Leisure Line AA 220 Boiler Using Excessive Coal and Not Much Heat

strykerlover wrote:I genuinely accept all of your valuable input. My last two sections of chimney above my roof are not class a double insulated. I ran out of $$$$ and need to use single wall pipe, so that May effect my draft as you stated. It has enough draft to pull a tissue as it is now. I hope that's not the issue, but you never know. Those sections are over $250 a piece.

It does get really cold here, and trust me, if I wasn't stuck here I would move to a warmer climate. My home is built with 2x6 construction super well insulated, including 1 inch R-board on the exterior. I have brand new gas filled windows, my home was built in 2011, and I built it with my own hands, so I know it's well insulated. My walls are actually about 9 inches thick included the vapor barriers needed for home built for cold weather. I also have 25 inches of cellulous in my attic to prevent heat loss through the roof.

With a house that tight,mechanical ventilation is usually recommended.Is the exterior R-board taped?If it is taped,that would be your vapor barrier and an interior vapor barrier would not be used.Otherwise moisture would get trapped in your walls.Also,the 1 inch R-board is not enough in your area.I have 2 inch taped on my exterior and I'm in central Maine.I will try and find a website explaining this.

Edit:Here is the link http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/mu ... -sheathing

I got a Manometer and Carbon Monoxide alarm with my boiler. Both work great. I doubt that my house being sealed tight is the problem since the boiler is in the Garage 25 feet from my house. The Pex tubing is insulated, within an insulated box made of 2 inch Styrofoam 7 feet underground below the frost line. I loose 5-7 degrees from the garage to the house, Not really a big deal, but since I have no basement, I thought having this in the garage was an excellent idea.

Yes my R-Board is taped and that is a vapor barrier, however on another part of my home I have 2x6 insulated walls, strapping on the interior, 1/2 inch thermax on the interior, more strapping and tongue and groove knotted pine boards for the finish. That is also a vapor barrier. I also have plastic on all of my ceilings prior to installing the sheetrock and plaster. I've built plenty of homes, in Northern Maine, I have never seen anybody use 2 inch R-board insulation. Especially on a new home. It is clearly overkill.

My garage is 2x6 construction, wrapped with Typar housewrap and siding. The interior is pine and spruce shiplap. Makes for a nice heated workplace having the boiler in the garage. I realize that you are all trying to help me understand this stove, I'm honestly at the point where I believe this is as good as it's going to get. Nobody heats for free, and if I could get away with 7-8 tons of coal at $300 per ton in Northern Maine then so be it. Until I move that is. LOL

EarthWindandFire wrote:In my opinion, every new coal stoker should be supplied from the factory with a manometer and an integrated carbon monoxide alarm safety shut-off device. The economics of this are clear, the stove would cost more. The manometer would answer so many questions about the stoves settings and performance.

All of our boilers are supplied with a manometer. We also offer them for our cost + shipping to our stove customers.

strykerlover wrote:I got a Manometer and Carbon Monoxide alarm with my boiler. Both work great. I doubt that my house being sealed tight is the problem since the boiler is in the Garage 25 feet from my house. The Pex tubing is insulated, within and insulated box made of 2 inch Styrofoam 7 feet underground below the frost line. I loose 5-7 degrees from the garage to the house, Not really a big deal, but since I have no basement, I thought having this in the garage was an excellent idea.

Well that changes thingd.lol My fiancée's mother was from Van Buren.

Small world huh.

If you have a manometer what is the draft reading over the fire?

What you describe seems to point to poor draft preventing proper adjustment of the fire. Measure over fire draft when you increase air to better burn that coal. Getting a solid number to go on is much better than just flailing about and guessing. Also measure again when providing some outside air.

Measure stack temperature within a foot of breach and take some pictures of the fire also.

I got a Manometer and Carbon Monoxide alarm with my boiler. Both work great.

Ok, so what is the draft reading at the breech and over the fire?

strykerlover wrote:I loose 5-7 degrees from the garage to the house, Not really a big deal,

A 5-7 degree drop over that short distance is quite a bit, and likely where a lot of your BTU's are going.

Okay, so the draft over the fire is .01 but fluctuates. This is with the plates on my fans 1/4 open. If I open them any more than that I get 0 draft over the fire and a rotten smell in my garage.

I did not realize that 5-7 degrees was that big of a deal. If I could only burn my coal with the Vent shields open then it would reach temps very quickly and the boiler would shut off more often therefore burn less coal. I know this works, however the smell is aweful and the condensation is excessive and would cause rusting issues with the stove. Last year I had a draft inducer installed in my chimney and to be honest with you all that did was suck the heat out of the chimney. That was another $275 wasted.

The draft inducer was not able to improve the over-fire draft?

lock your baromatic damper closed and remeasure draft.....also I bet the last 2 sections of uninsulated chimney pipe are slowing the flow of gas.....take them off. A short insulated chimney is better than one that cools the flow (if it is still safe!!!)

coldinmaine wrote:lock your baromatic damper closed and remeasure draft.....also I bet the last 2 sections of uninsulated chimney pipe are slowing the flow of gas.....take them off. A short insulated chimney is better than one that cools the flow (if it is still safe!!!)

You're right about that. I have already locked the barometric damper closed so that I can maintain the .01 draft over fire. I was running the boiler prior to adding the 2 extra sections and to be honest with you the two extra sections did nothing to improve the performance of the boiler. The roof is steep and slippery, so yeah it is dangerous. HA! HA!

When I get home tonight I'll snap some pics of the set up for you guys to enjoy. It's a really nice set up.

coldinmaine wrote:A short insulated chimney is better than one that cools the flow (if it is still safe!!!)

It sounds like you have two issues here, maybe related, maybe not: (1) Can’t rev up the boiler because the chimney won’t take away the flue gases fast enough; and (2) are you burning more coal than is reasonable to heat your house?

I think the rule of thumb is, the chimney top should be 2 or 3 feet higher than the highest point within 10 feet horizontally from the chimney. Otherwise, 26 feet of chimney should be plenty. You mentioned most of the chimney is 10-inch – is that what is recommended for your boiler? I believe it can be as bad to have it too wide as too narrow. In any case, zero draft does not seem kosher, and almost certainly would account for the evil smells when you try to burn hotter. I will repeat Rob’s question – the draft inducer was not able to improve the over-fire draft?

You say you have built many houses, therefore you must be familiar with heat loss calculations, and should be able to do an estimate for your house. You have burned 5 tons – 10,000 pounds of coal – so far. Each pound should have delivered (more or less) 8,000 BTU to your house, or 80 million BTU so far this heating season. How does that compare to the expected (calculated) heat loss?

Just one last thing then I'll shut up, lol. If it is possible to do, unhook the hose at the manometer and give it a minute to settle. You may have to reset it to zero as the red juice seems to evaporate some each year. It could be giving a false reading. It does sure sound like a draft issue, especially with the smell, but I'll leave that to the stoker/boiler experts.

I send you a PM strykerlover, tomorrow will be fine to talk.

Since you have the manometer we supplied (no oil warminmn, just a floaty little white ball), please provide the draft at the breach and draft in the base. Base should be .005" to .01" WC (negative) and the draft at Breach should be .04" to .07" WC (negative). Without those numbers I cannot fully assess what is going on.

5-7 degree lose is a big deal.