How Much You Burning in Your Boiler Right Now?

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 11:17 am

CoalisCoolxWarm · Post by **CoalisCoolxWarm** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 12:17 pm

For anyone interested, Pages 7-9 on the AA-220 OWNERS MANUAL

Shows the initial setting for the combustion fans, setting the baro and power vent as I mentioned earlier, etc.

From Leisure Line's site: [Link Removed]

Fairly straightforward

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 2:13 pm

swyman wrote:Well thinking like a wood burner aside, went to bed at 160* boiler temp and just woke up to 114*.....temps are now 30* outside and hey we finally got some wind today. My wife is now taking a cold shower, I really can't see this thing working out. I lit the second stoker 30 minutes ago and same old S_ _ _. had to turn the first stoker blower down to less than half open just to maintain a .01 draft in the firebox. I would like to keep it a little higher but trying to get as much fire as possible. So you all have read this thread of doom, now another experiment, shutting off the house coil and just going to run domestic and garage. There is nothing nice that I can say right now so will refrain from doing anymore typing........I just can't believe LL would sell a direct vent that will not allow to run stokers at max fire...

Something is messed up with that Field's SWG.

Are you using 6" stove pipe all the way up to the SWG?
If you are using 6", then SWG is defective.
That thing should have enough suction to suck a golf ball through 50 foot of garden hose.

http://www.swgpowerventer.com/

Olllotj · Post by **Olllotj** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 4:14 pm

Looks like 8" to me

blrman07 · Post by **blrman07** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 6:41 pm

Nobody said to run it from now on with the baro foiled and pinned. He can do it long enough to set up the relationship between the power vent and the baro exactly like the instructions on pages 8-9 tell him to do. He posted earlier that when he tries to go to max burn the baro is wide open. The power vent is doing exactly as it supposed to do and it will suck air from wherever he can get it. If it can get it from the baro your going to lose the draft in the boiler which is exactly what is happening.

Foil the baro, set the power vent exactly like the instructions tell you to do it.

Nothing else is going to help until you do that.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 6:56 pm

What is screwy is he says .01 on mano...baro needs set too then.

Or is that what you are saying? Instruction?

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 7:01 pm

Why does it look like the power vent is a 6" & the stack out of the boiler is 8 " ??? optical illusion ?? my eyes are goofy ?? supposed to be that way ???wrong unit ???

Post by **Rob R.** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 7:02 pm

blrman07 wrote:Nobody said to run it from now on with the baro foiled and pinned.

I know. I am not trying to argue with you, just emphasizing what can happen. All it takes is a distracting phone call in the middle of that procedure to cause a problem.

Post by **Lightning** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 7:47 pm

If he's yanking air thru the baro and complains that there is not enough negative pressure in the firebox, then uh......

waldo lemieux · Post by **waldo lemieux** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 8:06 pm

Lightning wrote:If he's yanking air thru the baro and complains that there is not enough negative pressure in the firebox, then uh......

Did he leave a chunk of fiberglass or cardboard in the heat exchanger somewhere? Mice , rats or squirrels ??? If hes pulling the baro wide open and not getting but .01 over fire sounds to me like there might be an obstruction between the two

It happened to me, I had pluged off the chimney with some fiberglass while I was installing the boiler and the draft pulled the thing in far enough that I didnt see it when I went to hook up the pipe. Being it was a EFM it still ran but...

blrman07 · Post by **blrman07** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 8:54 pm

Rob R. wrote:
blrman07 wrote:Nobody said to run it from now on with the baro foiled and pinned.
I know. I am not trying to argue with you, just emphasizing what can happen. All it takes is a distracting phone call in the middle of that procedure to cause a problem.

Rob I disagree and I think you are trying to argue by using any particular thing that can happen. I know your a global moderator and have the authority to shut me down with a couple of keystrokes. The OP has posted this problem in three threads, has received instructions on everything from flow rates to feed rates from 11 different people with 11 different view points without verifying the most basic points of operation.

His boiler pressure is showing 28 but the gauges in his house shows 40-45 with no explanation as to where did that extra 12 psi come from. His temp gauges in his house show that temps going back higher than they arrived.

Regarding a hopper fire, most of us know what can happen if you run any unit with a high enough draft to start sucking air through the hopper. Fire follows air. He is not going to be running it long enough to do that otherwise the instructions would never say to put your dampers at 1/2 open, then set your draft using the power vent and then set your baro to just barely open at that point. The only way he can get there is pin that baro or foil it long enough to get the required draft using the Power Vent. If he will follow the factory setup instructions as listed on pages 8-9 of the manual that was posted in this thread, I am 98% sure his problems will go away. The remaining 2% is the possibility of a power vent failure.

All I am trying to get him to do is slow down and set this thing up using factory settings and procedures. He has not done that and has the power vent and the baro set so that the baro is going wide open when he is trying to get full burn. He will never get there as long as that baro is wide open and he is not following the factory instructions.

His failure to set up his boiler by factory settings and complains about the boiler or the power venter as being the problem is setting us in motion to tilt at windmills. As I said before I have been troublshooting boilers and equipment for 40+ years. I don't pretend to know it all but I am also not a newbe at this.

Post by **franco b** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 9:06 pm

Lightning wrote:If he's yanking air thru the baro and complains that there is not enough negative pressure in the firebox, then uh......

I agree. Pretty hard to believe not noticing a wide open baro when draft is weak.

Post by **Rob R.** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 9:38 pm

blrman07 wrote:Regarding a hopper fire, most of us know what can happen if you run any unit with a high enough draft to start sucking air through the hopper.

Yes, most of us do...but this guy might not. You are welcome to think what you wish, I only raised the point because I once went through something very similar to his and assumed the other person knew certain things about coal and draft...when they did not. I'll gladly take heat from you if it spares someone else a real problem.

I agree that the various threads have made this tough to follow and sort out. Almost a month ago I provided the draft readings required and asked that he please have the manufacture step him through it, but here we are. At this point I think it would be best if the discussion about setting the stokers and power vent be continued in this thread: LL AA-220 Max Draft Burn With Power Vent Please Help!

swyman · Post by **swyman** » Sun. Dec. 20, 2015 2:01 am

Rob R. wrote: At this point I think it would be best if the discussion about setting the stokers and power vent be continued in this thread: LL AA-220 Max Draft Burn With Power Vent Please Help!

Rob, will do. Thank you everyone for the help as you all know I need it. I will follow moderators instruction and continue this and all other replies in the above thread......Shane

Vampiro · Post by **Vampiro** » Mon. Dec. 28, 2015 2:56 pm

swyman wrote:
Vampiro wrote:Burning maybe 25 or so lbs per day. Boiler is just heating hot water and on standby for when Jack Frost decides to end his vacation in the Bahamas and bring some winter. It heats the house when it is cold once in a while, but that's it. This mild weather hasn't caused much demand at all.
That's about what I would expect but I'm still 80lbs a day in these super mild temps....which is better than I was doing. I am going to put a bypass valve on my coil to see if that resolves my heat loss as everything I've done points to that as to being the culprit. Not sure when I will have time but hopefully in the next month. Of course in a few more weeks it will (should) be getting cold so it will be cycling more frequent then it might not matter anyway?

80 lbs a day? How many square feet are you heating?

Is the boiler insulated? Some folks say it is OK to leave it uninsulated, but that is an expensive myth to tell folks. It leads to inefficiency of the boiler. It is always cheaper to add a radiator, or baseboard unit, then to leave the boiler uninsulated.