

How many 90 degree bends are in the flue pipe between the coal unit and the chimney?

Have you tried plugging the oil flue pipe (or disconnecting) to rule out draft loss through the oil unit?

 
AlbanyTurf
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Post by AlbanyTurf » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 8:03 am

Rob R. wrote:Is this a new installation? Has it always acted like this?

It sounds like lack of combustion air, but your draft is quite low also.

How many 90 degree bends are in the flue pipe between the coal unit and the chimney?

Have you tried plugging the oil flue pipe (or disconnecting) to rule out draft loss through the oil unit?
It is new this year. I have 2 90's. Never tried to plug it.

 
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windyhill4.2
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Post by windyhill4.2 » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 8:15 am

You posted that you never have both units on at the same time. Do you have both exhaust pipes hooked to the chimney all the time ? If you do & don't block the pipe from the oil furnace,it will still draft from that one too causing a low draft at your coal burners exhaust pipe.That is just one reason for the one pipe per chimney rule. If you can post some pics of your setup,maybe someone will see something that you could change that would fix your problem.

 
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Post by WNYRob » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 8:15 am

It would be more helpful to you to keep that original thread going, so anyone new, that would like to help you, sees the history of what you have already done.

 
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blrman07
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Post by blrman07 » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 8:46 am

I have an oil boiler and a coal fired bucket a day water heater. When I want to use the bucket a day for hot water and heating during the shoulder months I physically disconnect the flu pipe from the oil boiler, swing the 90 elbow to the bucket a day right next to it and connect it up.

Before I do this
I turn the power to the boiler off at the breaker,
then I turn the power off at the switch on the boiler,
then I pull the screw in fuse physically out.

I make triple sure that there is no possible way other than human hands on intervention that the oil boiler will come on without being connected to the chimney.

If your going to disconnect and cap the boiler flu pipe, make sure you have followed a lock out tag out procedure to ENSURE it cannot be accidentally started.

 
AlbanyTurf
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Post by AlbanyTurf » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 9:03 am

blrman07 wrote:I have an oil boiler and a coal fired bucket a day water heater. When I want to use the bucket a day for hot water and heating during the shoulder months I physically disconnect the flu pipe from the oil boiler, swing the 90 elbow to the bucket a day right next to it and connect it up.

Before I do this
I turn the power to the boiler off at the breaker,
then I turn the power off at the switch on the boiler,
then I pull the screw in fuse physically out.

I make triple sure that there is no possible way other than human hands on intervention that the oil boiler will come on without being connected to the chimney.

If your going to disconnect and cap the boiler flu pipe, make sure you have followed a lock out tag out procedure to ENSURE it cannot be accidentally started.
Thanks for the idea. I just capped the other flue pipe off. Manometer shows no difference :(


 
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Post by titleist1 » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 9:24 am

Its good you have a manometer to see the actual draft reading on your set up, it makes diagnosing it much easier.

I am assuming your .01 manometer reading is taken from the flue pipe before the baro not the firebox? (just re-read and saw the reading was taken at the ash door so I adjusted the numbers I originally wrote next) Is your baro flapper open when your draft is .01? If so you need to adjust the baro so that it only opens when you get to maybe .02. You mention having the weight all the way to the left and also having a washer on it. From your pic in the other thread both those things will make it open easier and give you a lower manometer reading on the flue pipe before the baro. Connect the manometer to the flue pipe before the baro and see what the reading is before and after covering the baro with foil.

Is this .01 reading on the manometer lower than you had before you cleaned and reset the grates? I am curious why you felt the need to clean and reset the grates, I thought this was a new unit installed in October and wouldn't think the grates would need to be cleaned so soon - Or was it a used unit? How many lbs of coal have you burned through the unit so far?

A couple things I had occur over the years which gave me a lower than normal draft reading....if you haven't already checked these things you may want to...

my combustion blower was not seated in its slot correctly and only about 1/2 the combustion air was getting to the grates

the bottom cleanout cap on my chimney had fallen off

horizontal flue pipe had build up of fly ash, exhaust port on stove also had fly ash build up

grate holes were boogered up and needed to be reamed out

 
AlbanyTurf
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Post by AlbanyTurf » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 9:37 am

titleist1 wrote:Its good you have a manometer to see the actual draft reading on your set up, it makes diagnosing it much easier.

I am assuming your .01 manometer reading is taken from the flue pipe before the baro not the firebox? (just re-read and saw the reading was taken at the ash door so I adjusted the numbers I originally wrote next) Is your baro flapper open when your draft is .01? If so you need to adjust the baro so that it only opens when you get to maybe .02. You mention having the weight all the way to the left and also having a washer on it. From your pic in the other thread both those things will make it open easier and give you a lower manometer reading on the flue pipe before the baro. Connect the manometer to the flue pipe before the baro and see what the reading is before and after covering the baro with foil.

Is this .01 reading on the manometer lower than you had before you cleaned and reset the grates? I am curious why you felt the need to clean and reset the grates, I thought this was a new unit installed in October and wouldn't think the grates would need to be cleaned so soon - Or was it a used unit? How many lbs of coal have you burned through the unit so far?

A couple things I had occur over the years which gave me a lower than normal draft reading....if you haven't already checked these things you may want to...

my combustion blower was not seated in its slot correctly and only about 1/2 the combustion air was getting to the grates

the bottom cleanout cap on my chimney had fallen off

horizontal flue pipe had build up of fly ash, exhaust port on stove also had fly ash build up

grate holes were boogered up and needed to be reamed out
I am taking the reading from a small hole in the ash Door like the manual suggested. It is a new unit. I went to suck the fine ash out and didn't realize the grates didn't need to be removed in order to get the majority of the fines. I've probably burned just over 1.2Ton so far this year. I removed the washer, and slid the thimble all the way to the right, and Covered the baro with aluminum foil. Maybe some slight movement on the manometer towards .02. Did not see some giant jump.

 
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Post by lzaharis » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 9:44 am

I had three foot chimney extension added to my
block chimney and it helped a huge amount with draft.
Does your chimney clear the peak of your home?

 
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Post by titleist1 » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 9:46 am

how wide open is the shutter on your combustion blower? can you post a pic of it?

can you get a manometer reading on your flue pipe before the baro for us to compare to the mano reading from the ash door area?

 
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Post by AlbanyTurf » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 10:07 am

titleist1 wrote:how wide open is the shutter on your combustion blower? can you post a pic of it?

can you get a manometer reading on your flue pipe before the baro for us to compare to the mano reading from the ash door area?
Manometer still reading .01 right before baro

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Post by titleist1 » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 10:25 am

Have you checked / cleaned out the 90* coming off the stove to be sure fly ash isn't blocking it?

Burning 1.2 tons may have generated enough fly ash there to block your exhaust.

All 90*'s and horizontals should be checked to see what volume of ash is laying there. Since this is a new install I think it's a good idea to do it to see what the build up is after about a ton has been burned. It will help you judge how often through the season you need to clean the pipes. If you have the room you may want to use a 'T' with one port capped instead of a 90* to make cleaning easier - a lot of us do that and it makes mid season cleaning very easy.

 
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Post by SMITTY » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 10:34 am

Yep - here's less than a ton of coal through my pipes - note the mountain of flyash when I tipped the 2' section vertical. :o

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Top of the boiler after 11 months of continuous use

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Post by titleist1 » Wed. Dec. 17, 2014 10:49 am

Also, just to cover the basics since we aren't standing in front of it ourselves (and no insult is intended by asking this), but was the manometer calibrated and is it mounted level? I assume you have the tubing plugged into the low side port for easier reading on the right side of the scale.. Can you please post a pic of it?

thanks for the quick answers too....i have to run out for a little while so I will be off line...i am sure others can jump in with some suggestions if necessary.


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