Tune Them up !!!

My buddy sent me this from Cali ....

If you aint got the water you aint got nothing. 31 trillion gallons short and counting and you can't replete the aquifers with a few heavy rainstorms. They can keep that liberal chithole.

windyhill4.2 wrote:6 teeth/6 air on my EFM520 fell short this a/m, -1* outside with Brutal WINDS,inside still were it should be but exchanger fan running way too long. Set up to 7 teeth /7 air , kicking the cold out with coal ! We should have had the Crane 404 running hotter than it was this a/m @ 400*,we cranked it up over 600* to help out till the EFM catches up.

I have the opposite problem. The EFM is standing proud at 200 degrees but the zone on the first floor of my house is running continuously. Just not enough radiation to overcome the subzero winds. We are still at a cozy 72 in here, so I'm just going to get another cup of coffee and let it run.

A few thoughts for your EFM: Your air setting is high for properly sized rice coal...make sure the ash ring is correct. Are you still burning some of the Superior rice? Did you ever brush out the inside? If not, I suspect your current situation is at least partially due to fly-ash in the boiler.

Minus 9 here when I got up at 6:30AM. Kaa-2 running flat out. Boiler temp at 170*. House was, and still is warm, but not even throughout. Come to find out a circulator pump wasn't running. The light was off in the control box for that circulator, which was the cooler zone. Went to change batteries in that thermostat, and when I pulled thermostat apart, I heard circulating water stop. Clipped thermostat back together, and heard water circulating. Went down cellar to find light on in control box, and circulator pump running. Thermostat temp readings for each zone read 73*, 70*, and 68*, and in that order. The 68* was the zone not running. Now that the zone pump is running again, it should all even out before too long. Not sure what happened. All is good now. I never did change the thermostat batteries. They were all new last fall. EDIT: I just gave the Kaa-2 that one extra turn on the feed. I knew it had one more turn before pushing coal off the grate. It's now at 2-1/2 turns counter clockwise. I use to run 2-1/2 all the time, but had lots of overshoots, triggering the high limit (Dump Zone). I don't think I need to worry about that in this weather. Curious to see how much the boiler temp raises now. I'm just coming in from the shop. HITZER 30-95 cranking away. Shop reached high of 50*, which is nice for working. Was 35* in shop this morning. Present outside temp is minus 8*. Boiler is running flat out at 180*. House is warm, but temps haven't changed at all. Not even with the boiler temp being 10* hotter. All 3 room zones are running. Like I've said in past; With these temps, the Little Kaa-2 is at it's limit, but still holding it's own. Very proud of the little boiler.

oliver power wrote:Minus 9 here when I got up at 6:30AM. Kaa-2 running flat out. Boiler temp at 170*. House was, and still is warm, but not even throughout. Come to find out a circulator pump wasn't running. The light was off in the control box for that circulator, which was the cooler zone. Went to change batteries in that thermostat, and when I pulled thermostat apart, I heard circulating water stop. Clipped thermostat back together, and heard water circulating. Went down cellar to find light on in control box, and circulator pump running. Thermostat temp readings read 73*, 70*, and 68*, and in that order. The 68* was the zone not running. Now that the zone pump is running again, it should all even out before too long. Not sure what happened. All is good now. I never did change the thermostat batteries. They were all new last fall.

Sometimes things like my TV remote, and some of the grandson's toys do this. I just give the batteries a slight twist (or just a bump) and they work again. A thin film of corrosion or dust maybe? Whatever it is, I can never see anything.

coalkirk wrote:It's 3* here this morning, wind howling with gusts to 45 mph. Sadly my poor undersized Harman stoker raised the white flag. I had to kick on the oil boiler. Luckily this kind of weather is not common and she does a good job 99% of the time. If I could go back in a time machine and know what I know now, There would be a classic EFM or Keystoker K6 purring away in my basement. Oh well, you know what they say about hindsight. Hope everyone is warm and comfy this am.

you want to talk about hindsight, 10 years ago I lived in a different house that had a vanwort va 600 that I installed, I should have moved that right along with me to Elysburg. My stoves are doing good, 0 out with 45mph wind, 68 when I got up this morning and now got it back to 72 but 100# + coal a day. The vanwert would have laughed at this

Just cranked the HITZER up a couple numbers on the bimetallic--we'll see what she does for usage. Nice & toasty inside (72*) -4 out & it's a zoo out there with the wind. Wind chill -32!!

Hey Fred. like your new avatar. Cool how your new throw rug looks strikingly similar to a dog. Are you a "taxidermist"?

let my stove die down a bit ... then pulled out a 8" ball of clinker .... running better now

I seriously think the puppy is sufferin from "Brain Melt" Spring will tell exactly how much damage has been done!!

joeq wrote:Hey Fred. like your new avatar. Cool how your new throw rug looks strikingly similar to a dog. Are you a "taxidermist"?

freetown fred wrote:I seriously think the puppy is sufferin from "Brain Melt" Spring will tell exactly how much damage has been done!!

joeq wrote:Hey Fred. like your new avatar. Cool how your new throw rug looks strikingly similar to a dog. Are you a "taxidermist"?

Zombie effect. make sure the dog dish is full!

When it's this cold I turn up two clicks, 13 for me, scrape the sides of the firepot once a day, and shake every 8 or so hours if I'm home, 12 if I'm working. The heat pumps are on but they're barely even turning on.

Side note: think I fixed that freezing pipe permanently, haven't even had to leave the sink trickling and it hasn't stopped up yet.