Sulfur Smell in House

Sounds good.
A worn auger would have flat sharp outside edges.
Let us know what you find.

To much draft can cause a back burn into the hopper. I was having a back burn problem earlier this season and called Keystoker, they stated that if the draft is to high it will suck air in thru the hopper which spreads the fire backwards into the hopper. My problem turned out to be cracked cement between the burner plates and the stoker housing. This was letting air up to close to stoker. Good luck.

Over the weekend I cleaned the burn pot real well and restarted the fire. Got it burning good and even, better than before, however the smell is still there. I did notice that the worm is worn. The blades have thin, sharp edges so this will need to be replaced. Thankfully I have one handy, although it will have to wait until warmer weather to change out.

As for too much draft, I'm certain that mine is way above normal. At idle, with low draft, there is zero smell. Once it gets cooking, and the draft is showing -.10, the smell is there so there may be something to that. My stoker has a 7" flue pipe and I'm having trouble locating a 7" barometric damper. Could I use a 7" to 6" reducer into the damper T and then a 6" to 7" expander out to the flue pipe with no adverse effect?

Another thing that crossed my mind was this. It could be merely coincidental, but the timing of this smell is close to the time I switched coal providers. Is it possible that I have a bad batch of coal or coal that's very high in sulfur content? For those familiar with the area, I'm in Schuylkill County and the current load of coal I have is from Harmony mine near Mt. Carmel.

Thanks!

There is no active Harmony mine...but yes, I understand there is another coal sales at that old location.

McGiever wrote:There is no active Harmony mine...but yes, I understand there is another coal sales at that old location.

Was unaware the mine closed. Any idea where the coal is sourced from?

MarkG wrote:

McGiever wrote:There is no active Harmony mine...but yes, I understand there is another coal sales at that old location.

Was unaware the mine closed. Any idea where the coal is sourced from?

You may read some info here:
Anthracite Price Per Ton for the 2015-2016 Heating Season

The New UAE / Harmony Mine Coal

Mark, your local supply house should have a 7" draft control, but if not, you can order it online: http://www.supplyhouse.com/Field-Controls-7-RC-7-Draft-Regulator-for-Wood-Oil-or-Coal Those guys ship fast.

You do not need to put a tee in the pipe. The draft control will come with a mounting collar. You will need to cut a hole in the pipe, so you will need a good set of tin snips (wear gloves!).

Have you ever measured the draft in the firebox when the stoker is running?

I had one of those when I has the Alaska stoker in the cellar, it was a 6".

Draft for a stoker should be -.04" WC, a little higher is OK. The combination of the worn auger and the higher draft could be the issue. Either way with the high draft you're loosing heat and $$$ up the chimney!

Those collars are pretty forgiving, I have bough new old stock of these type and they are labeled to fit one size pipe up and one size pipe down.
So a 6" or a 8" make work just fine.

Thanks everyone for all the help so far. Ordered a draft regulator this morning and will update the thread once installed. At the very least, I'll be saving money

Rob R. wrote:Mark, your local supply house should have a 7" draft control, but if not, you can order it online: http://www.supplyhouse.com/Field-Controls-7-RC-7-Draft-Regulator-for-Wood-Oil-or-Coal Those guys ship fast.

You do not need to put a tee in the pipe. The draft control will come with a mounting collar. You will need to cut a hole in the pipe, so you will need a good set of tin snips (wear gloves!).

Have you ever measured the draft in the firebox when the stoker is running?

Rob,

The draft in the fire box when the stoker is running also measures -.10.

That seems very strange to me.

I would adjust your baro to get -0.05" at the flue outlet (after stoker has been running a while) and go from there.

Rob R. wrote:That seems very strange to me.

I would adjust your baro to get -0.05" at the flue outlet (after stoker has been running a while) and go from there.

Thanks Rob. Will do. It's scheduled to arrive tomorrow. You weren't kidding about fast shipping.

Keep us posted.

Ok, I got the baro installed and set to 5, which according to the manual, should be -0.05" on the manometer. However, to get to -0.05" on the manometer, I have to set the baro to 2 (wide open) and close the combustion fan completely. I am unable to get it to 0.05" any other way and if the fan is opened up, I get a lot of smoke out of the hopper that smells like wood burning. Even set like this, I'm still getting a little smoke in the barrel. No sulfur smell anymore, but that's been replaced by the smoke. I can't seem to win here. I'm not sure the fan should be closed all the way but it's the only way to keep the smoke mostly out. Everything is level and plumb like the directions state, and the weight is on the right side for vertical mounting. Draft measurement is after the baro.